The Lost F-Zero Games Are Restored & Playable

In this video, Did You Know Gaming takes a look at the two F-Zero games for the Super Famicom (SNES) Satellaview add-on that were once lost to time, but have now been faithfully rebuilt and restored by a team of dedicated modders. And you can even play them right now.
The game is available on Internet Archive:
archive.org/details/bs_f-zero...
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Special Thanks to FlibidyDibidy, GuyPerfect, LuigiBlood, Porthor, and PowerPanda.
Research/Writing by Dylan Mansfield
Video Editing by TheCartoonGamer
Voice Over by Tony of @hard4games
Sources/Further Reading:
“BS F-Zero Grand Prix 2.” F-Zero Wiki, 23 Dec. 2023, mutecity.org/wiki/BS_F-Zero_G....
GuyPerfect. Personal Interview. 29 Oct. 2023.
Yarwood, Jack. “The Incredible Story Of Satellaview, Nintendo's Satellite Modem SNES Add-On.” Time Extension, 30 Dec 2023, www.timeextension.com/feature....
"Nintendo aims high with “Satellaview”". Edge Magazine. Issue 5. May 1996. pp. 18-19.
“Gaming on the highway.” Edge Magazine. Special Edition 1996 Essential Hardware Guide. Autumn 1995. pp. 116-121.
“DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SETS! NINTENDO LAUNCH BS-X SATELLITE SYSTEM”. Nintendo Magazine System (UK). Issue 33. Aug 1995, p. 8.
Hodgson, Dave. “THE RETURN OF F-ZERO” Nintendo Magazine System (UK). Issue 55. Apr 1997, p. 11.
“PAK WATCH: F-Zero Returns.” Nintendo Power. Issue 94. Mar 1997. p 103.
@LuigiBlood. “...huh. Interesting. F-Zero 99 has a bunch of unused files... including brand new tracks? One of them actually reuses the name of one of the Satellaview exclusive ones… All of them are mostly just Mute City I placeholders though, with some different backgrounds.” Twitter, 16 Sept 2023 11:21 p.m., / 1703096847227551864 .
#snes #fzero #nintendo #supernintendo #superfamicom #satellaview

[@ThePerfectKiosk]

Happy to do my part to keep this content alive. It's going to take more than some meager "missing data" to keep preservationists at bay.

[@IBigDickI]

You did amazing work!

[@WelshFury]

Honored I could help to make this happen!

[@denis2381]

GaySex

[@denis2381]

Homosexuality

[@teradrive64]

​@@denis2381that's what fzero is all about, the gay naked men! 😎

[@PowerPandaMods]

Restoring the graphics was probably the single-most difficult modding project I've ever taken on, but I got to check off a bucket list item of restoring a Satellaview game!

[@denis2381]

GaySex

[@inthefade]

Amazing work.

[@HuntShowdownLab]

Great work, congratulations on the project!

[@uhhh_adam]

we salute you

[@lukewood7060]

absolute legend

[@masonl87]

Recreating the courses from VHS recordings is, to put it mildly, FUCKING INSANE. Bravo!!!

[@hateWinVista]

Not just insane. He was literally playing 5D chess by utilizing that idea.

[@pjf674]

Absolutely. The recreation tools at 8:52 are incredibly clever.

[@raafmaat]

i did not think that was very mild.....

[@DarkLink1996.]

Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets was restored similarly. Originally, the inside areas, including dungeons, were completely corrupted, so they guessed at what it would be like and redid it. Then recordings released, so the team could redo it 100% faithfully. The original fan-made dungeons are now used as a Master Quest mod, since they turned out to be harder than the official ones.

[@QuintusAntonious]

Truthfully, it's no less impressive than people who are using MRIs to detect ink in burnt scrolls and recover lost works from Pompeii. There is a lot of talent and innovation here.

[@sahaprocks7751]

Did You Know Gaming is turning into a lost media and preservation channel. Not complaining though. It’s great

[@nathanvertil7355]

Agreed! Preservation of media is important and awesome!

