Board 8 > F-Zero 99 is really fun

(+) Yeah! (+)

Been doing better ever since switching from Fire Stingray to Wild Goose

I used Wild Goose for quite a while, then when I started doing practice time trials, realized I was constantly getting better times in every track by almost 10 seconds apiece with the Blue Falcon, so I've been using that ever since.

Fire Stingray has too slow of acceleration, and not enough durability to make the extra top speed worth it, imo, and the Golden Fox is just too weak and slow to take advantage of the ridiculous recovery rate.

I've been maining Wild Goose from the start, then branched out to other vehicles, then realized I do my best with Wild Goose lol. That said, this game feels fairly balanced. Each vehicle has its strengths and weaknesses and unique strategies, some maps definitely favor certain vehicles over others, and I see all the vehicles place high in races and GPs.

My personal opinion:
Wild Goose -
Great Durability, Handling and Speed. Decent stats all around, and is second fastest to the Stingray, with the primary weakness being the health recovery rate. Whether it's because of its amazing Durability stat, or some kind of hidden mechanic, it doesn't get pushed around at all compared to other machines. This means that you can basically ignore the other racers and just focus on racing clean. If you know the track, this can be enough to do well even without boosting, which you can't really do a lot in this machine. Despite the low recovery, however, it can stay alive really well due to its damage reduction. Since you don't need to boost a lot, you can save the Super Boost for sections of the track where it will get the most use. This makes it a very basic machine that gets a lot of value from good racing. And its ability to bully and shove other racers around can net you KOs. Getting just one KO is usually enough to get you enough health to boost more and make up for its weaknesses. A very solid and, importantly for a Battle Royale, consistent machine.

Golden Fox -
Awful stats all around, except for acceleration and health recovery, the latter of which is absurdly good. It basically gets full health from nothing at each strip, which allows you to boost freely and recover from any mistakes you've made in the race. While described as a fragile machine, its ability to recover so well makes it actually a decently dependable vehicle when it comes to survivability. Unfortunately it does do very poorly in the middle of the pack where it gets bopped around so easily, and if you hit walls or Bumpers you're going to have a pretty bad time. Its low top speed means that you'll struggle to escape the pack too unless you boost to get away, but if you use the machine's boosts to escape early, hold onto the lead, and use boosts and racing skill to stay there you can actually do very well. A very "do or die" machine.

Fire Stingray -
The best speed in the game, the Stingray is a good choice for players who know how to race well and stay in the lead. A very simplistic machine, with a bit of a problem. While its recovery rate is higher than the Goose, it's still not very good, and without the Goose's damage reduction it's actually a surprisingly fragile machine. When you take a bad spill the low acceleration doesn't help either. The benefit of its good Grip isn't that big of a draw either, as a good racer should be able to take the turns in this game well with any machine. This is a machine I see always getting a lot of wins, but it's at a high price.

Blue Falcon -
The machine I've used the least. It has "average" stats, but in my opinion they're all fairly bad. It's the second slowest, and while it should have the second best recovery rate, it's still nowhere as good as the Fox, which means that the strategy of using a lot of boosts isn't as good, and can get you killed pretty easily. That said, I do fairly well when I use it, so I guess its status as having "no strengths or weaknesses" does hold up...

finally got to the Silence in the grand prix last night and finished 13th overall

my best finish of any stand alone race is 3rd.

This might be the best 99 Nintendo has released so far.

I figured out a really consistent strategy with the Wild Goose. As long as you're pretty good at not hitting walls, you can pretty reliably get top 20. It takes advantage of all the different aspects of its stats.

Since it's bulky, you don't have to worry nearly as much about careening off other cars and having them ruin your lines. You can just focus on going where you want to go, and not losing half your power because some guy knocked you into a wall and you became a pinball for 10 seconds.

All you have to do is refuse to boost at all in the first 3 laps, outside of using one right when you first get boost power. Because the recovery is so garbage, you're not even going to waste any of the pit area's power boost on the subsequent laps. Even if you're in green when you get to it, it probably still won't fill up your gauge completely.

Spending that time in 30th to 80th place isn't even a detriment. You're going to get more super sparks, and everyone in front of you will take care of all the red explosive cars. My advice with the skyway is to use your first one whenever you get it, which is probably going to be around the end of the first lap/beginning of the second lap. Then, since you're not boosting anyway, you can just save your second skyway trip for either the end of the third lap or the beginning of the 4th lap, whichever section is harder for you. Because after you land from that one, you're going to be boosting on every straightaway, and if you try and save it for the middle or end of the last lap, you can't boost enough to take advantage from the power you've saved up.

