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Ok GAF lets battle it out. Which franchise is better F-Zero or Wipeout
- Thread starter nin1000
- Start date
Wipeout
No contest
F-Zero is some arcade extreme-g. It's just okay. Some silly thing, bit of easy fun.
Wipeout is the pinnacle of futuristic racing. Serious skill required. You are in full control of the vehicle. It's basically a simulator.
And after Wipeout, it's Redout. F-Zero comes way, way, way below. It's barely even in the running, hanging in there by a thread.
bonus wipeout gif:
No contest
F-Zero is some arcade extreme-g. It's just okay. Some silly thing, bit of easy fun.
Wipeout is the pinnacle of futuristic racing. Serious skill required. You are in full control of the vehicle. It's basically a simulator.
And after Wipeout, it's Redout. F-Zero comes way, way, way below. It's barely even in the running, hanging in there by a thread.
bonus wipeout gif:
Magicpaint
Member
I think that's what so many people (including me) like about it, ironically. It's got that weird sterile, hyper-future, mega-corporation-clean aesthetic. It pairs with the pumping electronic sound track so, so well. That's not me arguing, different people like different stuff, just find it interesting.
Wipeout's branding looks like it was designed by a group of people in turtle necks in a super moody Soho creative agency in the 1990s with weird facial hair and who do coke with the chemical brothers, F-Zero looks like it was designed by a happy, wide-eyed individual who loves comic books and had a very vivid, colourful vision for the future universe. Similar settings/themes but a totally different tone - and I absolutely love both.
This is seem... so... accurate? I do love everything about the aesthetic in Wipeout. It's the handling that leaves me behind. I did play it a lot during the Playstation 1 era but the newer games haven't grabbed me.
ResidentDante
Member
Mr Moose
Member
This, then WipeOut.
Toadthemushroom
Member
I'm less inclined to take your post seriously when you reduce F-Zero to being...a game that it inspired, proceeding to then claim that only WipEout requires serious skill and only WipEout gives you full control of the vehicle.
It's pretty easy to cherrypick like you did and paint WipEout in an unfavourable way - one could post about "gimmicky items" and claim that WipEout is some arcade Extreme-G, and F-Zero has serious skill required. And that anyone else who disagrees has poor taste
But we know that's not true. I love both F-Zero and WipEout for entirely different reasons. There's of course the aesthetic and presentation, but both series' differing approaches to high speed racing lead to two, very unique, very challenging racing game series.
(I could also post a gif that shows F-Zero's airborne physics and multi-tiered stages in action)
Don't care.
It's fact. Wipeout is just the top of the top of the top. Sony Liverpool were kings.
If you're looking for something a bit easier but just as fun, Redout is the next one to get.
F-Zero was alright 15 years ago. Held up for another 5ish years. But it's just not in the running anymore, other games have surpassed it by just way too much to take it seriously now.
Toadthemushroom
Member
If you want to be unwilling to listen to other views on the subject then, I just have three words to say:
It's Studio Liverpool.
Toadthemushroom
Member
Fair enough - the company logo was always "Studio Liverpool", so that's what I've stuck with. Didn't realise it went under a different moniker. I miss their F1 games.
Haven't played a Wipeout game, so I can't honestly say. I've heard it has floatier controls, though, which I didn't like in Redout, so I'd probably like F-Zero more. GX also has one of the greatest video game stories that I hope future F-Zero games (there will be more) will match in cheesiness.
Have you actually played GX? Because if you did you would realize that no Wipeout game comes close.
I think some people confuse "controls" with physics. Actually, controls are very tight in WipEout, not "floaty".
→ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVCdJDNzfe0
Fuck Sony for closing Sony Liverpool. The new wipeout is just them throwing us a bone. Not going to get a PS4 for it. I always buy Sony consoles for wipeout. Not anymore. It's probably why I'm going PC only from here on out.
That's why I'm super thankful for Redout. It's less complicated but still gives you that rush.
Still need to keep momentum in consideration but you don't need to worry about every tiny little bit of movement and how to control it. It's floaty because your vehicle is floating in the air, and you need to control it like a sim. You're planning ahead every single millisecond with wipeout. Your brain is processing at max.
