F-ZERO 99's META JUST EXPLODED!

Follow xLunaiiire here: / xlunaiiire

[@aleckermit]

Notice that xLunaiire tends to spin at every jump as this gives free invincibility frames since jumps restore your spin to full; a great habit in the chance someone tries to hit you.

[@novatau2897]

I thought it was just for style or to show off

[@Shotgunner_K]

I still do that

[@JinxKitzune]

3 months later golden fox players are now struggling because of how op the goose and sting ray are it’s rare to see a golden fox player win anymore lol. The only way to win as golden fox is to play for high risk gameplay. If done right you’ll be rewarded

[@thehans255]

I was thinking this meta might be self-limiting, since multiple Golden Foxes doing this would be fighting neck-and-neck. But then I remembered that getting a kill fully refills your health, so that Golden Fox mob will nearly always have one survivor.

[@MrScigeek101]

Yeah but bumping around slows you down and ruins your ability to boost since the golden fox has shit durability.
While the golden foxes are fighting someone with the goose is gonna wreck through.

[@GabzAugustoBR]

I've been using the video's strat. There is always a Golden Fox from the leading pack exploding in the last lap and there's always a blood hungry Wild Goose that somehow got among the leading pack in the last lap

[@Clickonmychannel123]

Good luck ko somebody with the bronze fox

[@theedwardian]

It is interesting, and perhaps a bit suspicious that the top 4 racers usually feature a mix of different machines. It's intuitive to think that different maps out overwhelming select for specific machines, but ostensibly most vehicles are viable on most maps despite their differences.

[@rabbyd542]

This game is just a cluster f-$k. No skill everyone just slams into each other and hopes for the best. I wish there was a mode with no collision. Everything they changed regard boosting makes the game worse.

[@JohnLattanzio98]

As a fire stingray player, the amount of power recovered blew my mind

[@Zx30]

Right? Stringrays are lucky to get 1/3 power on the recovery strip lmao

[@rafaelangelsolo]

This, it might have the fastest/longest lasting boost, but it drains so much energy you are lucky to use it once a lap, and that is not even discussing its regeneration.

[@superxavxii421]

At least you guys can front run off pure speed. The foxes need boost to hold a lead

[@Andre-od5hf]

@@rafaelangelsolo stingray doesnt need boost to frontrun.
Fox dominates short/easy tracks (which is the majority of them atm so its no surprise its doing really well atm when only the "easiest cup" is available) since you can boost every lap very often, on longer tracks stingray will have an advantage over since it can simply use 1 boost a lap and still keep great speed over a longer track.

[@Moss_Dude]

same lmao

[@MWilmott]

I never thought I would ever see an F-Zero meta discussion vid in 2023, but here we are! I’m liking this gaming industry timeline.

[@MegamanStarforce2010]

the first time i saw golden fox's ungodly recovery, literally an entire bar every lap, i knew it was busted. you can just boost non-stop more or less.

[@vvlaze]

fuck it we boost fuck it we boost fuck it we boost

[@thevgmlover]

The trade-off being of course you kinda have to use it all, otherwise you're likely about to get overtaken.

[@1stAid]

On the flip side, it has low durability. That means that getting bumped by other cars takes away more of your bar, which subsequently may prevent you from using the bar for boosting. Sometimes, between a boost or two and all of the bumping chaos, that full bar recharge is a lifeline instead of a lead maker.

[@MegaTheman25]

Glass Canon ride. If you get caught up in the middle ur done for

[@ratzelbarreto2070]

What it took you until now to figure it out? Good thing I was 20+ years ahead of everyone.

[@psiga]

3:33 "Where will this lead the game? Will races come down to the final stretch, where ten Golden Foxes all fight to survive on their last ounce of energy?"
Fox is always gonna be in our Final Destination. _Working as Nintended._

[@EnvyDSin]

I can start to imagine Fire Field with Golden Fox only, lol.

[@MajorLinkGaming]

I see what you and @EnvyDSin did there.

