January 26, 2007 - Nintendo is a house of franchises. Rarely does the company release a one-shot game – there's almost always a sequel, a spin-off, or a follow-up. There's almost always an attempt at establishing a new series. And so it was again in 1991. Still being pushed forward by the success of the NES, the company sought to get things started right on their new Super Nintendo by launching it with three titles. The first, Super Mario World, continued a franchise that had already established itself in the 8-bit era. The other two were attempts at bringing new IPs into the fold – Pilotwings, about the fun and freedom of flight, and F-Zero, the racer from the future.

Of the two, F-Zero certainly became more notable. Pilotwings went on to achieve some small success, having one sequel released years later – but F-Zero, well. F-Zero was exactly the kind of brand Nintendo was looking for. The company had had racing games before. The NES had seen such Big N-published racers as Excitebike and Mach Rider. But by 1991, neither of those titles had made itself into anything more – the door was still open, the position of Nintendo's premiere racing franchise still available.

F-Zero took that spot, at least temporarily. It took it with the power of a truly fresh and original scenario and style of gameplay. The world of F-Zero is the world of tomorrow – it's centuries into the future, and mankind has become bored and lethargic. The planet Earth enjoys close relations with hundreds of alien worlds, and the easy prosperity of interstellar trade has made our world's most prominent human businessmen bored, and looking for a new way to have fun. Taking inspiration from the F-1 automobile races of the past, these industrious tycoons take it upon themselves to create a new kind of high-speed competition – the F-Zero tournament.

You step into the role of one of the first F-Zero pilots. You can choose from three human contenders – Captain Falcon, Dr. Stewart or Samurai Goroh – or the alien opponent, Pico. Each driver has his own unique vehicle, a kind of high-octane hovercraft capable of reaching speeds well beyond what any traditional wheeled car could achieve. The machines are the Blue Falcon, the Golden Fox, the Fire Stingray and the Wild Goose. Each one has a unique acceleration curve and grip on the track.

You'll quickly find which of the four is the best fit for you as you wind, spin and ricochet around the game's various tracks – taking place in such locations as the futuristic metropolis Mute City, the gigantic water world Big Blue or the endless desert of Sand Ocean. F-Zero's environments were truly impressive back in the beginning of the 16-bit days. The game took advantage of an SNES-exclusive graphics-rendering technique called Mode 7 to create a sense of 3D without actually processing any polygons. Mode 7 allowed for the scaling and rotation of flat surface textures, and used skillfully it could generate immersive worlds that other companies' contemporary consoles couldn't comprehend.

Other games to make use of Mode 7 included F-Zero's launch game partners Super Mario World and Pilotwings, and also the later SNES release Super Mario Kart. The mascot-racing, shell-throwing Mario Kart series got its start just a bit later than F-Zero, and ultimately claimed that position of being Nintendo's premiere racing franchise. But F-Zero has persisted over the years, its gameplay different enough that it and Mario's wacky races haven't ever stepped on each other's toes. The F-Zero series went on to add many more drivers, true 3D tracks and an even more insane sense of speed in its N64 and GameCube follow-ups – but its first game set the bar. This first SNES F-Zero is still a lot of fun to play, as you skid through the healing pit stop zones, bounce wildly off the track-bordering walls of flame and use your saved-up speed boosts to rocket past the competition right at the last second. Nintendo had another winner with F-Zero – another franchise coming into the fold.

Closing Comments
This game is all we American gamers ever got of F-Zero on the Super NES, though a 16-bit sequel was in development at one point and ultimately became part of the Japan-only Satellaview broadcast network. It would be great to see that unreleased-in-the-States follow-up, which was called BS F-Zero Grand Prix, finally debut on domestic shores. So show some love, racing fans, and support this release – let Nintendo know there's an audience, and maybe some previously unseen gems will eventually turn up.

Rating	Description
out of 10	click here for ratings guide
7.0	Presentation Welcome to the world of tomorrow! F-Zero doesn't have much plot to speak of, but it introduced Nintendo fans to an all-new universe of futuristic worlds.
8.0	Graphics Mode 7's first great showcase title – the scaling and rotating effects used to generate F-Zero's visuals were a huge achievement in the early '90s.
8.0	Sound A rocking soundtrack, the inspirational basis for the even more rocking soundtracks heard in later F-Zero titles.
7.5	Gameplay Fast and unique racing action that inspired countless other games to came later, including the Wipeout series and Daytona USA.
7.0	Lasting Appeal F-Zero is single-player only, which is kind of a drag. It wouldn't be until Super Mario Kart that Nintendo started having a multiplayer focus.
7.5 Good	OVERALL (out of 10 / not an average)