F-1 Race (Game Boy) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
432A playthrough of Nintendo's 1991 racing game for the Nintendo Game Boy, F-1 Race.
F-1 Race was heavily promoted game that came out fairly early in the Game Boy's life cycle, and was mainly known for being the game that introduced four-player gameplay to the handheld. It came bundled with the "Game Boy Four Player Adapter," and though I don't think it was particularly popular, it was a cool innovation.
The game itself was a pseudo-sequel to the 1984 Famicom game F1 Race, an early console take on the gameplay pioneered by Namco's arcade racer Pole Position.
Like many of Nintendo's early Game Boy games (like Golf, Baseball, and Tennis), it's a fair improvement over the original in spite of its low resolution monochromatic graphics. Compared to its then seven-year-old console counterpart, it's smoother with more detailed graphics and it now features in-game music. (But what is up with the background spinning so fast relative to the position of the car?)
The gameplay feels comfortably familiar. If you're familiar with Rad Racer, you've already got a clear idea of how F-1 Race plays. You get your choice of two cars - one that emphasizes handling and another that emphasizes speed - and the racing controls are as simple as it gets: you have a button to accelerate, one to brake, and you can hold the up button at anytime to use your turbocharger. The key to winning here is to learn the speeds that you can take corners at. You can't just hold down the gas and expect to win, and as simple as the gameplay is, it is far from easy.
That's the source of F-1 Race's appeal, though. Like many early console games, the game's longevity is based on the amount of time it takes to master its nuances - a point that's underscored by the inclusion of the 4-player adapter. That being said, there are eight races included here (the Famicom game had five), and there is an actual ending for people not satisfied with merely improving on their previous best times.
There are also some fun cameos by Nintendo characters between races. It's pretty neat to see Link and Samus cheering you on from the sidelines.
F-1 Race is a great throwback to the early days of arcade racing games, and it's an excellent fit for the Game Boy. HAL did a great job on the conversion, and it's well worth checking out if you were a fan of NES-era racers.
*Recorded using Retroarch's DMG shader to mimic the look of the original hardware.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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