The Nintendo community often finds itself reminiscing over franchises that seem doomed to never return, and while the likes of Pokémon Snap, 2D Metroid, 3D Metroid, Famicom Detective Club and more have actually made grand returns, one series that remains on the sidelines is F-Zero.
The last F-Zero game, F-Zero Climax, launched 16 years ago now and was exclusive to Japan; Europe and North America received F-Zero: GP Legend in 2004, with the last main series release to arrive in the west being 2003's F-Zero GX. It's hardly surprising that fans of the franchise are getting pretty desperate for something new.
As it turns out, there are developers out there who'd love to make a new F-Zero for Switch and ideas have been passed on to Nintendo – unfortunately unsuccessfully. In conversation with GameXplain, Vitei's Giles Goddard – who Nintendo fans will know as developer on Star Fox, Stunt Race FX, 1080° Snowboarding, and Super Mario 64's stretchy Mario face (yes really), has revealed that his team pitched an "ultra-realistic" F-Zero to Nintendo:
"At Vitei, after I'd left Nintendo and started my own company, it was after Steel Diver and Sub Wars, we were trying to think of stuff to do and I thought it would be really cool to have an ultra-realistic F-Zero, still with sort of really cool futuristic graphics, but just really realistic physics – we thought that'd be a really interesting thing to try out.
"So we made a demo for the Switch and PC. It was also more to show the capability of our engine – we had a multiplatform engine that was running on 3DS, Switch, PC, whatever – so we just made a demo of some really cool F-Zero cars going around this crazy track... Just hundreds of the cars using AI to race each other.
"But they'd all have realistic physics, like, really ultra, a bit too over-the-top realistic, so the hovering was actually caused by four jets in the bottom sort of adjusting themselves... Way too over the top. But it meant that if you killed one of the jets it would end up sinking, and if you killed the other one it'd flip over and all this kind of stuff. And it was just really fun – it was like a sandbox type thing just playing around and seeing what would happen if you caused a crash there and whatever."
When asked whether or not Nintendo ultimately turned the idea down, Goddard delivered the bad news:
"Yeah, Nintendo are very wary about using old IP because it's such a huge thing for them to do. It's much easier to go with a new idea, a new IP, than to reuse an old one.
"We were stuck in a catch-22 working with Nintendo because we'd say to them, 'we wanna do this F-Zero game, can you give us all this money?' And they'd say, 'well you don't have enough people.' And I'd say, 'well if we had the money we could get the people,' you know. So it was forever this ridiculous catch-22 with them wanting us to make a game, us pitching a game, and then them saying you don't have enough people."
In the same interview, Goddard also revealed that he'd be interested in making a new Star Fox without the "gimmicks". You can watch the entire thing here.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 134
Nintendo: "we don't make F-Zero because it needs new ideas"
Also Nintendo: "we won't make this new F-Zero because its too new and different"
That would have been a great alternative to the arcade-y nature of Mario Kart. Never say never!
Man, his idea actually does sound pretty cool. I would've loved to try it out!
It is kind of refreshing that Nintendo does not think MONETIZATION first of its old IP. Hollywood could take a lesson...
If you don't want them to do it, Nintendo, then do it yourselves. But don't leave fans empty handed. And no, putting F-Zero SNES on the Nintendo Switch Online thing does not count.
advance wars 1&2. cruisin blast and fatal frame say hello. what are they talking about?
Jeah well, one of those developers talking about how ultra cool their prototype or idea was... we won't find out, will we? Nintendo showed in the past few years that hey are willing to try things out, with Mario and Rabbids and now Metroid 5 by Mercury Steam, so I guess this prototype was not as fun as it sounds....
I'm of the opinion that it should be a hybrid game with racing and focusing on captain falcons bounty hunter adventures.
But I don't want "Ultra-Realistic" F-Zero. I like the action comic appeal.
I am not sure I would of wanted and enjoyed "Ultra-realistic" F-Zero. But then again, Nintendo wouldn't allow for its development, so I will never know if I would of enjoyed it. I wish they would make a new one though... Is it really that hard to make another?
Honestly, just port GX to the Switch.
We get it, you have no new ideas you're comfortable doing with the IP, we get that. At least just throw GX up as say a £15 eShop release and that will at least satisfy gamers' needs till you do something with F Zero.
The SNES, N64 and even the GBA games we did get have all seen rereleases in the past. Might as well do the same for GX.
