Real Talk By: Ms. Throwback

F Zero changed the racing genre of gaming in so many positive ways during it’s 1991 release to America.  This high-octane title had players rocketing at hyper-speed through dangerous and well thought out maps with the back story that billionaires in the year 2560 have nothing better to do with their money and time except entertain themselves.  The player can choose from up to one of four characters, the most popular of which would become Captain Falcon most specifically for his war cry call of “FALCON PUNCH” in the Super Smash Brother’s Series.  Notable the Super Nintendo version set the standard for future racing games of its kind and its high end graphics became a goal reaching aspect of developers all over the world,  but how does all this add up on the Wii U version?  Let’s see if it’s legit.

Graphically the port is the same as it was during it’s time on the SNES.  It bodes well on the Wii U and is a throwback to how well it ran on the Super Nintendo at the time.  The art style was never too impressive except for the design of your ship and the ships you are racing around you, helping achieve the futuristic feel that they were going for.

Concentration and skill are huge aspects of the game.  At first it might seem like you are just bouncing around on the bumpers to the side of the track pretty often.  It takes awhile to get a feel for the fact that these ships don’t steer like a car.  This wasn’t on accident.  This isn’t a car racing game with some futuristic overlay.  F Zero is a new experience, each ship that you choose it slightly different in how it reacts to the track and the player gets the feel that the ship is essentially floating above the track rather that driving directly on it.  The bumpers by the way may have been just some ploy back in the SNES times to keep things at bay, but if you’ve followed the series for any amount of time it’s something that Nintendo has kept in the game and one that makes sense.  They are a safety feature for these formula one racers and are nostalgic in their own right.

Track design is fantastic and veers from the classic left, right, S swerve, classic to racing games of the day.  Racers can branch out in multiple directions at times if they approach a giant doughnut while making sure to snatch up some extra speed on the boost pad as they wiz by.  Slowing down isn’t something you usually want to do during a racing game, but at these high speeds players are encouraged to pan off to the side and drift so they can make that next corner perfectly.  Boosting and speed takes a lot of power which is why driving over the built-in power brackets on the road is a must if you want to win the race.  If you haven’t been reading any other news lately this boost is interestingly something that is being beta tested by piezoelectric materials under busy roads currently.  Pretty cool for a game that’s going on 22 years old.

Once again this is a must own for the special .30 cent price from Nintendo.  It’s a simple classic that fun, and challenging.  The controls will take a little getting used to but I think are easier than ever to get the hang of with the analog stick on the Wii U game pad.  Picking this game up would be a fantastic idea.

Wii U F Zero Gets:

Out of Five

What’s Legit?

+Interesting and challenging gameplay

+High fun factor

+Music and visuals crisp and clear

What’s Perpetrating?

-Controls take some getting used to

Captain Falcon Needs a Spinoff Game

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