Guess which dead Nintendo IP is in the news again?

Yup, it's F-Zero! And it's because a former Nintendo developer refutes the fact that it's "dead".

IGN

Takaya Imamura, the now-retired Nintendo artist and designer who helped create The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and characters like Captain Falcon and Fox McCloud, has said that while F-Zero isn't dead, it is a series that is "hard to bring back" without a "grand idea."

Imamura spoke to IGN about his 30-year career at Nintendo, and he revealed that he considers F-Zero GX to be "the ultimate F-Zero." However, 2003's F-Zero GX is 18 years old and is the last console F-Zero game to be released.

While many Nintendo franchises have lived on with new entries, F-Zero has been quiet for nearly two decades, although it wasn't for lack of trying.

“Of course, I’ve thought about it many times, but without a grand new idea, it’s hard to bring it back,” Imamura says.

Despite that, Imamura reassures us that the F-Zero series isn't dead, even with him no longer being at Nintendo.

Imamura also delved deep into the development of F-Zero GX, which took inspiration from Daytona USA and was developed by SEGA's Amusement Vision alongside Nintendo.

“I think it started with [Amusement Vision's] Toshihiro Nagoshi proposing the project to Miyamoto,” says Imamura. “I really liked Daytona USA (which Nagoshi produced), so I was honored to work with him. We had an arcade system board called Triforce which was based on the GameCube’s architecture, so when Nagoshi proposed doing an arcade version of F-Zero, I was really happy, as I had always been a fan of arcade games.

“Back then, Nagoshi was the top of Amusement Vision, a subsidiary studio of Sega. I don’t think many people outside the company were ever allowed inside the actual development offices. Companies don’t usually let people inside their development offices, but they showed me the arcade cabinets they were working on, which has become a special memory for me,” recalls Imamura. “Nagoshi had a professional darts machine in his office, which I thought was very stylish. In those days, Nagoshi still had long hair, but he was already quite imposing.”

While he discussed F-Zero, our interview with Imamura also touches upon his work on The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Star Fox 64, how he got into the video game industry, and much more.

Look, I want a new game as much as the next guy. But after what released on the GameCube and GBA and how they sold, it's a lost cause. Might as well come to grips that Captain Falcon and co associate with Smash more than his own franchise. Besides, the "need of radical ideas" isn't even a wrong one, considering the SNES game was mainly a Mode 7 demo.

Plus, if you're really dire for a sci-fi racer fix, Shin'en has the Fast games and even Star Wars: Episode I Racer, which outsold F-Zero X on EVEN the N64, is on the Switch too.

100% agreement. Unless F-Zero is a port, if a new game were to be released, it would need new ideas and the implementation of those new ideas. Some have mentioned just porting the game and putting the tracks online, or possibly introducing a track maker.

Look. There’s no easy way to say this....but the racing concept is decaying. And I say this with a heavy heart because I love Mario kart and things of that nature.

Whining about F-Zero is not gonna cut it. I would suggest writing some concepts (good concepts) and sending them over to Nintendo.

@nintendoboy16: I always heard it didn't do well too, but one of the developers recently said GX sold about 1.5 million copies. Not Mario Kart numbers but still pretty good by Gamecube standards.

Anyway, I'm not getting my hopes up for a new game, but I do think a Switch remaster is within the realm of possibility.

Not dead? It isn't alive either. Is it comatose? Yea, that's it. It is only sleeping, guys and gals, don't worry.

I don’t think it’s dead. Nintendo’s mindset with F-Zero was similar to their comments about Star Fox. They don’t want to bring back a franchise unless they have some ideas to modernize it.

An F-Zero racer on the Switch would need to be pretty different and modernized compared to what F-Zero GX was. It‘s unlikely most people would buy the game at full price if it wasn’t any different from the last release. Also, a lot of F-Zero styled games already exist from indie developers on most platforms for $20-$30.

The challenge with F-Zero is actually the same thing that makes it special, speed.

Additional modes - which would be needed - are hard to do with so much speed such as a battle mode, coin runner, etc. Speed also makes it less approachable. You look at Mario Kart or GTA Online (racing) these games are pretty approachable, have intangibles like item use in Mario Kart, or collision in GTA (examples).

F-Zero is a game that relies on a lot of technical skill and even though it's not a sim, it lacks the intangibles in an arcade racer.

In short, it's difficult to just pick up and play. GX was brutally hard.

If it could work, then I think there would need to be a campaign with Captain Falcon that takes him out of the car at some points. Kind of like Star Fox Adventures took Fox out of the Arwing.

make it for VR using the labo VR kit. i'll get the puke bucket :P.

Sadly the whole genre is pretty niche. Sony have retired wipeout (*sniff*), Nintendo had a small gesture with MK8. Fast Racing Neo is pretty solid. there are some small studios making these kinds of games for the PC now. but thats about it.

I would like to see what Nadeo (trackmania) could do with it. very quick games, level editor, wacky tracks, racing based puzzles and platforming even but still requires a high degree of skill and race craft.

GX on the gamecube was indeed awesome. it was the onyl F-zero game i played and i spent a lot of time on it back in the day.