Compile a list of the games least likely to require a complete refresh of the ins, outs and everything in-between and it’s a near-guarantee that something like the original F-Zero for the SNES would be personally high in that particular ranking. Combine a near-obsessive amount of time spent as a kid with the game in one respect, with the declaration that coming in 1st and at last “beating” Fire Field (with thatmarvelous-if-tense themeblasting) being one of the earliest memories of utter euphoria. In later years, dedicating as many hours as possible, glued to one’s TV as subsequent releases came to Nintendo systems home and portable alike. Inevitably, as many a die-hard will know: locked in that ongoing battle between head and heart as to the existence (if there even is/was/will be) of a new entry and whether or not Nintendo even consider it a series to return to.
Speculation, conspiracy and more fuel to throw atop the still-blazing fire aside, one thing many will agree on when it comes to the very presence of F-Zero 99 – Nintendo’s latest effort to apply a 99-player, Battle Royale-esque spin on the most fabled of franchises – is that it’s not something the general populous were necessarily crying out for. Something new sure, but one that takes us all the way back to its roots? To those Mode 7-rendered tracks and scaled-back roster of four machines. To a time that, as alluded to, a vast number will be at the very least sufficiently accustomed to. And you want to toss 99 of those same players into the same track – energy meters and collision turned on as well?
Time – or more appropriately, Nintendo’s committing (or lack thereof) to rolling out a steady stream of updates – will tell if it can reach, maybe surpass, thesurprising highsof Tetris' own novel off-shoot, but needless to say F-Zero 99 is awarded the coveted crown of being the one to even more bizarrely pull this off. And pull off not just in the sense of making that 99 players, 1 winner pitch seem like the ideal fit – in the context of a high-speed, futuristic racer no less – but more so in a way that has you look at one’s knowledge of the game it’s based off in a completely different light. To so quickly admit that one’s assumptions and assurances on the knowledge of the four machines and its courses, hasn’t so much been tossed out completely, but had its own revision of sorts. Revealing entirely new details along the way; it’s no surprise then the game’s biggest strength is its ability to marry tradition with reinvention – old and new colliding in such an impressive way. That it’s immensely addictive on top – with ample, tactics layered beneath its seemingly simplistic exterior – is just the cherry on top.
Yet even if you’re not one for finer details – if you’re not, like me, an avid follower of something like Formula One for example – F-Zero 99 still makes sure to provide players with smaller goals to reach. Yes, the primary goal as it always will be to secure 1st place for you and you alone. Be that the standard 99 Mode, in which 99 players compete in a four-lap race around some of F-Zero’s simpler/more forgiving courses. Or even in the more long-run Grand Prix event that has you partaking in a five-race series – racking up points based on finishing position for each track. But one of 99’s smartest decisions in the context of progression is making it not entirely about that coveted 1st-place crown.
One of which comes in the form of a rival system whereby the game designates four players in a given round of similar ranking and stats. Finish ahead of said players and your overall skill ranking goes up, based on the number beaten. Fail entirely and it goes down. It’s not much, but it’s a smart way to make races as much about the short-term goals and those personal-though-temporary battles, as much as it is making it out alive amid the madness of you and 98 other machines scattered about a course. Not to say that that very madness isn’t in itself an achievement for F-Zero 99. That the game refuses to dial back on the chaos of such a high player-count, yet remains one you are both anxious of getting lost in, yet excitedly looking forward to be a part of in much the same breath.
It’s that somewhat-contradictory mixture of striving for supremacy amidst the uncertain nature of Battle Royale progression that gives races that added flair. Flair on not just what players around you may do – or what the game may throw up to tip the scales, one way or another – but what you too will decide on. Very much replicating that same dose of anxiety and striving for courageous moves any great Battle Royale is known for, but offering yet another refreshing twist outside of simply the theatre of a shooter. In very much the same vain of Tetris 99, it’s not so much that one specific tactic pays off at all times in all possible scenarios. More a case that it’s how well you react to what’s unfolding. When it doesn’t go your way or better/worse yet in those rare spots when it actually does.
To say my heart was beating at such an erratic rate when on the cusp of my first win. Final lap of Sand Ocean, making sure to nail those sharp corners and hair-pins alike at the right angle. A tactile shifting between drifting, sliding and decelerating. Any victory in a Royale is special, but after racking up around a dozen-and-a-half victories, F-Zero 99 feels like the one entry whose success rides on a player’s broader capabilities across skill, strategy and knowing how best to act/react on the fly. And part of the core pillar of these many split-second, branching-out strategies comes in the form of your machine’s energy meter. Very much a kin to that found in subsequent series releases, this meter governs both your general health and your boost ability. One you can refill at certain points in a course and unlike the original game wherein boosts were one-time uses, players can theoretically keep boosting until they’re out of power. Evidently at great risk of crashing out once energy is fully depleted and you’re left entirely vulnerable to the barriers or other players' incoming attacks alike.
The trick then is knowing how much to commit to this ability: when to boost, where to boost, how many times and to what extent will one risk themselves in the pursuit of a more commanding position. Again, an alternate yet genre-relevant spin on the nature of Royale as one whose largest pay-offs usually come by way of equally-substantial risks. This balancing act of risk and reward also translates across into which machine you select. Another example of F-Zero 99 taking what felt like a relatively minor trait in the original and giving it even more crucial relevancy. A machine like the Golden Fox doing great on acceleration and boost power, with the catch being its weaker defense. Another, the Wild Goose – the supposed “tank” of the four with its high defense to the point it can so easily bully its way through the pack, whose added weight evidently costs it speed.
While the prospect of a domineering meta inevitably homogenizing things isn’t too far away, the most important detail to take away is that it’s entirely possible to win any course with any one of the four machines. Some courses favoring particular attributes sure, but with the aforementioned chaos and ways that players [in]efficiency can play its part, ensures that races on even the simpler tracks like Mute City or Death Wind still bring with them an ample amount of opportunity. It’s just a shame then that at present, F-Zero 99’s offerings – great as they are – are still too scarce for one’s liking. Granted, the source material in use doesn’t exactly leave much room to provide a huge roster – the original SNES debut sporting a total of 15 tracks – and while not entirely damaging, the game does take a knock when it takes little time to see the same courses spring up for selection. Same goes for what players can go about unlocking or acquiring on the side. Cosmetic variants for one’s machine and player-card are a neat accompaniment, yet the fact Golden Tickets – rewarded after accruing enough XP – can’t be spent on anything other than entries into the more challenging modes can quickly leave you with a pool of unused currency with nothing to spend it on.
Closing Comments:
Despite its smaller and unfortunately limited pool of content, F-Zero 99 still stands not just as another terrific application of the 99-player Royale format, but one that goes as far as to redefine any and all prior knowledge people may have had of the original SNES debut. That Nintendo’s latest effort does so much with so little – once more in a genre far removed from the comfort of shooters – is a testament to the simple-yet-highly-addictive heart of F-Zero’s gameplay. That such accessibility is elevated more so amidst a new-found sense of chaos, dread and sheer unpredictable madness. Where the series' debut through Tetris proved that strategy can stem from every moment, F-Zero 99 asserts victory – in all its methods – can come and go in just as lightning-fast a speed.
