Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé has hinted that “some developer is playing around with an idea” that may bring Nintendo’s space racer F-Zero back to life.
In an interview with VentureBeat, Fils-Aimé confirmed that a developer rarely “makes a conscious decision not to continue supporting” a franchise, stating that – “at least during [his] tenure” – Nintendo is always experimenting with ways to make new games… or apply new ideas to an existing franchise.
“Why was F-Zero abandoned?” he said. “The insight I would share is that, at least during my tenure, Nintendo developers were always experimenting with different gameplay styles, always thinking about where a unique experience could be applied back, either to an existing franchise or maybe creating a new franchise.
“My bet is that somewhere in the Kyoto development centres, some developer is playing around with an idea that might be applied to F-Zero. It’s never a situation, at least in my experience, where the company makes a conscious decision not to continue supporting X-Y-Z franchise. Historically it just hasn’t worked that way, not when I was there.”
F-Zero first released in 1990 – that’s 32 years ago – and came to SNES in ’91, but the series has been dormant since 2004’s F-Zero Climax. It’s widely considered to have inspired a whole generation of racing games, including Wipeout and Daytona USA.
ICYMI, the N64’s F-Zero X is available to play on Switch as part of Nintendo Switch Online Expansion’s library of retro titles. Following the impressive Mode 7 graphics of the SNES original, F-Zero X added polygonal graphics, 30 character races, and blistering speed over winding, rollercoaster tracks at a smooth 60 fps.