Well. Guess this dropped, huh? F-zero fans eating.... okay? decently? It's something?
(forewarning: im quite the f-zero fan that has pretty much done everything there is to do in the series. I've played all the games, seen the entirety of the shitty kids anime that gets kinda good near the end, etc etc etc)
The concept of taking F-zero and putting it into a battle royale isn't bad at all. The games have already had quite a death-race battle-royale style vibe to them since the beginning, seeing as there are tons of racers on a track and murder is a viable option to success, so bringing it online with dozens of other real humans sounds like a no-brainer, and the "grand new idea" that the series apparently needed to get a new game, supposedly.
Though when I heard the rumors that F-zero 99 was reportedly going to be a thing, and given nintendo's current track record with how they handled battle royale games, I definitely was thinking of the monkey's paw.
And well well well lookee what we got.
It's kinda obvious to see why certain series fans can be frustrated by this release, given both how predictable and sterile it is and how this is the culmination of a 20-something year old wait for something, anything new outside of various smash appearances, some blue falcon cameos, and a jank Nintendo Land minigame.
Putting those frustrations aside for a minute, what we ended up getting is honestly pretty alright. Of what I can tell all the content from the SNES game is here, presented in full HD widescreen goodness. The controls are a bit different this time around, as this marks the first time a mode-7 style F-zero game can be played with an analogue control stick, and as such the cornering feels noticeably different from the snappy stop-and-go twitch controls of the original SNES game. Add the boost-from-health mechanic and spin attack taken from the later games, and the game honestly feels more like the GBA F-zeros than a straight port of the SNES one.
The battle royale style of gameplay is great in concept but the execution is a bit hmm. Of the many rounds I played, I found that sitting in the upper-middle of the pack to collect the weird meter-building dots and using the super boost to snipe the last lap at the very end pretty much guaranteed a spot in the top 10 every time. With all the shit flying around everywhere, using boost never really seems very worth it, as even in first place the game throws enough bogus AI obstacles and dead players trying to bump into you where there's never really a moment where the whole track is clear to safely use boost. Once I figured out that sort of game plan, it really wasn't that hard to consistently get Ws.
One cool thing about the game is the grand prix system where things become more endurance-based as players are graded upon their performances in multiple races in a row. It's really cool to see the numbers whittle down over time as your opponents either get ranked out or just end up exploding throughout the races, and it provides a good sense of tension to clutch out wins in those events. Only problem is most events like that are not only time limited but also have some dumb mobile game-ass in-game currency that needs to be spent in order to actually participate. Considering the fact that both Tetris and Pac-man 99 had a bunch of microtransactions/DLC that needs to be bought I can imagine they will try to do the same here, and that's never really my kind of vibe.
I don't think this game was low-effort, as the various control differences, visual improvements, and gamemodes lead me to believe that this is made from the ground up rather than having the sort of romhacky feel that the mario and pac man battle royale games did. If they made this game look more visually distinct (whether that be actually having done 3D or even just going for a more modernized pixel look a-la the GBA games), brought in new tracks and a variety of racers from the series to use instead of only the four original machines (hell, the SATELLAVIEW GAMES even gave new characters to race as for pete's sake!) then I feel like the reception to this would have been a little more warm. With how they basically needed to make this game from scratch in the first place, it probably wouldn't have had to have been that much more effort to make it look and feel fresh. It's Nintendo's strange insistence that this game HAD to be a "throwback" title, limited to only the same content that was originally there with little to no additions, that holds this game back. And for some reason, Nintendo seems to treat most of their back catalogue the same way.
All in all, it's fine. I didn't really hate it as much as I thought I was going to, but things get stale pretty quickly. Considering the fact that with the previous Battle Royale games that Nintendo has put out I play them at launch day, win a few rounds, and then call it a day, I am more than sure that's what's also going to happen with this. And seeing as Pac-man 99 is going to get shut down soon, I wouldn't be surprised if this shares the same fate in about a year or so down the line. If you are a fan of battle royale games or racers, you might as well give it a shot. It is free, after all.
The long-running gag of F-zero fans being starved of new games ended today, and on a rather flat note. We have our new game, guys. See you in another 19 years, I guess.
(forewarning: im quite the f-zero fan that has pretty much done everything there is to do in the series. I've played all the games, seen the entirety of the shitty kids anime that gets kinda good near the end, etc etc etc)
The concept of taking F-zero and putting it into a battle royale isn't bad at all. The games have already had quite a death-race battle-royale style vibe to them since the beginning, seeing as there are tons of racers on a track and murder is a viable option to success, so bringing it online with dozens of other real humans sounds like a no-brainer, and the "grand new idea" that the series apparently needed to get a new game, supposedly.
Though when I heard the rumors that F-zero 99 was reportedly going to be a thing, and given nintendo's current track record with how they handled battle royale games, I definitely was thinking of the monkey's paw.
And well well well lookee what we got.
It's kinda obvious to see why certain series fans can be frustrated by this release, given both how predictable and sterile it is and how this is the culmination of a 20-something year old wait for something, anything new outside of various smash appearances, some blue falcon cameos, and a jank Nintendo Land minigame.
Putting those frustrations aside for a minute, what we ended up getting is honestly pretty alright. Of what I can tell all the content from the SNES game is here, presented in full HD widescreen goodness. The controls are a bit different this time around, as this marks the first time a mode-7 style F-zero game can be played with an analogue control stick, and as such the cornering feels noticeably different from the snappy stop-and-go twitch controls of the original SNES game. Add the boost-from-health mechanic and spin attack taken from the later games, and the game honestly feels more like the GBA F-zeros than a straight port of the SNES one.
