F-Zero is a futuristic racing game for the Super Nintendo, and was a launch title for the SNES in both Japan and North America. It is extremely fast paced, and uses the famed Mode 7 to simulate 3D environments in a way that is still very appealing today. Each car has a power meter which decreases when you get hit, and you can only increasing in pit stops, usually located after each lap is finished. You also receive a charge of turbo when completing a lap, which can be used in predictable ways.
F-Zero is one of the games I had as a kid that was always too hard for me, so I used the chance given to me by obtaining the SNES Classic to beat it.
It was an absolute joy to play, and for a game that broke as much graphical ground as it did in the home console market, it still looks fantastic today. You have two modes, grand prix, and classic. In grand prix mode, you go through 5 races in a series, and have to finish in 3rd or lower in every race to finish the cup. Curiously, it doesn't seem to matter what place you get overall, one downfall of the game. In practice mode, you can simply pick any race to practice on, as you might expect.
You can pick from one of four cars, each with their own fictional multi-billionaire pilot. Apparently the manual went into the story a bit more and introduced each pilot, but story isn't really why you're here.
The tracks are beautifully designed with plenty of speed boosts, jumps, and eye candy galore. Obstacles litter the track, as do other cars to get in your way. Skillfully avoiding these obstacles will separate the good racer from the bad, as they will slow you down a lot, and if you hit too many, your car will blow up, you lose a life, and have to try again.
The visuals of this game are phenomenal, and I can't really stress that enough. For a launch title for the SNES, F-Zero is one of the smoothest and most beautiful games on the console, and has aged fantastically. Usually games improve visually on a system towards the end of its life cycle as programmers figure out the little tricks that can be used to improve visuals, but the SNES launched with some exceptionally well aging titles, and F-Zero is pretty unquestionably the best looking of the bunch. The 3D environments all perform well, the camera is perfect, the cars look great, and they manage to accomplish all of this without the slightest slowdown, which would have been crippling in a high speed racer like this.
The music of F-Zero is every bit as fantastic as the visuals. It might even be my favorite non-Squaresoft soundtrack on the console. Every song is an absolute banger, and each sets the mood for the each track really well. There's just nothing bad I can say about music or sound.
The controls are excellent, as the game uses the new shoulder buttons on the SNES to good effect. The L and R buttons serve to make your car take tighter turns, which will be very necessary as you advance throughout the course. The controls work just as you think they will, and your failures will be because of you and not any bad controller schemes.
F-Zero is an excellent game which broke a lot of new ground. In retrospect, it's easy to pick on some aspects of the game, and I do. But these all need to be taken with a grain of salt give its existence as a launch title, and the great leap forward that the game brought to home console visuals and racing games in general.
I do wish that there had been a lengthier single player mode for the game. The grand prix mode can be cleared pretty easily for each cup in about an hour. From there, most of your challenge involves ramping up the difficulty, and trying to beat your old times. While this is fine, it can get a bit stale at times, and the highest difficulty levels are pretty unforgiving, if you want to finish first in every race. A story mode, or the chance to build and upgrade your car across the cups would have been nice.
I also wish that there had been a two player mode in the game, although this likely would have pushed the hardware to the max. But the existence of the technically similar Super Mario Kart with two players a year later suggests that it could have been done. Super Mario Kart doesn't look as good as F-Zero though, so who knows what would be possible.
My last, and most important critique of F-Zero is the competition. The game seems not to register the location of all racers at a time, but will rather only track the car in front of you and the one behind you. Further, the car behind you always seems to maintain the same distance from you, unless you slow down. This means that even if you've raced extremely well for full minutes, catching every shortcut with the fastest car, and you hit one obstacle, the enemy will catch up within seconds. This is kind of frustrating, and definitely favors a more conservative play style once you have a lead.
So, the question is, can Miyamoto make a bad game? The answer is no! Ok, there's probably a few, including Donkey Kong 3. And stop it with Zelda II, it's not bad, just worse than the first. F-Zero is just another in a long line of Miyamoto games that simulatenously push the envelope on what console games should look like while also managing to be titanic amounts of fun along the way. We all bow before you, Miyamoto-san. My love of video games may never have happened without that shiny Super Mario Bros. in my living room, along with the seemingly endless train of your work that has come after, including F-Zero, which I'm giving a 9.0/10. You're the most important figure in video gaming ever, and we all love you!
Here's a "hint" for the next Miyamoto game I'll be playing!
-TRO
No comments:
Post a Comment