@Paraka The article literally says that they’d have kept the visuals from the older games, it’s the physics that would have been realistic.
@Angelic_Lapras_King Good idea. F-Zero GX with online play added. Sorted. The graphics were ahead of their time anyway and very impressive for the hardware, I actually think it would look stunning in HD.
I think Nintendo showed during E3 that they're not completely oblivious to what fans have been asking for and I think there's a decent chance that F-Zero could eventually make its return sooner or later. It'll happen on Nintendo's terms though right when everyone least expects it.
Ultra-realistic physics in an F-Zero sounds miserable, unless this is just a coded way to say it’s Burnout with hover cars.
@MegaMari0 Agreed. I think the gold nugget buried in the franchise is it’s bizarre amount of worldbuilding and characters for an arcade racer.
I think that’s the “new thing” future of the franchise Nintendo’s claiming it wants - it’s own Cyberpunk via Car Battler Joe. Tongue-in-cheek grittiness and a fleshed out RPG that feeds into arcade combat racing.
Maybe we should pitch it!
The sad reality is that this franchise doesn't sell very well. GX — arguably the best in the series — did what, 1.5 million? In today's world, 1.5 million doesn't pay a fraction of the development cost for a triple-A game. Nintendo could throw the fans a bone and take a loss, but I understand if there is no incentive to do so. They're still struggling with COVID-related production delays, so why devote time, resources and money to a game that will make little or no money?
So if I'm getting his tale right:
Other publishers: "Let's do old IPs, new ones can be risky"
Nintendo: "Let's do new IPs, old ones can be risky"
Doesn't sound overly un-Nintendo indeed.😄
@nessisonett - Still applies, though. Physics of hovercraft racing is still pretty out there, so making it more "realistic" would imply much greater punishments for even nicking another vehicle at such high speeds.
Comic is the suspension of belief for attributes that would be considered "superhuman."
I'm surprised Nintendo doesn't want to use a dual stick setup as the F-Zero pilots are depicted using-- That would be different. But y'know... Nintendo.
@Burning_Spear F-Zero GX came out almost 20 years ago on an underperforming console. You can't really compare it to today's marketplace and the number of users Nintendo has. Furthermore for the younger generation it would essentially be a new franchise for them.
I’d be happy with f zero X HD with a few new courses
Nintendo: Developing new IP is difficult, costly, and time consuming.
Also Nintendo: Reusing old IP is a big deal and much harder to do than making new IP.
@Burning_Spear And just to add the GameCube was flooded with new 1st party racing franchises (Wave Race, F-Zero, Mario Kart, Kirby Air Ride, 1080 etc) while the Switch has only had a Wii U Mario Kart port.
Nintendo are also a lot better at spreading out releases now and marketing them well. Kirby Air Ride and F-Zero GX were released within two weeks of one another!
Sigh.... I want a new f-zero more than winning the lottery.
I always get the feeling like articles like this have alot of grrrr bad nintendo won't make X game vibes in comments etc but then when these IPs are released few buy them. Kinda re enforces why they never get releases In a vicious circle.
Like even Metroid never gets big sales figures compared to Mario and Pokemon just cleaning up even all the daft spin offs.
It just hit me that in a near future, Smash Bros players will think of Captain Falcon as did young Melee players of Ice Climbers and Mr Game & Watch "ah, it's a character from a very old game that I've never played"
Nintendo rejecting great ideas and their racing games once again except Mario Kart Party. Giles Goddard's idea is fantastic.
@Mando44646 this perfectly defines Nintendo gamers too lol
" we want a new [insert neglected Nintendo franchise] "
"The new game sucks we want an exact port of [insert neglected Nintendo franchise] "
Nintendo will not push F-Zero because it's sales are not that great, I think we were very lucky to get them to make another Metroid prime game, to be honest.
@Burning_Spear Leading up to the release of Breath of the Wild, Nintendo said they'd need to sell 2 million copies to break even. An F-Zero game would not need the same development budget as Breath of the Wild.
The fact that Mario Kart is overly successful gives Nintendo little incentive to push out their other racing series. How are they supposed to convince the players of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to play a new F-Zero game? Another F-Zero DLC in Mario Kart 8 would probably sell more than an entire F-Zero game.
Yuck at the idea of an ultra realistic F-Zero. The crazy goofball comic book style characters are a big part of what makes F-Zero great.
