Gentlemen, start your engines

While it's a long way from being confirmed as solid fact, there seems to be an almost unstoppable momentum behind rumours that Retro Studios is working on a racing game set in the Star Fox universe.

Dubbed "Star Fox: Grand Prix", this rumoured title broke cover earlier this week, immediately triggering some hoots of derision from long-suffering F-Zero fans who were quick to point out that Nintendo already has a futuristic racing series for crying out loud and why can't it simply do another F-Zero for the love of God and all that is holy (we're paraphrasing here).

Video game historian, sleuth and occasional Nintendo Life contributor Liam Robertson has spoken up about what he has heard on the grapevine, giving us some interesting details about this mysterious title.

First up, Robertson is keen to stress that the game isn't like F-Zero; we're speculating here but it sounds like it's more akin to NGen Racing on the PlayStation, a game from the creator of Wipeout which saw players racing against one another in fighter jets. Gameplay mixes racing with classic Star Fox moments; blasting enemies will give you a speed boost and you can shoot other players, too.

Each Grand Prix consists of three tracks and boss battle, and when you're not racing you can walk around a hub area and interact with famous faces from the Star Fox series (Robertson has heard that Retro is even considering introducing characters from outside of the franchise, such as Donkey Kong). The hub also offers up new story elements and races. Finally, Robertson says that the name is subject to change and that the game could release as early as this year, although 2019 is also a possibility [Update: Robertson has since gotten in touch to say this particular comment wasn't accurate].

Now, given that this remains a rumour, all of the above information should be taken with a pinch of salt; however, Robertson's track record in this field is pretty much faultless and he has stressed that he has heard this information from several different sources, which lends some weight to it being legit.

Let us know what you think of these details by posting a comment below.

[source gonintendo.com, via resetera.com]