[@NukeA6]

Whatever helps the videogame preservation community is more than okay for me. I can't wait for the day for Socks the Cat to finally be playable.

[@genyakozlov1316]

​@@NukeA6We're all waiting for the day Socks the cat finally rocks that hill, we just have to find him first.

[@maxspecs]

Someone has to step up, one of the best preservationists recently got blacklisted for a charity scandal.

[@GregtheMad]

Fighting the good fight. Else Nintendo would just re-release their old games over and over again for new systems... wait...

[@Punnyb8]

That guy who decided to just randomly record everything on his VCR was a real one. I wonder if anyone made fun of him for that, he saved history

[@YunaCrawford]

We need a twin bee rpg fan made game. The only existence is via the vhs footage promo

[@GamerFromJump]

I used to do that. VHS 📼 was my first capture card.

[@redchan_ebooks]

Hey Punny

[@PowerPandaMods]

We have gotten quite a few questions on the music, and incorporating the new music from the original broadcasts. First off, thank you for your interest! The goal of BS F-Zero Deluxe was preservation and recreation of the rom data. The music used in the broadcasts was streamed over satellite. It was never part of the rom, and wouldn't be present even if the rom were found. That put it out of scope for this project. Instead, we took cues from BS F-Zero 2 Practice, which re-used 5 of the 10 songs from the original game. Forest and Metal Fort re-use the remaining 5 songs, so that each song is used once in the BS-1 and BS-2 Leagues. As soon as BS F-Zero Deluxe released, other members of the community started looking into an MSU-1 patch, which is awesome. Accurate preservation was just the first step. Improvement is now in the hands of all of the fans.

[@KyleVoices]

Listening to radio banter whilst playing a game is something a lot of people do now. It was so ahead of its time.

[@anderson9244MLG]

So, it's like a commentary video but you're doing the gameplay?

[@hard4games]

Thanks for having me on! ☺

[@PowerPandaMods]

When we were talking about how we would release the project, your channel was on the table. I was so excited to find out you'd be the narrator!

[@hard4games]

@@PowerPandaMods Thank you for considering me! I was thrilled to narrate / be a part of this in any way. 🙂

[@BLOODY__FATALITY]

I guess you could say DYKG is Hard 4 some Games.

[@hard4games]

@@BLOODY__FATALITYTechnically true!

[@mattl_]

Around 3:15 you mention this connecting to the internet. I don’t think it connected to the internet?

[@pass_]

one day Nintendo will acknowledge the satellaview outside of that mario odyssey costume

[@vegetafan9922]

Press X to doubt

[@adam145]

I know it's not a realistic dream but imagine a SatellaView update for the NSO where we get all the lost games on the service. That along with N64DD.

[@brandonmatys]

@@adam145 maybe the gp legend e reader stuff too for gba online? Maybe that’s pushing it

[@kirimusse]

​@@brandonmatys If anything, that's a lot more likely to happen than anything Satellaview or 64DD related; the NSO release of SMB3 for the GBA already includes all of the e-Reader levels in that game.

[@brandonmatys]

@@kirimusse true but at least super Mario advance 4: super Mario bros 3 had e reader support unlike the North American version of gp legend. Not a big deal since nso is region free and I could play the Japanese version on switch online eventually anyway not that I need to learn to play this sort of game

[@Dakress23]

Dude the way the guys recreated the F Zero tracks 1 to 1 is insane. Mad props to the team.

[@LWolf12]

Amazing dedication to something like that. Looks amazing as well.

[@callumsparrow4379]

The Satellaview-exclusive F-Zero content needs to return in F-Zero 99.

[@KartKing4ever]

That would be a great way for them to continue to get players. I'd definitely go back to it if I could rip around the BS tracks in HD.

[@JJAB91]

I've been out of the loop for the past few months, is Nintendo still supporting F-Zero 99 with new content?

