Video games - F-Zero

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	Video games - F-Zero

F-Zero is a futuristic fast-paced racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It was first released in Japan on November 21, 1990 and later in North America in August 1991. Its success led to a series of games for multiple Nintendo consoles, handhelds, and arcade.

F-Zero was the first SNES title to pervasively use a special hardware feature of the SNES called Mode 7 that allowed different kinds of scaling and rotation effects, which F-Zero used to simulate 3D environments. Such techniques in games were considered to be revolutionary in a time when most games were restricted to static/flat backgrounds and 2 dimensional (2D) objects.

Futuristic racing

F-Zero introduced the Nintendo flagship character, Captain Falcon (as well as Dr. Stewart, Pico, and Samurai Goroh) to a long line of Nintendo mascots. Falcon appears in almost every subsequent F-Zero title as well as Super Smash Bros.
and its sequel, Super Smash Bros. Melee
. Falcon's vehicle, the Blue Falcon, is one of four selectable futuristic vehicles in F-Zero, and in races, there are a dozen generic vehicles of different colors. All vehicles are capable of racing at speeds close to 500 km/h.

The goal of F-Zero is to beat opponents to the finish line while avoiding hazards such as land mines and magnets that pull the vehicle to certain sides of the track in an effort to make the player damage their vehicle or fall completely off the track, as well as completing each lap at least the position that the game requests without staying at the last place (20), which otherwise means disqualification. The player is rewarded with a speed boost for each lap completed.

Story

"In the latter half of the 20th century, mankind was gripped by the fear of being invaded by extraterrestrials. They referred to extraterrestrial spacecraft as UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects). Now, to those of us in this day and age, this sounds like a fairy tale. It is now the year 2560, and due to the human race's countless encounters with alien life forms throughout the Universe, Earth's social framework has expanded to cosmic proportions. Now, trade, technology transfer and cultural interchange are carried out on an interplanetary basis.
The multibillionaires who earned their enormous wealth through intergalactic trade, while satisfied with their rich lifestyles, also yearned for new entertainment to stimulate their lazy lives. Their wishes were met by a call for a new project based upon a seemingly simple premise- "Why not hold, on a galactic scale, some competition like the F-1 races once held on Earth centuries ago?" At once, everyone jumped at this idea.
Rich merchants from cities in the clouds or asteroids with almost uninhabitable environments invested their wealth in the construction of racing circuits. These racing circuits were located as high up as 300 feet above ground and held in place by anti-gravitational guide beams on both sides of the course. The racing machines developed for these tracks used the very latest in super-magnetic technology and were designed to travel without wheels, hovering one foot above the course track.
When the first Grand Prix race was held, people were angered at the brutality of the competition. The organizers had, during construction, placed various obstacles and traps along the raceway. But as time passed, and people grew to these dangers, they soon demanded even more excitement in the race. In time, winning this race meant earning the highest honor that could be bestowed on anyone in the Universe. In a very short time, people came to call this Grand Prix simply, "F-ZERO"."

::— F-Zero Instruction Manual.
Leagues
F-Zero has a total of fifteen tracks separated by difficulty into three leagues. Additionally, F-Zero'' has three initial difficulty levels; beginner, intermediate, and expert. Upon completing the expert Grand Prix, a fourth difficulty level, master, opens up.

Knight League (Easy)

Mute City I
Big Blue
Sand Ocean
Death Wind I
Silence

Queen League (Moderate)

Mute City II
Port Town
Red Canyon II
White Land I
White Land II

King League (Hard)

Mute City III
Death Wind II
Port Town II
Red Canyon II
Fire Field

Screenshots

Image:SNES_F-Zero.png|The Blue Falcon in action Image:fzeropic2.gif|Beginning of the race at Mute City Image:Blue falcon.JPG|Screenshot of the vehicle selection screen

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