Want To Guess Which Nintendo Racer Inspired WipEout?
Posted by Damien McFerran
If you said F-Zero, you're wrong
Given that Sony's famous futuristic racer WipEout features craft which float just above the track surface, it's reasonable to assume that Nintendo's F-Zero - which predates WipEout by almost five years and also contains anti-gravity racing - would have provided the main inspiration.
However, lead designer Nick Burcombe has revealed in an interview with Push Square that although a Nintendo game had a massive influence on WipEout's conception, it's not F-Zero.
Speaking about how the idea to fuse a techno soundtrack with high-speed racing occurred, Burcombe said:
I was playing the last race of the 150cc cup in Super Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo, and I’d muted the game audio so I could hear my own music. Age of Love was playing on the stereo in the background. I’d tried about ten times to beat the last race, and on this final attempt I was in second place by the time the music was about 2:10 mark. The final laps took place where the track was at 2:45 and it felt so exhilarating; it was as if the music was pushing me on into a deeper gameplay experience. I made it across the line with about a tenth of a second between me and Bowser, who was pushed into second place.
Burcombe also reveals that Super Mario Kart's combat system had a massive impact on WipEout:
The mechanics of Super Mario Kart were virtually flawless, so it was a constant source of inspiration for me. But we obviously couldn’t have banana skins and shells - we had to make it all futuristic and introduce things like electro-bolts and all that kind of sci-fi stuff.
[via pushsquare.com]
#1
Chris720 said:
It's official, Mario started everything.
#2
SirSmugleaf said:
Well that's a huge surprise. I would have bet my Wii that it was F-Zero!
#3
TwilightPoint said:
That is an awesome back story.
#4
LuigiMan200 said:
Well I'll be! It just makes you wonder where gaming would be without Mario.
#5
Shiryu said:
It's a stunning piece and deservers way more exposure than it's getting. But "F-Zero" also did his part, it was a combination of both games and "The Age of Love" as I have read in the EDGE magazine "The making of WipEout" a couple of years back. Nintendo, Wii U and "F-Zero" seem a match made in heaven, don't disappoint me again. But I do have a feeling Shin'en has something up it's sleeve too. After "Nano Assault" on the Wii U, I surely expect a "FAST League Racing" entry along the road...
#6
Hyperstar96 said:
See, Sony fans? Even further proof that your company wouldn't be what it is today without Nintendo.
#7
Donjwolf said:
WipEout is still better than Mario Kart any day though :3
#8
TruenoGT said:
Wipeout HD was one of my favorite games this generation. Absolutely addicting in single player challenges and competition online... "Just one more race!" Sad to think those times are past with their studio closing. F-Zero is great for different reasons and F-Zero X and GX are two of the all-time greats in my opinion. Another entry for Wii U would blow my mind, especially thinking about the added power of the system making for crazy races with maybe even more cars on track (50+?). At the very least having an online version for competitive (and cooperative team racing... think about 15 vs 15 or something like that!) and a way to compare top lap times would be so, so great.
#9
mieu-fire said:
erm i actually like wipout better then mario kart but f-zero is better then both of them
#10
Grodus said:
F- Mario Kart!
#11
LEGEND_MARIOID said:
Wipeout is awesome as Mario Kart is über awesome. We're lucky to have these racers in our gaming lives. I take it wipeout 3 coming out on wii u is based on the now annoying tv show?
#12
Iceberg said:
Call the president, someone copied nintendo
#13
Super-Mario-Fan said:
Cool.
#14
Hokori said:
I'm guessing.... Mach Bike
JK but on a side note, Rainbow Road > Age of Love
#15
gojiguy said:
This is a bunch of BS. They wholesale ripped off F-Zero's visual style.
#16
Cranky said:
Its cool the way he remembers his experience in so much detail.
#17
retro_player_22 said:
They basically merge both Mario Kart and F-Zero together to make WipEout.
#18
Keldeo_Sword said:
LOL
#19
Damo said:
Actually, Powerdrome predates both F-Zero AND WipEout.
#20
grimbldoo said:
What if Nintendo published the next WipEout game? How cool would that be.
#21
The_Joker said:
gojiguy, calm down and take a chill pill.
#22
Banker-Style said:
Nintendo created the Video game world.
#23
Revolution5268 said:
@grimbldoo is in that game belong to Sony?
#24
Hokori said:
Nintendo created the moon
#25
grimbldoo said:
@Revolution5268 #24
That's why it would be awesome if they could.
#26
3Dash said:
That's how many things PlayStation's copied off of Nintendo now? PSASBR from SSB, PS Move from WiiMote, now this...
#27
Mayhem said:
When I first saw Wipeout way back then, I thought it had been inspired by Powerdrome. Looks like Damien and me remember it heh...
#28
Donjwolf said:
@RyanO I haven't played a bad WipEout so any is good enough. I have 2 on PSP, 1 on PS3 and 1 on the Vita
Since you have a PSP, get WipEout Pulse and WipeOut Pure.
#29
Sony_70 said:
Dear lord some of these comments are stupid.
#30
Balaclavab said:
I played it on a friend's PSP once, i thought it was just a mixture of Mario Kart and F-Zero.