From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

F-Zero
Developer	Nintendo EAD
Publisher	Nintendo
Designer	Shigeru Miyamoto (producer)[1] Kazunobu Shimizu (director)[1]
Engine	Mode 7
Released	SNES JP November 21, 1990 NA August 13, 1991 EU June 4, 1992 Virtual Console NA November 19, 2006 JP December 2, 2006 EU December 8, 2006
Genre	Futuristic racing game
Mode(s)	Single player
Ratings	ESRB: Everyone (E)
Platform(s)	SNES, Virtual Console
Media	4-megabit cartridge

F-Zero (エフゼロ, Efu Zero^?, F-ZERO) is a futuristic racing video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was first released in Japan on November 21, 1990 and later in North America on August 13, 1991 and in Europe on June 4, 1992. The title was downloadable over the Nintendo Power peripheral in Japan^[2] and was also released onto the Nintendo Super System. The special edition of the game was released for the Super Famicom's Satellaview attachment.^[3] In late 2006, F-Zero became available for the Virtual Console service on the Wii.^[4]

As the inaugural game of the F-Zero series of video games, it was first released in Japan as one of the two debut titles for the Super NES,^[5] but in the U.S. this launch title was accompanied by more games.^[6] With its original scenario and style of gameplay, F-Zero was the first of its kind and also featured a groundbreaking technological achievement at that time. As a result, the title inspired the future creation of numerous racing games inside and out of its own subgenre.^[7][8][9]

F-Zero is a futuristic racing game where pilots race on circuits inside plasma-powered hovercars in an intergalactic Grand Prix at speeds that can exceed 400 km/h. The objective of the game is to beat opponents to the finish line while avoiding hazards such as land mines, slip zones and magnets that pull the vehicle to certain sides of the track in an effort to make the player damage their vehicle or fall completely off the track. A race in F-Zero consists of five laps around the track.^[10] The player must complete each lap at least the position that the game requests without staying at the last place, which otherwise means disqualification. For each lap completed the player is rewarded with an approximate four second speed boost and a varying number of points determined by place.^[11] One of the "SSS" marks will be shaded green to indicate that the boost can be used. If a certain amount of points are accumulated, an extra "spare machine" is acquired. F-Zero includes two different modes of play. In the Grand Prix mode, the player chooses a league and races against twenty generic vehicles^[10] of different colors through each track in that league. The Practice mode allows the player to practice seven of the courses from the Grand Prix mode.^[11]

The game introduced the first F-Zero characters; Captain Falcon, Dr. Stewart, Pico, and Samurai Goroh. Each of the four characters have their own selectable vehicle along with its unique performance abilities.^[8] Each machine has an energy meter, which serves the purpose as a measurement of the machine's health and is decreased, for example, when the machine hits the side of the track or another vehicle.^[11]

F-Zero has a total of fifteen tracks divided into three leagues. Additionally, the Death Wind, Port Town, and Red Canyon courses have areas that are not accessible unless the player is on another version of those tracks, which then in-turn closes the direction previously available. The game has three initial difficulty levels; beginner, standard, and expert.^[11] Completion of the expert class in any league unlocks the master difficulty level.^[12] Unlike most F-Zero games, there are three iterations of Mute City, showing it in day, evening, and night settings. In BS F-Zero 2, Mute City IV continued the theme with an early morning setting.

Near the end of the 20th century mankind was gripped by the fear of being invaded by extraterrestrials. However, by the year 2560 humanity's countless encounters with these alien life forms throughout the Universe expanded Earth's social framework to astronomic proportions. Trade, technology and cultural interchange are carried out between planets. The multibillionaires who earned their enormous wealth through this intergalactic trade were satisfied with their rich lifestyles. However, they also yearned for new entertainment to stimulate their lazy lives, so a new entertainment based on the old F-1 races was founded. People came to call these Grand Prix races simply, "F-ZERO".^[11][8]

Mode 7 allowed the track to be scaled and rotated around the vehicle to simulate a 3D environment.^[13]

The game has been praised for its controls, longevity and track design, but criticized for its lack of a multiplayer mode.^[14][8] F-Zero was widely hailed for being such a visually stunning home console game; it has been called the fastest and smoothest pseudo-3D racer of its time^[15][16] and the first racing game to offer such graphical realism.^[17][13] This all due to the fact that F-Zero was one of the first SNES titles to pervasively use a special exclusive hardware feature of the system called "Mode 7".^[18] This graphics-rendering technique allowed different kinds of scaling and rotation effects of bitmap graphics, which the game used to simulate 3D environments^[16] without processing any polygons. Such techniques in video games were considered to be revolutionary in a time when games were restricted to static/flat backgrounds and 2 dimensional (2D) objects.^[8] However, during development of F-Zero, Takaya Imamura was surprised to be able to so freely design the characters and courses as he wanted since it was his first game.^[19]

In 1992, Toshihiro Nagoshi was head of Sega's AM2 development team when he played F-Zero on the SNES for the first time. When Nagoshi experienced the game, not only did its realism impress him, but Nagoshi commented F-Zero "actually taught me what a game should be". F-Zero served as an influence for him to create Daytona USA and other racing games.^[19][20] Many years later Nagoshi would serve as one of the co-producers for F-Zero GX.^[21]

The F-Zero soundtrack which was released in 1992, features twelve tracks composed by Yumiko Kanki and Naoto Ishida and arranged by PeeWee and Michiko Hill.

Left to right: Fire Scorpion, Green Amazone, Blue Thunder & Luna Bomber

BS F-Zero feature vehicles not seen in subsequent games in the series.

BS F-Zero Grand Prix was developed by Nintendo and distributed by the St. GIGA subscription service for the Satellaview attachment of the Super Famicom. "BS" stands for Broadcast Satellaview (commonly referred to as the BS-X). Using this add-on gamers could download the game from the satellite and save it onto either the base unit’s memory or onto a BS-X Special Broadcast Cassette. BS F-Zero Grand Prix is a canceled sequel for the first F-Zero title^[8] due to the impending release of the Nintendo 64.^[22] The unfinished game was instead released for the Super Famicom's satellite-based expansion, Satellaview, in Japan during the mid-1990s, making it the second game in the video game series. Outside Japan, no titles were released until F-Zero X on the Nintendo 64, roughly seven years later.

Broadcast dates

(taken from The Nintendo Database (Waybacked, page no longer exists)

BS F-Zero 2 Grand Prix was broadcasted on the St. Giga satellite radio station in two parts and once downloaded, it could be played at any time. Featuring both a Grand Prix and a Practice mode, the game also had one new league containing five different tracks^[3] and replaced the four playable vehicles from the original F-Zero game with similar machines in performance and appearance. The graphics are improved over the original game, and the speed and fluidity has increased a bit. The tracks are named as a follow-on from F-Zero — the first track is called "Mute City IV", since Mute City I-III appeared in the original game. The music for the game is the same as before, but the title does have some added sound effects, such as when other racers weave past each other.

Broadcast dates

(taken from The Nintendo Database (Waybacked, page no longer exists)

• F-Zero Instruction manual
• F-Zero at MobyGames