F-Zero 99
Image: Nintendo

We've finally made it to the holiday season and F-Zero 99 has returned with another limited-time event. If you didn't catch it last year, you can now race and slide around ice-covered tracks in the Frozen Tour.

This event will run until 19th January 2025 and will see players face off against the returning Star Rivals once more. This update also happens to bump the game up to Version 1.5.5. You can see the full patch notes below, courtesy of Nintendo's official support page:

F-Zero 99 - Ver. 1.5.5 (Released December 18, 2024)

New Additions

  • The Frozen Tour Event has been added. All tracks in the game will be covered in snow and appear as frozen tracks. By collecting Gem Sparks that appear on the frozen tracks, players can get event-exclusive rewards.
    • The Frozen Tour Event will be held for a limited time only. You can see how much time is remaining in the event by pressing the L Button on the Main Menu.
    • If you match at least one Lucky Rank during the event period, you can get 500 Gem Sparks as a reward.
    • Classic Tracks and Secret Tracks will not become frozen tracks.
    • Grand Prix events for the Knight League, etc. will be held using normal tracks.
    • Frozen tracks will not appear in Private Lobbies.
  • Added a special event called the Frozen World Tour in which players compete for rank in 9 consecutive races when the Frozen World Tour event is live.
    • The Frozen World Tour is a series of nine races, with each race consisting of three laps. The rules are based on a score system in which the rankings are determined by the total points awarded for each lap, the number of KOs, and the number of Gem Sparks collected during the three laps of the race.
    • In Frozen World Tour, the more players there are in the lobby, the more potential points that players can earn during the race.
    • A Frozen World Tour high-score rankings tab has been added to the weekly leaderboard. This ranking will be reset every Sunday at 4 p.m. PST (00:00 UTC).
    • A player ranking in 999th place or above in the Frozen World Tour will get a special badge. This badge can only be obtained once during the time when the event is live.
    • A Frozen World Tour category has been added to Prix in Records in the Workshop.
  • Star Rivals will appear again. They will occasionally appear on frozen tracks races during the Frozen Tour Event.
    • Star Rivals will not appear in Team Battles and Private Lobby races.
    • The Star Rivals are Captain Falcon, Samurai Goroh, Dr. Stewart, and Pico from the SNES version of F-ZERO.
    • When you beat a Star Rival in a race where they’ve been chosen as your Rival, you’ll receive a special badge that can be used for customizing Pilot Cards. (This offer is limited to players who have not received one before).
  • Added Boost colors and Spin Effects to be used for machine customization, as well as backdrops, badges, and borders to be used for Pilot Card customization. These can be unlocked when certain conditions are met.
    • There are some customization items that can only be obtained during the time when the Frozen Tour Event is live. You can check acquisition status by pressing the L Button on the Main Menu.
    • After you have obtained all of the customization items for the Frozen Tour Event, you will receive 3 Prix tickets for every 2,000 Gem Sparks you collect.
    • Any unclaimed rewards from last year's Frozen Knight League will be available to obtain during this event.
    • This time we have also added customization items that can be obtained by playing Team Battle and Pro Tracks modes.
    • You can perform customization and confirm conditions for obtaining items by selecting Workshop from the Main Menu and then selecting CUSTOMIZE MACHINE, PILOT CARDS, or EMOTES.
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Other Adjustments and Changes

  • The maximum player level has been raised from 399 to 699.
    • The ☆ colors for players in levels 100-399 and those in levels 400-699 are now different so that they can be distinguished from each other.
  • Decals for machines from BS F-ZERO GRAND PRIX can now be used in Team Battle.
  • The player's Pilot Card is now also displayed on the Pilot Card display screen before the race starts.
  • When you obtain all emotes in the EMOTES section of the Workshop, the emotes for each character will now be displayed vertically.

Other Issues

  • Fixed issues to make for a more pleasant gaming experience.

The previous update for F-Zero 99 was released in October of this year - bumping the game up to Version 1.5.1 and fixing multiple issues.

If you haven't played this game yet, to participate you will need a Switch Online membership. You can also find out more in our review here on Nintendo Life. Here's a sample:

" F-Zero is simply suited for the -99 style structure in ways that Tetris, Mario, and Pac-Man aren't; it was already an elimination-style battle royale, just a small one. Adding more players doesn't just feel perfect for F-Zero, it feels natural. This isn't the definitive way to play F-Zero, but it is a brilliant take that supplements what worked so well in the original with thoughtful additions that make chasing victory utterly addictive."

Are you still playing F-Zero 99? Will you be checking out the Frozen Tour? Let us know in the comments.

[source en-americas-support.nintendo.com]