The battle royale style of gameplay is great in concept but the execution is a bit hmm. Of the many rounds I played, I found that sitting in the upper-middle of the pack to collect the weird meter-building dots and using the super boost to snipe the last lap at the very end pretty much guaranteed a spot in the top 10 every time. With all the shit flying around everywhere, using boost never really seems very worth it, as even in first place the game throws enough bogus AI obstacles and dead players trying to bump into you where there's never really a moment where the whole track is clear to safely use boost. Once I figured out that sort of game plan, it really wasn't that hard to consistently get Ws.
One cool thing about the game is the grand prix system where things become more endurance-based as players are graded upon their performances in multiple races in a row. It's really cool to see the numbers whittle down over time as your opponents either get ranked out or just end up exploding throughout the races, and it provides a good sense of tension to clutch out wins in those events. Only problem is most events like that are not only time limited but also have some dumb mobile game-ass in-game currency that needs to be spent in order to actually participate. Considering the fact that both Tetris and Pac-man 99 had a bunch of microtransactions/DLC that needs to be bought I can imagine they will try to do the same here, and that's never really my kind of vibe.
I don't think this game was low-effort, as the various control differences, visual improvements, and gamemodes lead me to believe that this is made from the ground up rather than having the sort of romhacky feel that the mario and pac man battle royale games did. If they made this game look more visually distinct (whether that be actually having done 3D or even just going for a more modernized pixel look a-la the GBA games), brought in new tracks and a variety of racers from the series to use instead of only the four original machines (hell, the SATELLAVIEW GAMES even gave new characters to race as for pete's sake!) then I feel like the reception to this would have been a little more warm. With how they basically needed to make this game from scratch in the first place, it probably wouldn't have had to have been that much more effort to make it look and feel fresh. It's Nintendo's strange insistence that this game HAD to be a "throwback" title, limited to only the same content that was originally there with little to no additions, that holds this game back. And for some reason, Nintendo seems to treat most of their back catalogue the same way.
All in all, it's fine. I didn't really hate it as much as I thought I was going to, but things get stale pretty quickly. Considering the fact that with the previous Battle Royale games that Nintendo has put out I play them at launch day, win a few rounds, and then call it a day, I am more than sure that's what's also going to happen with this. And seeing as Pac-man 99 is going to get shut down soon, I wouldn't be surprised if this shares the same fate in about a year or so down the line. If you are a fan of battle royale games or racers, you might as well give it a shot. It is free, after all.
The long-running gag of F-zero fans being starved of new games ended today, and on a rather flat note. We have our new game, guys. See you in another 19 years, I guess.
4 Comments
ya'll f-zero fans better populate this game to death so suits at nintendo could look into the powerpoint slide on the big screen and say "yeah this series deserves a new game", clearly the biggest trial of all time...
Something a lot of the backlash isn't taking into consideration is the fact this was developed by Nintendo Software Technology, making it unlikely to have diverted any real resources from a potential "real" F-Zero title. 99 is surprisingly full of heart and careful consideration, but my gut feeling on this one is that they're already preparing to launch a remaster of GX that features online, and there's some purposeful obfuscation to garner goodwill once that comes out of the shadows. The purpose of F-Zero 99 is threefold: increase subscriptions to their online service, introduce F-Zero to a wider audience who are put off by trying to engage with older styles of gameplay interaction (i.e. the more self-motivated arcade-y structure of the original and X), and to really hammer in that "return to form" for the most dedicated of fans in the lead up to GX. I think many would consider that overly optimistic, but I'm not really an F-Zero fan per se, it's just something Nintendo has been cynical enough to do in the past and has always felt quite deliberate in retrospect.
I don't really think this game even was "taking development" from other titles, much less another F-zero game...
I'd much rather see a wholly original F-zero game with new tracks n mechanics n whatnot over even a port of GX, if there's one thing ive garnered from the direct today it's that I'm kinda getting tired of seeing rereleases everywhere. I want something new!
I feel like the longevity of the game just depends on the playerbase. I obviously can't speak for everyone, but personally the whole timed-event mobile-gamey progress mechanics kinda turn me away from really wanting to engage in it long-term. Maybe if they update it to add new courses or machines to use I could see myself coming back to it, but I already feel like I've seen all that I need to see, and it's only day one. I don't know how many other people feel the same.
As for whether or not this game is some sort of market test/expanding the audience thing is entirely beyond me. If it is part of some bigger plan to bring the IP back, then cool, but I try not to read too deeply into things. This could just as much be a one-off thing.
I'd much rather see a wholly original F-zero game with new tracks n mechanics n whatnot over even a port of GX, if there's one thing ive garnered from the direct today it's that I'm kinda getting tired of seeing rereleases everywhere. I want something new!
I feel like the longevity of the game just depends on the playerbase. I obviously can't speak for everyone, but personally the whole timed-event mobile-gamey progress mechanics kinda turn me away from really wanting to engage in it long-term. Maybe if they update it to add new courses or machines to use I could see myself coming back to it, but I already feel like I've seen all that I need to see, and it's only day one. I don't know how many other people feel the same.
As for whether or not this game is some sort of market test/expanding the audience thing is entirely beyond me. If it is part of some bigger plan to bring the IP back, then cool, but I try not to read too deeply into things. This could just as much be a one-off thing.
bunyn
7 months ago