While we're sure there are plenty of you reading this who would love to see a juicy F-Zero reveal or two during tomorrow's Nintendo E3 Direct, chances are you might have to settle for this little slice of retro news instead.
One of our lovely readers has brought this long-lost F-Zero webcomic to our attention. Previously available at www.fzerox.com (which now just redirects to Nintendo's main site), the website was said to be constructed in comic strip style, telling the story behind F-Zero's races. Sadly, as the site is no longer accessible and there doesn't seem to be any trace of the comic left online, all we have to go on is this N64 Magazine article below.
The article tells readers to visit both the F-Zero site and a less-flashy Zelda site, and gives us a quick glimpse at just some of the comic pages.
A few months ago, Reddit user Siontix shared everything they knew about this comic. They believe it was created by Nintendo of America in around 1998, with the website running on Flash (hence why it is now impossible to track down any of its pages). They say that the site "featured a 'Comic Cantina' where you could view a weekly webcomic involving the F-Zero Academy run by Super Arrow".
Siontix goes on to explain that the magazine page shown above is the only remaining trace of the comic that they could find, too. Interestingly, all of the people they asked about the comic could only remember the pages shown above, if any, prompting the thought that it might not have ever been posted weekly at all. Perhaps it never made it to (online) print, despite the adverts going out in the magazine?
Do you have any memory of this webcomic? Maybe someone out there can help to shed some more light on it? Let us know in the comments below.
[source reddit.com]
Comments 20
How dare you show Fzero around E3!
We won't be lost without it. We know it
Ugh, stupid Wayback Machine keeps going to Nintendo main!
Yeah, I read it one afternoon, but remember next to nothing. The comics I remember are the Nintendo Power ones (Super Mario World, Link to the Past, Metroid, and Starfox.... also Nester and Howard and Nester.)
Has anyone tried using the Internet Archive to view this? That might help.
@astrofan1993 The site used Flash, so it doesn't work.
34 dead? Oh so sorry, must have been one of the races I was in. :x
@astrofan1993 I got Flash to work but it just loops on the main page.
That looks like the old NOM font - am I right
(I need to get out more...)
Don’t call N64 Magazine ‘a magazine’! For those in the know it was the magazine. 59 issues of utter gold.
Oh well. Worth a shot.
@Shiryu Hey, how are you putting gifs in your posts? I have been wondering for the longest time how people do that.
Long forgotten......Yup, that describes the F-Zero franchise in a nutshell.
@Dpullam The IMG tag. This is a bit uotdated, but most of it is still valid: https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/help/helpful_tips_for_formatting_messages
I love that the guy asserts it's impossible that the clearly dead person died that day.
@RupeeClock Maybe he thought it was just a costume or something. I can't remember any of the comics.
And no, unless someone remembers or has text archival of the URL's, I have tried every snap around 1997-1999 and can't find it through Wayback Machine.
|sf>If you had been asking for any kind of Gamecube Animal Crossing pictures from the NA Nintendo Animal Crossing web page (and even some pictures from the Japanese Animal Crossing web pages), the checklists from the eReader Animal Crossing sets, the reward pictures that Nintendo gave out, or many of the original Red/Blue Pokemon art pictures from those Nintendo web pages (or the eReader Pokemon checklists), I kept copies of those bits for my personal browsing enjoyment. (It involved an insane amount of downloading and screen captures. I grabbed the Pokemon art to suppliment two official PC Pokemon art programs based on Red & Blue.)
Unfortunately, I didn't know about the F-Zero comics.
|sf>I did save the place-holder banner that Nintendolife created for the 3DS Animal Crossing game (with the cute cherry blossoms) prior to the official 3DS cover. (I recall using it as a bookmark for one of the Animal Crossing clue books once upon a time.) The file date reads June 2, 2012.
Please Nintendo. F-Zero HD with online ... of course we want more (like tons of Story and RPG content, different endings, Quests (hey there is unlimited ideas for DLC$£)), but that would satisfy for a little while. Please.
F-Zero Switch confirmed.
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