[@trogdortamer48]

@@EnvyDSin If Fire Field is anything like the one in the SNES, it should be the great equalizer for vehicles with high recovery. The energy pit lane is located so that you miss a huge shortcut in taking it. I think it will be good for the meta in the end game.

[@Placeholder501]

Oh no. Not Fox only Final Destination. Lol.

[@Mari_Izu]

Meanwhile, Golden Fox was the worst ship in the original F-ZERO.

[@vggeist644]

Sure was 😂👌🏽 always been my machine. Got bullied In X and gx

[@MrRetrogamingBard]

and that's why I picked Golden Fox for F-Zero 99. I never realized its actual potential in this game.

[@notpsicoh2107]

Not exactly, there was a very brief time it was considered the best vehicle for Fire Field, for every other course it has always been Fire Stingray.

[@rafaelangelsolo]

@@notpsicoh2107 This guy understands F-Zero.

[@Korrux]

I had a better time beating King League with it than with the Fire Stringray back then.

[@SuperSaiyanMoses]

this is super smash bros melee all over again

[@EnvyDSin]

No boosts, Fox only, Fire Field... I mean, Final Destination.

[@Hugelag]

FIYA!

[@Loren_Law]

This is what It felt like to use golden fox the first few days, but players are getting better at catching up with the skyway. also players as a whole are getting better.

[@Justnothankyou132]

All the children have stopped playing and now it's just the betas

[@TedbearFZ]

Golden Fox is going to naturally be balanced when Queen cup and especially King cup release imo. The knight league tracks are relatively easy compared to the other 2, Fire Field and Death Wind 2 alone should literally natural select them out of the running lol

[@superxavxii421]

Fire Field will be crazy hard for the foxes if they make one mistake.

[@thebuddah1253]

Does anyone know when that will be? Getting bored of these current tracks.

[@donuts7607]

@@thebuddah1253somewhere late September apparently, and king cup should be somewhere in October.

[@rebirthphoenix5646]

I’m waiting actually for the Queen League for the Golden Fox since for me it may be easier to win that and not the Knight League mainly due to Silence. Even many years later, Silence still gives me a ridiculous amount of trouble.

[@ratzelbarreto2070]

We golden fox players don't talk about kings ranks stages it makes us shit bricks.

[@MarkTomczak]

I haven't perfected it, but I suspect that the counter is chasing a golden fox leader with wild goose.
On the first lap or two if you race a perfect line behind them, you can keep up with them even with their ridiculous boost. You'll burn through basically all your energy, but here's the thing: So will they. So once they're exhausted and right at the edge of the recharge bar, hit them. You'll regain all your energy for KOing a human driver.
High risk. But high reward.

[@aleckermit]

That's what the Wild Goose appears to try during the Mute City race in thos video.

[@hobojoe285]

@@aleckermit the mastery of KOing foxes has yet been required by stringrays/gooses. That time will come.

[@dave9515]

They are not cause wild goose can go to low energy on purpose to push the fox back into the pack. Lunaiire is being carried by players not abusing the pinball physics and responding very aggressively to them trying to frontrun. Only viable vehicles in this game are Goose and Stingray cause falcon and Fox rely too much on boost and are not very durable. Try playing lobbies and frontrunning with people now much better. Its rare not to see a lot of knockouts anymore.@@aleckermit

[@1stAid]

I've been a Golden Fox user since the very start. I hope that it doesn't get nerfed too hard.

[@sunggareachan7540]

Don't bring it to attention!!! Lmao, always been a Golden boy.

[@vggeist644]

Lol golden fox in every game 👌🏽

[@superxavxii421]

It won't. The later tracks are harder and will be more punishing for them. It's not op, it's just a glass cannon

[@jonr8315]

@@superxavxii421Exactly, Fire Field will be brutal (for everyone, but especially Foxes)

[@iamkakashi20]

@@jonr8315 yeah they won.t nerf it. the new players that never played snes don.t know whats coming yet. when we get queen and king cup oh boy there gonna know that true pain really is. just wait tell red canyion 2 omg lot of em are gonna be falling off trying to take that short cut.

