Wave Race

[Ikagura Ikagura]

A series that could almost be described as "F-zero on water" with fast paced gameplay.

It surprisingly started on the Gameboy but honestly it really shined on the N64 then on the Gamecube with Blue Storm.

I'm really surprised they have stopped making them since, even Pilotwings got some sequel on the 3DS (Wuhu Island would've been a perfect setting for a "Wave Race Resort" if they knew how to do it).

At least the series got one more game compared to 1080° Snowboarding but they could've done something with the motion control or even the Wii Balance Board for both games.

PS: In MK World the karts can no longer go underwater but float on it, like antigravity with F-zero that was reminding me of this game.

 

[NotReallyHere]

Ah, my favorite N64 game! Seriously

I believe the development on Wave Race 64 started off closer to a F-Zero title, with futuristic boats as the racers. Not sure why they went back to Jet Skis (licensing revenue from Kawasaki, maybe?) but I'm glad they did. Giving the game riders with names and personalities (from the wetsuit designs, at least) did a lot to add to the realism, as did all the little environmental touches like shipwrecks, seagulls, and whales.

At the time, it was a game that truly felt real - or, at least, close enough to it. A F-Zero clone wouldn't have had the same effect.

I've heard the series compared to F-Zero before, too, but I've never really made that connection in my mind. Yes, there are four racers (and one with the last name Stewart, which I'm sure was intentional) but they buoy / slalom style of racing is very much unique to Wave Race. At least, among Nintendo titles. Heck, they didn't even add a boost button until the Gamecube one...

Personally, I feel that the N64 game is the best. Blue Storm was made by a different team, and while it is a beautiful, detailed game, I felt the gameplay just wasn't as tight as Wave Race 64. It was also much, much more difficult than its predecessor. In fact, that's one area where I think it compares well to F-Zero, as Blue Storm may very well be the most difficult racing game on the console next to F-Zero GX!

I could talk about this all day. Nice post. Thanks for letting me reminisce at bit, OP

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Ah, my favorite N64 game! Seriously

I believe the development on Wave Race 64 started off closer to a F-Zero title, with futuristic boats as the racers. Not sure why they went back to Jet Skis (licensing revenue from Kawasaki, maybe?) but I'm glad they did. Giving the game riders with names and personalities (from the wetsuit designs, at least) did a lot to add to the realism, as did all the little environmental touches like shipwrecks, seagulls, and whales.

At the time, it was a game that truly felt real - or, at least, close enough to it. A F-Zero clone wouldn't have had the same effect.

I've heard the series compared to F-Zero before, too, but I've never really made that connection in my mind. Yes, there are four racers (and one with the last name Stewart, which I'm sure was intentional) but they buoy / slalom style of racing is very much unique to Wave Race. At least, among Nintendo titles. Heck, they didn't even add a boost button until the Gamecube one...

Personally, I feel that the N64 game is the best. Blue Storm was made by a different team, and while it is a beautiful, detailed game, I felt the gameplay just wasn't as tight as Wave Race 64. It was also much, much more difficult than its predecessor. In fact, that's one area where I think it compares well to F-Zero, as Blue Storm may very well be the most difficult racing game on the console next to F-Zero GX!

I could talk about this all day. Nice post. Thanks for letting me reminisce at bit, OP

I saw that Unseen64 page

I totally believe that this got repurposed for F-zero X: Look at the map and the vehicle shape.

I wouldn't mind if the next F-zero game introduced underwater/overwater sections as a gimmick.

Anyway, Blue Storm, like F-zero GX, still looks good today.

 

[bigstinkie]

i remember being very impressed by how it felt as if you were truly on the water in wave race 64
very impressive and cool
i see people such as notreallyhere and many others dislike how the gamecube entry plays, why is that in particular?

 

[bjork]

I never played the Game Boy one, but I like both the N64 and GC titles quite well. I think I spent slightly more time with the N64 one, but I played them both a bunch. Would love another entry at some point.

 

[GamingWarthog]

It's a shame the non Mario Kart racers from Nintendo all fell off, thought the Switch would have been a good time to bring them back with its Mario Kart being a port. It's been a while since I played them, but I recall liking the Gamecube one more than the N64. I liked the weather system of the Gamecube one.

 

[MemeAlert]

Are you one of those people that hate Nintendo for not making another F-Zero game even tho GX didn't sell that well?

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

You know what's weird? Even though I couldn't care less about its genre, Wave Race 64 was the first Nintendo 64 game that made me turn my head.

 

[NotReallyHere]

i see people such as notreallyhere and many others dislike how the gamecube entry plays, why is that in particular?

It is kind of hard to put into words, but I will do my best

I should start of by saying that I do not dislike Blue Storm. It had very impressive environmental effects, and I did like how each stage could have varying weather conditions that would affect visibility along with the size and force of the waves. It was actually the first Gamecube game I owned (along with Rogue Leader) and I definitely put a lot of time into it during the Summer of 2002.

For one, I didn't really care for the boost mechanic. I like that they added it (as it helped the game feel different from its predecessor) but I found it difficult to use in practice. The boost was very short-lived, and tended to make the watercraft unwieldy. I didn't feel like using it was much of a reward, as it seemed to offer more drawbacks than advantages.

I also felt that, for better or worse, the watercraft just felt slower to respond to inputs. Wave Race 64 was downright snappy by comparison (especially if you adjusted the "Grip" setting) and I liked that you could tweak the setting of each individual racer to suit your needs in the N64 game. Blue Storm introduced different attributes for each individual racer, but I didn't like that these couldn't be adjusted to fit your own personal playstyle.

