F-Zero Is Nintendo’s October Surprise, With GBA Games Rushing To Switch Online And F-Zero 99 Getting New/Old Content

We have some incredible news for F-Zero fans on Nintendo’s latest announcements today.

First off, they have revealed that two F-Zero games are coming to Nintendo Switch Online’s Expansion Pass. F-Zero Climax and F-Zero GP Legend were the last two games in the franchise prior to F-Zero 99. Both had been previously rereleased in the Wii U Virtual Console in Japan. This marks the first time both games will be rereleased around the world.

F-Zero GP Legend was the second F-Zero title on the Game Boy Advance. This was actually a spinoff of sorts, as it was based on the F-Zero GP Legend anime TV series produced by TV Tokyo from 2003 to 2004. Gameplay wise, it did take some elements from prior F-Zero games.

F-Zero Climax was the sequel to F-Zero GP Legend, but it doesn’t easily fit categorization. The game does not have a story mode, and features both characters that appeared and were absent in the anime. Gameplay wise, it does build on F-Zero GP Legend’s foundation.

Both games were made by a defunct third party studio named Suzak, Inc. Suzak also got to make use of a new, 2000s version of the Mode7 technology originally from the SNES, to use on the Game Boy Advance. As a 32-bit system, many developers savored the challenge to make pseudo-3D and 3D games on the platform. Suzak’s efforts were more conservative than the likes of VD-Dev’s port of Driv3r, but it’s one of the most successful ones as well.

But that’s not all. Nintendo also announced that the latest update to F-Zero 99 adds content from the long forgotten and unavailable Japan-only title BS F-ZERO GRAND PRIX. We’ll quote Nintendo on this directly:

“We have added five tracks (MUTE CITY IV, SAND STORM I, BIG BLUE II, SAND STORM II, SILENCE II) from the Ace League of the BS F-ZERO GRAND PRIX game, which was distributed exclusively on the Super Famicom satellite broadcast adapter known as Satellaview. Grand Prix Ace League has also been added.”

This is true reasons for F-Zero fans to celebrate. BS F-ZERO GRAND PRIX was only playable in Japan, and only you also had to buy the Satellaview peripheral, and subscribe to satellite radio from Satellaview’s creator, St. GIGA.

While we know for many F-Zero fans, the real end goal is a rerelease of F-Zero AX/GX, but those fans shouldn’t just disregard this. This content was unavailable for years, and never left Japan until now.

Nintendo will also hold an F-Zero 99 one year anniversary event. If you’re one of the loyal players who kept coming back, you definitely earned this.

You can watch the trailer for the Switch Online F-Zero GBA announcements below.