@johnvboy "Nintendo will not push F-Zero because it's sales are not that great, I think we were very lucky to get them to make another Metroid prime game, to be honest"
WERE not that great. People need to stop comparing sales on an underperforming console like the GameCube to Switch with it's massive userbase. Furthermore the GameCube was flooded with first party racing games while the GameCube has nothing except a Wii U Mario Kart port...
They also used to make foolish decisions like releasing Kirby Air Ride and F-Zero GX within 2 weeks of one another... they're much better at spreading out and marketing their releases now.
And by all means F-Zero would essentially be a new franchise for younger gamers and we have no way of knowing how well and F-Zero with online play could sell on the massive Switch userbase.
@ModdedInkling By making a good game and not shoehorning a stupid gimmick into it? Also someone else said it best. It's been nearly 20 years since GX and it's been well over a decade since Climax.
At this point making a new F-Zero would be marketing to an entirely new audience.
Does anyone more familiar with the F- Zero storyline know if the story is complete?
I've only played a GBA game and the horrible GameCube game (IMO). These games are brutally tough and definitely could use a difficulty mode.
Realistic anything isn't really that interesting to be fair. Sorry.
Nintendo - Rerelease F-Zero GX/AX and we’ll leave you alone. Or at least release NSO versions of the N64 and GameCube already.
Giles Goddard - Awesome idea, change the visuals and release your vision under another name so we can enjoy it as well.
Nintendo has a completely different approach to the rest of the industry it’s refreshing in some ways but as Nintendo fans we want old ips resurrected sometimes especially something like f zero I mean someone thought it was a good idea to bring back Bubsy and who asked for that 😂
Nintendo's aversion to certain IPs is beyond strange. I get it, Mario, Zelda, Pokemon and Animal Crossing make the money, but Metroid, F-Zero, Kid Icarus, Wave Race, Pilotwings, heck even StarTropics, have strong cult followings and could expand your user base even further with the "Switch effect."
@GrailUK So you don't fancy a realistic Monkey Ball with distressed monkeys rolling around in balls trying not to fall to a bone crushing death? Time limit runs out when the monkeys run out of breath. 😜
Of course they did. Why fund that project when instead they can pump out 3 more ports of Wii U games? Sigh.
@Gs69 I unironically want Bubsy on the SNES Switch app! I really liked it, riding down the flumes and stuff. Cool Spot should be on there too!
@Clyde_Radcliffe cool spot was good but seriously bubsy!
So if they have this cool, scalable game engine, why not make simply make an original racing game that is inspired by F-Zero? I don't understand these developers who seem to simply give up on an idea just because they can't get the rights to a certain IP.
@Clyde_Radcliffe Hahaha! Oh my God, you fiend!!!
@Gs69 It's more fun than all those Caveman SNES platformers we got on NSO!
@Clyde_Radcliffe was thinking the same thing. And also as mentioned above, it would be a decent hold over until Mario Kart.
@Paraka Now I'm wondering what F-Zero would look like if it had cel-shading, similar to Viewtiful Joe's, since that looked most similar to a comic book style. I tried looking up a mod, but no such mod of F-Zero GX exists sadly...
While I would love to see a new F-Zero or even a remaster of F-Zero GX/AX released, there are some ideas that simply wouldn't work for it. An "ultra-realistic" iteration certainly qualifies for ar least a couple of reasons.
First, any fan of F-Zero who's followed the franchise since it's inception on the SNES is abundantly aware of the heavy anime influences and, particularly in the case of GX, quirkiness that ranges from hilarious to absolutely bizarre. It all comes together to give F-Zero it's own unique and inimitable flavor.
Second, there is already a glut of "realistic" anti-gravity racing games out there, on every platform, WipeOut, Redout, FAST, and Pulser to name just a few. Not only would a "realistic" (and most likely gritty) take on F-Zero risk being redundant with so many similar titles on the market (and keep in mind that would be a huge issue for an IP already struggling in Nintendo's eyes to justify the risk of another release), but even if it was an excellent game it simply wouldn't be true to F-Zero's pedigree. And there it would risk being ignored even by fans of the franchise, which could easily seal its doom for good.
In short, I personally think Nintendo made the right call in this case.
@Clyde_Radcliffe I do agree on that 100% the snes had good amount of decent platformers I do subscribe but the whole NSO needs more of everything
Perhaps this Goddard guy shouldn't have left Nintendo, if he is so keen to make Nintendo games for them.
@AvianBlue
GX is the second best arcade racer of all
Time, only behind Burnout 3.