Wipeout is damn hard, I get why people get put off. But for those that stick with it, it's rewarding like nothing else.
F-zero isn't piss easy...but it's just not the same. It controls like an arcade title, doesn't feel real - feels fake and simplified. Like a ridge racer of futuristic racing. It's fine, it's alright. But different leagues.
Even if they put out a new one I can't imagine it being any more sim like. It'd probably be like fast racing neo... which just .. eh.
Be glad redout is coming to all the consoles! They improved graphics and performance recently, it's a damn fine game. Like wipeout + star wars racer. It's real fun.
That's why I'm super thankful for Redout. It's less complicated but still gives you that rush.
Still need to keep momentum in consideration but you don't need to worry about every tiny little bit of movement and how to control it. It's floaty because your vehicle is floating in the air, and you need to control it like a sim. You're planning ahead every single millisecond with wipeout. Your brain is processing at max.
Wipeout is damn hard, I get why people get put off. But for those that stick with it, it's rewarding like nothing else.
F-zero isn't piss easy...but it's just not the same. It controls like an arcade title, doesn't feel real - feels fake and simplified. Like a ridge racer of futuristic racing. It's fine, it's alright. But different leagues.
Even if they put out a new one I can't imagine it being any more sim like. It'd probably be like fast racing neo... which just .. eh.
Be glad redout is coming to all the consoles! They improved graphics and performance recently, it's a damn fine game. Like wipeout + star wars racer. It's real fun.
Toadthemushroom
Member
I think some people confuse "controls" with physics. Actually, controls are very tight in WipEout, not "floaty".
→ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVCdJDNzfe0
The only time WipEout has felt floaty to me in recent times was 2048 on Vita which was 30fps with dips. Big step down in control response playing the HD/Fury DLC. So I can see where people are coming from as you can definitely feel the latency in the older 30fps titles.
Hardly. Outside visuals X is better than GX imo.
The best thing about that gif is it runs true to the framerate for the entire series bar the HD remasters.bonus wipeout gif:
Švejk
Member
Tis totally mixed opinions. A good balance it seems, which is good, IMO.
I'm a Wipeout person myself. I like F-Zero too, but it's hard to take it more seriously with those silly looking characters... They should've left those out.
Nothing screams Zero G racing like... monkeys??
Next up Mario Kart vs. Sonic Transformed Racing? I'd go for the latter, but I'm sure that'll be a more a one sided battle.
I'm a Wipeout person myself. I like F-Zero too, but it's hard to take it more seriously with those silly looking characters... They should've left those out.
Nothing screams Zero G racing like... monkeys??
Next up Mario Kart vs. Sonic Transformed Racing? I'd go for the latter, but I'm sure that'll be a more a one sided battle.
F-zero isn't piss easy...but it's just not the same. It controls like an arcade title, doesn't feel real. Like a ridge racer of futuristic racing. It's alright. But different leagues. And even if they put out a new one I can't imagine it being any more sim like. It'd probably be like fast racing neo... which just .. eh.
Be glad redout is coming to all the consoles! They improved graphics and performance recently, it's a damn fine game. Like wipeout + star wars racer. It's real fun.
I guess that means no.
^Was the bolded not accurate enough for you? It's almost on rails in comparison to wipeout. I played it plenty but no where near as much time as I put into wipeout games - for good reason. I like the challenge of actually being in full control of the vehicle. It makes the speed feel even more insane, when you actually have to fully control the vehicle and its momentum at the same time as going that fast.
I like my gamecube, f-zero was cool back then. I even play the snes one from time to time... but for completely different reasons to when I play a wipeout game. Wipeout you put your serious hat on. You're in the zone, and it's brutal.
It's rock solid 30fps, not sure about the gif.
It's a difficult game. Sim like accuracy required. Some people can handle it though. I had practice with Pure and Pulse on PSP.
Looks damn incredible on the Vita too, it was the initial reason to own one.
Pretty sure the new one coming out bumps it to 60fps too.
I like my gamecube, f-zero was cool back then. I even play the snes one from time to time... but for completely different reasons to when I play a wipeout game. Wipeout you put your serious hat on. You're in the zone, and it's brutal.