[@rebirthphoenix5646]

@@JJAB91Yeah there’s monthly updates for the game still including private lobbies, secret tracks, quality of life improvements, and also a limited time frozen event.

[@brandonwilliams6119]

The BS and ??? Tracks could definitely break up the monotony that is 50% Mute City which consists of 3 variants all of which show up frequently in 99 Mode and even ruins GPs too.

[@rebirthphoenix5646]

@@brandonwilliams6119 When 3 out of the 14 tracks then would still be Mute City which would mean that 6 out of 29 tracks in the game would be Mute City. Which means that 20% of the game would be Mute City and considering that 99 mode would have all but 8 tracks *assumingely*, that it would almost be a 30% chance that Mute City would be in the vote for the next track you’d play.

[@ArcadeTheatre]

The Satellaview has so much lost media. Hopefully it can all be found someday.

[@brazilian_oak]

It's probably easier said than done, given that almost 24 years have passed, but if you find out whoever bought/kept St GIGA's assets, you can probably find the Satellaview broadcasts

[@BR-jw7pm]

Barely played F-Zero but it’s cool to see more game preservation

[@MegaLeoDOM]

yeah in a era where companies want to make only digital copies of games we have to preserve the history

[@JaeliusFairmout]

to everyone involved in saving these Satellaview games or just spreading the word about them. Thank you, thank you so much. i used to feel so ripped-off as a kid seeing all the japanese exclusives that would never come this way; and this is like righting an old wrong

[@Alex-95-Gaming]

Guy and I worked together on a few things for the Mute City Wiki, but I had no idea he was that involved in the overall community lol Good work, Guy!

[@lincruste]

The FZero Jazz album in the background is a nice addition.

[@ChaoticMeatballTV]

Wow. Just, wow. Going frame by frame and recreating the game from scratch just because we don't have access to the previous Satellaview broadcasts is the upmost dedication from people who love F-Zero. Hopefully Nintendo notices (in a good way, and doesn't just shut it down) and pulls out these games from their archives to add to the NSO service for all to enjoy.

[@maverickhuntermeta4954]

2:47 Paul Rudd is playing with power. Super Power. Putting that aside, I would love to see F-Zero 2 / BS-X F-Zero content make it's way onto F-Zero 99.

[@AlejandroChannel]

Yay :) Glad to be part of this!

[@xJC4Rx]

Just a reminder how DYKG goes above and beyond. They don't just spout trivia, but dedicate months to years worth of research, translating, and even restoration projects and preservation. DYKG is immensely important for video game history.

[@chaosspork]

Man, modders are amazing. It is absolutley astounding what they do for the community and for the artform as a whole. My hats off to everyone who was involved in the project. Thank you.

[@ArcadeStriker]

I'm glad to hear Guy Perfect's name again after having spent so much time with Execution Project- *specially from a project like this.* I remember being also intrigued by these lost tracks for years from that old footage, but I did NOT expect that a team would go above and beyond with doing everything on their possibility to recreate as close to 1:1 everything that was on those videos. I'll definitely be checking it out; thank you so much for covering this huge effort :)

[@rebirthphoenix5646]

Really cool and informative video about the lost BS Grand Prix 2 tracks! Crazy how we’ve had such talented creators remake the tracks from the ground up to play again! Interestingly enough, I’ve brought up to light on the community on Twitter that one of the secret tracks in F-Zero 99 brought back the same damage fields that are in Sand Storm I from BS GP 2 so I wouldn’t say that we’re out of the woods yet from getting the Ace League or Forest/Metal Fort back in F-Zero 99.

[@OskarXCI]

They should add these Forest and Metal Fort tracks in addition to Ace League to F-ZERO 99.

[@KartKing4ever]

BS Grand Prix 2 has been available for years and I've enjoyed it thoroughly. I always knew of the five *other courses that were lost, Forest, Metal Fort, and the other. The video we got a few years back showing the tracks is incredible. I always wondered if, at the very least someone could recreate the courses. While unofficial, it'd be better than nothing. AND HERE IT IS! I've waited so long for this.