It is in no way horrible. Yes it’s extremely hard, frustratingly so in the later cups. But the controls were pin point accurate and the feeling of traveling 2000kmh have yet to be replicated in modern games. Even arcade flight games can’t replicate the way that game made you feel fast.
Ultra realistic? Does that mean Captain Falcon will drive a Nissan Micra around the Greater London suburbs instead?
@MegaMari0 Yes. I dont feel like making this ultra realistic is the right direction. Having him split between racing and bounty hunting would be fun and different
Nintendo doesn’t want a new f zero. Ok so can we have f zero 64 and GameCube on switch, just a port will do please sir xxxx
Hmm as much as I want a new F-Zero, I would not want it to be ultra realistic, keep it along the lines of GX and that's already great to me.
@KillerBOB Wat? Why would it make it more likely? Pretty sure they look at studios portfolio not their race and gender.
@Darknilious
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/06/nintendo_underlines_its_commitment_to_diversity_and_inclusivity
Ultrarealistic physics? that sounds like a bad idea, this franchise is famous for being the most crazy brutal arcade racing experience ever made
Only Mario and Zelda get a budget over 5 dollars. /jk
@Clyde_Radcliffe even if as you keep saying the console under perform, the people who did own the console likely die hard nintendo fans. So regardless of the userbase it still didn't sell well, on a platform that probably consisted of die hard fans. the ones you would assume would purchase 1st party games.
Nintendo only need to release a remaster of F-Zero GX, with improvements here and there, online mode, and little more. They could easily charge us 60 for that, we would take it XD
Why are you guys so attached to this franchise, when there are so many options available? It’s an honest question. I don’t mean to start anything. I grew up loving racing games. I played a lot of F-Zero. I also played a lot of games like it. It’s not like this is a Mario Kart type of racing game. Mascots and things like that.
"how can we piss everyone off?"
@outsider83 What game is similar to it, to the point it gets to the same level of quality and charisma??
Don't tell me Wipeout or Fast, as they are rather different in so many ways. Great games indeed, but so diverse to F-Zero is not the same experience at all.
After SF0 I'm kinda okay with letting sleeping dogs lie. Granted F-Zero was never this prone to being Nintendo'S guinea pig, but ... yeah, no, I'm good for now. Some day they might pull a Metroid Dread on us, but I'm in no rush there ... no reason to jump at any opportunity just because it is F-Zero related.
In ten more years I don't think anybody would know what an F-Zero game is if Nintendo kept this franchise close for that long. Heck a few of my Smash Bros. companions already don't know who Captain Falcon is or which game he came from. Nintendo you're IPs are getting irrelevance if you keep this up.
A lot of people in here not reading the article and just the headline.
I feel terrible for f - zero fans. I was never a huge fan of f - zero, however just like star fox, I feel like they are really cool games even if they aren't for me. Also like Star Fox and also Metroid, F - zero is one of nintendos few more realistic and somewhat serious/glimmer series and I really wish Nintendo would make this another revive story like with Metroid.
WHY NINTENDO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't think I'd take an ultra-realistic F-Zero....... more like GX ...... but at this point I'll take anything
Nintendo must have some sort of specific plans for F-Zero in the future. You hear stuff like this every so often when the series comes up, that a game was pitched for the series but turned down.
I know the argument is that Nintendo doesn't need another racing series when they have Mario Kart, but I really don't think that's the case, just look at Nintendo with the Tactical RPG genre, they currently have 3 of them that are active: Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, and Mario + Rabbids. Granted Mario + Rabbids is handled by a third party, but so was F-Zero GX and AX with Sega, so the argument that Nintendo can't have more than one series in a genre (outside of platformers obviously) doesn't make much sense at all.
I think Nintendo just has something else in mind for F-Zero, maybe they've even been working on it and it's been in development hell or something. I dunno, but I trust Nintendo's judgement when it comes to the series, even if it has been forever since we last saw anything from it.
And clearly Nintendo don't have enough people, otherwise the game would be made, right? Their logic is flawed to failure.
I hope devs keep trying, because there's loads of old fans who would jump at a new F zero.
As cold as this may sound, Nintendo fans, as a collective, have nobody to blame but themselves. When a game like Breath of the Wild sells 20 million copies, Nintendo responds, in kind, by delivering a sequel within the same generation. When a franchise like Metroid, or F-Zero, or Punch Out fizzles, they’ll put it to sleep for years, if not decades.
