F-Zero GX Producer Toshihiro Nagoshi "Wouldn't Mind" Working On Nintendo's Futuristic Racing Series Again

It's a fair assessment and makes sense why Nintendo hasn't revisited the series. On the flip, the marketed Fast RMX to death when switch released... 🤷‍♂️

Yup, just make it happen. And make Samus a racer too.

I wish Nintendo would just bring GX out of the vault, update the visuals (it still looks gorgeous, even by today’s standards), and maybe add some online play. Would I rather have a brand new F-Zero? Yes, especially with Nagoshi onboard. However, if they don’t want to fund a brand new one, giving us GX Deluxe could at least gauge interest in a new entry.

@Abes3 seeing how much they pumped it on launch I was surprised there wasn't any unlockable blue falcon

Yes, because GX wasn't challenging at all... O.O;;;

Nintendo stop focusing only in your big franchise AAA like Legend of Zelda, Mario and Pokémon, and start focusing in your AA, B franchises.

Inject it into my veins.

There's no logic in comparing F-Zero with Mario Kart.

It would be like Square Enix sidelining Dragon Quest because they have Final Fantasy; despite genre similarities their appeal is far more broad.

@drewtoo26 It’s amazing how many great series we’d gain access to if there was an N64 or Cube app. Obviously the Cube one would be far too large size-wise and would be unfeasible but N64 is definitely doable.

@nessisonett I agree completely. N64 (and the Game Boy line) is absolutely doable. That’s why I vote for a remaster of GX, because it would at least give Nintendo an idea of interest in the series without funding a new one.

@giancarlothomaz I want a new Advance Wars and Wario Land...

@Zadaris well said.

F-Zero Online. I can dream at least.

Damn! Never knew how thicc Falcon is~ 💦

I want a new F-Zero, but I know it either won't happen or won't feel the same, considering how long it's been. I'm okay with the series being at rest, though hope springs eternal.

I don't understand why having different difficulty levels has become so taboo. Why a game being accessible somehow means easy.

I flat do not agree with this idea that games should be hard. There should be the option to set the difficulty to a level the player enjoys. Because that's why we play games, to have fun.

I don't want to play a game that feels like a chore or a job.

Please do it!!! I’ve been waiting 3 console generations for a futuristic racer that’s at least in the levels of the greatness of GX.

Nintendo, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel with some franchises. Just give us more!

It's funny, but I wouldn't mind him working on a new F-Zero too! Lol

Nintendo are just greedy and won't make a game unless they know it will sell 1,000,000+ units.

@durr Well these things aren't exactly free to make, plus the investors would need to be confident they would be able to turn a profit with the game. With the popularity of the Switch I could definitely see it being a profitable game but Nintendo might not see it that way...

I'd buy a new F-Zero, as long as it's not bare bones.

"But it would have to be a challenging game"
F-Zero: Souls

It's sad to know that F-Zero had like over 40 characters in the series and still only two (Captian Falcon and Samurai Goroh) had appeared in Smash Bros. Nintendo couldn't even get Black Shadow or Deathborn as boss character in the game.

@Heavyarms55 @Darlinfan
I think you both make reasonable points, but I’d say games should always seek to fulfill the creator’s vision. If they want to make a hard game then it should be a hard game.

HAVING SAID THAT, there is zero reason a racer can’t have multiple difficulty settings. There’s just no reason. Some games don’t cater well to difficulty settings, and for those games I can understand if the developer decides to not include multiple difficulties. But for a racer, there is no excuse to not include multiple difficulties. Different gamers have different levels of skill and there’s no logic in excluding some of them just for the sake of saying “we don’t have to cater to you- go play Mario Kart”. That doesn’t make sense to me.

I think it makes total sense to have two racers that appeal to the same general audience, because people tend to not want to play just one game their entire lives. Of course, I think it would be better to appeal to a different audience which is why I personally think a more difficult F-Zero in line with GX would be the best option. But, even as a diehard GX fan, I have to admit the game was brutal. Having a few difficulties wouldn’t take away from anyone else’s experience, and would only allow more people who are genuinely interested and want to enjoy the game to be able to do so. Win win.