[@dreamworldtony]

Bust open a cold one and enjoy the new tracks brother! 😎

[@bntrs]

It's not just better than nothing - it's probably the definitive way to play F-Zero on SNES going forward. Having all of the original game's content included - and being able to use any vehicle on any track - is a massive bonus

[@Thepopcornator]

Just want to point out, for posterity, that that's Paul Rudd in that Super Nintendo commercial @2:47 . :)

[@dycedargselderbrother5353]

Funny, I remember the commercial but of course had no idea who Paul Rudd was at the time. Apparently this was his acting debut. I remember being annoyed that they advertised A Link to the Past with a sneaky text disclaimer that it wasn't ready yet.

[@L33PL4Y]

Yes, everybody knows that these days.

[@Afince]

I played the mod today and it was an incredible experience. I'm so grateful for the dedication and hard work that the team has put in for the F-Zero community to recreate something that we all considered lost to time. Thank you.

[@biscuit2928]

how did you play it? I'm having trouble patching the mod with a rom. Are you able to tell me how you were able to play the mod?

[@Yze3]

That's awesome to see dedicated fans that preserve old video game content, and channels that do talk about it. People may not care about F-zero, but with F-zero 99 and this, it's a small win for the community, and I hope there's gonna be more.

[@LuigiTheMetal64]

Forest and Metal Fort look cool that they, along with the other courses, should be brought back to F-Zero 99. The courses can just be time-based to be as close as the broadcasts as possible.

[@raprice79]

The Jazz version of the soundtrack could fill-in for the live broadcast music! That would definitely give the SatellaView tracks a unique flavour, close to the original experience!

[@bmac2814]

Seriously the best gaming channel on KZbin. Nothing but facts and history, no garbage opinions to go along with it 😅 You guys do an awesome job every video.

[@At0micPunk90]

Just amazing to see such a level of dedication, painstakingly recreating a game just from watching a grainy old VHS footage. Kudos to the fans for doing the hard work to preserve stuff, which game companies themselves just refuse to do.

[@officialretroshell]

Great video, it is amazing to see these games that might have been lost in time to be resurrected. We will feature this story in our retro gaming newsletter.

[@MegamanNG]

I only hope that F-Zero 99 can add the content from the BS-X into the game. It can not only keep their legacy alive but also give players the opportunities to try their luck.

[@faceurhell]

Gaming preservation finding and preserving games? That is always a W for gaming.

[@Patbacknitro2]

Imagine if Nintendo just randomly dropped the lost tracks on F-Zero 99

[@Demanufactur3r]

Insane work, well done with the reconstruction!!

[@VESTI]

There *was* a Satellaview cartridge containing BS F-Zero (can't remember which GP, apologies) ~20 years ago on eBay which I distinctly recall as I didn't have the £2-300 at the time to purchase it, the ROM may still yet live.

[@LuigiBlood]

If it's known, it's probably just the Practice version, which was dumped and redumped many times oddly enough. Soundlink games very very rarely show up in the menu unfortunately.

[@Norrikan]

Amazing work by that team. I had been only vaguely aware of these F-Zero games in the context of the curiosity that is the Satellaview, but the dedication and ingenuity put into restoration and preservation of such lost media is honestly awe-inspiring.

[@Apophis324]

Would be nice to give that CD-quality soundtrack a full listen someday too ^^

[@OutlawMaxV]

Incredible display of fandom power unrestrained! Massive respect to the modding team

[@dandastardly2792]

When I saw the title I thought Hard4games. What a suprise when I heard the narration.

[@craigratio]

Incredible effort, congratulations to anyone involved! Absolute retro gaming heroes the lot of them!

[@Retro_Raji]

UNBELIEVABLE WORK!!!! Thank you SO MUCH from one F-ZERO super fan to another!!

[@chopsmccartney6786]

Great to hear Tony in a DYKG video! Hard4Games always!