It's rock solid 30fps, not sure about the gif.
It's a difficult game. Sim like accuracy required. Some people can handle it though. I had practice with Pure and Pulse on PSP.
Looks damn incredible on the Vita too, it was the initial reason to own one.
Pretty sure the new one coming out bumps it to 60fps too.
Toadthemushroom
Member
There's little point in debating which game series feels more real to control given no one actually knows what an antigravity ship designed in the future will handle like.
I mean, you could say WipEout has more nuance due to the floatier handling but you could use that exact same adjective with F-Zero due to how every little input matters in controlling your craft as well.
You could say F-Zero encourages you to plan ahead more due to the sheer speed of the game and the narrow twists and turns of many of its levels...but you also have to plan ahead playing WipEout too, for entirely different reasons.
Out of personal preference I prefer F-Zero, GX is quite possibly the best arcade racing game ever made. But WipEout (especially HD on PS3) stands up there along with F-Zero, Burnout (2), Mario Kart (Super Mario Kart, MKDS, MK8), Ridge Racer (6 and Racers 2 on PSP), OutRun (3D OutRun) etc. as one of my favourite arcade racers.
I mean, you could say WipEout has more nuance due to the floatier handling but you could use that exact same adjective with F-Zero due to how every little input matters in controlling your craft as well.
You could say F-Zero encourages you to plan ahead more due to the sheer speed of the game and the narrow twists and turns of many of its levels...but you also have to plan ahead playing WipEout too, for entirely different reasons.
Out of personal preference I prefer F-Zero, GX is quite possibly the best arcade racing game ever made. But WipEout (especially HD on PS3) stands up there along with F-Zero, Burnout (2), Mario Kart (Super Mario Kart, MKDS, MK8), Ridge Racer (6 and Racers 2 on PSP), OutRun (3D OutRun) etc. as one of my favourite arcade racers.
Psycho_Mantis
Banned
Even as an opinion this has little hold. Wipeout is the only game in its genre to have a distinct art aesthetic to clearly define it and make it stand out, whether its the graphics design, vehicle design, soundtrack or world building. There is some validity in your statement though: the look is meant to give the sense of corporations with sleek consumerism, alongside some hints of "character".
There's a reason it has inspired so many similar veined games trying to replicate its feel. The game even won a BAFTA for its design. Fans know that feel:
Really wish they were still around.
No game inspired Wipeout more than Mario Kart, and really we should be talking about which is better, Wipeout or Mario Kart. Trouble is that would be a very short discussion.
Out of interest Wipeout fans, are there any Wipeouts that are better than any Mario Karts? I always preferred Wipeout HD to Mario Kart Wii, but that's pretty much the only one that even comes close in my view.
Yoshi
Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
F-Zero is faster, has more direct controls, is more arcady, has more exciting track design, is more pure in its racing, where attacks on enemies require good driving skills and no weapons, it is better in almost every regard. Wipeout has only two advantages: It is not dead and due to being present on more modern consoles exists with better graphics.
We're not a hive mind, I like most wipeouts more than most Mario Karts. Double Dash is particular I hated
Starsunder
Member
F-Zero and it's not even close.
You guys joke but I honestly believe F-Zero has more in common with Ridge Racer than Wipeout, other than the premise of futuristic racing.
Wipeout vs Redout is a far more interesting comparison.
Yoshi
Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Is it really? Wipeout and F-Zero play so extremely different that preference for Nintendo or Sony shouldn't play a huge role. Though it is true that I prefer Nintendo over Sony and F-Zero over Wipeout. Maybe it has a bit to do with their respective design philosophies.
@Skyzard: I agree that F-Zero has more in common with Ridge Racer than Wipeout, because F-Zero is the pinnacle of fast and fully direct no-bullshit racing control. Wipeout plays more like a sim racer on ice than an arcade game, whereas F-Zero is a supremely tight arcade racer. However, if you say F-Zero is easy or even "not hard" then this is just madness. I am quite well-trained with games, particularly arcady ones (where Super Monkey Ball Master and F-Zero GX story mode I would call my greatest achievements in games), but a good friend of mine who is significantly better at games than I am needed to invest upwards of 20 hours just for beating the staff ghost on Mute City in GX, the first course. This game is insanely difficult and claiming anything on the contrary is just making obvious you never seriously played it. I have never played anything similarly difficult.