@Darlinfan Basically it had to be a best seller for Nintendo to care to revive it. F-Zero alongside Metroid, Fatal Frame, and Golden Sun were a few IPs that didn't sell enough to warrant a revival. I fear Metroid Prime 4 may be the last straw for the Metroid series. If that one flop, Nintendo may probably leave Metroid behind for good and their lack of Metroid offerings proved that. They didn't offer any Metroid games for fans while Prime 4 is in development, they made Samus Return just to buried AMSR, and not a single new Metroid game were released for the Wii U.

Let’s start with just rereleasing the damn series. They haven’t even even done that much!

there is zero reason a racer can’t have multiple difficulty settings. There’s just no reason. Some games don’t cater well to difficulty settings, and for those games I can understand if the developer decides to not include multiple difficulties.

@JaxonH But how would you implement the "easier" settings? Change the physics? The tracks? I'm not sure what that looks like.

@COVIDberry Yeah exactly, in F-Zero GX you’re fighting the track probably just as much as the other racers. Even making their AI worse still means you have to stick your jumps and handle the car going that crazy speed. Difficulty options would be tough.

This was my most-played gamecube game. I would love a sequel or at least a re-release! I love all the goofy racer characters, and wish they made some more cameos! My icon is from this game

That caveat echoes Miyamoto-dono. In other words they feel that F-Zero peaked. And the market (not the loud fans) can’t sustain F-Zero. It certainly won’t sell MK numbers.

Everyone knows the F-Zero fanbase is a long suffering people. This article seems like it was written to taunt them.

Personally, it's not my favorite, but I'd certainly keep an open mind if they did make a new one. And sure, it won't move units like a game with Mario in the title. But it seems like Nintendo should have more second tier games. Not everything needs to be a huge production like Mario or Zelda.

STOP TEASING US! sobs uncontrollably

Unlikely given Miyamoto's comments here: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/11/miyamoto_puzzled_as_to_why_anyone_would_want_a_new_f_zero

I don't know why ONLINE PLAY wouldn't be "different" enough for him. And same with 1080 or Kirby Air Ride which I'd also like to see return! They don't have to reinvent the wheel. Mario Kart generally doesn't.

Let's put it straight. We love F-Zero, but could anyone name at least 10 things, new
potential F-Zero may offer on Switch that Fast RMX didn't. In my opinion, Fast RMX is different, but still a very close experience. And the fact that online in that fantastic game is almost dead is a sad sign for the current gen F-Zero chances.

It sounds like to me it won't happen!

@Darlinfan I don't agree with you. At all. And I never will. There is no reason a game cannot have different difficult settings. A well designed game is something that, baring a person with disabilities, anyone should be able to learn to play. And things can be designed to allow different difficulties without interfering with the base concepts and designs of a game.

There's nothing you or anyone else can say to change my mind on this.

And if developers feel the need to deliberately make games excessively hard without options to wall off certain segments of potential buyers and fans - then they deserve their lower sales.

Nintendo should hire indie game developer to make a fzero spiritual processor like Shinen, but the problem is they are Japan focused and it's hard to purchase western developers unlike Sega.

Meh, I'd rather have a new Wave Race.

@drewtoo26 Today Nintendo would just use their own bad GameCube emulator that only runs at 30 fps, and sell it for 60 bucks.

@Vriess Nintendo is still into physics, so it would be great if we got a new Wave Race.

@YoshiEatWorld I didn’t even know it had online play?! It’s an amazing game

@Vriess lets have both a new F-Zero AND a new Wave Race!

F Zero is a rock hard at the higher levels. Even the N64 version. Great game series something about flying around at that speed that is so satisfying. I really don’t get why Nintendo ignore the franchise, like we can’t have more than one racer to enjoy from them, I don’t think it would stop anyone buying Mario Kart.

At least release some DLC tracks for Mario Kart if you are really not going to revive F Zero.

Fast racing RMX is great but I don’t think it’s the same thing really.

I would not mind another F-Zero, even if they would scale it down to SNES ambitions. With a reduced car and track pool and offer it via the eshop as a budget title...

I've downloaded and played FAST RMX, but to me it's not the same without the associating ip.

Come oooon, Nintendo, make a F-Zero already!! Stop making us beg! A HD remaster of GX would be perfectly fine.

Man i am so ready for a new FZero.
Action packed game smashing people with falcon punch.
And also classic multiplayer Fzero races.

Reminded me of that starfox f zero gp crossover rumour xxx

Just do it already!!! A new F-Zero game needs to be made!!!

