F-Zero Gets Another Spiritual Successor In The Shape Of XF - eXtreme Formula

It would be nice to see F-Zero on Switch, although it would be hard to match the quality of GX without analog triggers.

Great to see projects like this, though. Fast Racing Neo has long been my GX fix when I don't want to bother hooking up the Gamecube.

Looks kind of good but my OCD:

KP/H? Kilometers per per Hour? and MP/H? Miles per per Hour?

@Damo

Spiritual successor...

You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.

"In films and television shows, spiritual successor often describes similar works by the same creator, or starring the same cast."

suggestion:

heir presumptive.

"Someone who will become an heir only if no-one with a higher-ranking claim is born."

(metaphorically speaking)

👍

@Razieluigi

i 100%ed that game many years ago, and the implementation of the analog triggers didn't occur to me once 😂

not to say, however, that they didn't affect or improve my technique and overall experience, regardless 👍

@Bunkerneath Those ships look really fast, either way. They must be doing at least 800 knots an hour!
But if all this bothers you, maybe you should go buy an RPG game instead.
If you need some cash, just enter your PIN number at the nearest ATM machine.

It's like Feperd looks for great games that sorely need a sequel, but aren't getting one, and then he takes it on himself to right that wrong. A few years ago, it was Sonic Adventure. Now, F-Zero!
What's next, Metroid Prime? (If it is, he'll probably have it finished before MP4 comes out.)

@Damo

the very next paragraph from that same wikipedia article is the one i already quoted, ill quote it again:

"In fiction, the term generally refers to a work by a creator that shares similarities to one of their earlier works, but is set in a different continuity, and features distinct characters and settings. Such works may arise when licensing issues prevent a creator from releasing a direct sequel using the same copyrighted characters and names as the original."

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_successor

your paragraph doesnt contradict mine, but mine refines yours into a more specific meaning.

okay so you dont like "heir presumptive," fine. 😋
other words that might describe a game like this are tribute, homage, stand-in, or if you're feeling less generous, clone (we used this one alot back in the DOOM days,) copy, rip off, or knock off.

see, we need the phrase "spritual successor," because it means something distinct from those words.

another phrase for "spiritual successor" is "unofficial sequel." (is this game an unofficial sequel?)

on the other hand, it's distinct from "follow up," which also has a broader meaning.

thanks for listening! 😊👍

"Now, if only Nintendo itself would get in on the act..."

Yet we know they won't, and there's a very good reason.

F-Zero doesn't sell.

As great as the games could be, the issue is how are you expected to sell a series as niche as F-Zero when you have something like Mario Kart that has a wider appeal.

On that note - Nintendo promoted F-Zero with a tie-in anime around the time when anime was a popular investment: Still didn't help with sales.

The series was a literal flop. That's why they don't go back to it because they know it would not sell - and given the futuristic aesthetic which would mean more detail to work with as opposed to a more cartoony series, it would end up being very expensive and very hard on the hardware - making it a bigger financial risk.

I mean, I give applause to Felipe - he makes quality work, but F-Zero getting any sort of resurrection, any resurrection that will end up becoming financially successful...

That's a pipe dream.

@Tobunari The F-Zero series wasn't a flop- just nowhere near as big a cash cow as Mario Kart.

I have to wonder, too, how a new F-Zero would be received today, after 20+ years of people gushing about how good GX was- and as many years of the series protagonist bringing his infamous "Falcone Pawnch!" in Smash Bros. Elements of the series have gained a lot of exposure in those two decades, though it remains to be seen if it would boost sales today.

Valid point around the graphics, though. GX was reportedly made on a fairly modest budget, but AV worked magic with that game, not to mention that topping those graphics in a Switch game now would cost more.

While there are many of us who crave a new F-Zero, some of us are a bit skeptical as to whether Nintendo could do the series justice now. Bringing the Ryu ga Gotoku team back would probably be the best bet, but this is all wishful thinking.

I remember reading Nintendo saying they aren’t making another because there’s nowhere for the series to go, aka it sounds like they can’t think of a gimmick to set it apart. I think I read that over on sister site Nintendo Life…
I think that’s crazy because look at Mario kart: it’s even got some of the same tracks and yet they keep rehashing that…
What do I know- maybe that is their actual reason for not making another FZero, I just don’t think it’s a very good one…

@smoreon When you adapt the series into an anime at the height of anime's popularity and it still doesn't help push units, I'd argue that its a flop.

As it stands now, Captain Falcon's portrayal in Smash as well as the homage tracks in Mario Kart are the only things that will see F-Zero grace in the future, because they know that's safe.

@ChromaticDracula To which we've had plenty of people just yell out "Just give it Online" as if that's the only thing that it would need to sell...

Fact is, F-Zero has a high skill ceiling, Mario Kart doesn't. It's easier to pick up and play a Mario Kart than to get good enough at F-Zero to enjoy the game.

@Tobunari Neither the anime nor its two spin-off games on the GBA did especially well, as far as I know, but GX still sold well- just not Mario Kart numbers.