The only caveat to this is if you try this in the 3rd or 4th race in a Grand Prix, you might have to boost a bit in the early laps just to make sure you aren't ranked out. But I've been using this strategy the past few days, and I won my first 2 Grands Prix with it!

that all sounds pretty legit. especially because, my best results were in my first couple days with the game, when I was trying really hard to get the "finish a race without hitting a wall" badge, and that was basically my only goal, avoiding boosting and stuff.

welp, I tried that strat and immediately got 3rd in a basic 99 race on Death Wind, a level I'm usually terrible at.

and then I immediately finished a grand prix, which is rare for me--I usually rank out on death wind. then again, I only got 16th in the grand prix results.

probably because I came in last place on Silence, like I always do. I just can't figure out how to do that S bend. Even if I slow down massively, I still can't do it without hitting a wall. maybe wild goose is just crappy at turning.

https://twitter.com/MrSmartGuyB8/status/1705739774148129026

Holy shit

ya thats disgusting

I on the other hand stopped playing this game until today, entered two grand prixs, immediately crashed out on both, first on Mute City then on Big Blue

what's wrong with me

After 116 races, finally got my first 1st place finish while in a mini prix (so it doesn't count for "get 1st place in a 99 race") then proceed to crash out on the 2nd race

at least you only wasted 1 ticket as opposed to 6!

One of my crash outs was near 1st place too...actually almost all my crash outs are. That's when I get too aggressive! Or I hit one of those damn red vehicles. Too bad the spin attack doesn't work on them.

fascinating "bumper hunting" strategy video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9tvDenI8do

_Blur_ posted...

at least you only wasted 1 ticket as opposed to 6!

I've wasted 6 before with a double crash out with the stingray, that vehicle is not for me

I crashed out while on Silence while being top 3 overall because I got bumped right before the jump ramp and proceeded to land way outside the track. One of the worst ways to go

_Blur_ posted...

at least you only wasted 1 ticket as opposed to 6!

One of my crash outs was near 1st place too...actually almost all my crash outs are. That's when I get too aggressive! Or I hit one of those damn red vehicles. Too bad the spin attack doesn't work on them.

Honestly just sounds like you need a mindset shift. It feels great to win but in a GP, esp early on when there's 3-4 races left, if you're unsure of yourself it's better to just conserve your energy. Especially with how many bumpers get laid down (I think there's too many). But you're still better off barely making the cut every race than if you crash out 2 races in!

Being aggressive in stuff like 99 or pro tracks is more viable because you aren't spending tix for those, but for GP/mini don't put yourself on the line so early on

I'm loving this game so much. Got a win with every vehicle, EXCEPT Fire Stingray. I dunno I find this thing just super sucks compared to the rest. It recovers like shit, has terrible acceleration, and it's top speed and handling are only really helpful if you're already winning. Getting smacked around hurts so much harder in this thing than the others.

I wish, pray, and hope they chart using the Skyway to a different button than boost. So many times I'm sitting on a full meter but I just want to regular boost, and my muscle memory wastes my skyway meter.

Honestly the skyway is just another point to golden fox's favor I think, because you don't really have to wait for a particular spot on the course to pop it. Just using it period means you can p much boost full on the rest of the lap

The worst thing about that mechanic is when I go to use a Boost and get full Super meter at EXACTLY the same time I press the boost button. That happens surprisingly often...

But on the other hand, you could make the argument that it should intentionally work that way for balance purposes. To make it more difficult to hold onto to it for a long time, and to give it an explicit downside to counteract its usefulness (so it's an actual strategy to sacrifice your boosts to hold onto to it for the most difficult sections of the track, and if you do that for too long you're actually losing more time than you gain because you're boosting less).

Emeraldegg posted...

Honestly the skyway is just another point to golden fox's favor I think, because you don't really have to wait for a particular spot on the course to pop it. Just using it period means you can p much boost full on the rest of the lap

Yeah, that helps work as a distinct way to differentiate the vehicles. Golden Fox wants to use the Skyway asap, while Wild Goose can benefit more from holding onto it. It's neat way to make a simple game with only four vehicles have a surprising amount of depth.

Grand_Kirby posted...

you could make the argument that it should intentionally work that way for balance purposes. To make it more difficult to hold onto to it for a long time, and to give it an explicit downside to counteract its usefulness (so it's an actual strategy to sacrifice your boosts to hold onto to it for the most difficult sections of the track, and if you do that for too long you're actually losing more time than you gain because you're boosting less).

I agree 100% with this. And it was also 100% designed that way from the start.

So is everyone ready for the new courses?

building up tickets now

bring on the queen

I completely forgot all about red canyon and its music. so good

The skyway dropped me out of bounds in the grandprix on Mute City II.

SO MUCH RAGE

Queen Cup rules

But I wish this game didn't hate me :( I never ever get disconnects in 99 races and I think that's my third disconnect in the first round of a Grand Prix. You guys get disconnects at all? Really wish they'd refund your tickets! I have gotten way better about not crashing out in Grand Prixs though, very rarely happens. And if it does, it's usually because I'm about to rank out anyway so I gotta floor it.

