The Virtual Boy might have gone down as one of Nintendo's most costly failures, but a dedicated and passionate fanbase has grown up around the system, and this group spends a lot of time looking into unreleased projects which could have potentially boosted the console's fortunes – one of which is F-Zero spin-off Zero Racers (also known as G-Racers).
Described as 'F-Zero in a tunnel', Zero Racers was previewed twice in Nintendo Power magazine but never actually saw the light of day. There were reports that it was shown off at E3 1996, but these appear to be false – a fact which has led many to speculate that the game was little more than a series of mocked-up screenshots and that the plug was pulled by Nintendo long before any serious development work was undertaken.
However, Did You Know Gaming has managed to speak with former Nintendo of America localiser and associate producer Jim Wornell, who was with the company for two decades. Wornell says that his role involved pretty much every aspect of getting a game ready for release in North America, and he claims that Zero Racers was 100% finished and ready to go:
Zero Racers was done. We had a complete manual, package and label done for the game. It went through LOT check, it had an ESRB rating. It was complete.
Wornell also reveals that the game was never supposed to have F-Zero in the title, despite some people suggesting the full name was 'F-Zero: Zero Racers'. It was definitely set in the same universe, however, because he says that the four craft in the game were to be piloted by Captain Falcon, James McCloud, Jody Summer and an alien which Wornell believes was Pico, but can't remember for certain.
That means that Zero Racers would have marked the F-Zero debut of both McCloud (a humanised version of Fox McCloud's father from the Star Fox series) and Summer, who appeared in the N64 title F-Zero X.
If the game exists in complete form, then there's a chance we might get to actually play it at some point – if the original files still exist in Nintendo's archives, of course.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 33
My eyes!! The goggles do nothing!!
I was fortunate enough to sample a Virtual Boy in person for the very first time at a convention a few years ago, and it was certainly a neat proof of concept, but red of all colours?
@Silly_G That was the most logical LED colour apparently, in terms of battery demands.
I miss F-Zero. I’m hoping that’s the next game for the NSO expansion
@Mattock1987 yeah, we all miss F-Zero, buddy. All we can do is but live in hope.
I had a Virtual Boy, back in the day, I never dealt with eye problems. I had a lot of fun with Mario Tennis and Mario Bros.
if it got a lot check it has a chance of getting leaked at some point, right? (saying the quiet part of the article loudly, here iirc that's what happened with pokemon picross
I think it’s a massive shame that a collection of remastered VB games never made it to the 3DS. This game could’ve been a neat addition.
Any F-zero mention is enough to reignite my desire for a new F-zero. For those who claim there won't be another F-zero due to Mario Kart 8 with it's 200CC speed, I disagree. F-zero was an unique single-player racer first and multiplayer second. In today's industry, there is so much that can be done with this and it's guaranteed to be a hit on Switch. I wanna I wanna I wanna!
That's too bad, because not only Zero Racers, but also Bound High and Dragon Hopper looked really good.
James McCloud is a humanised version of Fox McCloud? Isn't James Fox's father?
Edit: just checked the f-zero wikia, he even has the sunglasses and the consensus seems to be he is the humanised version of Fox's father indeed
my guess is that Nintendo has it but will never release it because they see the Virtual Boy's failure as a humiliation.
Like many others, I also desperately miss F-Zero. Even a GX HD remaster would make me happy!
Why didn't they release all these games on 3DS virtual console? They had the perfect platform for it. They only had to change the red colour for grey.
The Virtual boy was an incredible thing, it was merely the hardware that wasn't quite up to the task. Play those games today or a proper 3D headset and it is an amazing experience.
@AhabSpampurse $86 US for a complete used copy for GameCube is what I just paid for FZero GX
I HATE Nintendo’s “we already did this philosophy” with older IPs.
Yeah, we’ll Zelda, Mario…Mario Kart, Mario Party…those teats are pretty chapped…give us some different games!
Man I would take this game in a heartbeat if it got us a new F Zero experience finally...
@Stnkygrngo ah man, that sucks. I'm lucky that my entire GCN collection is intact from when I bought it. You're right though, they're sat on a goldmine that needs busting out of mothballs.
A Virtual Boy complete collection should be released for a modern console, including any and all completed, but unreleased games.
@AhabSpampurse I am rebuilding my collection after i sold it to help with a downpayment for a house.....with my ex....ugh.
Another game they claim to be finish but never release was Killer Instinct 2 for the Super NES. Hopefully that one saw the light of days soon too.
Definitely one of the strangest consoles ever. I feel like black and green graphics would've been more visually appealing.
Anyway, I always wanted to try that one Wario game on Virtual Boy.
@Stnkygrngo aw man, double commiserations 😅
Right after the GCN lifespan finished, I made a conscious decision to not sell my Nintendo stuff anymore (for any reason!) because it either retains its value or increases substantially... which is great in principle, but I'm running out of space in my house now.
If it's any consolation though I still lament my lost N64 and extensive library, which I sold simply because I'm an idiot.
I liked my virtual boy.
I also liked my retinas.
Nowadays, neither works.
@AhabSpampurse well....the Wii was strong and kicking and most games were on VIrtual Console I had gotten rid of....but not all of them!!
NCAA Basketball 2K3....I had that sealed!! Forgot about it Christmas i received it, stashed it, realized it was worth a lot and sold it and helped the cause at the time. No quams....you cant grow if you arent willing to be vulnerable
@Rhaoulos Nintendo probably didn't want to pay for emulator R&D, for a console that had a total of 22 officially released games (and maybe at best half of them re-releasable, after considering licensing issues).
My guess is that that and Dragon Hopper were games they were saving for this supposed "re-launch" Nintendo Power once mentioned as planned for late 1996. (why NP was still reviewing games as late as I think summer 1996, despite that the last actually-released game for the console was I think released March 1996?)
I own the virtual boy with about 6 or 7 games. Wario Land and Mario Clash are both worth playing today. It’s a shame they are locked behind red and black prison bars.
@itslukec Hopefully Nintendo remake one of them soon especially Wario Land.
@nukatha there is a cool option out there to play Virtual boy games on an Oculus Quest. Requires Sideloading an app, but if you can figure it out, there’s a nice Virtual boy emulator that displays the games in 3d! I had a virtual boy back in the day and I’ll say the Quest does a great job of recreating the experience!
RELEASE THE DAMN GAME!! Lol
(After converting to 2D and porting it to Switch.) …Isn’t Switch a weird name? We’re going to look back fondly on these times when everyone was playing a weird console called Switch.
@Specter_of-the_OLED it sort of is enhanced by the 3d as wario jumps between the back and front of the screen. Like mutant mudds. But I do hope Nintendo releases these games for people to play somehow, someday haha.
@itslukec Yeap all they had to do is add colors to it. A majority of Virtual Boy doesn't take advantage of the 3D feature either. I feel all games on Virtual Boy are pretty much just red and black versions of games you could easily find on GBA and DS.
I’ve waited and waited for this game to come out. I’m VERY surprised it was 100% complete. I hope to one day play it, and in 3D too, the way it was meant to be played.
Look at those screenshots. You can clearly see that ship is a TIE Interceptor. I can only imagine an F-Zero/Star Wars crossover.
@Stnkygrngo That's just one reason why you shouldn't live with your significant other until you get married. Sure, you could still potentially get divorced, but even in that case at least asset division is more regulated and legally binding.
Tap here to load 33 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...