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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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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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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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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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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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Hey I finally placed first! But it was on Silence in the GP so it didn't really count. But it felt good.
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Sep 17, 2023 05:07
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EightFlyingCars posted:how in the world are you supposed to take the double hairpin in silence at any appreciable speed anyway, i slam facefirst into the guardrail every time i try it In the SNES version the most consistent way to take it at high speed was to take take a 90 degree left around the first part of the turn, slam into the wall in front of you, which would cause you to slide to the left and then push the gas right as you got the right line. In this one you'll get slammed into too often if you try that so I think the best way to handle it is to take it slow around the first part and then cut through the wall a little bit to stay out of traffic and not end up slammed into a wall. I finally got first in Mute City... but it was in a GP so the game still will not recognize I have won an F-Zero 99. Soon.
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Sep 17, 2023 21:56
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super fart shooter posted:Some people are definitely really good, and a lot more are pretty bad. But it seems to me like there would also be a tendency for race leaders to run away with it, because the further away from the pack you are, the less chip damage you take over the course of each lap, which means more boost potential. I guess you get less skyway and chances for KO's so maybe it kinda balances out, I dunno It's definitely important to get ahead but the number of NPC cars they throw at you means unless you are a total expert you will have some trouble holding that lead. At least that's what I tell myself after I've blown leads I should have held crashing into an exploding NPC.
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Sep 18, 2023 21:31
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Maybe this isn't true with the analog stick controls, but to me F-Zero is a game where you want to think about pointing the car in a direction rather than trying to steer. You don't want to try to drive around other racers as much as angle your car away and go straight. There's a lot of turns that make you think you have to steer around them but in reality you just need to make tiny adjustments and basically stay straight. The S curves near the end of Port Town 2 are like that.
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Sep 18, 2023 23:30
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Since I couldn't really describe how to take that corner in Silence here's a video. It also illustrates how bad people are at Silence because this is not a particularly good lap and no one challenges me. https://twitter.com/mongo_ebooks/status/1703960149571047726 It's at 19 seconds. If you can boost out of it it is even better but I didn't want to risk it.
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Sep 19, 2023 03:53
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Youremother posted:I keep loving up the Grand Prix at Death Wind and still haven't unlocked Silence I think the easiest thing to gently caress up on Death Wind is trying to go straight into the dash pads. If you slightly angle into the wind as you aim for them you are less likely to get pushed off course and miss them. You can also take the turns after the pit area pretty tight, other players seem to take them wide for some reason.
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Sep 19, 2023 04:04
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DEEP STATE PLOT posted:i gave my pro controller a try and holy fuckballs i cannot play this game for poo poo with an analog stick. back to the snes pad for this one. Yeah, I gave it a few races and I just can't. If I'm not rapidly tapping the D-Pad it's not Mode 7 F-Zero. My GPs seem to just fall apart on Mute City. I do really badly on it and then have to dig myself out of a hole by Silence. So I'm qualifying, but not finishing particularly well because I end up in 50th on Mute City which only happens in GPs and Mini GPs!
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Sep 19, 2023 04:26
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KrunkMcGrunk posted:i play Wild Goose, and often hit the proper track in the 50s or so, and usually finish in the teens or better. The way the super boost works in this game, you are definitely able to finish in the top 10, even with a mediocre start. Yeah, 40-60 isn't a bad place to start you will fill up your super boost in the first lap, sometimes even halfway through. The people abusing their boost on the first lap can make it really hard to stay in the top 10 without doing the same and crashing out, but if you can get to the front in lap 3 they'll either crash out or not have the right amount of boost to keep up. I'm sure I finish lower more often if I don't get in the top 20 really early, but I definitely die more if I'm in that lead pack.
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Sep 19, 2023 16:29
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Manoueverable posted:Getting a good result in Mute City in GP depends almost entirely on your super boost timing since everybody is running it constantly in regular races. You can still get a decent result if you don't start the track in the top 50 but if you don't finish in the top 20, it's a very uphill battle to finish the whole GP well. People going for the shortcut in Red Canyon 2 are going to make for really funny races. White Land 2 and Fire Field will have 30% completion rates.
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Sep 19, 2023 16:57
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TracerBullet posted:Apparently there were some datamined leaks that included two new modes - Arcade and 'Survival'. I'm betting survival is exactly what you're describing here. Wow and the name of a Satellaview track in that datamine. Exciting.
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Sep 20, 2023 03:26
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I get a really good mix of tracks.
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Sep 21, 2023 18:00
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I've watched videos of people absolutely dominating with the Blue Falcon but I'm just not at that level. Especially on Big Blue where I struggle to hit the top 10. 4 games with the Golden Fox... https://twitter.com/mongo_ebooks/status/1705424422713123030 The Blue Falcon would probably need just the tiniest buff to its recovery to be really competitive because it is a much, much better handling machine and I can see why people can dominate with it. Of course the properties of the Golden Fox mean I haven't finished a GP with it because I do tend to crash out more being reckless.
