A bit faster than your average Mario Kart

F-Zero is no doubtably an incredibly fast game, but it's easy to learn the basics fast, as it's much simpler than any of the modern Mario Karts, if we're going for comparison. To start off, there are 3 things you can do from the title screen: Grand Prix, Practice, or Record. Records will obviously take you to your fastest times on one of the 15 tracks, spread out between 3 Leagues. If you select Grand Prix or Practice, you will have to pick one of 4 cars to play as. You may think this as too few selections, but it's actually quite fine, there's bound to be a car there that you'll like, after you get used to the game. The handling can be a bit tricky as you start off, but you'll get used to it fast. The actual tracks are simple, yet fun all the same: they're all flat, there aren't really any items to collect(except a speed boost you get for completing each lap), and none of them have special features, unless you count the Death Winds, and I don't really. As long as your reactions are fast, the first courses are very simple yet still very fun to play, even the first time through. As you progress through the Grand Prix (there are 3 Leagues and 3 difficulties, with a fourth difficulty being unlockable), you may want to use the VC's features. This is where VC really shines for Wii U, smoothing out places that would be sure to drive you crazy had you not used a Restore Point, and switching up the controls if need be.

I must also bring up how F-Zero looks. It may be 16-bit, but those are some beatiful pixels, even if they aren't high-def. It doesn't look quite as good over your GamePad, but it's acceptable. The scenes they decided to show, while not elaborate in any measure, really do give the illusion of you going hundreds of kilometers per hour.

Finally, I'm going to explain some of the more annoying parts of this game. For one, this really is like a big game of racing bumper cars. You may be first one minute and 5th a couple seconds later, because something hit you, and were bumped, hit the side, hit the other side, hit the first side again, hit the second side, hit a car, and all of this is out of your control. It's incredibly frustrating when this happens. Also, no matter how fast you go or how hard you try, the car in second place is ALWAYS right behind you. While this adds some challenge, it's annoying that the car in second place never goes back very far. Another thing is that there's no 2-player mode. This isn't really needed -- it's hard enough keeping up with the turns in some of the later tracks, but it would've been a nice feature. Lastly, and this somewhat goes with the bumper cars, you have a Power meter, which is really a Health bar. Any time you hit something, touch the electrified border of a track, or even bump another car, you lose "Power". Now, I'd be fine with this IF THIS WEREN'T A BIG GAME OF BUMPER CARS. Going from side to side unintentionally can make you lose a ton of "Power", and restoring power costs you valuable time.

In conclusion, F-Zero is a good game, and a steal right now at $0.30. Even after the sale, it'll be worth having a go at. Just be aware that while you'll have lot of fun going for your best times, listening to the nice 16-bit music(which actually is pretty good), and seeing if you can complete all the Leagues on Expert, your time with this game will also make you incredibly frustrated at some points. At least Restore Points are in the Wii U VC version.

I'm giving this game an 8 out of 10. While not bad, the frustration really makes you mad at some points.