[@SaturnD]

there’s something kinda heart warming about people coming together and saying “if Nintendo won’t save this game from being lost forever, we’ll go to the ends of the earth and back to do it *ourselves*”. media preservation is so important, especially for things that only had a small/niche release like this, and it’s sad so many modern gaming companies just don’t seem to care about keeping their history intact.

[@donnyf88]

Tony (From Hard4Games) you did such a good job!!! Congrats! amazing video

[@hard4games]

Thank you!

[@FindingsOfAnArmouredMind]

I never played the original F-Zero nor the og Star Fox, not until early last year when I bought a used SNES mini, and HOLY SH*T, I've fallen in deep love with these two well deserved titled CLASSICS (especially Star Fox 2, MY GOD, had it been released, it would've set the bar waaay too high. What a game!).

[@raprice79]

I definitely want to add this mod ROM to my SNES Mini! Exciting!

[@FindingsOfAnArmouredMind]

@raprice79 Same! I might be doing it tonight, though I still gotta finish the og F-Zero's last league, if y'know what I mean 😅

[@JTSPodcast]

This was super interesting! Shoutout to all those people preserving these games.

[@HanCurunyr]

OMG! That made my day! I never knew F-Zero had 10 tracks exclusives to the Satellaview. Just downloaded it and played the BS1 Tracks, Silence II is punitive as hell, loved it!

[@noahboat580]

No wayyyyy! I always look forward to satelleview lost content, but original and exclusive F Zero content? Im still wanting to see some exclusive kirby content as well

[@TheHairyNord]

F-Zero is the best!! 🥰 Thanks to everyone who donated their time and resources into this project!

[@MadsterV]

amazing work. On a technical level, on dedication, on every level. Thank you all. Congratulations.

[@Katosepe]

So cool! I love what fan communities and modders are capable of. It's absolutely incredible to see.

[@dizzle1119]

There are so many incredibly talented ppl in the gaming hobby. Some of these projects we're seeing nowadays are bonkers. Guys recreated the lost F-Zero from essentially nothing. Guys turning Zelda 2 into a proper widescreen masterpiece. It's pretty exciting. I used to miss the style of games from my youth, but they are now abundant. They're everywhere.

[@ActuallySanFrancisco]

always love hearing hard 4 games on this channel!!!

[@ItzSilentFox]

Sweet it works! nice video, also very nice that this as been found and recreated!

[@beaniebear1122]

It's cool to hear about the efforts that have been made to preserve gaming history.

[@paulvondresky8639]

Thank you for this! FZero was never my thing but I appreciate yall's work to preserve our childhoods. 👍

[@evilblader7]

Happy to be alive to see this... Now I want to F-zero 99... Thanks those héroes without cape to restore it. I really appreciate it 🙇🙏

[@Sly88Frye]

Oh yeah. I've heard of those games. Cool how they found a way to actually make them available. I was hoping there would be more F-Zero games after GX so that's something I'd love to see.

[@MadBrax]

it would be crazy if nintendo redid the satellaview games on switch online some day

[@Liam3072]

A small mistake in the presentation of the Satellaview: it does NOT connect the Super Famicom to the Internet. It connects the SFC to a one-way satellite broadcast that is completely different and independant from the Internet. There's no relationship to the Internet whatsoever.

[@mattl_]

Thank you. Hopefully they post a correction.

[@sppspharmdude]

Nice! Keep inviting Tony back

[@ObiKKa]

Credit intros: kukun kun (KZbinr with original video uploads): 1:19. Guy Perfect (ROMhacker): 6:36. FlibidyDibidy (Engineer for live leaderboard & creator of a speed running tool): 7:12. PowerPanda (Graphics editor): 9:42. Porthor (Data miner, bounty giver): 10:04. - I've got to say that the Metal Fort's background graphics looked fine. But the Forest theme art recreation looks too small and doesn't seem to capture the flourishing and thick graphics found in the old footage well enough.

[@ChiefMedicPururu]

Well, the only difference I could see is the shading, but it still mainly look the same.