Logged in just to yell it out to Nintendo again: Please give us a new F-Zero!!!
with Story/RPG-Mode
with online
with Battle Royal-Mode
in HD-whatever
with Rock sounds
with racer/track editor and online sharing
with all the old and some new characters and more background info on all of them (it’s such a funky bunch)
with a Metroid-crossover Universe
..if I can come up with this, anyone can..
F-Zero fans keep making some noise

@COVIDberry Various things could be done. They could reduce the AI difficulty as you said. They could reduce the amount if damage you take when you bump into things, or remove that altogether a on the lowest difficulty. They could let you respawn back on the track if you fall off; GX already did this in Training mode. They could simply lower the speed of the vehicles some. They could even add some more guard rails in the more difficult portions of the tracks. Alternatively they could make all of these settings on their own that you could toggle to your desires.

Whatever the case it doesn't need to simply stick to just lowering AI difficulty. Personally though I'd probably stick with how F-Zero GX was in terms of difficulty because man was it satisfying to complete that way, but I certainly wouldn't mind if aforementioned options became available.

Like most fans already stated, make GX on Switch, we will buy it.
Make a F zero game with 30 players online, we will buy it.
Personally F Zero is a perfect fit for BR, it's death race mode is the basis of a BR, i will buy it.
F zero GX sold 1.5 million, so there is some appeal and a fan base.
If a simple port of GX managed to sell 1 million, at £7.99, that would net £7 million gross. I doubt very much it would actually cost anywhere near that figure to "port" and it would cost comparable to that, to "add" features, by which point the price can be pushed to the £15-20 mark. We will buy it.

This needs to happen. Im also waiting on a 1080 sequel.

Nintendo has no love for F-Zero anymore and the reason is that they don’t see it selling in the quantities that they expect from a Nintendo title. Hence why it’s all Mario, Zelda games now adays!

#freeFzero #ridethewaves #gettheexcite

@nessisonett @COVIDberry Since it's a racer, it would probably be a matter of balancing.

Changing the speed slightly (while still making it fast), minor changes to track features (like adding rails to places they don't exist, where able) for relatively for forgiving experience, and giving a player multiple machines during a race at the cost of getting passed up (but not too much) are probably the order of the day for differences in difficulty settings.

The AI of most racers, even in GX, isn't that sophisticated, they're made to go around the track as fast as possible and not much else in most cases, so messing with their AI would be far trickier.

@durr If that were true, they wouldn't be doomed every year lol.

Don't be too quick to mistake putting lots of care and thought into something with wanting to sell a million. Not everything Nintendo does is a winner. But the amount of thought they put into stuff is consistent.

@Giancarlothomaz and don't forget Animal Crossing they been focusing in.

But anyways it will be great to have a new F-Zero game! If they really do work on one, they better make it very challenging or just have multiple difficulty levels.

Yes please.

And Switch Wars, Mario Golf, Custom Robo and endless other great neglected nintendo franchises.

Nintendo what happened? You've got the money take a few risks.

My major issue with F-Zero is that it's not mechanically unique enough. And Mario Kart 8 reinforces that. What does F-Zero do that Mario Kart doesn't? Just being more hardcore/challenging isn't really enough to justify existing as a separate IP, they could just include a tougher difficulty mode to Mario Kart to satisfy that. I think if F-Zero comes back, it needs a new hook of some sorts. Some kind of gameplay mechanic that really sets it apart from Mario Kart. I had a thought where maybe the cars could actually hover over obstacles, which would use up more charge.

Otherwise, F-Zero isn't the racer I'd like to see brought back. We definitely need another racer because the racing genre is far too samey and creatively bankrupt, the whole genre is the same drive/boost/drift mechanics and the genre could use something more. I'd lean more towards wanting 1080 Snowboarding or Wave Race, or wanting a new IP that's a foot racer or something.

That caveat echoes Miyamoto-dono. In other words they feel that F-Zero peaked. And the market (not the loud fans) can’t sustain F-Zero. It certainly won’t sell MK numbers.

@Ryu_Niiyama This rationale results in a game like, say, Dark Souls never being published, on account of the sales figures for Demon's Souls.

I can't tell if you're being serious here. Mario Kart?

What does F-Zero do that Mario Kart doesn't?

@Bolt_Strike ... are you joking? Have you played GX lately?

I played the N64 version a ton. They should just give us some ports.

