F-Zero is a 1990 racing game developed by Nintendo EAD for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It is set in the year 2560, when multi-billionaires with lethargic lifestyles create "F-Zero", a new form of entertainment based on the Formula One races. The player races one of four characters in a hovercar against computer-controlled characters across 15 tracks. F-Zero is played from a third-person view and uses Mode 7, a SNES graphics mode that allows a raster graphical plane to be rotated and scaled freely, to simulate 3D computer graphics.
Development began in 1989 and lasted a year and a half. F-Zero was one of Nintendo's first games developed in-house.
F-Zero was released in Japan in November 1990 and in North America in August 1991 as one of the SNES's launch games.
Retrospectively, F-Zero is credited for setting the standard for the racing genre and originating the futuristic racing subgenre.
Gameplay
editDevelopment
editF-Zero was developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development as one of Japanese video game company Nintendo's first games developed in-house.
A total of nine people worked on F-Zero, including director Kazunobu Shimizu, programmer Yasunari Nishida, designer Takaya Imamura, and producer Shigeru Miyamoto.
F-Zero's development was instigated in 1989, when Shimizu presented a sequel to the Family Computer Disk System racing game Famicom Grand Prix: F1 Race (1987) to Nintendo of America staff. The staff "totally bashed it" and said it would not sell well in the American market because it was not cool enough for a racing game; an angered Shimizu vowed to "make something really cool" in response.
Shimizu's Nintendo of America visit coincided with the release of the 1989 Batman film directed by Tim Burton, and Shimizu purchased numerous Batman comic books before returning to Japan.
Release
editReception
edit- https://archive.org/details/ace-magazine-46/page/n69/mode/2up
- https://archive.org/details/Superplay_Gold_1993_Future_Publishing_GB/page/n33/mode/2up
- https://ew.com/article/1991/09/27/latest-video-games/
- https://retrocdn.net/images/d/dd/CVG_UK_150.pdf#page=113
- https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Gaming_Monthly_25/page/n19/mode/2up (p. 20)
- https://archive.org/details/bi-weekly-famitsu-no.-115-november-23rd-1990/Bi-Weekly%20Famitsu%20-%20No.%20115%20November%2023rd%2C%201990%20%28Compressed%29/page/n10/mode/1up?view=theater (maybe?)
- https://archive.org/details/Total_Issue_005_1992-05_Future_Publishing_GB/page/n17/mode/2up
- https://archive.org/details/game-zone-01/page/98/mode/2up?q=f+zero