F-Zero 99

F-Zero 99 combines the racing gameplay from SNES' F-Zero with battle royale elements. Up to ninety-nine players compete to survive and obtain a first-place ranking. Each player selects from the original set of courses and machines from F-Zero. The speed boost and attacking mechanics are reminiscent of what is implemented in F-Zero X and F-Zero GX.

The player's machine is equipped with an energy meter, which serves as both a measurement of its health and as an energy reserve for temporary boosts to its speed; collisions and use of the boost depletes the meter, and once empty it will cause the player's vehicle to explode and be eliminated from the race. Pit areas and dash plates are located at various points around the track for machines to drive over. The former replenishes energy, while the latter gives a speed boost without using up any energy.

Takaya Imamura served as a graphic designer and Shigeru Miyamoto as producer for the SNES game. Imamura later served as either a supervisor or designer for numerous future games. When F-Zero GX went gold in July 2003, Imamura commented "hav[ing] worked on the F-Zero series, and seeing the results of the collaboration with Sega, I found myself at something of a loss as to how we can take the franchise further past F-Zero GX and AX." Preference within Nintendo shifted over time to create games like F-Zero and Star Fox in-house.

"[Nintendo has been working on increasing] internal staff in a way that will allow us to have more projects going at the same time," Miyamoto explained. "[S]o we can create new games and work on additional old [Intellectual Properties] and still maintain the other primary franchises that people want to see." He claimed a small-scale project or full-fledged game necessitates a novel selling proposition when asked by Edge magazine in April 2012. Comments about needing a new concept followed in the years since by both individuals.

F-Zero 99 received "generally favorable" reviews upon its release. It holds an average of 82/100 on aggregate website Metacritic. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received "mighty" approval, being recommended by 90% of critics. E.

Awards held by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Nintendo Life's Charlie Wacholz assured readers that the SNES game was already a small elimination-style battle royale that F-Zero 99 expanded into a much grander scale, writing the additional players "doesn't just feel perfect for F-Zero, it feels natural." Rhys Wood of TechRadar echoed this enthusiasm writing its finesse gameplay with additional players was exhilarating and stressful making it infeasible to replay the SNES game. Reviewers including Wacholz, Eurogamer's Ed Nightingale, and PC Games' Christopher Holler felt gameplay can be chaotic thus requiring players to use the spin attack defensively.