[@tappersreviews4677]

This is amazing. As an old F-Zero fan from USA (I bought SNES on launch day with F-Zero and Pilotwings) this blows my mind.

[@lmu304]

OMG!! I can't even say how grateful I am to be able to play this Masterpiece of a Romhack! THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!!!

[@_Vengeance_]

5:26 Wow, the X-Cup in F-Zero X is a lot less random than I thought it was. Sure, it was obvious it was made on the safe side to ensure proper working tracks, but I literally had that exact same layout, 100%, a couple of days ago (not just the shape, even the exact part that's shortly on screen was exactly the same).

[@alderoth01]

I loved F-zero. I wish they kept making that series.

[@BB-pn2qv]

Wow thanks for doing this!

[@JeremyPeeples]

Got this going today - love it!

[@captainthunderbolt7541]

Incredible work!

[@dragoon1090]

That's insane. I'm definitely playing this.

[@MatticusFinch1820]

Just tried the patch and this works great! so damn cool! Works great on FXPAK Pro

[@vidman5000]

That's amazing. Leave it to fans to preserve these games and release some amazing things.

[@PGustenhoven]

Holy....this was an amazing video!

[@LJW1912]

Really cool to see H4G on here, long time watcher of him and his mates stuff

[@gabrielandy9272]

i can't thanks enough for the people that did this, it was a huge love work to preserve history, they deserve the best (y)

[@clarafedde8674]

Wow. That is amazing. Fzero is a great racing game.

[@agdtwinkie001]

Love this channel soooooo much! ❤

[@VJFranzK]

incredible concept!

[@tccraig]

Was not expecting to hear Tony from H4G as the VO for this episode, that caught me off guard!

[@AMDRADEONRUBY]

Just in time for a new video about F zero I love lost video games videos

[@TechyMantis]

The dedication from gaming fans is always admirable, will be funny if Nintendo ask to use the rom for switch online

[@ender7278]

You know Nintendo should really release a collection of all the Satellaview games. We've been doing this whole charade for decades at this point, just give us the damn games.

[@MasterKofficial]

Thank you for your hard work 🤘🏻

[@Walt_Raleigh]

How did you know (gaming)? I am hungry for more F-Zero

[@SeanyBoy589]

As a devout f zero fan, thank you to all those who worked incredibly hard to recreate and preserve these treasures for us!

[@ShoshoDupers]

the people who painstakingly recreated a lost F-zero promotion spinoff game as a rom hack by bit and graphic entirely are such gigachads

[@star7communicator434]

F-Zero fans are some of the most dedicated. Having your favorite IP constantly in development limbo must do something to a fandom. Mad respect ✊

[@ArcRay20]

using their TAS program to rebuild and visually reverse the game's courses is fucking cool.

[@TheNegronomicon]

Dedication and technical wizardry.

[@RetroHellspawn]

It's been a while since I've heard Tony from Hard4Games dubbing on here, but it makes sense given his own preservation efforts. 😁👌

[@kay_glo]

Games are hard, But I'm hard for games. (❤ U Tony)

[@DarkPuIse]

Wow, and here I was trying to see if I could get a buddy of mine interested in making a better track editor (there's still somehow nothing better than Fuzee since the FZEdit guys seem to have disappeared...) so that investigating restoration of these tracks could be done. I guess that's pointless now, but I'll still hold out hope for an awesome track editor someday. Always liked the original and GBA F-Zeros more than X.

[@TheCartoonGamer8000]

Fascinating stuff.

[@LWolf12]

Always loved the music from F-Zero.

[@turboDrowsy]

Wow. Freakin’ Impressive. I remember the days where playing those BS levels was considered to be an “impossible dream”. But here it is. Props to the people who did this project, you’re making the F-Zero fanbase a happy bunch of campers, including me.

[@djo5080]

Hard for games commentary and info. Hell yeah

[@DijaVlogsGames]

Though not the original program, it’s cool to have this in some form.

[@_SYDGAMING_]

Wow never thought I'd here hard4games on here.