[@sergioescobar1391]

Just a reminder: In the F-Zero anime, the Golden Fox canonically has an S-class booster.

[@Mage_Nichlas_]

I just use the Blue Falcon in 99 because it's the one I used the most as a kid. Favorite color is blue, Captain Falcon is awesome, and so on but I remember also liking how the Golden Fox felt when I was experimenting to get across the jump on White Land II that always killed me. I didn't know until 99 that you can hold up and down to finesse your jump height and landing.

[@eudaimonistic]

I believe Blue Falcon can't even make vanilla White Land II jump without either holding down or boosting. I died so many hundreds of times on that as a kid...

[@Mage_Nichlas_]

It absolutely cannot.

[@patchyourselfup]

These maps lend themselves well to GF play. Wait till Queen and King courses come in; other machines will have their chance to shine in top play

[@VestedUTuber]

Until people figure out the optimal boost points on those tracks too.

[@senpai2.054]

time for wild goose mains to hunt and destroy golden fox machines

[@nsanity4624]

I actually wanna bring up that despite this, the game is still balanced. If a Blue Falcon player manages to score any KO's, it now has the leniency of boost like the Golden Fox, making it just a faster Golden Fox.
I still think it dominates most tracks, but given Falcon's better grip and speed, it likely can squeeze out a couple wins while the others are left in the dust.

[@trogdortamer48]

It's kind of odd to see how this video has already aged in the past 3 weeks. It's crazy to think how quickly the community has learned to play the game. I think that Golden Fox is very dominant in standard, single races, but the Goose is far better for grand prix's simply because it scales so much better with K.O.'s. It's not hard to beat xLunaiiire in the final 2 races of a prix using the Goose if you have sufficient K.O.'s these days, and that's even with xLunaiiire pushing the Fox to its absolute limit. I think the big problem today is that so many players know exactly when to time the skyway and how to farm K.O.'s off players and bumpers in the first two races that it makes the recovery of the fox negligible in the final 2-3 races of a prix.
The energy bar scales via a percentage value, not a fixed increase for each vehicle. Because the Goose has 6 boosts in one bar, it scales the strongest from getting a bunch of K.O.'s. Granted enough K.O.'s, the extended fuel tank can outmatch the recovery speed of the Fox, especially in later tracks where the boost recovery pad is shorter. The Goose is also the best suited for farming K.O.'s, since it takes the least damage from player interactions and can comfortably sit in rear places without taking damage. If you can time 2 good Skyways, which are very easy to generate when running a bit from the front, you can jump back into the top 7 places during the 3rd and 4th lap using the extended energy bar. Once you've got your bar extended, it's just frontrunning from then on over the rest of the races in the prix. All that said, the Fox is the most consistent racer. The fact that it's biggest strength is tied up in the boost pad means that you aren't relying on as much RNG to give you the edge in the later races is great if your goal is to rack up leaderboard points rather than wins. I think that the fox has a very good average performance for every race, but will never set any records.
And yes, I have beaten xLunaiiire repeatedly with the Goose back when he mained Golden Fox for Grand Prix's. Since then, he tends to run Fox and Stingray for prix's, and to very good effect! I'd say he is among the best Stingray players out there and is very, very difficult to beat. I think he has since made a blend of older 4-lap frontrunning techniques with the Fox and combined them with getting a few K.O.'s here and there in the early rounds. You don't tend to see him frontrunning as much in the first two laps on the first race when he's using the fox, since he's trying to extend the boost meter. He knows that with a well placed Skyway or two, he can get right back into the top 5 and finish in first on the final lap anyway. My chances of winning seemingly disappear whenever I see his name in the lobby.

[@valcaron]

Pea brain: "I pick cars based on what will let me win the meta."
Galaxy brain: "I pick this car because it looks cool when I smash into people haha."

[@barcster2003]

Actually some of the machines are much better for ending other players and will be faster than a golden fox. The issue is I don't know how many people are taking advantage of the combat ability and the speed and cornering.