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Sep 23, 2023 17:45
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Space Fish posted:After a couple of Grand Prix where I've been in the top 10 (waffling between front and middle), I've wondered about the gently caress-you frequency. When I'm in the middle or back of the pack, the red bumpers seem to be pretty sporadic. When I'm at or near the front, the game seems to drop waves of 'em in the way, almost like a counterweight to not having the rest of the train making trouble. Reading this earlier I laughed, then as I hit three exploding pink cars in the final nasty turn on Silence to drop from 1st to 4th and kill my chances of winning my first GP I realized you were right and it is a conspiracy against us.
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Sep 24, 2023 17:50
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shyduck posted:The only other car I've had any consistent success with outside of Wild Goose is Blue Falcon. I know it's considered to generally be the weakest car because it doesn't really have a specific strong suit or two but I seem to get along with it pretty well in this format. I've racked up a few wins with it and a 2nd in the Knight GP. It handles extremely well and doesn't get pushed around as much as the Wild Goose. If you are in a GP and less risk averse the Falcon really isn't a bad option because you will probably be boosting less anyway and taking advantage of the Goose's best stat, that you can really take that power gauge down and refill it every lap.
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Sep 26, 2023 02:57
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Captain Lavender posted:Trying to figure out why Mute City always wins. It's the plainest track, and is the hardest to win, because everyone's played it a million times. I've been experiencing Big Blue beating everything including Mute City since this weekend. Which I guess is good since I'm playing it better than other courses right now, but I need to practice Sand Ocean because I keep loving up near the top on the third lap!
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Sep 27, 2023 03:58
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Hempuli posted:I heard some talk about new tracks. Has there been any official word about that or is all info still based on people looking for not-yet-used assets in the code & the "coming soon" for Queen/King leagues? I believe Nintendo of Japan posted new tracks at the end of this month, so probably Thursday?
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Sep 27, 2023 15:01
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SettingSun posted:I'm already itching for new tracks. Queen Cup was my favorite cup so I'll be blowing even more time on this game if those drop this week.
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Sep 27, 2023 15:08
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shyduck posted:I'm looking forward to the pain of Death Wind II Tomorrow! https://topics.nintendo.co.jp/article/edd75773-8c0f-46e8-91d0-37e0984fc019 Queen League will be added, White Land II is GP only (not a surprise) Death Wind II added to Pro Tracks.
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Sep 28, 2023 02:57
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I wonder how the skyway strategy works for each car in Death Wind II. For The Wild Goose it feels like the way to go is to use it right after the last dash pad on the course so you are on the course during the twisty section where your superior handling and armor can get all of those boosts and not get bounced around. For the Golden Fox you definitely want to take it through that section since you will get bounced around. Falcon I think can handle it. I'm not sure about the Stingray.
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Sep 29, 2023 04:21
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Captain Lavender posted:Good News - bad news: I haven't noticed many bots at all in my games. Are the bots the ones with names like "David" or whatever? The last GP I did looked pretty legit. Wouldn't mind a bot GP so I could do better than 3rd.
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Sep 30, 2023 19:22
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Captain Lavender posted:I would literally never win a GP with 99 players. Some of the names are generic like David - but the real tell is watching the pre-race lobby. See how many are in there before the timer runs out. Maybe I'm in some bermuda triangle region with no players. My lobby looks basically full every time, maybe a 99 race will have 97 or so when the timer runs out but I haven't really noticed it below full or close to full.
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Sep 30, 2023 19:33
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Captain Lavender posted:Good News - bad news: It didn't even occur to me but how did you do a Knight League GP today? I've only seen Queen League.
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Sep 30, 2023 23:53
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Truxton posted:Killing bumpers gets you the energy extension but not the full restore, just a small restore. I have seen people who've made Grand Prix winning strategies of focusing on killing bumpers in the first couple races, then using the extended gauge to dominate the rest of the Prix. It does seem like killing grey bumpers doesn't always get you credit for a KO. I'm also unsure if knocking someone into the side gives you a KO or not, doesn't seem like it always does.
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Oct 1, 2023 05:36
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I played way too much this weekend and ended up in 300th place on the Queen Cup leaderboard.
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Oct 1, 2023 23:55
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Bleck posted:
Faced a guy like that, had three of my best races and got three distant seconds.
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Oct 2, 2023 03:00
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Libluini posted:I'm always telling myself that people at rank S-7 with 99 GP victories are bots, otherwise I'd get depressed with my lvl. 9, B- rear end. Silence I and White Land II are not part of any rotation right now the only way to get them are in the GP.
