5,509
edits
F-Zero (universe): Difference between revisions
m
→Franchise description
m (removing double italics) |
|||
| Line 26: | Line 26: | ||
Several dozen F-Zero racers race at a time in some games, and each pilot has a different reason for taking part in the grand prix, whether it is intergalactic fame, the monetary grand prize, or satisfying some sort of vendetta against another racer or group. Each individual machine is balanced in relation to each other with different gradings in the areas of Body, Weight, Boost, and Grip. The wide cast of humans, aliens, monsters, androids, and other life forms that race against each other are designed in an aesthetic style reminiscent of American comic books, and the recurring character that is the closest to being the series' "mascot" is a space-faring bounty hunter named [[Captain Falcon]], whose wardrobe gives him the appearance of a comic book superhero and whose multiple rivals resemble stereotypical supervillains. Disregarding the alternate-universe ''GP Legend'' subseries, there is usually little heed paid to continuity between installments in the series, and little focus on up-front storytelling in a given game itself, except for the story mode in ''F-Zero GX''. | Several dozen F-Zero racers race at a time in some games, and each pilot has a different reason for taking part in the grand prix, whether it is intergalactic fame, the monetary grand prize, or satisfying some sort of vendetta against another racer or group. Each individual machine is balanced in relation to each other with different gradings in the areas of Body, Weight, Boost, and Grip. The wide cast of humans, aliens, monsters, androids, and other life forms that race against each other are designed in an aesthetic style reminiscent of American comic books, and the recurring character that is the closest to being the series' "mascot" is a space-faring bounty hunter named [[Captain Falcon]], whose wardrobe gives him the appearance of a comic book superhero and whose multiple rivals resemble stereotypical supervillains. Disregarding the alternate-universe ''GP Legend'' subseries, there is usually little heed paid to continuity between installments in the series, and little focus on up-front storytelling in a given game itself, except for the story mode in ''F-Zero GX''. | ||
The original ''{{iw|fzerowiki|F-Zero}}'' had a very privileged position in [[Nintendo]]'s release timeline. Developed | The original ''{{iw|fzerowiki|F-Zero}}'' had a very privileged position in [[Nintendo]]'s release timeline. Developed simultaneously with ''{{iw|mariowiki|Super Mario World}}'' and {{uv|Pilotwings}}, this seminal entry was a launch title for Super Famicom and its western equivalent, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and was the technical showpiece for the console's innovative "Mode 7" graphics-rendering technique. This form of texture mapping available on the SNES allowed a raster graphical plane to be rotated and scaled freely, and its usage in ''F-Zero'' to partially simulate three-dimensional environments without processing polygons was lauded for providing ''F-Zero'' the most convincing racetracks that had yet been seen on a home console. ''F-Zero'' was widely praised and financially successful both for its technical achievements and for delivering responsive gameplay supplemented by a wide track variety and a steady increase in challenge, and is credited both for reinvigorating the racing genre and for establishing a sub-genre of racing games that featured a futuristic aesthetic. | ||
Considering the success of the first game, Nintendo notably did not jump into developing a sequel for several years, and what was technically the second installment of the franchise, ''{{iw|fzerowiki|BS F-Zero Grand Prix}}'', was released in two separate incarnations as downloadable titles for the Satellaview, a Japan-exclusive attachment for the Super Famicom, in the mid-1990s. The sequel would eventually release in 1998 for [[Nintendo 64]] as ''{{iw|fzerowiki|F-Zero X}}''. Continuing the tradition of being a technical showcase for the console, ''F-Zero X'' was able to create large, complex tracks with high speeds and many cars on screen at once all while | Considering the success of the first game, Nintendo notably did not jump into developing a sequel for several years, and what was technically the second installment of the franchise, ''{{iw|fzerowiki|BS F-Zero Grand Prix}}'', was released in two separate incarnations as downloadable titles for the Satellaview, a Japan-exclusive attachment for the Super Famicom, in the mid-1990s. The sequel would eventually release in 1998 for [[Nintendo 64]] as ''{{iw|fzerowiki|F-Zero X}}''. Continuing the tradition of being a technical showcase for the console, ''F-Zero X'' was able to create large, complex tracks with high speeds and many cars on screen at once all while maintaining an unbroken 60 frames per second. The game was received positively for its impressive technical elements, refined gameplay, hard rock soundtrack, and abundance of content, some reviewers pointed out that the framerate came at a cost of visual detail. A subsequent Japanese-only release for the short-lived Nintendo 64DD add-on, the ''{{iw|fzerowiki|F-Zero X Expansion Kit}}'', was the first 64DD disk exclusively designed as an add-on to work in conjunction with a Nintendo 64 cartridge inserted into the base console; it primarily added both a vehicle-creation feature and a track-creation tool that was virtually the same tool used during the development of the game itself. | ||
The series once again mirrored its roots as a technical showcase for a newly launched Nintendo system with the Game Boy Advance launch title ''{{iw|fzerowiki|F-Zero: Maximum Velocity}}'', which transplanted the Mode 7 presentation style of the original into a handheld system. Then, the series made its most technically advanced appearance yet in ''{{iw|fzerowiki|F-Zero GX}}'' for the [[Nintendo GameCube]] in 2003. This is the first entry in the series not developed in-house, and was instead outsourced to [[Sega]] as the first official collaboration between the two since their pulling out of the console market. This game was lauded for being the best racing game for the GameCube; critically acclaimed elements include its visuals, high sense of speed and intensity, track design, challenge, and fleshed-out single-player modes, with some criticism leveled against a very sharp difficulty slant. An arcade counterpart to this title named ''{{iw|fzerowiki|F-Zero AX}}'' was published by Sega for the Triforce arcade system board (a system that was conceived from a business alliance between Sega, Nintendo, and [[Namco]]), and it featured special connectivity with the GameCube title in which a player that inserted a Nintendo GameCube memory card into the ''F-Zero AX'' system could instantly unlock content in ''F-Zero GX'' that would normally require successful playthroughs on high difficulties to access. | The series once again mirrored its roots as a technical showcase for a newly launched Nintendo system with the Game Boy Advance launch title ''{{iw|fzerowiki|F-Zero: Maximum Velocity}}'', which transplanted the Mode 7 presentation style of the original into a handheld system. Then, the series made its most technically advanced appearance yet in ''{{iw|fzerowiki|F-Zero GX}}'' for the [[Nintendo GameCube]] in 2003. This is the first entry in the series not developed in-house, and was instead outsourced to [[Sega]] as the first official collaboration between the two since their pulling out of the console market. This game was lauded for being the best racing game for the GameCube; critically acclaimed elements include its visuals, high sense of speed and intensity, track design, challenge, and fleshed-out single-player modes, with some criticism leveled against a very sharp difficulty slant. An arcade counterpart to this title named ''{{iw|fzerowiki|F-Zero AX}}'' was published by Sega for the Triforce arcade system board (a system that was conceived from a business alliance between Sega, Nintendo, and [[Namco]]), and it featured special connectivity with the GameCube title in which a player that inserted a Nintendo GameCube memory card into the ''F-Zero AX'' system could instantly unlock content in ''F-Zero GX'' that would normally require successful playthroughs on high difficulties to access. | ||