Topic: FAST: Racing League - will it scratch the F-Zero itch on WiiWare?

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Many of us have been waiting 8 years since the awesomely brutal F-Zero GX for a new title in the series. Well, just yesterday, Shin'en Multimedia announced a new WiiWare racer called FAST: Racing League -- a completely uninspired name, but the screenshots definitely give off an F-Zero vibe.

Before you scoff at this notion, Shin'en Multimedia has built a pretty good pedigree on WiiWare so far, making such well-regarded titles as Art Of Balance (which was Karl Castaneda's #3 game of 2010) and Jett Rocket (which got a 9 in Matthew Blundon's review). For the record, they also made the two Nanostray games for DS. So while that doesn't guarantee this game's quality, it's a reason to be interested.

At least one thing you can be sure of for the game is great visuals. Evidently, this developer knows how to work with the system, as this looks better than some retail games.
http://wiiware.nintendolife.com/screenshots/27840
http://wiiware.nintendolife.com/screenshots/27839
http://wiiware.nintendolife.com/screenshots/27844
http://wiiware.nintendolife.com/screenshots/27842
http://wiiware.nintendolife.com/screenshots/27841
http://wiiware.nintendolife.com/screenshots/27843


Edit: Other details that I forgot to include. It's coming out very soon in Europe, 27th May to be precise. And it will cost 1000 Wii Points. Apparently, there will also be 4-player splitscreen.

[MegaByte]

Announced for European release, you mean. This was announced last September. http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/game/24734

[BlackNMild2k1]

I even made a thread about this somewhere around here. I think it was me that made it....

[Mop it up]

Isn't the most recent title in the series F-Zero: GP Legend for the Game Boy Advance?

[BeautifulShy]

Yeah you are right Mop it up.GP Legend came out in 2004 and GX came out in 2003.

[MegaByte]

Isn't the most recent title in the series F-Zero: GP Legend for the Game Boy Advance?

Technically, it's F-Zero Climax.

[Mop it up]

That's the Japan-only one on the GBA, is it not? I knew it existed but I don't know when it was released.

[MegaByte]

I just got the game to preview, so expect impressions next week.

[Quadran]

For those who are interested, the trailer for this game has just been posted.

[Ceric]

Looks like F-Zero:GX.  Maybe not fully as good but art style etc looks like it.

[BeautifulShy]

Also the game has a release date for North America.
May 30, 2011
1000 points.

[King of Twitch]

Looks like F-Zero:GX.  Maybe not fully as good but art style etc looks like it.

Agreed, it definitely looks like a spiritual successor to GX. Do you think Fast: Racing League will be the second coming of F-Zero: GX the way the Super Nintendo was to the NES?

Because "Captain F." is clearly marked on the ground next to one of the ships about 15 seconds into the trailer.

[blackfootsteps]

The ship designs and barrel rolls are very Wipeout-ish.

I think from the other thread it was said that there were 6 playable ships but 8 ships per race. How does that work, are there repeats or generic ships ala FZero on SNES?

It looks fantastic for a Wiiware game.

[MegaByte]

You can use the same ships, but with different colors.

[KDR_11k]

The users on Nintendo Life love it.

[blackfootsteps]

Brilliant. This came out in Europe but not Australia. Well done Nintendo of Australia. Apparently it was a cost of classification issue.

[Traveller]

Oh wow I didnt realise this wasnt added to the Australian Wiiware... It looks good.

[Enner]

There's a demo out for a limited time. The game is worth a look. Here's some copypasta thoughts on my time with the game.
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I had a futuristic racing game itch I needed to scratch lately so I went on to the Wii Shop Channel's WiiWare section and downloaded FAST: Raching League by Shin'en. About five hours later, I've unlocked everything there is to unlock and had my eyes bleed from super speed of the last speed class. It's a nice little racer with a color shifting mechanic that can help and hinder you. Races are won and lost over energy pick ups and color pad usage so track memorization is key. The first of three speed classes is easy enough, but the second and third speed classes has your AI opponents rubber band against you like mad. Actually, it might not be rubber banding. It might be a huge difficulty spike between the first and second speed class. I found myself having to perfect my racing in each racing cup in order to succeed. Thankfully, there are only 4 short races in each cup and you only need to place 3rd overall to advance. I'm a bit sad that there isn't much more to the game. I would've loved some more tracks. Still, a nice fun time seeing how there probably won't be a F-Zero Wii.

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Some things to add after this was written:
The difficulty/rubber-banding scales with the player vehicle. If you pick the latter and more powerful machines, your two top rivals will sport those powerful machines and some wicked racing skills. Likewise, using the earlier machines will make your time easier. I don't think this scaling is to your favor in the latter speed classes where everyone is much faster.