F-Zero (video Game)

F-Zero (video game)

F-Zero (エフゼロ, Efu Zero?) is a futuristic racing video game developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The game was released in Japan on November 21, 1990, in North America on August 23, 1991, and in Europe on June 4, 1992. F-Zero is the first game of the F-Zero series and was one of the two launch titles for the SNES in Japan, but was accompanied by additional initial titles in North America and Europe. In late 2006, F-Zero became available for the Virtual Console service on the Wii.

The game takes place in the year 2560, where multi-billionaires with lethargic lifestyles created a new form of entertainment based on the Formula One races called "F-Zero". The player can choose between one of four characters in the game, each with their respective hovercars. The player then can race against computer controlled characters in fifteen tracks divided into three leagues.

F-Zero is acknowledged by critics to be the game that set a standard for the racing genre and the creation of the futuristic sub-genre. Critics lauded F-Zero for its fast and challenging gameplay, variety of tracks, and extensive use of the graphical mode called "Mode 7". This graphics-rendering technique was an innovative technological achievement at the time that made racing games more realistic, the first of which was F-Zero. As a result, the title reinvigorated the genre and inspired the future creation of numerous racing games. In retrospective reviews of the game critics agreed that it should have used a multiplayer mode. F-Zero became part of the Player's Choice line by selling at least a million copies.