F-Zero 99 blends the classic Nintendo racer with utter chaos

It’s been a really long time since F-Zero fans have had anything to get excited about, aside from an occasional Super Smash Bros. shoutout. Nintendo just changed all of that by announcing F-Zero 99, the first new game in the series in nearly 20 years. The company showed off the game at today’s Nintendo Direct and it looks to be a spiritual successor to recent online battle royale titles like Tetris 99 and Super Mario Bros. 35.

As the name suggests, you race against 98 other speedsters on classic F-Zero tracks. It's entirely based on the very first F-Zero from 1990, with SNES-era graphics, vehicle designs and more. There are quite literally 99 competitors on each track, so the chaos factor here looks to be a whole lot of fun. In other words, you’re going to crash a lot.

To that end, there are numerous power ups, like speed boosts, to help you reach the finish line in a timely manner. There are also collectibles that open up a shortcut path called the skyway that jumps you over dozens of rivals. Though based on designs from the original game, you can also change up the look of your cars.

F-Zero 99 surprise launches today and it’s free, sort of. You need a Nintendo Switch Online subscription to play this game. Now, we can all get back to waiting for an actual F-Zero franchise sequel.