Nope, they weren’t. But there were definitely differences whether you played on a Sony Trinitron or a cheap TV. Hell, I even played some games on black-white-TV when the color TV wasn’t available.

I’m currently A+ rank and have yet to get a win. I only play a few races per day usually, though. I got 2nd place in a grand prix yesterday, so maybe I’m not too far off from a win.

Getting a 2nd place in a GP now is a major achievement!

If you only race a few races per day, then you obviously want to crash out less, which is a sufficient strategy to get high placements in a GP. I’ve read that players have won GPs without having a single race win overall. In my opinion, a 2nd place in a GP is worth more than having won a race, but unfortunately you don’t get a badge for this. For many pilots who want wins, it’s “make or break” and they crash out while trying to go for first.

I started out playing as Blue Falcon, but I’ve switched to the wild goose, as it just feels easier to do well with it. I think the nature of the game having so many players, it’s beneficial to be able to freely attack them without much consequence. Especially in the Grand Prix, getting early KOs feels like a huge advantage.

Yep, the only bad thing is the randomness when depending on KOs (which is a similar problem for the Falcon when your strategy depends on perfectly timed skylanes). Also, I don’t know how it is for Goose-players, but when I get a few KOs with my Falcon I become a bit overconfident with my energy, meaning I crash out of GPs early because I risked too much.

But it sounds like you’re on a good path to get your first win, so good luck!

Some more bumper advice:

• watch out for blue bumpers in the pit lane! If a blue bumper manages to spin attack in the pit lane, your race is over. Best way is to use skyway if you have it. Otherwise defend your self with spin attack, but it will slow you down considerably
• lagging blue bumpers: if you see a blue bumper in front of you lagging, take immediate avoiding action (best is skyway). You may not see the bumper, but it is in front of you and it will attack you. it completely wrecked my race because I was attacked in the slip zone in White Land I
• if there are red bumpers in the jumping section of White Land I, consider staying on the ground. I was in first place and there were two red bumpers. I avoided the first one, but because of this I crashed into the second bumper in the air, which send me into the first bumper in the air. Yes, I managed to hit two red bumpers in the air in the same jump.

Big congrats! Your first win is also worth more because of the brutal competition nowadays!

Which track?

And next stop: Mini Prix!

If I were Nintendo, I’d announce that a successor to FZeroGX is in development. I’d also announce that FZero99 will be expanded beyond the original content. I myself don’t really care about FZeroGX, FZero99 is a childhood dream becoming true, without knowing that this was my childhood dream, so I hope that we’ll be able to play 99 for a while.

That’s great, keep on getting those 2nd places because at some point that S+ driver will crash out in the last corner driving into a red bumper. That driver might be me… I’ve gotten this way a few freak wins, but I also threw away many wins…

A good way to get your first win is team battle. S+ drivers won’t participate in those, as they want that S2 or S3 or higher ranking and team battle gives you no rivals. It’s also good way to chill out.

If you really want your first win, then practice Silence. A lot of people choke on Silence and the front runners are usually chill because the championship is decided by that point. Practice getting clean laps on Silence, meaning always hitting that jump (and avoiding the mines), and not bouncing into the barrier (touching the barrier in corners is ok). Usually 3 practice runs on Silence is enough for the Grand Prix.

Thanks for the update!

Interesting, I’m going to guess it’s 20th place at Death Wind in the Grand Prix.

Yep, pulsing the throttle is a technique you need to learn for every car, but it’s more important for the Fox and Falcon. In the Fox you want to prevent lateral skids at all times, but in the Falcon you sometimes need to induce oversteer.

So, basically all cars will get unstable if make a sharp turn when turning and pressing L/R while being on throttle. Normally you want to avoid this behaviour, but sometimes you want to use it. In the Falcon you can take very sharp turns (like the U-turns at Sand Ocean and Port Town 2) even tighter when using this technique while compromising your exit. So why would you want to do that? To avoid red bumpers. So at exit the Falcon will get unstable which can be caught by pulsing. The Goose can also use this technique, but the Falcon is better at it because of its acceleration. The Fox can’t use this technique (and doesn’t need to) because it will slam into the next wall.

Could you elaborate on why you think Blue Falcon is bad on Mute City?

So, the part of the track which is the most technical (and thus favors the Blue Falcon) is between the jump pad and the main straight. There is one problem though: Boosting through the dirt. Everyone boosts through the dirt every lap. Which forces the Falcon to also boost, taking away a strategic choice for a boost.

Which leaves only one technical corner in Mute City 1. The final corner before the main straight. Where the Falcon also loses its advantage because people don’t lift off and they normally wouldn’t make the corner. But the pack will push you onto straight and the pack will help you with acceleration for the Stingray and the Goose by pushing them.

There’s also the problem that you will end up in pack with the Falcon no matter what you do. If you keep boosting to stay at the front, others will also keep boosting thus creating a small pack at the front. Which creates sparks for those behind, who will overtake you because at some point you won’t be able to boost anymore. The Golden Fox has an advantage because of its rapid recharge rate: It can take more risky boost strategies, while the Falcon does not recover enough energy. The long pit lane also somewhat mitigates the slow recharge rate of the Stingray and Goose who have the speed advantage over the Falcon, and the Goose obviously loves living in the pack.

Thus you need perfect power management in the Falcon and you need the sky lane at the perfect moment, while you also need to be in close range to the race leaders. And sometimes even that is not enough because the races are really chaotic; you just don’t know if a Goose has KO’d multiple cars and can keep boosting through the last lap.

Also any tips on when to use the skyway, other than maybe save it for the most difficult part of the track?

