It may be surprising to learn that the F-Zero 30th anniversary passed over the weekend. It’s hard to tell — there’s still no new game on the Nintendo Switch and it looks like its creators have let this milestone pass by with no fanfare whatsoever.
F-Zero first debuted for the SNES 30 years ago as of November 21, 2020. It was an impressive game for the day, blending flat 2D racecars with a simple 3D racetrack and inspiring games of a similar style over the years. Since its debut, the franchise has largely seen releases on Nintendo’s older handhelds or via the Virtual Console. Unfortunately, it looks like Nintendo might have forgotten about this franchise entirely.
Is F-Zero ever going to come to Nintendo Switch?
Most recently, rumors of an F-Zero Nintendo Switch version popped up earlier this year, giving fans hope that Nintendo would finally bring this franchise to its modern console. When one considers the recent surprises like a ton of announcements for Super Mario’s 35th anniversary and Pikmin 3 Deluxe, it looked like there were good chances for this futuristic racing franchise to make a comeback.
Unfortunately, it looks like Nintendo passed on announcing anything this year. There’s no tweet on the official Nintendo of America or Japanese Nintendo accounts whatsoever. It could be forgiven if the company had delayed any announcements until Monday, but it’s already Tuesday in Japan and there’s nary a peep. For now, it looks like the only way players can enjoy F-Zero on the Nintendo Switch is by playing it on Nintendo Switch Online’s included SNES emulator.
In Nintendo’s defense, it doesn’t have the best track record on 30th anniverasaries — five years ago, the only item of note celebrating Super Mario’s 30th anniversary was a new Amiibo figurine and the launch of Super Mario Maker. This year was an entirely different story for Mario’s 35th anniversary — hopefully, F-Zero will get a little love for whatever Nintendo system we’re playing on in 2025.
