F-Zero 99 (Available Today! - 14th September 2023)

[Julius]

Oh man that music  exclusively available to NSO members

Quote

The F-ZERO game returns as a 99-player battle royale! Race on classic F-ZERO courses with machines from the original Super NES game and tear through courses in high-speed races. But be careful, your Power Meter will decrease if you crash into pilots or guard rails. If it hits zero, you're out!

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by Julius

[Dcubed]

Does this… does this count as a new F-Zero game?

[Glen-i]

46 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Does this… does this count as a new F-Zero game?

It doesn't, but people on copium will say otherwise.

Another Code Wii gets a remaster before F-Zero, which says it all really.

[Dcubed]

Game was done by NST (as per the credits).  First 99 game not to be done by Arika!

[BowserBasher]

I'm really hoping this has been done to gauge interest and we get a new F-Zero with the next console now.

[Jonnas]

I am actually really happy about this. Battle Royals don't do much for me, but it makes so much sense with this series! Looking forward to trying this one out.

7 hours ago, Dcubed said:

Does this… does this count as a new F-Zero game?

...Yes? It's not an old F-Zero game, that's for sure.

[S.C.G]

Decent game, played it last night for over two and a half hours.

Here's a link to the stream...

F-Zero 99 on the Nintendo Switch (14/09/2023)

[nekunando]

 

 

[RedShell]

Words cannot describe how much I love this!!!
As a big fan of the F-Zero series (but especially the SNES version ) this is just a dream come true!

The steering doesn't feel completely authentic to the original, but it's definitely close enough. They have absolutely nailed the look and sound though. The use of the comic book artwork, that font, those tunes... man, nostalgia is off the charts for me with this game! And I'm really impressed by how fluid it is, the sight of so many F-Zero racers on screen simultaneously is mind-blowing!

I knew there had to be a bigger reason as to why I suddenly felt compelled to resubscribe to Switch Online a while back, my subconscious mind must have predicted that this game was on the way.

On 14/09/2023 at 6:53 PM, BowserBasher said:

I'm really hoping this has been done to gauge interest and we get a new F-Zero with the next console now.

I'm actually thinking it could even mean that a new F-Zero is already in development and this is a way of getting the series back in the limelight before its reveal, although I'm probably slightly delirious from all the excitement of F-Zero 99.

 

Edited September 15, 2023 by RedShell

[killthenet]

I was two feet from the line, nailed on for my first win, when I blew up and crashed out. 

This looks phenomenal on the OLED though, love the artstyle

[RedShell]

OK, my thumbs actually have the imprint of Switch Joy-Con buttons... Send help.

19 hours ago, killthenet said:

I was two feet from the line, nailed on for my first win, when I blew up and crashed out.

Yeah, final laps on this are a blast, literally:

Love how player names are left at each explosion zone.

 

I did not want to land there:

Can't wait for Fire Field to be added, that track is going to be a right shitshow on this game.

BTW, has anyone managed to KO a rival yet? Seems impossible. Getting KO's in general (against other players) is pretty tricky.

[Sprout]

21 hours ago, RedShell said:

Words cannot describe how much I love this!!!
As a big fan of the F-Zero series (but especially the SNES version ) this is just a dream come true!

Knowing how much of a fan you were of the SNES version, seeing you as an opponent recently and repeatedly witnessing "Manolito ✘KO'd another victim" display on my screen was a terrifying time.

[Audible panic noises as RedShell attempts another murder on my falling apart machine at the finish line]

 

I did manage to win a Grand Prix when he wasn't in my lobby, though!
(Having the player that was 30+ points ahead of me crashing out in the final race helped.)

Edited September 16, 2023 by Sprout

[Glen-i]

It's a pity that you can't join friends. I know this is an issue with all 99 games, but I feel like I would possibly enjoy it if I could reliably join other people and see them racing against me.

Edited September 16, 2023 by Glen-i

[RedShell]

8 minutes ago, Sprout said:

Knowing how much of a fan you were of the SNES version, seeing you as an opponent recently and repeatedly witnessing "Manolito ✘KO'd another victim" display on my screen was a terrifying time.

[Audible panic noises as RedShell attempts another murder on my falling apart machine at the finish line]

Classic.

I see you've been playing this quite a lot too, it's great, huh?
Anyway, nice to see you again. Join us for Smash Bros. sometime.
 

8 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

It's a pity that you can't join friends. I know this is an issue with all 99 games, but I feel like I would possibly enjoy it if I could reliably join other people and see them racing against me.

You could do it on Tetris 99, with a password IIRC. But yeah, shame they haven't implemented something like that with this game.

[BowserBasher]

I’m enjoying this quite a bit. Except for the lack of tracks right now. And no one is picking the sand one. I was on course for a second place, decided to boost for the win but hit something and crashed out. I do have a top 10 win though. 

[RedShell]

50 minutes ago, BowserBasher said:

I’m enjoying this quite a bit. Except for the lack of tracks right now. And no one is picking the sand one. I was on course for a second place, decided to boost for the win but hit something and crashed out. I do have a top 10 win though. 

That’s weird, I get Sand Ocean quite a lot, it’s apparently my most successful track too, according to the records section.