That being said, the slower turning and overall "doughy" feel of Blue Storm may in fact be more realistic...? It's not like boats and watercraft are known for being able to turn on a dime, anyway

The courses are also more demanding in Blue Storm, especially the later ones. Lots of confined spaces, walls / fences / railings on the sides, and tighter turns. Yes, Wave Race 64 had some industrial and man-made areas, but I felt, in general, the game was more about making your own lines and plotting the best routes in open water. Blue Storm had levels that felt more like actual roadways, with 90-degree turns and canals that ran between buildings like city streets. Not necessarily a bad thing, just not my personal preference.

Yikes, apologies for the essay, there! But I do enjoy talking about this series, as it was one of my favorites. Hopefully I managed to explain myself without rambling too much

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Are you one of those people that hate Nintendo for not making another F-Zero game even tho GX didn't sell that well?

No, not hate, disappointed yes (like with Sega forgetting about their IPs). Nintendo has a vault full of good IPs that could get some good modernisation (while keeping the spirit of the originals) such as Panel De Pon, Kid Icarus, Punch-Out, excite and many others.

GX not selling well was mostly concomitant to the Gamecube not selling well compared to the PS2 and the Triforce being an arcade machine when arcade gaming started to slowly fade away (with Online gaming soon becoming commonplace).

Not selling well for the last entry shouldn't mean "letting it dead for good"... I mean some franchises managed to rise again after a failed entry.

You know what's weird? Even though I couldn't care less about its genre, Wave Race 64 was the first Nintendo 64 game that made me turn my head.

I mean I'm not into racing games at all yet Nintendo made it unique enough.

 

[MemeAlert]

No, not hate, disappointed yes (like with Sega forgetting about their IPs). Nintendo has a vault full of good IPs that could get some good modernisation (while keeping the spirit of the originals) such as Panel De Pon, Kid Icarus, Punch-Out, excite and many others.

You forgot Chibi Robo.

GX not selling well was mostly concomitant to the Gamecube not selling well compared to the PS2 and the Triforce being an arcade machine when arcade gaming started to slowly fade away (with Online gaming soon becoming commonplace).

I feel like the Gamecube not selling well is irrelevant seeing how well Zelda & Pokemon sells.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

You forgot Chibi Robo.

I forgot because I didn't know if it was a great game series. I mean do you want Doshin the Giant to come back? Maybe some franchises have less priority.

I feel like the Gamecube not selling well is irrelevant seeing how well Zelda & Pokemon sells.

Zelda and Pokémon are Nintendo's biggest IPs with Mario so it's not surprising that they sell well (although I think handheld pokémon sell better than the home console ones).


But still, the F-zero franchise shouldn't have been killed just because one entry hasn't sold well. I mean maybe it was more about Iwata's direction for the company back when the Wii and DS were made (more casual focused games).

This brings more money to make a Mario Kart clone on the DS or Wii than an arcade racer even if there were some of them on these supports.

But in a way I'm glad that Miyamoto hasn't made a F-zero game with shoehorned touch screen or motion control in it as the previous games had some tech demo aspects.

 

[IrkenElite]

I didn't really understand why I liked this game when I was young. Replaying it as an adult, yeah, it was the tight controls. Very good to replay on a whim. Flashcarts are good, they let you play the rumble version in english.

 

[Nelson2001 Nelson2001]

I played the entire Wave Race trilogy, both the original Game Boy (1992), 64 (1996) and Blue Storm (2001), although the latter was very difficult for me to emulate in dolphin and single-core and I didn't get the game to run at full speed, but I tried it at least.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Well it's official: I suck at WaveRace 64.

I legit cannot handle Expert Mode. Welp, I gotta go for Blue Storm then.

I played the entire Wave Race trilogy, both the original Game Boy (1992), 64 (1996) and Blue Storm (2001), although the latter was very difficult for me to emulate in dolphin and single-core and I didn't get the game to run at full speed, but I tried it at least.

When I was younger I thought it only existed on the N64 until I got Blue Storm in a garage sale and I absolutely loved the water.

And much later I discovered the GB one.

Then again it took me a while before I discovered there was a Smash Bros on the N64 before Melee a while after I got Brawl.

 

[ThunderBoy]

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Being able to ride a dolphin must be an incredible reward upon completion.

 

[ThunderBoy]

 

[Dzapper]

I've recently played the original Wave Race on Game Boy, and really love the simplicity of the older top down racing perspective. The handling and turning of your watercraft feel good, and the AI is really fair (they actually make mistakes too and feel more like human players than other racing games of that time). I loved Wave Race 64 when I was a kid, and going back and experiencing the original has been fun!

 

[hazys]

Wave Race 64 is hands-down one my favorite racing games. I don't like the handling of Blue Storm as much, but it's a beautiful-looking game, and still pretty fun.

 

[iamthemilkman]

I loved this game, missed playing it, and found it for $1.99 at a thrift shop shortly after I found an N64 at a Goodwill with 2 controllers (Gray and Atomic Purple) and 2 games (Nothing too special, just Namco Museum and Toy Story 2) for $19.99. The water physics still impress me to this day.

I also enjoyed Blue Storm, it was visually spectacular, but I agree that the handling didn't feel as good.

 

[MajesticSiN]

Only ever played the 64 game but damn I spent so many hours playing it. It's still damn fun to this day.