[@LinktheSamoyed]

"youve landed some first place finishes" ... looks at my level 23 with no wins record.

[@ThunderRazorYT]

I thought that was Golden Fox's game plan from day 1, boost and recover to glory. Once you have multiple Foxes up front they start to collide and cannot boost as much giving other ships a chance. However, if you can separate and keep clean lines the #1 spot rarely gets challenged. Players are getting better at using the Skyway, so I think that is giving the Fox a challenge. In fact, I used to see like 7 Golden Foxes in the top 10, now I only see a few, like 3 max.

[@barcster2003]

That is the gameplan. It's paper thin because as soon as the other cars start taking out players they will be much faster than the golden fox.

[@De_kaid]

​@@barcster2003but if you take out players with golden fox you get even more boost time, it's so broken it beats the others at their game too, going for kills is always risky, but especially in a grand Prix getting 2 or 3 kills in a golden fox is a guaranteed win down the line

[@brazilian_oak]

I think most have realized this, but I have to repeat it: NEVER EVER TURN TO AVOID BUMPERS
On the original F-Zero they were erratic, both moving on straights and slowing down on corners, but on this game they go on a fixed speed AND on a straight line, meaning that turning is only good for avoiding them in corners, never on the straights
Player bumpers are different, of course, but CPU bumpers are straight garbage and full of brainrot. Turning to avoid them means you get a faceful of barrier and a very likely crash out

[@Selnathorn]

Heck, bumpers in the original sometimes even stopped dead in their tracks. I still vividly remember how I almost beat Queen cup on expert as a kid, but in the final lap of White Land 2 a bumper was just standin in front of the jump pad in the exactly loaction I was coming out of the corner. I bumped into it, lost all speed and crashed out in the jump making me lose my last life. Man I was mad

[@gr8gamer350]

I definitely felt like I noticed a shift from Wild Goose to Golden Fox since launch. I'd imagine when more of the harder tracks get added it will become harder for Golden Foxes to front-run so consistently.

[@spaceman_256]

I just ran into this guy in a knight league a few hours after watching this!! He got first in every leg lmao. He was rank S18, and according the leaderboard that was his 101st prix win.
I, on the other hand, was just trying to unlock the decal for blue falcon. I made it to silence, but that was the race that i discovered you die instantly if you jump and land outside of the track 😂

[@Torjuz]

Title wise, this couldn't be better since 90% of the time you just end up exploding 2 meters from the energy strip, since you get bodied by bumpers or others when you have taken one too many hits earlier when you ended up in 10-30 range LMAO. Golden Fox truly is a glass cannon, though super fun to drive. Was a hardcore sting ray until I saw the potential for this day 2

[@insidiousy]

I will always be an advocate for the Fire Stingray (Since I won a Grand Prix with it), but have also noticed how much harder it is to win. The Golden Fox with a few KO's under its belt can dominate lobbies.
I've also noticed that taking the Skyway can be more beneficial than staying in the front sometimes? Maybe it's just me, but the final lap of Mute City gets me KO'ed more often than others, due to the explosive bumpers on the final turn. There's definitely a lot more to learn, and more-so with the upcoming tracks.
Neat video btw!

[@beanburrito4405]

Agreed. I think the best way to win a Grand Prix is get a few KOs early in the first race, save your meter until Lap 4 by not boosting and hanging around the 20s and 30s accumulating a couple skyways, then spam boost and skyway in the right spot on Lap 4. As long as you get top 10-5 in the first few races and top 3 in the latter few you will get an easy Grand Prix with this strat. Problem is that you can’t always guarantee a kill

[@marble9071]

Honestly worst thing about Fire Stingray is having to fight through the crowd. Stingray dose have acceleration problems and that means getting trapped mid pack which can be lethal.
If you can make it past the crowd you can front run, IMO Sand Ocean is probably the best track for Fire Stingray right now

[@insidiousy]

@@marble9071 oh, absolutely! That also might be my favorite track atm. Right now, I'm just trying to unlock everything.

