Yesterday, Nintendo announced that Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack members would seeF-Zero Xcoming to the platform on Friday. While this was welcome news, the announcement ofF-Zero Xstruck fans as odd given its franchise is arguably the most overlooked in Nintendo’s catalog. Even with Captain Falcon’s recurring appearances inSuper Smash Bros., theF-Zerofranchise has not seen a new entry in almost 18 years.
As expected, the announcement thatF-Zero Xis coming to the Nintendo Switchleft long-time fans wondering if it was a herald of things to come. A pure arcade racing game would likely be a hard sell for Nintendo in today’s market where racing games that aren’tForzatend to perform poorly in comparison to other genres. If the initial reaction to Nintendo of America’s Twitter announcement showed anything, however, it was that theF-Zerofranchise still maintains a dedicated fandom after over a decade of neglect.
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Nintendo Could Revive F-Zero in a Non-Traditional Way
Despite the series' roots as a traditional racing game, beginning withF-Zeroon the SNES, Nintendo could take a massive risk and move the franchise in a different direction. Since it’s a perilous prospect to go up against titles likeForzaandGran Turismo, Nintendo could instead blend genres together to create a uniqueF-Zeroexperience. An obvious place to start would be to use a beat-‘em-up format, drawing inspiration from Captain Falcon’s success inSuper Smash Bros.,with a classic racing game. While it’s important to keep any future title primarily a racing game, it might be a nice change to offer players a chance to dispatch hoards of enemies with the iconic Falcon Punch between laps.
By virtue of the fact thatF-Zerohasn’t been revisited in well over a decade, Nintendo has a ton of wiggle room when it comes to reinventing the series. When rumors sprung up about an ultra-realistic F-Zero title that almost came to fruition, it sparked conversations about taking theF-Zerofranchise in a darker direction. Now, with Nintendo showing a little more willingness to go that route, it might be the perfect time to reviveF-Zero.
The Future of F-Zero May Depend on F-Zero X on Switch
Over the years, there has been a lot of buzz surrounding the revival of theF-Zerofranchise, and perhaps even more talk about why it has yet to happen. For what it’s worth,Captain Falcon’s creator Takaya Imamurasuggested the reason why fans haven’t seen a newF-Zerotitle is because Nintendo feels it would have to do something entirely different with the franchise in order to succeed. In essence, Nintendo is unsure whetherF-Zerocould succeed in its current form. With that in mind, the best way for Nintendo to sort through all the noise and determine whether a newF-Zerotitle could succeed would be to measure the success ofF-Zero Xon the Nintendo Switch.
Now, fans of the franchise are put in a difficult situation. At the very least,F-Zero Xwill probably have to perform on par with other major Nintendo 64 titles that are available on Nintendo Switch Online likeStar Fox 64,Paper Mario, andLegend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. If interest inF-Zero Xon the Nintendo Switch fails to surpass expectations, it’s unlikely gamers will see thelong-overdue sequel in theF-Zeroseriescome to fruition for many more years to come.
F-Zero Xis available for Nintendo 64 and releases through Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack on March 11.
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