I saw so many modern Nintendo fans whining about Metroid Dread because they wanted info on Bayonetta 3 and more info on the new Zelda. Many of these people would prefer to be spoonfed the same franchises, over and over again. Unfortunately, franchises like F-Zero end up paying the price.
It’s kind of like Shenmue. So many gamers begged for an HD remaster. It only took about twenty years, but it finally saw the light of day, aaaaand......it tanked.
@the_beaver my apologies. I guess I’m remembering the series wrong. I’ll admit, I haven’t played it in years, but from my memories, they were similar. Extreme G. Wipeout. Grip. Fast. If Mario Kart 64 was the last entry in the series, it would be more memorable because of its style. It’s like the 2D space shooters (I forget the name of genre) back in the day. I loved them, but their all a blur at this point.
"Yeah, Nintendo are very wary about using old IP because it's such a huge thing for them to do. It's much easier to go with a new idea, a new IP, than to reuse an old one."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
takes breath
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Yeah, right. After the umpteenth Mario, Mario Party, Mario Kart, Zelda, etc.? Yeah, sure. Nintendo is wary of using old IP and prefers to go with new IP. Right.
Considering his track record I feel like what he showed just wasn't very good and they tried to politely reject him. Good programmer though
@Clyde_Radcliffe,
The sales of the franchise have never been great though, Nintendo need to be working on the next Mario Kart, a proven system seller.
@tntswitchfan68 This. If they can give us a straight remaster of Advance Wars, there's nothing, absolutely nothing stopping them from doing the same with like, F-Zero GX (or even X) and adding online. There's more going on here than meets the eye with the flimsy excuses they give.
I don't want "realistic" physics in an arcade-style racing series anymore than I want to have to worry about keeping my virtual characters fed or having my vehicles running out of fuel.
I keep telling people it's not that Nintendo can't make a new F-Zero game it's that they DONT WANT a new F-Zero game to be made
Nintendo does a great job with 1st party titles, but there are a lot of properties overdue for a return. F-Zero being one I hear about often online.
@greehnery sigh, I know. sometimes i just do not understand some of the decisions that Nintendo makes. I would love a new f zero, wave race and golden sun.
no please, there are others consoles for ultra realistic
@KillerBOB This article is talking about Nintendo dealing with race and gender inequality internally. Which by looking at their company stats they still have some work to do (hence the report).
That being said I would love to see a kickass company founded by black woman making the next F-Zero game! That's a great idea and would provide inspiration to a lot of people out there.
@Burning_Spear Metroid was a miserable seller too.......... and see how things are right now.
How could you know how well an IP would sell in today's world if there hasn't been a single entry in 17 years?
Doesn't sound that fun. And judging by the devs previous games, I doubt it was.
Seems to me this was Nintendo being polite about it.
I've only ever played the original SNES F-Zero, but a hyper realistic F-Zero? I'm not so sure about that..
Who knows, we could see the revival of F-Zero yet. Nintendo has been on a role as of late reviving old series and making new games in their "lesser" IPs(Famicom Detective Club, New Pokemon Snap, Metroid, Advance Wars, Crusin, WarioWare).
With all due respect, we're only hearing Goddard's side of the story. He says it would have been really, really, really really (dude definitely likes the word "really") REALLY cool. And maybe he's right.
But maybe not? Not everybody who says something is going to be really, really, really cool delivers on the promise.
I don't doubt he has programming skills. But he wasn't the designer on Star Fox Or F-Zero. Miyamoto was. The game Goddard actually led the team on, Steel Diver, got very lukewarm reviews, with reviewers saying things like "the game doesn't know if it wants to be a simulation or an action game" (paraphrased).
Just saying, maybe there's more to the story than "we had an amazing game ready to serve up to Nintendo, but big bad Nintendo shut it down."
@gonzilla Money talks. The "umpteenth" Mario/Zelda/Pokémon sells in the tens of millions. F-Zero/Metroid/Star Fox... doesn't.
Why can’t we have this over Rabbids garbage…
"You don't have enough people to make this game, so we won't let you make it. We also don't have enough people to make this game, so we won't make it either. IDK, let's just re-sell Mario Party 64 again with some new models and textures. It'll make far more money than this, anyway."
“Ultra realistic” sounds like it misses the point and appeal of F-Zero games.