If your energy bar is low or you want to save energy for a push in the last lap: Save the sky lane for the most difficult part. If you have a full energy bar, then saving the sky lane prevents you from using your normal boost. So the Golden Fox wants to use the sky lane immediately. The Goose and Stingray want to save it, so they can push with normal boosts later. The Falcon is a difficult one: You want to save the skylane strategically in Mute City, Big Blue and Port Town; at the other tracks you want to use it immediately and you should be at the front in Sand Ocean, Death Wind, Silence and White Land 1 anyway.

Yeah, same here. I always wanted a 2-player version of the original F-Zero and obviously a successor. F-Zero 99 indeed surpasses any wish, but I don’t really look at it as a battle royal game, but an over-the-top “true racing” game.

I’ve always looked at F-Zero as a “true racing” game and its name implies that it is one level above Formula 1. F-Zero is really technical and you have to find the perfect turn-in point and when to apply throttle again. Especially at master difficulty you have to find the optimal racing line while also dealing with traffic. And although you very rarely have to use the brake, lifting off is kind of like a break. This is what separates F-Zero from the original Super Mario Kart. In Mario Kart you kept the gas button pressed at all times and could make all corners.

The original Mario Kart still required technical skill though and you had to think about racing lines (especially where to start a power drift). Current Mario Kart 8 is frustrating me because there’s always something happening, like someone using their lightning. Those constant interruptions prevent you from getting into a rhythm. And I don’t want to talk about those city circuits in the expansion pass. MK8 is not a racing game, but it’s really fun with others in the same room.

F-Zero 99 is a pure racing game with some gimmicks.

Mute City and Big Blue both feel challenging to me.

It’s really weird: Sometimes I finish 30th and I still finish ahead of a S- player with 80+ wins.

I think there is some kind of matching based on tier. Last weekend I didn’t see those players with 80+ wins until I had won the Knight League. But I definitely saw level 40 players. And yeah, it’s weird, which one is the “actual level”: The level, the tier or the number of race wins?

Awesome thanks for the detailed reply! Yeah when looking at the leaderboard I did see a lot of gooses which I why I chose it. FWIW I have been doing better with the goose than the stingray, but haven’t gotten top 10 yet.

Something fishy is going on: I tried the Stingray. No preparation, no practice, just straight into a Mute City race. I won with a lead of 2 second on the first try. I have not driven the Stingray since 30 years. I drove exactly like in practice mode on the SNES.

I don’t understand this. I constantly see people struggling to keep up with the Golden Fox in the Stingray. The Stingray should just woosh by the Golden Fox without boost. So I guess they balanced the cars in a different way, I guess it has to do with boost and power management.

Was going to ask if you used d-pad or stick so thanks for touching on that! I was using d-pad on the joy-cons which seemed nice but the d-pad on the pro controller seems shitty. I have the SNES switch controller so maybe I’ll try that today.

I’m also using the pro controller. It would definitely be interesting how the SNES controller behaves. When playing old F-Zero with the pro controller’s stick, the handling is exactly like it should be.

I’m driving the Blue Falcon. I preferred it over the Fire Stingray in the original game because I thought the Stingray was boring (drive below 478 km/h and you can take every corner at full throttle).

But they changed the handling for the Falcon slightly. At first I tried using the D-Pad but something was off; so I now always use the stick, but I thought that still something was wrong. So I made a comparison of the Silence track, and yeah, that weird 180 degree turn was much much easier in the original game. The stick can’t change direction fast enough, so I now need to brake (yes, brake with the Y-button!) on Silence.

Regarding your choice (Wild Goose), it seems that S-tier drivers prefer the Wild Goose and the Golden Fox, so that’s probably the meta. I guess that could also be the reason why I think that they aren’t driving the optimal line. Also the Stingray was nerfed hard, there should be a 40 km/h difference between the Golden Fox and the Stingray, but I’m not seeing it. The Blue Falcon is faster than the Golden Fox on Death Wind, I will close in when behind a Golden Fox.

Is Master the difficulty you have to unlock? I can’t remember, so probably not. I have it unlocked though…

Yep, expert difficulty in the original game is not enough; the AI is capped at 432 km/h at expert. The new game is like playing at master difficulty.

My rating is B+ now, I usually beat 3/4 opponents. And I think I’m around level 15.

That’s okay then, it took me quite some while for my first win, I think it was B+ or A-. So don’t worry.

Regarding power management: Did you finish Port Town II in practice mode under the time limit for the achievement? You need to use boosts where you normally wouldn’t (well aside directly from the start).

And regarding the pack: I drive as if they weren’t there (while using spin attack), meaning I drive my optimal racing line and I often can clear the pack in difficulty corners fast. Well except Mute City.

Did you manage to beat the original game on master difficulty? If you beat King League on master difficulty in the Golden Fox, then you should be able to stand your ground against A-tier (or even A+).

The most problems I’ve seen by other racers:

• not timing their start correctly; push throttle shortly before GO!
• they don’t press down when jumping
• they are bad at cornering tight corners or U-turns; you should take them like in reality: From the outside to the apex. Also get off throttle and press L/R
• avoiding bumpers: You should have grown an intuition how the bumpers behave. I see people often trying to avoid them in curves unnecessarily when they will actually go out of the way
• power management: I had to learn that I have to use boost at different places than in OG F-Zero. I also need to avoid using boost when making an error (in the original you were ranked out at 4th position, so you had to get speed immediately after an error)

Where do you have the most problems? What are your best tracks? What is your rating?

It’s actually pretty recognizable, but that’s because it is Part 1 of Another Brick In The Wall, not the well known Part 2.

It is “Another Brick In The Wall Part 1”, not Part 2 which everyone knows. Curious about the choice of Part 1; I guess that Part 1 doesn’t have such a strong rhythm/groove as Part 2, thus making it easier to reconstruct?

Ah yeah. I don’t know how often I’ve seen Betelgeuze turning supernova within 30 minutes in a live stream.