COUNTDOWN: Top Ten Switch Games I Played in 2023 #4 F-Zero 99
The 99 line of games available to NSO members is a series of essentially battle royales where you, the player take on 99 other players via the internet and compete to the “death”. Introduced with Tetris back in 2019 (!?), it has proven to apply itself much more naturally to some games than others. Tetris is an absolute natural for this concept, and highly addictive. The Super Mario Bros. version was oddly fun (though timed and no longer available) and a Pac-Man attempt was a bit too frantic and maybe didn’t work all that great in my opinion.
Well, recently Nintendo decided to give a certain SNES launch title a swing at the gameplay style and oh man, F-Zero 99 where have you been all my life?
The main mode here of course sees you thrown into random matches facing off against 99 strangers. For the most part what we’ve got here is classic F-Zero only now you can use a spin attack to bump your competitors and collect little yellow orbs to fill up an all new meter at the top of the screen. Once you’ve done that, your racer is shot up to a track in the sky which serves as a timed shortcut and it. feels. fantastic. The more you play the more you earn credits and ways to customize the various cars and stuff like that which is also very cool and a fun way to keep things fresh.
This gem from the early 90’s has also been given the HD/widescreen makeover treatment and it looks absolutely stunning. The pixelated style of the 16-bit era screams retro yet also very modern and going back to play the original afterward goes a long way toward appreciating the upgrade. Smartly left intact however is the all-timer of a soundtrack. The SNES is a console fondly remembered for countless stellar OST’s and racing at high speeds to the original tunes is one of the great pleasures this game has to offer.
Released back in September, there have been numerous additional modes introduced to beef up the features. Things like a slow rollout of each original course was a smart idea but recently a “classic” mode where you play by the original rules was made available. It’s good fun of course but part of me wishes that there was an offline option and you could basically play the original game but with the new visuals. That is the closest to a complaint that I can come up with for this thing.
F-Zero 99 delivers in ways I was absolutely not prepared for and it has become the game of the holiday season for me. Grab yourself an SNES pad and buckle up, this one is great.
