F-Zero feels more "hardcore" than Wipeout. There is something satisfying about driving at 1000khm and smashing your opponent on the sides of the track, using the weight and shields of your own craft instead of weapons, risking it in the process. In Wipeout, you just get a power up and you press the button to use it. Simple, safe and easy. Like Mario Kart and its countless clones. F-Zero is different. To kill your opponent its only a matter of skill and coordination. Fail to hit him and you might go off track yourself, or hit the rails, losing much needed energy and speed. Its just much more intense.
Also, i prefer the metal OST of F-Zero X. Trance/techno wouldn't work so well in that game anyway. Its too hardcore, trance music would only soften it.
We'll just have to disagree here I guess. I consider F-Zero to be exponentially easier to play than any WipEout game. The act of simply racing in WipEout is extremely challenging, and causes many people to drop the games out of frustration. Racing in F-Zero is easier than most racing games, with the real difficulty being the risks you take in order to go faster. The player essentially sets their own difficulty on the racing side, choosing to go faster as they learn to handle the speeds. It's a very accommodating way to introduce people to the game versus WipEout's "adapt now or die" mentality.
Yep, I also disagree. As much as I like F-Zero style, I find it to be a lot easier and less rewarding than Wipeout.
The crazy speed is very exciting, I'll give you that, but I feel always in total control of the craft. If I do something wrong is because of the speed, not the track or something else. Speed is basically the only thing that matters.
Wipeout is different, richer and more complex, it has different spacecrafts with different feelings and weights and you can easily lose the control because tracks aren't flat, there are a lot of unevenness that can make you fly (and do a barrell roll, if it's worth it and you're fast), and they aren't wide enough to allow many mistakes either, while F-Zero has wide tracks that give a lot of range for your movements.
If you don't master the track and the craft you'll be costantly scratching on the sides, word, while in F-Zero you'll probably just go slower. This is the minimum required when playing online or at the fastest speed because weapons will make things even harder.
Speaking about it, the description you did of weapons is poor and the comparison with Mario Kart is totally out of place, it's too slow and tracks are too wide. Firing or even avoiding missiles, bombs or stuff isn't that easy when you're going fast on a tight road and online you will not last long using them carelessly.
Also, "simple, safe and easy" doesn't sound like Wipeout. Sure, you just have to press a button to fire but not all of the weapons have the auto aim or a wide range and you might want to use it to restore your health. The Speed power up can be used everywhere but it shouldn't due to curves and unevenness, some places are definitely better and safer than others to cut seconds.
Shortly, in my opinion Wipeout is a game to master with practice and patience, but it requires reflexes and good eyes first, while F-Zero is more accomodating being a simple racer with crazy speed levels and less variables to take in consideration.
I know what I'm saying because I was one of those who dropped the game early, having hard moments at Rapier mode which is slower than Phantom, Zen, Subsonic, Mach 1 and Supersonic.. quite frustrating. Then I spent some time on it and it became fun and rewarding. I still suck compared to some pro players but it's fun.
Waiting for the announce of both (that will never come), I'd invite some guys to give another chance to Wipeout HD/Fury. Your goal is Zone 75 if you never reached it