I fully expect that Nintendo will keep ignoring the series (or perhaps teasing it with cameos, etc., at best) for many more years to come, but I do believe that a new F-Zero could be very successful today. If nothing else, a lot more people have a Nintendo console now than they did in 2003.
Plus, things can change over time. It's not like Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance was flying off shelves by the millions, either, but look at the series now!

@smoreon A great deal of Fire Emblem's success lies in the marketing of the series with Awakening, and in a different retrospect, making the game series easier for newer players to approach by adding a 'Casual' mode. The latter of which was deliberate as Awakening was set to be the last game in the series, and it was due to its runaway success that has led Nintendo and Intelligent Systems to continue the series.

Since then though, I'll make the argument that the series slowed down and only remains relevant in how split the camp is in the Fire Emblem fanbase that were fans prior and the fans made after Awakening, and the people who oppose the series due to Nintendo's treatment of it as a 'big-name franchise' when those same people would say that literally anything else should take its place (typically Metroid) and that the number of characters in Smash Bros takes away from potential newcomers.

F-Zero didn't have that. It was sent out, expected to sell because it had the bells and whistles that was popular at the time, and then failed to capture the magic to entice new audiences to give it a shot.

It's a flop.

If Nintendo were to make a new F-Zero today? Maybe the modern marketing would make it something to check out, but I honestly doubt the general public would fawn over it if Captain Falcon was his canonical stoic F-Zero self, instead of the showboat-y over-the-top personification of the series in his Smash Bros iteration: the one most people know him for.

@Tobunari My point is that Fire Emblem was a niche series (much more than F-Zero), but it was given more chances, and it eventually became a big success, starting with Awakening.

You do make an interesting point: Awakening appealed to a broad, casual audience by being easier and focusing more on stuff besides the actual strategy- and that was when FE's fortunes hit a turning point.

Would Nintendo have to dumb down a new F-Zero, or at least change how they market it, in order for it to succeed today? Maybe, looking at Fire Emblem's journey. On the other hand, it's not the '00s anymore. Nintendo has a huge install base this time around, and tons of passionate, hardcore fans. It's easily conceivable that there are plenty of potential buyers who are eager to either revisit the series, or to see what was so special about it- and who won't be put off by some challenge.
Not enough to generate Mario Kart sales numbers, obviously, but easily enough to be a success.

On that note... what sales figures would you consider a success, if a new F-Zero came to Switch? And what would GX have had to sell, to count as a success?

@smoreon The comparison to Fire Emblem and F-Zero boils down to despite Fire Emblem's decline, it still had games made for the series until Awakening where all the stops were made to ensure it was a success in both mechanics and marketing.

F-Zero just stopped. It hasn't had a game since GX and the series lives primarily through references and cameos. Had Awakening not been a success, Fire Emblem likely would occupy the same sort of state F-Zero currently does.

As we're aware, Nintendo has said they're interested in getting the series back on track but it would need something to stand out, but after three home consoles, two portables, nothing dealing with mobile, and the only thing keeping it around being its status as a beloved but unknown franchise to many people, I'd argue that F-Zero should it come back, would have a steep climb.

On that note, I'd still argue that regardless of the install base, not everyone who owns a Switch would be opt to pick up F-Zero: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the highest selling game on the system, I highly doubt anyone other than people who want F-Zero to return would want something like F-Zero when they have Mario Kart.

Sure, they can gather some sales, fans of Breath of the Wild likely got into Link's Awakening Switch and Skyward Sword HD, but I'm sure that some of those who bought those games regretted the decision.

...

As far as making a success, I can't argue in sales numbers. I can only argue in the fact that we haven't gotten a new F-Zero game since the GameCube days, because if the sales were successful, we would've gotten another game.

That logic might be faulty, considering such series like Metroid dealt with flops like Other M and Federation Force, but it continues primarily due to the interest of series directors Yoshio Sakamoto (Super, Other M, Dread) and Kensuke Tanabe (Prime, Federation Force) meanwhile F-Zero shows interest, but yet nothing's been done for decades.

Yeah, it's unfortunate that F-Zero has been neglected for so long, though I am glad that at least Fire Emblem and Metroid weren't left to the same fate!

So essentially, Sakamoto and Tanabe are using their clout to keep Metroid alive? (That theory holds water, as there probably aren't any influential figures advocating for F-Zero.) In any case, I can't see that the issue is specifically GX's sales, as it reportedly sold well over a million copies, landing in the top 20 on GCN- and outselling all of the Metroid games on Wii, I might add!
But it could be that the cost of developing a modern sequel is considered too high for a game that will only bring in maybe a quarter of Mario Kart's sales, at best. Why spend $10M developing that, when you could spend next to nothing and get Mario Kart 8 Deluxe?
...or maybe Miyamoto still has a chip on his shoulder. Who knows?

At the end of the day, Nintendo makes some frustrating and/or baffling decisions as to which series they develop, and when, and to what degree... "Nintendo gonna Nintendo", as they say!