F-1 Race

Overview

F1 Race was the first racing game developed for the Famicom console, by Nintendo themselves. Unlike the far more comical Mario Kart series which would later become Nintendo's de facto racing game franchise, F1 Race is a straightforward emulation of Formula One racing. The game does, however, feature various cameos of early Nintendo characters such as Mario and Donkey Kong.

Graphically, the game takes the "behind the car" viewpoint made popular by games such as Pole Position and OutRun. The player is required to steer the car to match turns in the road as they approach, while also passing other cars without crashing into them.

The game was never released outside of Japan, though a later Game Boy version would see a release in both US and Europe territories.

Game Boy Version

The Game Boy version of F-1 Race was released in 1990, and featured different courses from around the world. The game featured both a Time Trial Mode, and a Challenge Mode. For each race, players could choose between two different cars, called Type-A and Type-B, each car had slightly different set ups. One of these cars had a higher regular top speed, whereas the other had a lower regular top speed, but had a higher top speed while boosting.

F-1 Race was among the first of the Game Boy games to feature battery back-up, so that a player's best times could be stored. It was also often packaged with the Nintendo Game Boy four player adapter, which allowed up to four Game Boys to be connected together via the adapter and three additional link cables.