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If you haven't heard Nintendo released and announced F-Zero 99 yesterday. This is the first F-Zero release in North America in 20 years (and close to that in Japan.)  What is it? F-Zero 99 is the latest in Nintendo's weird battle royal type multiplayer games. This time it's based on the SNES F-Zero. It's included with your Nintendo Switch Online subscription the same way Tetris 99, Mario 35 and Pac Man 99 were. How does it work? It's F-Zero with 99 players. You can play single races against 98 opponents or a rotating set of special games in exchange for tickets which you earn in regular 99 races. Mini GP (3 Race Series) Grand Prix (5 Race Series) Team Battle Pro Courses While it takes the graphics, courses and machines from the SNES F-Zero it's not exactly SNES F-Zero. Nintendo added the boost mechanic from the 3D games where boosting takes away your energy/health rather than the 1 boost per lap of the SNES game. Also you can boost once you start the first lap. There is a short warm up section where the 99 machines merge into the course prior to the first lap. They also added in a spin attack similar to the 3D games. If you get a KO on another player your power meter fills up and extends. The biggest change is the Skyway mechanic. When racers crash into each other they leave yellow sparks behind. Collect these to fill up a gauge which when full gives you access to the Skyway above the course which is full of dash pads and is easier to navigate. There are also giant gold NPC racers which drop sparks. Overall this game is really fun. It's insanely chaotic when you don't know what you are doing and still pretty chaotic when you do. You'll find yourself in 2nd or 3rd, hit an exploding pink NPC and suddenly you are in the wall, falling behind, you boost, get nudged into another NPC and die. Or you'll kill someone, start boosting like mad and make a big comeback and feel awesome. Right now it seems like only the Knight League courses are in rotation, with White Land I and Portland 2 popping up in Pro Tracks. I'm hoping more GPs open up since I've completed Knight League but since GP is on a rotation I'm not sure yet. It might be set to your level, or it might be timed. I'm hoping someone else has a better idea of how the level roll out might work!
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Sep 15, 2023 23:42
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 20:45 |
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I think I'm addicted to this. I'm creeping up on B-rank but have yet to finish a Grand Prix without exploding or ranking out. I did just get a 2nd place which gives me confidence I will blunder into 1st one of these days
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Sep 15, 2023 23:53
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robot roll call posted:I think I'm addicted to this. I'm creeping up on B-rank but have yet to finish a Grand Prix without exploding or ranking out. I did just get a 2nd place which gives me confidence I will blunder into 1st one of these days I got third for a bit when I was on track 3/5 in GP mode and then bombed hard near the finish line. Disqualified. Bah.
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Sep 15, 2023 23:57
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MassRafTer posted:Right now it seems like only the Knight League courses are in rotation, with White Land I and Portland 2 popping up in Pro Tracks. I'm hoping more GPs open up since I've completed Knight League but since GP is on a rotation I'm not sure yet. It might be set to your level, or it might be timed. I'm hoping someone else has a better idea of how the level roll out might work! Queen and King League (and their associated maps) just aren't in the game yet, I'm pretty sure. They show up as "Coming Soon" in the leaderboards and practice mode map select, and when you look at the unlock conditions for the various paint jobs and decals there's stuff for Knight League but nothing for King/Queen League. I love all the different paint jobs and decals you can get, there's more appearance customization than I expected.
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Sep 16, 2023 00:01
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I still can’t believe they put Death Wind in this game. It’s a big enough clusterfuck in the single player SNES F-Zero for Christ’s sakes.
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Sep 16, 2023 00:05
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Orange Crush Rush posted:I still can’t believe they put Death Wind in this game. It’s a big enough clusterfuck in the single player SNES F-Zero for Christ’s sakes. If you haven't played Silence yet, even with 20 racers at the end of GP it's nuts. Snake Maze posted:Queen and King League (and their associated maps) just aren't in the game yet, I'm pretty sure. They show up as "Coming Soon" in the leaderboards and practice mode map select, and when you look at the unlock conditions for the various paint jobs and decals there's stuff for Knight League but nothing for King/Queen League. At this point it's probably for the best I can't imagine White Land II in this game, let alone Fire Field. The two they have in there now are hard enough. I've managed 2nd a few times but haven't come close to winning. Each time I'm a second ahead of third and 3-6 seconds behind first.
