BS F-Zero Deluxe - v1.0 Overview =============================================================================== Two live "Soundlink" events for Satellaview in 1996 and 1997 focused on F-Zero and brought with them a fair amount of new content not present in the retail version of the game. All-in-all, they delivered four new machines, ten new courses and the "ghost" feature that has become a staple in many racing games since the game's original inception. Although the original data for a portion of this new content is well and truly lost, the content itself was rescued and preserved for the future of gaming. This hack is a mod for all three versions of F-Zero (Japanese, North American, PAL) that incorporates all of the Satellaview content directly into the game. Machines =============================================================================== Four new machines have been added: • Blue Thunder • Luna Bomber • Green Amazone • Fire Scorpion The machine selection menu, rival selection menu, Records menu and Best 5 results display have been updated to accommodate the additional machines. Any can be used by the player, and any can be selected as a rival in Practice. To maintain consistency with competitive play in BS F-Zero 2 Practice, the machines present in Grand Prix mode (and the order in which they appear at the startng line) depend on the machine the player selects. If using a machine from the retail game, the lineup from the retail game is applied. If using a Satellaview machine, the lineup from BS F-Zero 2 Practice is applied. Bumpers (the brown and flashing drone machines that appear as obstacles) use the acceleration data from the corresponding "Blue" machine. Courses =============================================================================== Two new Leagues of courses have been added: BS-1 League, from BS F-Zero Grand Prix 2 week 1: • Forest I • Big Blue II • Sand Storm I • Forest II • Silence II BS-2 League, from BS F-Zero Grand Prix 2 week 2: • Mute City IV • Forest III • Sand Storm II • Metal Fort I • Metal Fort II Selections for these Leagues have been added to Grand Prix mode. All 25 courses in the game can now be played in Practice mode, and a new League selection screen has been added to Practice. Pressing up and down on the course select screen navigates one course at a time as usual, and pressing left and right navigates one League at a time. The Records menu was updated to accommodate the additional courses. Lists for the BS-1 and BS-2 courses appear to the right of King. While viewing the top times for a course, navigation with the D-pad works the same as it does on the Practice course select screen, although it can only navigate to courses with times recorded for them. Alternate Courses =============================================================================== The following courses appeared in BS F-Zero Grand Prix ("GP-1"), and underwent changes for BS F-Zero Grand Prix 2 ("GP-2"): • Big Blue II Major structural changes • Sand Storm I Cosmetic only • Silence II Minor structural changes • Sand Storm II Cosmetic only In Practice, press both of the L and R buttons while viewing a compatible course on the course select screen to access its alternate version. Individual top time records are saved for each version of Big Blue II and Silence II due to the structural changes. In Records, press both of the L and R buttons while viewing the top times for Big Blue II or Silence II to toggle the alternate version. Under certain conditions, the alternate version of the course will be presented initially. An alternate version's records will be inaccessible if there have been no times recorded for it. When selecting the League for Grand Prix, press both of the L and R buttons to toggle a list of alternate Leagues. These Leagues match the distributions of courses as they appeared in BS F-Zero Grand Prix and BS F-Zero 2 Practice: Ace League, from BS F-Zero 2 Practice: • Mute City IV • Big Blue II GP-2 version • Sand Storm I GP-2 version • Silence II GP-2 version • Sand Storm II GP-2 version GP Knight, from BS F-Zero Grand Prix week 1: • Mute City I • Big Blue • Death Wind I • Silence • Sand Storm GP-1 version GP Queen, from BS F-Zero Grand Prix week 2: • Mute City II • Port Town I • Sand Ocean • White Land I • Sand Storm II GP-1 version GP King, from BS F-Zero Grand Prix week 3: • Mute City III • Death Wind II • Red Canyon I • Port Town II • Silence II GP-1 version GP Ace, from BS F-Zero Grand Prix week 4: • Mute City I • White Land II • Red Canyon II • Fire Field • Big Blue II GP-1 version Ghost =============================================================================== In Practice mode, a recording of a player's performance can be saved as a "ghost". The ghost feature is active whenever Practice is played without a rival, and the player will be prompted to save the ghost after completing the race. If Ghost is selected on the rival selection menu and a ghost has been saved on the course being played, the ghost replay will be presented as an intangible phantom racer on the track alongside the player. Due to memory constraints, only one ghost can be saved. Saving a ghost will replace any existing ghost, so care needs to be taken when choosing to save it. When saving a ghost on Big Blue II or Silence II, the ghost will only apply to the specific version of the course being played. If a ghost recording exceeds the maximum amount of memory allocated to it, the player will not be prompted to save the ghost. This depends on the complexity of the performance, but in general, the limit won't be reached until approximately four and a half minutes have elapsed. The "Now Saving Your Ghost" screen is purely ceremonial and is only present to simulate the experience from the original Satellaview game. To skip it, use the Select button to confirm the "Save Ghost?" prompt. Credits =============================================================================== Data recovery is based on video recordings by YouTube user kukun kun, who was apparently present for the original Satellaview broadcasts, recorded them, then uploaded those recordings to the internet. This project would not have been possible without their footage, and it's likely the data may have otherwise been lost for good. Did You Know Gaming history and technical overview • https://youtu.be/sDcrM706gws Archive footage: • https://youtu.be/Rb7V4Qy1j5o GP-1 Knight • https://youtu.be/8Ebw_hsrYD0 GP-1 Queen • https://youtu.be/2CVRBWXX5Es GP-1 King • https://youtu.be/D3ET4GNptag GP-1 Ace • https://youtu.be/Z0-Iu-p52ek GP-2 week 1 • https://youtu.be/urp8aF71YMY GP-2 week 2 Modding staff: • Catador Technical QA • Guy Perfect Programming, course recovery • Porthor Course and graphics assistance, community management • Power Panda Graphics recovery, game cover and manual Quality assurance: • ALEJANDRO • augitesoul • HammerGuy • MKDSmaster91 • Roy's Gaming Garret • TheRedMenace February 10, 2024