@tntswitchfan68 Apparently you just need enough development staff to push the idea. Advance Wars, Cruis'n Blast, and Fatal Frame are all ports with Advance Wars appearing to get the most out of it, Cruis'n Blast an arcade port and Fatal Frame potentially just a straight Wii U port. Still exciting, (and I am buying each of them) but Metroid Dread was probably the most exciting news out of E3 from Nintendo. Point being, ports are welcome anytime, but new games are more welcome.
Nagoshi's team at Sega needs to make the next F-Zero, otherwise it won't live up to the excellence of GX.
Anyway, maybe if Cruisn'Blast is successful Nintendo might start seeing the potential racing games with nostalgic have on their consoles.
@Narrator1 Sure. Don't disagree, but not my point, nor what was quoted, at all.
Them reusing old IPs because they make money is an obvious conclusion (assumption) that people can make, but that's not what was said.
They (or the dev) said they (Nintendo) are wary about using old IP and would rather go with new IP as it's "much easier". If "much easier" means more lucrative, then we'd be seeing more new IPs, which we're not. If "much easier" means easier to develop or market, then we'd be seeing more new IPs, which we're not. Clearly they like going with old IP (most likely because they sell, like you said), but that's not what was stated.
So, them saying they're wary to go with old IP and it's much easier to go with new IPs over old, whatever the reasons are, yeah, BS. I'll believe it when I see it.
F-Zero would've been a great Switch addition but oh well.
They must have forgotten that Nintendo hates their legacy content. Lol
So Nintendo:
1) Didn't want to invest in an old IP, despite constantly pushing other old IPs that had middling success before (Fire Emblem, Xenoblade, etc.) until they were popular.
2) Didn't have faith in the guy who helped put freaking 3D graphics on the SNES
3) Are cheapskates and don't want to invest in what likely would not have been a big-budgeted game, despite being Japan's richest company.
Sounds about right.
it must be a pain being a F-zero fan, all the constant teasing and publicly cancelled ideas would drive me crazy
Maybe his proposal for an ultra-realistic F-Zero just wasn't all that compelling, especially with regards to the budget?
If Advance Wars can get a remake, there is nothing stopping the same from happening with F-Zero.
It's easier to pitch new IPs? Thats kinda ironic as we don't tend to see many new ones by Nintendo.
A sandbox F-zero sounded too amazing to be true, turning it down was a huge mistake =(
First the Criterion stuff and now this... why is it so hard to get a new F-Zero???
@kalosn Also, Metroid is outsourced easily to other developers. I don't know why they don't anything with their racing franchises.
A Tank Troopers Switch port, 1080 Snowboarding, Star Fox, now F-Zero. This guy seems to have big ideas, but Nintendo ultimately shies away from him. It would seem there has to be a reason behind it all.
Just remake F-Zero X. It's clearly the best F-Zero game, complete with the best tracks and the best racing ethos, and deserves a modern version. Include the DD track editor too. If they want to fill out the package, make it a F-Zero Ultimate, with the best tracks from GX and the 16 bit era, and the AX tracks. All are 4-player split screen. No point porting GX because that already looks good and it's not the purest F-Zero due to some cheap courses. X is the best and we're now approaching 25 since it was release. Nintendo's nonsense reason of "not adding anything new" doesn't apply because the game would be new to most gamers. Besides, upgrading the visuals to really enhance its exhilaration and adding the track editor would make it new.
N64 F-Zero should’ve been on NSO 18 months ago…
"Nintendo are very wary about using old IP because it's such a huge thing for them to do. It's much easier to go with a new idea, a new IP, than to reuse an old one."
Uh... What? Is he talking about some bizarro version of Nintendo in an alternate universe? They crank out the same franchises over and over while new IP is fairly rare.
@Mando44646 Nintendo : we don’t need a company with not enough people and really nothing to show saying they will make this game if we give them money and then they take 20 years to make it because they cannot get the people or keep the people to make the game.
That’s what I see
@Nico07 i agree with you. great points.
@BlueOcean
Thinking about it, maybe a new, outsourced F-Zero could happen soon. Before Samus Returns was announced, MercurySteam denied working on a Metroid prototype they pitched to Nintendo.
This gives an indication that even if pitches never see the light of the day, they at least give Nintendo a core idea to look into.
So Star Fox, and now F-Zero. Giles needs to be the Tom Kalinske that lights a fire under Nintendo's butts.
Reading his again it just sounds like a bad idea.