@drewtoo26 me too, a Wario Land/WarioWare for would be amazing for Switch.

@Mr_Persona yes with Animal Crossing New Leaf and New Horizons, the Animal Crossing franchise become a jugernaut, i hope and expect with the sucess of Metroid Prime 4 and Pikmin 3 Deluxe, open up the eyes of Nintendo, for them to invest in the they less know franchise such as F-Zero and others, Nintendo can't rely forever on Mario, Legend of Zelda, Pokémon and Animal Crossing to keep the momentum of Switch going, specially now with Xbox Series X/S e PS5(even with Nintendo not competing diretly with them).

From the guy who showed up at the Nintendo Switch reveal conference, assuring software support, who yet hasn’t and refuses to release a single game developed by him, on the Switch due to “Nintendo consoles are for children”, would like Nintendo to approach him about making a Nintendo Switch game.

A massive no brainer. Lets dispel this myth that difficult games don't appeal to people, and gamers aren't up for a challenge.

The reason F-Zero died is because Wipe Out kept beating it to the punch. With Wipe Out very likely dead I think a resurfacing of F-Zero might be at the right moment.

@COVIDberry totally different development histories behind demon’s souls (which was essentially a hijacked project that ended well) and F-zero as well as different corporate philosophies. So no I am not joking. Not sure why you would have assumed that. Also not sure how you picked such a comparison based upon what I said. There is no correlation between fzero waning in sales while MK has continued to rise and demon’s souls.

I know FZero fans hate seeing that MK edged out the series but from a sales perspective there is no reason to revive a stagnant series that is mostly held in the public mindshare by Smash and that the general public will not gravitate to.

Them falc cheeks thoo

@PhhhCough byy reading, I think he means something as Byzantine and outlandish as a Yakuza style game starting Captain Falcon, with racing being a portion of the game.

...

I might just want a Yakuza style open world bounty hunter game...

Makes no sense. I waited and waited for f-zero 3ds....a console that would've been perfect for it. Then I thought oh they are saving it for switch....4 years in and no f-zero . It's a shame, the N64 one and GameCubes GX were incredibly good games, why stop?

I don’t want f zero.. can we have 1080 snowboarding back please?

It's not likely to happen but stuff like this gives me hope that F-Zero, Wave Race and Punch-Out could all happen on Switch if Nintendo wants it to. Nagoshi can put a team together at Sega make F-Zero, Next Level Games has proven more than capable of handling Nintendo IP and already did one excellent Punch-Out!! and Nintendo could get one of its own internal Japanese teams on Wave Race. Again, I realize it's not likely but for the first time in a while, there's a possible scenario where this could work out in a great way.

I never got to play f-zero and my only exposure to the series was via smash and mk8dx so i would love to play f-zero for the first time. From that i have seen it looks like mario kart but just anti gravity sections. And without items

@FargusPelagius I don't think Switch could handle 30 players online, it wouldn't have the power to be much off a leap over the GCN version considering the technical demands we would now expect - 1080p60 fps, 30 racers with obscene draw distance - that racer from Shinen while good could only handle 8.

I know FZero fans hate seeing that MK edged out the series but from a sales perspective there is no reason to revive a stagnant series that is mostly held in the public mindshare by Smash and that the general public will not gravitate to.

@Ryu_Niiyama Arigatou gozaimasu. I disagree with you almost entirely, haha, but I'm glad you weren't joking. Before I dive in, I will admit to being pretty attached to F-Zero. Here goes...

I can see what you and Nintendo must be thinking when looking at the handheld sales for the series. However, the N64 and GameCube sales require context to understand - we all know that sales of the consoles were declining, that Nintendo's brand was in difficulty. "Hardcore" games weren't associated with the company at that time.

I simply don't think a comparison between F-Zero and MK is useful. MK is a system-seller; games like F-Zero exist to round out a library. I think of the latter as retaining customers who may "grow out of" games like MK after a while.

If you object to mentioning Dark Souls, what about Metroid? (I would use Atlus as another example of "hardcore" game production.) Why should Nintendo pull out all the stops like this for MP4? I used to think their corporate philosophy was more rigid until I saw their recent investment in Retro, and the appearance of games like Cadence of Hyrule.

I think enough has changed in the marketplace for games like F-Zero to have another shot. It worked for Fire Emblem!

