For me, F-Zero was all about speed. It was never about the graphics, the somewhat annoying music, the lack of cars (sorry, hover-cars), the incredibly difficulty. It was the speed. To this day, I’m unable to quantify what it is about F-Zero that made it so fast. It’s one of the few games that really does make you think you’re going upwards of 600 km/h. Few games in this day and age give you that edge, that feeling. What is it that’s lacking about modern racing games? It’s a combination of things. It’s the super photo-realistic graphics. It’s the precise detail to the physics and engineering of each individual car. It’s the painstaking effort of cataloguing every single chicane and hairpin turn in Laguna Seca and other circuits. It’s the fact that it is completely real. To the point that, for my money, makes it boring. F-Zero doesn’t have this problem. Released in 1990 on the Super Nintendo, F-Zero offered us a racing game with a difference. Set in the 26th century, you had a rather measly choice for four cars. You’d think in the 26th century you’d get more choices. There was a set number of tracks and that was that. In terms of game modes, there was nothing revolutionary about it. In a way, racing games have little or no ability to expand on this front. F-Zero simply didn’t bother with different game modes. Whether this was a case of the limited technology available at the time or not is another story. And, frankly, if it had different game modes, it would be a different game. F-Zero‘s charm lies in its utter simplicity. You’ve got to be fast. Very fast. Stupidly fast. The graphics were, in hindsight, incredibly cartoonish. But this wasn’t a problem inherent of F-Zero. Realism wasn’t exactly a by-word of the Super Nintendo. In fact, most games sacrificed realism for gameplay. This willingness to do so is something, I feel, that’s lacking from modern video games. Ralph McQuarrie-themed cityscapes, the chirpy music coupled with the anime-alike characters meant for a game which was unlike any other racing game at the time. But where reality failed F-Zero, playability and fun won. The resolution and framerate was so high, it added to the visceral feeling of speeding along at high speed. This was thanks to a graphics system known as ‘Mode 7‘ which meant for a quasi-3D effect. That, coupled with the bumper-car action you’d get with opponents meant for fast and furious gaming. In fact, one could utilise a strategy around forcing people into the barriers and destroying them as a means to win. Not since Road Rash had this been done effectively. The only game recently that’s taken this up with any amount of success is Burnout.

Like most early SNES games, F-Zero was bundled with the console and that’s how the majority of gamers came to own this fantastic racer. There’s been three sequels to the game. None have come close to matching it for playability or addictiveness. Such was F-Zero‘s influence that when the PlayStation 2 was first created, a blatant rip-off was sold /packaged with it – WipeOut. Now, to be fair, WipeOut made a far better fist of trying to replicate the excitement of F-Zero than any of its official sequels did. And for that, it’s to be commended. You just wish Psygnosis could have done something a bit more original. That said, F-Zero stands out far more than WipeOut does. Interestingly, both games were upgraded and, in WipeOut‘s case, ported to the Nintendo 64. Unfortunately, neither did particularly well. With the Wii Virtual Console, F-Zero‘s enjoying a second-life and rightfully so. Hundreds of thousands of gamers spent many a Saturday morning trying to master the starting boost, timing it just so that you’d shoot off into an early lead. Try doing that on Gran Turismo.