G Zero Ferrante Crafts.jpg
Image: 7FH

F-Zero fans have been left waiting for close to two decades now for a brand-new release in the popular racing series, with the series seemingly in extended hibernation. So, while we all sit around and wait to hear some news, why not check out this brand-new Game Boy homebrew inspired by the games?

G-Zero, as the homebrew is called, is a fun racing game that was inspired by an earlier F-Zero pixel-art demake by Miguel Sanchez and also clearly borrows a lot from the Nintendo series too. For instance, while racing, you only have a limited amount of power - similar to in most F-Zero games - which decreases whenever you touch the track's rail or bump into other drivers. Once this is gone, you will come to a full standstill and the race will be lost, meaning you have to start the competition all over again.

As for the story, that's also very much in the same ballpark as the original F-Zero, with its creator 7FH riffing on the premise for the SNES game. In the year 2560, after a successful defense against an alien attack, it is decided to hold a race every four years to commemorate Earth's victory, called the G-ZERO Grand Prix! The ultimate goal of the game is therefore to place first in each of its six races (comprised of 2 laps each), defeat the other racers, and take home the ultimate prize.

You have a choice of three vehicles to do this: the Blue Hawk, Red Fox, and Green Bug. The Blue Hawk is your run-of-the-mill all-rounder, while the Red Fox is a faster vehicle overall but much harder to control. Last but not least, the Green Bug is slightly lighter than the other vehicles but much slower off the starting blocks.

7FH tells us more about the project:

"I was heavily inspired by a F-Zero pixel art demake of Miguel Sanchez and I wondered if something like this would be possible on the Game Boy. I [remembered titles] like F-1 race and debugged that game a little to check how they archived that 3D effect. Doing the opponent drivers was difficult, as the Game Boy is very limited and it's hard to give the drivers good AI, but overall I am very happy with the final game."

If you want to check out the game yourself, you can currently download or play it in the browser for free at itch.io, or buy a physical cartridge from Ferrante Crafts. We've had the chance to play a little bit, and we're super impressed with it so far!

[source user0x7f.itch.io]