As a kid I seemingly had an obsession with going fast, at least in games. I grew up on Sonic the Hedgehog and when it came to racing games, F-Zero was king. It began with F-Zero X for me, though playing the GBA launch game Maximum Velocity steered me towards the SNES original too.
Then there was F-Zero GX, for me the pinnacle of the series and racing games as a whole. A friend of mine brought around his brother’s copy of the game imported from Japan (remember when games used to have staggered releases?!) and it absolutely floored me. As soon as I could I imported a copy of the game from America along with a Freeloader disc. I was hooked, as much on the incredible soundtrack as the racing itself.
Since then, F-Zero fans have had very little. Miyamoto has famously said the series won’t return unless there’s a significant or unique gameplay reason.
Well now it’s back, in a sort of modern-retro form that I doubt anyone expected – or necessarily wanted. As with Super Mario 35 and Tetris 99, F-Zero 99 is a battle royale for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers that pits 99 players against each other on one track. If that sounds like a mess, it kind of is.