Nintendo has a big stable of franchises, but some of them haven’t seen a new game in quite some time. Such is the case for F-Zero, Nintendo’s futuristic racing franchise. While elements from the series continue to appear in Nintendo Switch games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, there hasn’t been a new game since 2004’s F-Zero Climax. That game only released in Japan, so fans in North America have been waiting even longer. In a new interview with GamesBeat, former Nintendo of America president Reggie File-Aime was asked about the franchise, and whether it has been truly “abandoned.”
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“Why was F-Zero abandoned? The insight I would share is that, at leastduring my tenure, Nintendo developers were always experimenting withdifferent gameplay styles, always thinking about where a uniqueexperience could be applied back, either to an existing franchise ormaybe creating a new franchise. My bet is that somewhere in the Kyotodevelopment centers, some developer is playing around with an idea thatmight be applied to F-Zero,” Fils-Aime told GamesBeat. “It’s never a situation, at least in myexperience, where the company makes a conscious decision not to continuesupporting X-Y-Z franchise. Historically it just hasn’t worked thatway, not when I was there.”
Last year, former Nintendo designer Takaya Imamura told IGN something similar, stating that “without a grand new idea, it’s hard to bring [F-Zero] back.” While this is obviously disappointing, the comments from Imamura and Fils-Aime should give fans some hope that Nintendo hasn’t completely abandoned the series. It’s possible Nintendo just hasn’t found the right way to sell F-Zero to a larger audience, and without some kind of new idea, the company doesn’t feel confident enough to revisit the series.
For now, F-Zero fans will just have to settle for the original SNES game, as well as F-Zero X, both of which are currently available on Nintendo Switch Online. The latter game was added to the Expansion Pack’s Nintendo 64 app back in March.
Are you hoping to see a new F-Zero game? What would you like to see from the series? Let us know inthe comments or share your thoughtsdirectly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!
