Playing this today it comes as no surprise that the F-Zero series doesn't have the same prestige that comes with many of Nintendo's other first-party IPs. That's not to say that the game is bad by any means, but it just kind of lacks a sense of personality by a pretty significant margin when compared to their other golden offspring.
There's a lot of good here - this is the fastest Nintendo game I've ever played by far, and it really does feel fast, even with how dated it now looks. Playing this game pulls you into a no-blinking-allowed trance focus state due to the insane speed you race at as well as the really short render distance that you constantly need to react to. As well, the durability/boost system is really good and adds a micro-game of risking damage vs speed based on where you'll be able to regenerate your little health bar.
But there really isn't much else here. For a game as intense as it is in intention and aesthetics - The hyper-busy box art, the outrageous guitar-shredding OST, the speedometer that often exceeds 1000km/h - it just feels really hollow once you get past the initial rush.
There's a full cast of characters, but in the actual game they're reduced to a collection of shiny polygon ships. There's plenty of courses, but none are all that memorable or interesting. But the biggest detractor for me is that there's no real objectives or story mode in sight for single player longevity other than 'come first in everything', which can become tiresome both due to the energy the game demands from you and the massive difficulty change between the game's three options.
Through a mix of those things it's not really a surprise that this game doesn't get talked about too much. It feels strange to say the game doesn't hold my attention, but at the same time, the more you look at the surface-level intensity it emanates, the more it feels like overcompensation for a game that doesn't have a lot under the hood.
There's a lot of good here - this is the fastest Nintendo game I've ever played by far, and it really does feel fast, even with how dated it now looks. Playing this game pulls you into a no-blinking-allowed trance focus state due to the insane speed you race at as well as the really short render distance that you constantly need to react to. As well, the durability/boost system is really good and adds a micro-game of risking damage vs speed based on where you'll be able to regenerate your little health bar.
But there really isn't much else here. For a game as intense as it is in intention and aesthetics - The hyper-busy box art, the outrageous guitar-shredding OST, the speedometer that often exceeds 1000km/h - it just feels really hollow once you get past the initial rush.
There's a full cast of characters, but in the actual game they're reduced to a collection of shiny polygon ships. There's plenty of courses, but none are all that memorable or interesting. But the biggest detractor for me is that there's no real objectives or story mode in sight for single player longevity other than 'come first in everything', which can become tiresome both due to the energy the game demands from you and the massive difficulty change between the game's three options.
Through a mix of those things it's not really a surprise that this game doesn't get talked about too much. It feels strange to say the game doesn't hold my attention, but at the same time, the more you look at the surface-level intensity it emanates, the more it feels like overcompensation for a game that doesn't have a lot under the hood.