Famicom Grand Prix brings slick F1 racing to the Famicom Disk System! And doesn't succeed in the slightest, creating a frustrating and mildly confusing experience.

The game is pretty straightforward, starring Mario(s?) in Formula One cars. The player can play alone in a time trial or with other cars - they may use the A or B button to run in low gear or high gear, with low eventually leading to high for acceleration. Brakes are also possible but the player must instead rely on hairpin turning, with instantaneous angular turning with a tap of the directional pad.

Cars are ranked by body/gas health as well as tires - the player must regenerate at least once at the provided pit, but will take away precious race time which is pretty frustrating. Winning races will provide money for buying better cars, but races usually provide very little in the way of cash if you don't get first.

As for your opponents - the player is usually outmatched by insanely diligent AI. Running into cars will only affect the player most of the time, putting them at a gruesome disadvantage. Combine that with the Pit time and disqualifying the player if the player ranks low enough in a race and you got a very frustrating experience that gets old quickly.

As for the graphics and music, the music is peppy and the courses have distinctly shaped tracks with helpful arrows that denote where the player must turn - this is at least the game's high point as it makes navigation intuitive.

Famicom Grand Prix has the makings of a very rough start on Nintendo's racing record. It's more frustrating than fun and is severely punishing towards the player.