F-Zero 99 hits you with two doses of nostalgia straight out the gate. As soon as you fire it up you get the first dose from those familiar visuals and sounds. Then the second dose hits after a few races when you realize that this reminds you of the fun Death Race mode from F-Zero X. However, despite this healthy hit of nostalgia the game also feels fresh. F-Zero 99 may not be the F-Zero many were hoping for but it’s still a really good game.

F-Zero 99 plays how you would expect. You need to learn those tracks, know when to back off the acceleration, when to slide and when to boost. You need to time those spins because you can’t spam it. You need to nail those corners and keep that speed up. You have some control over the vehicles flight and landing too. It’s the same fast, slick racing you remember that rewards skill and practice. Only now this has been combined with the chaos and a little strategy of having 99 racers pushing hard for top spot.

At times things can be an absolute mess as you get smashed around the track by all the other racers and the tricky course itself. It sucks to receive a good bump and then get caught up in a shit storm which drops you back many places. It sucks to blow up just before the finish. But god damn do those top 10 finishes feel good. Weaving your way through the chaos and picking up places is rewarding. So is delivering your own good bump or getting a KO. KOs also get you a health increase. There’s also that bit of strategy I mentioned. You need to manage your health with boosting as it’s the same bar. You need to collect the little super sparks and hit golden vehicles to fill a meter to get that skyway, which means not always driving on the fastest or safest line. Choosing when to activate that skyway, so you can safely cruise above the competition, is important too as you can skip by the most chaotic parts of the track. Another important thing to consider is when to hang back a bit or when to push hard or when to be defensive. The whole thing is just good, satisfying fun, even when things haven’t gone your way. It has that very strong ‘just one more go’ energy.

Hopefully this game continues to exist with good support because I can see myself having at least a few races almost every time I turn on my Switch for a long time. I am also hopeful that this may lead to Nintendo finally giving us an F-Zero GX remaster or remake or a totally new game in this deserving series. My only real issues are it needs more content and Nintendo is going to have to find a way to keep it fresh so people keep coming back. If you can access F-Zero 99 there is no reason not to try it.

8.2/10 (for now)