@COVIDberry hmm I will take your points in turn. As you did I will announce my stake in the franchise: none, I own the N64 and gamecube games physically and the SNES game on a VC somewhere so I am very neutral about this. Also second caveat that may have caused our misunderstanding is that short of me listing a wishlist (and I signal that in any comment that does so) I try to keep a business perspective as much as possible. While I don’t work in the industry I think between trends and my own dealings in IT that I can make an educated guess. Frankly I don’t indulge what consumers wish for as it is usually biased to the point of being un realistic. I don’t do this to dismiss others, but I feel it is pointless conversation since none of us work in the industry in positions of power. I hope that clarifies my stance a bit.

Ok moving forward so a few things to your comment. From Nintendo’s perspective they have been streamlining their releases for years/decades?(Hylia, where did time go?) so I feel from a production perspective that the MK comparison works. MK is not only their flagship racer but with 8 it is both a mascot racer and now allows for franchise crossover (smash effect). As an evergreen title I suspect they are far less concerned with making tiers for any games that have a firmly rooted representative (Or sales that support multiple types/tiers such as platformers) in that genre. After all, despite FE’s resurgence they are not doubling down on srpgs and bringing any of the Wars games back (battalion or famicom/advance) or for pre-Switch, metroid was given safe 2d versions on handheld and the popular fps on console (zelda did the same 2d vs 3d and other m is an outlier as Nintendo SPD was trying to compete with Retro studios/revitalize the narrative...no matter how one feels about the game).

However, all that is less hardcore vs casual (marketing terms that consumers embrace more than producers, mind you) and more “this is where the sales are” which sounds similar to the consumer but is a different approach to the devs and business overall.

Most game companies are playing it safe and Nintendo just came off a commercial failure in the wiiu so they aren’t going to experiment in areas where they have both big sales and an entry into a genre. They have their racing franchise that works: MK. Fzero would do nothing but either muddy sales or tank outright. Their solution to fan wishing was simple: fzero content in MK and leveraging that fzero has more eyes on it in smash than as a racer.

Games like cadence and the warriors games are licensed out with the brunt of the dev work borne by other teams. And in franchises that are selling. Way less risk.

@COVIDberry cuz I’m long winded.

Metroid (prime in particular) fills a genre hole that fzero would not. FPS as I suspect we won’t see a platforming metroid for some time yet.

I get what you are hoping for and that’s fine. However that was never what any of my comments were speaking to. I don’t expect Nintendo to “take a chance” in franchises; now they may do so in the actual content of the games (botw, cadence, LA, Musou are all wildly different) but any creativity they allow the devs to make will be pinned to something that sells or something new (arms and before the wiiu, splatoon) and usually that something new will be something that is a genre hole.

Like I said the only things they really allow multiples of are platformers because they sell but even inside that you see the franchises often housing both experiments and safe bets because the franchise pulls enough sales to afford it (all the games with mario in them but there is still a tendency to go back to 3d and SMB). And when those sales drop you don’t hear from them for a while, like with DK. (Or they get ported since the WiiU was a treasure trove of content that could be shifted with less chance for loss) Even kirby had to put out a “safe” game on Switch after rainbow curse (which was propped up by epic yarn 3ds). I enjoyed rainbow curse, but it will be a gen or two, if ever, before they go back to that style unless HAL splashes some cash.

From a sells perspective there is nothing that FZero offers that MK doesn’t meet or can’t be retooled to meet (Track shifting on MK8 and new characters for instance). Does it suck for fzero fans? Sure, but my comment was never about if it was fair. My comment was about if they could pull anything out of it to sell (beyond the diehards). But if it makes you feel camaraderie, I am a 1080 snowboarding diehard. I’ll never see a new entry most likely.

Edit: all that being said, Switch momentum may translate to some software daredevil actions a little later in the lifecycle. However their first priority is keeping momentum and preparing a successor.

@liveswired i'd Expect F zero X, anything above that or comparable to GX would be a bonus. The number of players online has alot more to do with network structure than the raw power of the machine. PS3 did 60 players at launch (resistance) and then got 64 players later with Mag. Switch should be able to easily handle 16 with GX style graphics. My old 800 mhz geforce 3 PC could handle 64 player Unreal tournament matches, looking good for it's day. People just aren't used to seeing it these days.

Online multiplayer with 30 racers at the same time....nough said