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After years of fans begging for a new F-Zero game, Nintendo has delivered, in the form of F-Zero 99, a battle royale 99-player game. Looking and playing similarly to the SNES F-Zero, this game lets you use cars and tracks from the original to race against tons of other players in hopes of winning. The game is out later today, and is exclusive to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers.

 

[James_]

Doesn't matter what I call it.
It is literally a new game.

I'd argue it is a 'new' game per se, just based off of the original SNES game. Like how Mario 35 and Pac-Man 99 was, they were based off the originals, and those were considered to be new.

Can’t wait for Nintendo to pull the plug in like 6 months

I'll argue it'll probably last longer than what most people are expecting - hell, Pac-Man 99 lasted 2 and a half years and Tetris 99 is still going strong after almost 5. They will still pull the plug at some point, yeah, but at least that's what fan servers are for. Plus by the time they do so they'll probably be considering making an actual new F-Zero game.

 

[DragonMals]

I didn't say anything on this thread? Well I might aswell.

While I can understand the disappointment on this game being just the SNES F-Zero but competing for first place is much more difficult due to 99 other players playing it, It's at least something. This shows to care that Nintendo at least has something to give off to F-Zero fans even if it's not a new game or anything.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of the 99 games cause I have a major skill issue. If they want to tackle the 99 games again, why not put it in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or Smash Ultimate to top the games off? lmfao

 

[Sir Tortoise]

So, how's it play?
I can't quite believe that Nintendo's online system can handle 99 players in a racing game (where it's kind of important to have as smooth experience as possible) without a bunch of stuttering and lag that would undermine the gameplay.
Still, very nice to see F-Zero get some long overdue attention.

Plays pretty well, I've seen no problems that I could detect in my brief play yesterday. I guess they decided to actually invest in the online capacity of the online game which is very nice to see.

 

[Memfis]

The 99 in the title stands for the percent of people disappointed about not getting an actual new F-Zero game, rather than what amount to a romhack, more or less.

Best comment and so true. It's a hit in the face. If it could be played a least offline against CPU.

 

[xdarkx]

To be fair, the last F-Zero game didn't sold that well nor did the F-Zero franchise in general which doesn't give Nintendo any confidence in developing a new actual game any time soon. Plus, Nintendo already have another racing franchise (ie. Mario Kart). Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold and is still selling really well on Switch. Maybe if F-Zero 99 garner a lot of interest, they might develop a new F-Zero game (or a remake/remaster of a old F-Zero game).

 

[Hanafuda]

So, how's it play?
I can't quite believe that Nintendo's online system can handle 99 players in a racing game (where it's kind of important to have as smooth experience as possible) without a bunch of stuttering and lag that would undermine the gameplay.
Still, very nice to see F-Zero get some long overdue attention.

I played it for a while last night. Enough to get through the training and a few actual "99" races. Maybe 10 or 15 actual online participants on those races, the rest cpu. And you're really only playing against a few who are ranked as your "rivals." If you beat any of them, you make more points and progress, etc.

 

[DuoForce]

Yeah we're never getting another F-Zero game. Oh well ):

 

[AnimeIsDead]

The game is out later today, and is exclusive to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers.

Yeah no..... fuck that

 

[HarveyHouston]

...Not exactly what people want, Nintendo.

 

[seseiSeki]

F-Zero 99 is almost what I wanted for a while. Thinking about Miyamoto's famous quote, that they have no clue what to do with F-Zero, my mind always went to 30 player online races and Grand Prix against real people. Would've been great, if it was based on F-Zero Climax or GP Legend, since I'm not a big fan of the original. But the addition of the newer mechanics makes it pretty good. Especially boosting with your energy. This'll definitely be a 99 game I'll actually play once in a while.
But I'm biased towards the GBA games, so I get why people who wanted a 3D F-Zero are not amused.

 

[ChronosNotashi]

I feel like this is Ninty testing the waters for the actual interest in more F-Zero, so if people don't download and play this game to show interest they will probably not make another until the next console. Just my $.02 theory.

This is pretty much what I said in another thread before. The series didn't exactly see "growing success" (each sequel seemed to sell less copies than the previous title), so there probably wasn't a huge amount of interest to begin with. F-Zero 99 could possibly be what finally convinces them that there's enough legitimate interest today to take another chance with the series.

Or it could do the opposite and kill off what little interest might be left, and people will finally stop asking for a new F-Zero game. Either works for me.

To be fair, the last F-Zero game didn't sold that well nor did the F-Zero franchise in general which doesn't give Nintendo any confidence in developing a new actual game any time soon. Plus, Nintendo already have another racing franchise (ie. Mario Kart). Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold and is still selling really well on Switch. Maybe if F-Zero 99 garner a lot of interest, they might develop a new F-Zero game (or a remake/remaster of a old F-Zero game).

Yeah, that's something I noticed when I looked into both series. Mario Kart in general seems to have had overall growths (with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in particular being a strong title, especially on the Switch), while the F-Zero series only ever saw overall declines. Didn't help that it seemed to not be very popular in Japan after the original SNES release, with GX and GP Legend sales numbers showing NA/EU copies being the bulk of those numbers.

 

[Hanafuda]

It's fun and I suck at it.

 

[StrayGuitarist]

It's okay. The battle royale experience, unlike with Tetris 99 or Mario 35, hinders the game experience rather than adding to it.

 

[MightySashiman]

Adding online 99 player multiplayer plus other supporting features to an originally local game is a hell of a mod, gotta say.

Easier when you have the full source code...

 

[User154]

Honestly, it really would have been nice to get a full fledged new f zero game, but I'll take what I can get

I've played it a bit and if you can put aside your disappointment of not getting a full new game it's actually quite a fun little game to play.

 

[KingVamp]

I actually didn't play it much, so I don't really remember, but apparently F-Zero GX is an even harder game. I wonder how they are going balance fun and difficulty moving forward.

 

[Ligeia]

OMG this is abysmal. Just when I thought Nintendo couldn't sink lower, here they go. Their next thing will be the same kind of lazy SNES hack, but with microtransactions (this one doesn't have any, right ?). The ultimate cash grab.

 

[subcon959]

put aside your disappointment of not getting a full new game

Nope, can't do that.

 

[User154]

Nope, can't do that.

Yeah it's a pretty bitter pill to swallow, but in my eyes some new f zero is better than no new f zero.