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Sep 16, 2023 00:09
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I want them to do ace league from the f-zero 2 satellaview game, specifically because silence 2 iirc had at least half the track where the walls were jumps and I wanna see what happens when all 99 players crash out.
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Sep 16, 2023 00:18
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I'm nowhere near as good at this as I am Tetris 99. But it's fun. I like Golden Fox's recovery. Makes me feel like I'm invincible as long as I can get to the heal zone. It's a bit slow though. Fire Stingray is clearly the best car, but you've got to be a good driver to just manage the chaos. I like Goose's durability but ultimately you heal so slowly. I'm not so much as a tool to drive Blue Falcon though. It's a good car but still.
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Sep 16, 2023 00:20
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I love the pointlessly cool intro to Sand Ocean with the two halves of the pool jumping over each other.
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Sep 16, 2023 00:29
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100YrsofAttitude posted:I'm nowhere near as good at this as I am Tetris 99. But it's fun. I only drive the Blue Falcon. I will never betray the Captain.
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Sep 16, 2023 00:42
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100YrsofAttitude posted:I'm not so much as a tool to drive Blue Falcon though. It's a good car but still. come say that on the track bro
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Sep 16, 2023 00:44
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I liked how the Blue Falcon was mediocre as gently caress in GX, but if you ever got anywhere in story mode you automatically knew how to drive that car so loving well it didn’t really matter.
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Sep 16, 2023 01:11
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Game is super fun but I have yet to get higher than 18 need to get better at KOing people.
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Sep 16, 2023 01:24
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some things I'm wondering: what determines skyway duration? sometimes I'm up there for like 4 boost pads and sometimes I'm there for like 2 seconds should you use the skyway strategically or just let it rip? I think it's the same layout up there every time (per track obviously) so there probably are better spots to use it, but you also deny yourself boost until you do. I just use it asap right now is there a way to rotate your car on your pilot card or does it just show it at a random angle?
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Sep 16, 2023 01:41
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Someone said it’s like the Bullet Bill from MK8, the farther you are in the back the longer it lasts. It also seems to always carry you over big jumps and things like U-Turns so there probably is some optimal time to use it per track.
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Sep 16, 2023 01:46
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robot roll call posted:is there a way to rotate your car on your pilot card or does it just show it at a random angle? Yeah. I want to say it's right stick when you're customizing your card, it should be listed in the controls. If possible I like to save the skyway for when it'll let me skip a nasty part of the track, but since you can't boost until you use it you don't always want to save it that long.
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Sep 16, 2023 01:55
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this is one of my favorite games of the year even though I suck rear end. So much fun.
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Sep 16, 2023 02:04
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This is insane. I bounce around like a pinball. Such a fun game.
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Sep 16, 2023 02:28
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I'm poo poo at racing games but the Rival system allows me to feel like I can do well within the chaos. Gives me something to latch onto that isn't my 57th place finish 
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Sep 16, 2023 03:33
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Silence was my favorite track in F-Zero, so this should be My Time®. I need to get some practice in. I want to do well in a full GP before everyone gets way better than I am.
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Sep 16, 2023 04:23
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I really need to get over my habit of boosting near the finish on the final lap and exploding. Just did it in the last race of a GP lol
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Sep 16, 2023 11:03
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Orange Crush Rush posted:I still can’t believe they put Death Wind in this game. It’s a big enough clusterfuck in the single player SNES F-Zero for Christ’s sakes. The first time it came up I hammered down on it, not expecting much because why the hell would the majority of players choose a course called "Death Wind", but apparently a lot of players just looked at the fairly harmless looking map and didn't mind the name. I say that because during my first time on Death Wind I, nearly 1/3rd of all players managed to crash out in the chaos.
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Sep 16, 2023 13:18
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I almost came in first on Mute City but instead of letting go of the throttle and drifting around the last corner I got greedy and tried boosting around it - exploded.  This game is so loving fun. Listening to these tracks again after all these years brings me back. Currently using Goose since I was scared of blowing up but may switch to Goroh soon as that's all I used in the old days.
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Sep 16, 2023 15:02
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Just had my first crash out, on Portland II. Completely underestimated the track, until it launched me off the track at a nearly 90° angle. Though I didn't expect the game putting me into the race again as the NPC, let me tell you that was a bafflingly fun experience.
