Super Nintendo Entertainment System F-Zero (USA)
3F-Zero (エフゼロ, Efu Zero?) is a futuristic racing video game developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The game was released in Japan on November 21, 1990, in North America on August 23, 1991,[cn 1] and in Europe on June 4, 1992. F-Zero is the first game of the F-Zero series and was one of the two launch titles for the SNES in Japan, but was accompanied by additional initial titles in North America and Europe. In late 2006, F-Zero became available for the Virtual Console service on the Wii and in early 2013 for the Wii U.
The game takes place in the year 2560, where multi-billionaires with lethargic lifestyles created a new form of entertainment based on the Formula One races called "F-Zero". The player can choose between one of four characters in the game, each with their respective hovercars.[12] The player then can race against computer controlled characters in fifteen tracks divided into three leagues.[13]
F-Zero is acknowledged by critics to be the game that set a standard for the racing genre and the creation of the futuristic sub-genre. Critics lauded F-Zero for its fast and challenging gameplay, variety of tracks, and extensive use of the graphical mode called "Mode 7". This graphics-rendering technique was an innovative technological achievement at the time that made racing games more realistic, the first of which was F-Zero. As a result, the title reinvigorated the genre and inspired the future creation of numerous racing games. In retrospective reviews of the game critics agreed that it should have used a multiplayer mode. F-Zero became part of the Player's Choice line by selling at least a million copies.
Gameplay
Mode 7 allows the track to be scaled and rotated around the vehicle to simulate a 3D environment.[14][15]F-Zero is a futuristic racing game where pilots race inside plasma-powered hovercars in an intergalactic Grand Prix at speeds exceeding 500 km/h. There are four F-Zero characters that have their own selectable vehicle along with its unique performance abilities.[12] The objective of the game is to beat opponents to the finish line while avoiding hazards such as slip zones and magnets that pull the vehicle off-center in an effort to make the player damage their vehicle or fall completely off the track. Each machine has a power meter, which serves as a measurement of the machine's durability; it decreases when the machine collides with land mines, the side of the track or another vehicle.[13] Energy can be replenished by driving over pit areas placed near the home straight or nearby.[16]
A race in F-Zero consists of five laps around the track. The player must complete each lap in a successively higher place to avoid disqualification from the race. For each lap completed, the player is rewarded with an approximate four-second speed boost called the "Super Jet" and a number of points determined by place. An on-screen display will be shaded green to indicate that a boost can be used, however the player is limited to saving up to three at a time. If a certain amount of points are accumulated, an extra "spare machine" is acquired that gives the player another chance to retry the course.[13] Tracks may feature two methods for temporarily boosting speeds; jump plates launch vehicles into the air thus providing additional acceleration for those not at full speed and dash zones greatly increases the racer's speed on the ground.[16] F-Zero includes two modes of play. In the Grand Prix mode, the player chooses a league and races against other vehicles through each track in that league while avoiding disqualification. The Practice mode allows the player to practice seven of the courses from the Grand Prix mode.[13]
F-Zero has a total of fifteen tracks divided into three leagues: Knight, Queen, and King. Difficulty is determined by the league selected and difficulty level chosen. The game has three initial difficulty levels: beginner, standard, and expert.[13] The master difficulty level is available for a given league once that league on the expert class is completed.[17] The multiple courses of Death Wind, Port Town, and Red Canyon have a pathway that is not accessible unless the player is on another iteration of those tracks, which then in turn closes the path previously available. Unlike most F-Zero games, there are three iterations of Mute City that shows it in either a day, evening, or night setting. In BS F-Zero 2, Mute City IV continued the