The futuristic racing video game series known as F-Zero has been away for quite a while. It’s been long enough that fans have been wondering if Nintendo had forgotten about the franchise altogether. However, Nintendo finally decided to toss F-Zero fans a bone and released F-Zero 99, which is free for all Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. This long-awaited entry takes the original F-Zero from the SNES era and transforms it into a 99-player battle royale. Is it the sequel fans have been craving for years, or does it feel like a cop out to shut fans up after they’ve been relentlessly asking for it?

The Good

First off, the game is very fun. Anyone who has played the original F-Zero would know this and immediately be familiar with how well it plays. The controls are tight and the high-speeds are exhilarating. For this version of it, they’ve added new mechanics like spin attacks and an extra boost that takes players on the sky way that make the classic gameplay feel fresh and more fleshed out. The blend of classic gameplay with some updated mechanics makes this an incredibly fun game.

There’s a variety of different game modes, from a standard 99-player race to team matches, and even full Grand Prix. This prevents the game from feeling too stale, which is nice since the matches are on the shorter side. Each mode also offers their own twist on the gameplay that is just plain fun. None of them feel like they’re lacking.

Like most other battle royale games, there’s a slew of unlockable cosmetics. Players can change the colors of each of their vehicles, their boost colors, and player badges. It’s quite rewarding to earn these cosmetics over time and show off your winnings to online opponents, as well as turning the classic F-Zero Machines into something of your very own.

This may be minor, but the menus are very simple to use. There are a lot of modern games that have way too much going on in their menus and overcomplicate things. These simple menus don’t feel like too much to look at and allow any level of gamer to understand what they’re doing in them. It also makes jumping into a match much quicker.

The Bad

Despite there being multiple online modes, the goal is ultimately the same, and the gameplay can feel too repetitive as a result. It’s still fun and the various game modes help with it, but the repetitiveness will cause it to grow boring-enough that it’ll lead to shorter play sessions.

While it is quite entertaining seeing 99 players shoved into an F-Zero course all ramming into each other and slamming off of barriers, it does make it a bit too chaotic to play seriously or competitively like other battle royale games. The chaos is a lot of fun and can be surprisingly humorous, but it makes fighting for the leaderboard essentially pointless.

While playing, it’s hard not to think about how fans got this instead of a full, modern F-Zero game. It’s still definitely fun and absolutely worth playing, but it feels like an afterthought. “Oh yeah, people are asking for this series so let’s give them the easiest thing we can throw out there.” It also makes one want to go back and play the SNES classic. 

Conclusion

F-Zero 99 is not quite the game that F-Zero fans have wanted, and there are some light-yet-noticeable flaws, but it is a lot of fun. It’s a great game for someone looking to jump into a couple of quick matches and offers exhilarating competitive gameplay. Customizing your Machine and your profile card is also rather enjoyable. The game being free for folks who already have an online membership also makes it easy to overlook some of the minor issues. It’s exciting, chaotic, and just enough to scratch the itch that F-Zero fans have had for years. Hopefully if this game gains enough popularity, Nintendo will see that fans want a new entry in the series and actually develop one. 

Rating: 7.5/10

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