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Oct 2, 2023 21:09
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100YrsofAttitude posted:They're both the last tracks and will always be. You have to make it to the end. The Goose feels like a pretty good option for someone who is struggling at surviving, but how limited your boosts will be is a little challenging. I think for Queen cup in the Goose you have a good shot at advancing if you can do the following as a decent strategy, if not perfect: Mute City 2: Boost at the starting line if you are behind the pack and haven't taken damage, don't boost if you have. Boost through the dirt after jump and then after you corner the final turn as tight as possible. Take the skyway right after the turn before the circle. You should get two boosts that way but beware it might drop you off in the dirt before the second jump. If you get a skyway between the circle and the second jump on the 1st or 2nd lap just use it there, don't hold it an entire lap. Port Land 1: Boost through the gentle curves after the jump and after the 2nd to last turn (right after the magnets) use the skyway before the area where it skips a big section of track a few turns before the magnets. This should allow you to use that skip and skip the magnets and end up on the second to last straightaway for your boost. Red Canyon 1: Practice those early turns. If you can get the rhythm you will pass a few people here. Boost through that weird section of track with lots of dirt after the section with the jumps, it's a straight away but people get nervous because of all the curved walls, and the turn after it is very easy to take boosting. You can double up on boosts in later laps here if you have energy. Either skyway right after the pit area or before the jumps. The former skips the turns which is really slow, the later skips a big section of track. Not sure which is better. White Land 1: Boost after straightening out on the two big icy turns. Lots of people going slow and some KO opportunities near the end. Skyway through the first icy turn OR take the last jump, fly left off the course and activate it to skip a big section of track if you feel more daring. Make sure you spin before the pit areas lots of people will be low on energy.
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Oct 2, 2023 21:56
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shyduck posted:Also it's important to remember the closer you are to 1st, the less length your skyway time is. There are skyway sections that will carry you through even after your skyway meter is empty, like when they're over a trackless section, but you have to be on it just long enough. After a while, you get a feel for when you can safely activate the skyway relative to your position and get the most out of it. It sucks to fall short of one of those sections, because those are money I also swear there are other random factors that change the length of your skyway I just can't figure it out. But the most important thing to know is where you need your meter to run out so you are on a curve and will get bonus skyway. For example if you use it in 10thish on White Land 2 right before the first big hairpin turn and you will ride that thing until the icy patch right before the big jump. Also very happy to finally get 1st on Death Wind II. https://twitter.com/mongo_ebooks/status/1709009697863516603
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Oct 3, 2023 02:14
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Breadallelogram posted:Managed to get 6th in a queen league GP. I think that's the best I've done so far. It was mixed in yesterday.
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Oct 4, 2023 05:14
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Breadallelogram posted:99 was undergoing maintenance when I tried to play earlier, so I decided to play the original F-Zero on the Switch Online SNES emulator. I've hardly played this game in my life. We are all toast when they add Mute City III and Fire Field to 99. If Silence is anything to go by the field will clear out the minefield in Mute City III pretty quickly. Fire Field should be brutal, but somehow White Land II feels easier to survive in this game than the original so maybe Fire Field will be too.
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Oct 5, 2023 05:03
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Croccers posted:
Need this person to say "Given the ________ craze, a "Star Fox sequel that is true to the gameplay of Star Fox 64 but not a remake and F-Zero GXXX should be obvious projects at Nintendo right now." A Star Fox Battle Royal could be fun...
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Oct 6, 2023 17:16
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Orange Crush Rush posted:I've made it to White Land II 3 times now, yet I can't even get close to making it to Silence. I think the Falcon is significantly weaker in Knight League where the courses are easier and people boost more vs Queen League where it's weaknesses are a little less pronounced.
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Oct 7, 2023 00:02
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Unhappy Meal posted:What I wouldn't give for a vote multiplier if a map you keep voting for loses. Gotta force these losers to play Sand Ocean somehow. Meanwhile I get Sand Ocean plenty but I cannot get Death Wind I unless I play a GP.
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Oct 7, 2023 03:24
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Finally won Knight League. Was tied going into Silence and when I hit the shortcut I thought "maybe I should play it safe and boost through the dirt... eh, what's the worst that can happen" https://twitter.com/mongo_ebooks/status/1711129179381723513 I guess that, but it didn't doom me, thankfully!
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Oct 8, 2023 22:27
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 09:40 |
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Manoueverable posted:I've just straight up honked it on Queen League so many times now that I don't know if Wild Goose is the strat anymore. I had a run getting 1st on Mute City II and 2nd on White Land I but was in the high 20s on both Port Town and Red Canyon which left me a distant 3rd overall. I don't have any consistency going up against people who are getting 10th at worst every race. One thing that helped my consistency was really fine tuning when I boost so I had one extra boost for the final lap. If I was going to be stuck in 20-40th just boost once or maybe not at all on the first lap and use my boosts after the skyway, and trying to really focus on making sure I got two skyways if I started poorly.
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Oct 9, 2023 20:55
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