However I can’t believe Nintendo couldn’t make a profit out a ‘F-Zero Ultimate’ taking a selection of tracks from all the previous games and plugging them into a new engine (or an existing engine like MK8D’s). Throw in local and Online multiplayer and selling extra tracks as DLC. Wouldn’t be expensive to make.
@HalBailman
A remake of F-Zero X with the track editor and Online multiplayer is clearly one of the best ideas ever
Thinking about this, it's a little bit naive of Goddard to expect that with a team of say 10-20 people, Nintendo would give you the F-Zero IP and take the risk of expanding your team tenfold without having created anything with the expanded team before.
Although amazing that the small team created such a realistic effort (!) I feel he should have pitched a project that fitted the smaller team he had at that moment. But it's always easy to look back and see what could have gone better.
Looking forward to the VR Snowboarding with super realistic physics!
As I told Joe from Game Sack not very long ago:
“sorry, F-Zero but HD with online, isn’t enough to warrant F-Zero, but HD with online”.
@MS7000 Yeah. Probably me neither. I think it kind of goes against what FZero is but it could be neat.
It also sounds like a risky proposition since team is not large. They’d have to do a lot of hiring which has a lot of risk associated with it.
Yet they aren't protective, at all, with the Starfox IP
Producing ***** starfox games is ok for them
@arpaktiko As long as Miyamoto's the one sinking the franchises, it's all well and good.
safer to not use old IP's? Can someone point out to Nintendo how many new IP's there were in their e3 direct?
@Angelic_Lapras_King I agree apart from the fact I'd want a physical copy.
I want a new F-Zero, but the LAST thing I would want from a new entry is "Ultra-realism". Who the ***** wants ultra-realism in a comic book stylized futuristic racer? Leave that crap to Sony. I want a stylized, stylish F-Zero with the same character designer the series has always had.
@roboshort It would of been risky, but I feel like Nintendo in some ways have already sent F-Zero to it's deathbed (though the recent E3 has given me the smallest glimmer of hope), so it would of been worth a try. Baring in my mind I have not played this, but Wipeout came to mind as soon as I heard "ultra-realistic" F-Zero.
"So it was forever this ridiculous catch-22"
Typical Japanese culture, not having the balls to actually say no, but making up some other excuse and getting people's hopes up for no reason, or simply wasting everyone's time.
"Yeah, Nintendo are very wary about using old IP because it's such a huge thing for them to do. It's much easier to go with a new idea, a new IP, than to reuse an old one."
Yeah, I don't think that's the case. The reason Nintendo allowed Ubisoft to make Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle is they did something new with the IP that Nintendo had never considered. Making "F-Zero but with better physics" isn't doing something new.
I'd wait to hear Nintendo's side of the story before making any judgement. Based on Nintendo's actions, the reasoning he's giving makes absolutely no sense
@fafonio I didn't say a new F-Zero game wouldn't sell. My point is that the franchise's best-regarded game was something like the 19th-best selling first-party game on its console and that Nintendo can be forgiven for not prioritizing it at a time when a global health crisis is squeezing production. Why spend precious resources on it now when a Mario or Zelda game can guarantee sales far times greater?
When F-Zero comes back it should be as an arcade experience.
I mean that literally - don’t release it on Switch - have it be a premium large scale arcade machine running off an ultra powerful pc. Have most of the cabinets be full sized sit in deals with glasses free 3D screens.
No one would ever actually get to play it but it would be legendary.
Just play Fast RMX by Shin'en. They are basically an exclusive 3rd party to Nintendo. Likely as a barometer to see if this old IP would do well...it will!
Could also be Nintendo is shy on racers after the N64 since 50% of the games on that system were racers it seemed for the first 18 months of launch, but that is what you get when you have 4 controller ports!
Did they make a game out of that ideas? If not, why not?
@StuTwo they already did that with F-Zero AX ………….
……….
And it was glorious!
We're more than 4 years into the life cycle of the Switch, and Nintendo hasn't ported F-Zero X OR F-Zero GX yet. How very sad, seems like minimal effort and would satisfy so many fans.
Super realistic in all ways would be super welcome!
@bluedogrulez Doesn't it? What about all the Wii and Wii U games that they re-release, at full price, with minimal work? That kind of seems like monetization of old IPs
If only Fast RMX was named F-Zero it would have sold millions.
I know it's not exactly the same game but it's very close. And for a game that can run 4 player split-screen at 60 fps on Switch it gets very little mention.
FaaaaalcoooooooooN pooh.... 💩
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