Tube Slider represents NEC's return to the console software market. Published by NEC Interchanel, Inc. and developed by Nintendo-funded NdCube, Tube Slider is an ultra-fast, futuristic racing game in the vein of F-Zero and Wipeout where hover vehicles slide through futuristic gravity-defying race courses enclosed in tubes at speeds over 1,000 miles per hour.

The game will feature a large variety of futuristic racing vehicles (with their own unique speed and handling), a championship mode to race for the title, highly complex tubular courses filled with twists and turns, training courses and in-game tutorials to ease gamers into the super-fast racing, and 4 player split-screen racing.

Tube Slider's premise is that in the middle of the 21st century, hydrogen-based power has replaced fossil fuels and spelled the end of all motor sports. However, despite the world's culture of peace and environmental preservation, people wanted a sport to satiate their appetites for speed and competition, and thus tube sliding was born. Not a particularly inspired premise, but it is a racing game. Does it really matter why you race if you're moving at quick speeds through well designed courses with cool vehicles? NdCube previously developed F-Zero: Maximum Velocity (GBA) so they should have a good understanding of how to get the speed, courses, and vehicles just right. Febuary is almost over so we should know the results soon.