Anyone know if there’s any info out there about the schedule for adding the remaining tracks?

Also, this is definitely a permanent title for Switch Online, right?  (I wasn’t paying much attention to the details during the Direct) None of that Mario Bros. 35 limited availability going on I hope.

[BowserBasher]

11 minutes ago, RedShell said:

That’s weird, I get Sand Ocean quite a lot,

Had it picked a few times now. My best finish so far is a 4th place. 

[Glen-i]

28 minutes ago, RedShell said:

Also, this is definitely a permanent title for Switch Online, right?  (I wasn’t paying much attention to the details during the Direct) None of that Mario Bros. 35 limited availability going on I hope.

It's not a limited thing... yet.

Also, unlike Pac-Man, this is a Nintendo IP, so it should stick around. Unless player retention craters.

[Sprout]

8 hours ago, RedShell said:

Classic.

I see you've been playing this quite a lot too, it's great, huh?
Anyway, nice to see you again. Join us for Smash Bros. sometime.

I'm typically not a fan of Battle Royale games for a number of reasons, some of which F-Zero 99 includes, but outside of such gripes I've been having a good ol' time just enjoying the ride. I hope that this game gets long-term support that goes beyond the content of the original SNES game, and that it's successful enough for Nintendo to consider more F-Zero games in the future.

Also Golden Fox is pretty good.
Please ignore that wonky looking 1 for Silence.

[RedShell]

10 hours ago, Sprout said:

Also Golden Fox is pretty good.
Please ignore that wonky looking 1 for Silence.

Impressive!

I still haven't used anything but Fire Stingray (just like when I'm playing SNES F-Zero ) but only got 1 more unlock left for that now so will be reluctantly switching to the others soon.

16 hours ago, Glen-i said:

It's not a limited thing... yet.

Also, unlike Pac-Man, this is a Nintendo IP, so it should stick around. Unless player retention craters.

Not going to happen. F-Zero fans have been starved for way too long, so we'll be savouring this meal.

[Glen-i]

55 minutes ago, RedShell said:

Not going to happen. F-Zero fans have been starved for way too long, so we'll be savouring this meal.

Well, we'll finally see whether all those F-Zero fans actually exist, or if it really is just a loud minority 

Worth noting that Pac-Man 99's player retainership did crater, which is probably the main reason it got taken off.

[RedShell]

22 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Well, we'll finally see whether all those F-Zero fans actually exist, or if it really is just a loud minority

Hmm... you might have a point actually, just took a look at sales figures for the entire series which have supposedly been in decline with every release since the SNES version! I'm especially shocked by how little GX sold, although there appears to be some conflicting info for that particular title.

That's worrying then.

[Glen-i]

5 hours ago, RedShell said:

Hmm... you might have a point actually, just took a look at sales figures for the entire series which have supposedly been in decline with every release since the SNES version! I'm especially shocked by how little GX sold, although there appears to be some conflicting info for that particular title.

That's worrying then.

I don't particularly enjoy being the doomsayer when it comes to F-Zero (Just ask the N-E Discord), because despite the fact that I don't enjoy the series, a more diverse range of genres from Ninty is a good thing. (Unless it's open world, that's never good)

But you see this a lot on ResetEra and the like, people shouting "Metroid Prime and Paper Mario are getting Switch remasters, now's the perfect time for F-Zero GX!" And it's bordering on delusion, because GX is nowhere in the same league as far as success goes.

If Nintendo came out and said we don't see the profit potential in remastering GX. People would riot and declare them out of touch, but I'd be in the back thinking "Yeah, I totally get that."

F-Zero GX is in the awkward spot of being a GameCube game, a GameCube game that sold poorly for the GameCube. Because of that, a remaster is quite the risk, and you can't really put it on a hypothetical NSO GameCube app, because GC games would take up far too much space digitally. It's why we see other F-Zero games get re-released digitally constantly, but not GX.

Now of course, never say never, but I don't believe F-Zero 99 is a litmus test for future F-Zero titles, I just think someone pitched the idea, and the higher ups thought "Yeah, this is a cool new idea that F-Zero hasn't done before". It lines up with the reasoning why Ninty haven't done a new entry for so long. They just didn't have any ideas for new ways for it to go, because "F-Zero, but for GameCube" clearly wasn't good enough.

[WackerJr]

While the tracks are limited in number right now, by picking the easier tracks to start with it is at least making it accessible to so many more.

F-Zero tracks, especially the later ones, I thought really do get tough.  I enjoyed F-Zero GX but never got close to opening up the Arcade tracks.

This is a great surprise, runs smoothly, and while I’ve only managed a top 10 finish once so far (I’m usually only finishing top 50) it’s been a blast and a really positive move for the series.

[Helmsly]

1 hour ago, WackerJr said:

This is a great surprise, runs smoothly, and while I’ve only managed a top 10 finish once so far (I’m usually only finishing top 50) it’s been a blast and a really positive move for the series.

Same here, I placed 2nd once and I have no idea how I did it lol. Other the that I generally place in the top 50 as well.

On the one hand I am enjoying this, just as you said it's been a nice surprise. On the other hand, i have no idea how to improve and get better