No I'm not joking and I totally agree. I'd never thought about the comparison to Ridge Racer but its 100% spot on.
Also just going to take a moment to say that its a shame the Ridge Racer series is generally such a joke, because Ridge Racer Type 4 is one of the very best racers ever.
I think F-Zero is tough, but getting Transcendence on WipEout HD was much more difficult to me.
Stairouais
Member
They are. Kind of. They still do regular work for Warp records.
Possumowner
Member
Definitely F-Zero for me, although both superb
Poimandres
Member
I find this deeply offensive. I agree that Wipeout is indebted to Mario Kart in some ways, but as a series I far prefer Wipeout! The only Mario Kart game I really like is 8, but I would take Wipeout 2097, Wipeout 3 and Wipeout Pure over any Mario Kart game. No question about it!
I deeply dislike Mario Kart Wii and Double Dash. I still kick myself for picking up Double Dash over something better.
ResidentDante
Member
What does this even mean? Both are great series, care to explain why you don't even think it's close?
Yoshi
Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Well, in F-Zero X and GX, if you press left, the craft goes to the left immediately. If you do the same in Wipeout, it rotates to the left, goes a bit to the right and only much later really goes to the left. In a sense, Wipeout is immediate in the sense that there is a visible reaction to your button press, but it is absolutely not direct when it comes to controlling where the vehicle is going. Even if you like this kind of indirectness, it has serious implications towards the track design and the gameplay, because super quick reactions to the track are not possible, which limits the adrenaline rush and the arcade-style twitch-reaction to situations.
By the way, I did not want to downplay the difficulty of Wipeout with my posting regarding F-Zero. I have played maybe 50 hours total of Wipeout games and have not fully beaten a Wipeout game, it would be unfair to comment on its top difficulty. But no matter how difficult it is, I have played to completions hundreds of games and several hundered more games far enough to be sure of their top difficulty and F-Zero GX is the absolute top of all of them (next to Monkey Ball if you disregard time attack, alone if not), so even if Wipeout managed to be more difficult (which could really only be by a tiny bit), to call F-Zero GX anything but super tough is either a sign of not knowing the game or pretense.
SkyMasterson
Member
Well, considering the last F-Zero title came out 13 years ago and on a handheld, yea, that shouldn't be too surprising.
tenderbrew
Member
I just love the post apocalyptic comic book-y feeling of F-Zero and its zany characters.
Again I think it is a difference in genre arcade to sim (even though sim doesn't literally apply here) I love arcade games, love the twitchy controls but I prefer the nuance of a sim more. Just personal preference I think but I don't think it takes the adrenaline rush away at all.
F-Zero is super tough I agree, I just think WipEout is tougher, now the other thing is, I think for both games this actually hurts their popularity while being something I really appreciate.
Just because one is an arcade racer an the other is not doesn't mean one game play is better or worse. Difference!! Why would i want clones when i van have different experiences, even if i enjoy more one over the other?
I also prefer a more direct arcade feeling, but i am sure that driving in the air if that exists, maybe drones?, Wipeout could be considered more real somehow
Starsunder
Member
Honestly, not really! And I'm not trying to be a dick! I'm just not interested in trying to change anyone's mind.
But, since you asked, I simply love F-Zero far more in all aspects. Everything. I love the 80's buttrock music of the older games, and I love (if slightly less so) the soundtrack for GX. I love how F-Zero controls, whereas I've never been a fan of Wipeouts controls. I love the over the top characters of F-Zero, the planets and tracks of F-Zero (Deathwind, Big Blue, Mute City, Port Town, White Land, etc.), they're almost as much characters as the actual racers themselves. And I'm sure there's a healthy dose of nostalgia in there too. I owned F-Zero for the SNES back in '91.
So yeah. For me, even tho I can recognize that Wipeout is well made and certainly has its following, it's not even close.
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