F-Zero
Best SNES Franchises
Whereas Super Mario Kart was a more beginner-friendly racer in both difficulty and appearance, SNES launch title F-Zero was decidedly less so, focusing on intense speeds, as well as more intricate, serpentine, and challenging, high-speed circuits.
A technical juggernaut at launch, F-Zero was the first game on the SNES to incorporate Mode 7 graphics, offering a quasi-3D approach to its visuals, making players feel like they were racing in a three-dimensional space. Of course, one couldn’t let the smooth and silky visuals distract them for too long, as there were races to win and ships to hopefully not crash, immediately costing a player a continue.
F-Zero not only debuted as a franchise on the SNES, but it also laid the foundation of the futuristic racing game sub-genre. Future titles like F-Zero X on the Nintendo 64 would add full-fledged 3D to the series, while F-Zero GX on the GameCube would be more of an evolution to the series, sporting breathtaking visuals on top of insane speeds.
In modern times, F-Zero is a franchise that Nintendo has on hiatus, apparently waiting for the perfect innovation for it to be deemed suitable to return. Meanwhile, F-Zero fans like us are simply kept waiting in general for the series to finally return to prominence.