Been having some success with MrSmartGuy's Wild Goose strategy! That vehicle and strat have been my new go to, though I definitely don't save all my boosting for the end. Especially on these more advanced courses where there aren't as many good boost spots. I basically always save the skyway for the best spot though.

Also trying to get a quick boost in while you can right before you fill the skyway bar is my new favorite meta

Got my very first Grand Prix win today...on my son's Switch so I didn't get actual credit.

Top 100 on the leaderboards though.

Moved over to the stingray, it definitely seems like the worst of the four vehicles. It's not unusable but man the recovery without the durability is just tough to deal with, on top of the acceleration issues.

I'll never be this good again:

https://twitter.com/TarvouldsQuest/status/1708329373185569263

Fire Stingray is dumpster trash bad.

Fire Stingray is still the only vehicle I have a 1st place win with! Agreed that it's the worst of the four though, but it's not that bad. Turning is just so smooth with it. It's probably way better for the last couple of races in a GP where you don't have to worry as much about getting bumped around like wild.

It is surprisingly competent in the more turn-heavy courses, I actually did better with it than the fox on white land 2. Tracks with lots of sharp turns allow the stingray's handling to actually matter. But so far the winning strat with it seems to be either "Don't boost and rely on the skyway" or "get a KO" I've won 3 races with it and all 3 of them were due to one of those 2 strats.

It's just so frail, I get slammed around the mosh pit so much I never have the stamina or acceleration to have any long game. It feels more like a "Win harder" machine that excels if it gets a lead, but struggles to get it in the first place.

In my one win I was 2 seconds ahead of 2nd place with it, so you may have a point there

Can friends race with/against you in this

Chaeix posted...

Can friends race with/against you in this

For some reason not directly no, but you can literally just click on a 99 race at the same time and you should get put in the same race. Worked almost every time with a friend and I. We never tried a GP together though

B8 Sports Discord has regularly gotten 6 players all into the same game (including Grands Prix) by just timing it. Sometimes, it happens that the first game is full and it throws a player or two into a different one, but it's like...... an 80% hit rate.

wg64Z posted...

It's just so frail, I get slammed around the mosh pit so much I never have the stamina or acceleration to have any long game. It feels more like a "Win harder" machine that excels if it gets a lead, but struggles to get it in the first place.

Honestly, I don't think the vehicle is frail, it's just a combination of factors. Low acceleration means you're suck in the middle of the pack to start the race. Low recovery means you can't boost much to get to the front. And each boost you do is that much harder to get back in the pit stop. Like per hit the stingray isn't taking a ton of damge like the fox is but it just takes so many hits because of those factors.

Honestly, I have found that if I am in the front but I'm low on boost, it might be wise to intentionally sandbag a bit and try to hit the skyway one more time and surge ahead for the win. I have not had much success at all actually holding a lead, all my wins have been me taking it on the last lap. If you get out in front then you can't boost that much to hold it, and you'll end up short on sparks for when someone eventually catches you. The stingray feels like the vehicle most reliant on proper skyway timing, and you should at least be hitting it twice each race.

Finally got my Stingray GP win. Retiring this thing forever.

https://twitter.com/TarvouldsQuest/status/1710027237875929158

This is a pretty great game.

2 thoughts

Every time I seem to sniff the top 5, I seem to go back to something like 33rd no matter what lol
They should have a battle royale mode like F-Zero 64 did. Last man standing wins. It almost seems wrong that it's not there TBH

Xtlm posted...

They should have a battle royale mode like F-Zero 64 did. Last man standing wins.

Yes. Bring this back from I think F-Zero X please.

And also give us the equivalent of F-Zero GX 99.

I think I heard it was datamined that such a "last one standing" mode IS hidden in the code, likely to be released at a later date.

Epyo posted...

I think I heard it was datamined that such a "last one standing" mode IS hidden in the code, likely to be released at a later date.

Aaand apparently dataminers found Satellaview tracks. That's freaking amazing

After getting my first win with the goose on its 2nd race

Yeah stingray worst

And with that, I've unlocked all Ship skins. Just gotta grind to 99 now!

https://twitter.com/TarvouldsQuest/status/1710843953363234895

I don't know if I'm gonna win a GP with the stingray but I haven't gotten 9999 leaderboard points yet so I still have some tries left

I was 4th in the Queen League Grand Prix going into the 4th race, then crashed out in White Land going for a 1st place finish. Damn red bumpers

Why do I always sabotage myself in this game

Whoa. I just KO'd someone while they were charging in the healing pit

That was wild

Yeah, people think they're safe there, so they push themselves to their limit.

I see a lot of high-level players when they're smoking at the finish line drive on the opposite side of the road as the pit until they get their spin back, and then wait to use it until they're physically inside the pit so that doesn't happen. Really smart move.