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Sep 16, 2023 15:15
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The biggest thing I'm learning is not to get greedy in the Prixs, as if you get too aggressive at the end to try to take first place, nine times out of ten you will crash out before the finish line. Better to be consistent and live to fight another day, at least when starting out. Finally finished my first Grand Prix and reached 6th place, which I'll gladly take. Now to get some practice in on Silence.
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Sep 16, 2023 15:24
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gently caress, so close.
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Sep 16, 2023 15:32
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The direction of your spin attack matters for the force it exerts on the other car, right? Or am I imagining things?
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Sep 16, 2023 16:24
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Vintersorg posted:gently caress, so close. Holy hell, how are you guys this good, I'm already satisfied when I'm making the top 50 (My first GP ended with me getting booted out in round 4 of 5, while I was going "Yay! My best placement yet!" )
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Sep 16, 2023 20:49
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Libluini posted:Holy hell, how are you guys this good Do time trials, find the best places to boost and the dangerous corners that require braking
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Sep 16, 2023 20:59
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Nearly choked it away on Silence but clutched out a GP 1st place today. Beating 98 people to the crown is a great feeling.
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Sep 16, 2023 21:01
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Libluini posted:Holy hell, how are you guys this good, I'm already satisfied when I'm making the top 50 Make sure you are doing the boost start by hitting the gas right before go. That way you'll end up towards the front of the pack in the warm up. You can pick up some orbs here but won't have to make up too much time like you would if you were towards the back. Getting a good start is really really important. You can still win if you end up in the back, but it's going to require more luck. I think the biggest places to save time on turns are the last turn of Mute City, slow down, cut it really close and then boost when you have a straight line and the 180 degree turn in Sand Ocean. People are generally really bad at those and if you can take them tight, you'll pass several people each lap and have a better feel for how to take other more difficult turns.
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Sep 16, 2023 23:26
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I'm enjoying played with the SNES controller as intended. The bigger buttons help. Also, it was far easier swapping off with my brother-in-law yesterday because he could co-pilot, let me know when spin was charged, how far I was from Skyway, and how much energy I had cause it's hard to watch otherwise. I've also hit boost more than once thinking I had skyway when my spin recharged which has been catastrophic.
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Sep 16, 2023 23:40
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100YrsofAttitude posted:I'm enjoying played with the SNES controller as intended. The bigger buttons help. Also, it was far easier swapping off with my brother-in-law yesterday because he could co-pilot, let me know when spin was charged, how far I was from Skyway, and how much energy I had cause it's hard to watch otherwise. I've also hit boost more than once thinking I had skyway when my spin recharged which has been catastrophic. Do the SNES controllers have ZL/ZR? If not, how do you spin?
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Sep 16, 2023 23:44
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Rupert Buttermilk posted:Do the SNES controllers have ZL/ZR? If not, how do you spin? It does. Finally unlocked silence though getting 3rd place in Death Wind helped immensely. Golden Fox is a really good for the acceleration boost to keep you up front early. Also the recovery makes it a safe bet to survive if you use boost carefully. Now to groove to that glorious Silence track.
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Sep 16, 2023 23:47
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Does the SNES controller have an analog stick? That fine control feels important to me Also, I just noticed that getting a KO against a player during a grand prix extends your boost/health bar not just for that race, but for the rest of the series!
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Sep 17, 2023 01:51
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spiritual bypass posted:Does the SNES controller have an analog stick? That fine control feels important to me Could always grab an 8bitdo!
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Sep 17, 2023 01:59
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spiritual bypass posted:Does the SNES controller have an analog stick? That fine control feels important to me No but F-Zero wasn't made for analog controls. Has anyone tried playing with a stick vs the pad? Would feel really weird if they remade the controls for that.
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Sep 17, 2023 02:22
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It does use the analog stick analogishly
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Sep 17, 2023 02:25
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spiritual bypass posted:It does use the analog stick analogishly I'm sure it's just as good as playing links awakening or link between worlds with the analog stick, though at least f-zero gives you the choice.
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Sep 17, 2023 02:59
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I've been playing entirely off the SNES controller which is why I didn't know you could use the right stick to rotate the car position on the pilot card. I think it works great, not really sure what analog would add to the controls
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Sep 17, 2023 04:41
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