Nintendo’s idea man doesn’t have ideas on how to make F-Zero ‘great again’
Mario Kart 8 is extending into a less traditional direction after the somewhat tired Mario Kart 7, but it appears the future isn’t so bright for Nintendo’s lesser-known, higher-octane racing series, F-Zero. The Mario Kart series has been plugging away for years, brand recognition in tow, but it’s been along time since Captain Falcon has had a game to ply his adrenaline-fueled wares outside of the Super Smash Bros. series.
Speaking to IGN, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto said, “I think where I struggle is that I don’t really have a good idea for what’s new that we could bring to F-Zero that would really turn it into a great game again. … I don’t know, at this point, what direction we could go in with a new F-Zero,” then trotted out the well-worn “We come to the show and we bring a lot of great franchises and everyone says, ‘Oh, well, where’s this game that I want to play? Where’s something new?’ I only have so much capacity.”
In an Entertainment Weekly piece from 2007, Miyamoto talked about working with outside studios on properties like F-Zero and Star Fox, stating, “Consumers got very excited about the idea of those games, but the games themselves did not deliver.” Given how well received and well loved F-Zero GX (developed in collaboration with SEGA) was, I’m going to take this to simply mean the game didn’t sell as well as Mario Kart and thus isn’t getting the same consideration.
So a new F-Zero won’t be coming from collaboration with outside studios (despite this year’s amazing Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon being developed by the independent Next Level Games) and, internally, Miyamoto doesn’t have any ideas for the franchise. Rest in peace, Cap’n. At least for now.