[@Palgrave]

@@marble9071 Fire Stingray is great on Sand Ocean due to its superior cornering, I haven't gotten many 1st place wins yet but one of them was using FS on Sand Ocean

[@marble9071]

@@Palgrave Driving FS is like Driving a Ferrari but you're on a one-lane road stuck behind a bus.
Sand Ocean is one of two maybe three tracks where you can actually make it past the bus. When FS can make it past the bus it's great and is likely to dominate. Sand Ocean and White Land 1 are where FS demonstrates that because that's where it can actually make it past the bus. Port Town 2 being the maybe 3rd

[@acusterx]

Good for them. I'm sticking with Wild Goose at A rank and climbing. When I unlock all the WG skins, then I'll race with other cars to complete the sets.

[@EnvyDSin]

We all have our main/favorite but I agree with the "play with everyone to eventually unlock everything" thing. That's what I try to do.

[@josuebasterretxea3923]

¡WOW!, i remember Golden Fox used to be the HARD MODE, and the Fire Stingray the meta of the very first F-zero.
Maybe that was because it wasn't an online game back then.

[@julianofs6041]

That's because they decided to use boost from F-Zero X instead of the tradicional S-Jet boost of SNES. Best acceleration + multiple boosts + track memorization = 1st.

[@rafaelangelsolo]

Nah. Fire Stingray simply had a broken level of speed gain on arrows, perfect curving with out speed loss, and no slipping when turning as well. Now that boosting comes from energy, and it reduced to maybe one boost a lap, its hard to compete.

[@GabzAugustoBR]

I play golden fox, I noticed how strong it is to take first place early and hold it when I first got my win (Death Wind course)
But I did not know how strong it was to burn a lot of boost early, I always try to conserve it if I fall behind but I get it now: If I boost to first early and drive consistently, I won't fall behind just like my first win

[@colbyboucher6391]

Getting ahead = not getting knocked around like a pinball

[@mrmediocre848]

Plus not boosting other racers while slowing yourself down

[@GabzAugustoBR]

Ok I finally got home and tested it, played Mute City twice, won both lol
It really does work, needed some luck here and there and a bit of patience to avoid the red NPCs but it worked, even had two or three other Golden Foxes trying the same strat in the race.

[@risel56]

Man, even in his own franchise, Falcon can't compete with a Fox.

[@danmiy12]

One thing to note is if a golden fox cannot get a lead and falls back, the low top speed hurts it a ton, but at least it can recover a ton of hp. Queen and king cups have more obstacles to worry about so golden fox might balance out if it cannot boost enough to get an early lead and has to conserve hp and not be able to boost, it will drop behind. So far in the easier knights cup i can see it being a top pick for sure.

[@anthonymudge9768]

And I was just looking at this ship yesterday due to it's acceleration, which I thought was useful when you're being bumped continuously. Didn't even know what "Recovery" meant 😂

[@mrsuperheatran2794]

I generally switch between the Blue Falcon and the Wild Goose. Not that great of a player but it still just fun to race away at each couse. Best I've placed in is 12th place.

[@dmappzoom6778]

I've played with all of the cars, but mostly stick to the blue falcon and 14 was my best position on the first time playing.

[@user-th1pv6ks5o]

Yeah 12th is also my best, I usally use fire stingray, but mostly because I'm just trying to grind out the customizables.

[@user-gs8jv4oq6w]

KO’d just before finishing first 😢😢😢😢

[@WuShuu]

Ive tried all machines and only managed to win with the blue falcon the gran prix

[@hyakin7818]

And i thought i had figured out the meta game of the fire stingray
Stay at around position 50 and farm for sky way
In laps 2 and 3 kill as much enemies as you can
Just boost the heck out of lap 4

[@SkyBlueFox1]

TBH I’m not surprised, but I do find it oddly refreshing that the vehicle most suited to new players is also one that’s so strong in the right hands.
Like, I initially started off driving the Fox because the recovery was more forgiving towards my newbie mistakes. Recently, I switched to the Falcon and I’ve had a good time with it, but even before seeing this video, I’d been considering going back to the Fox because I feel like I’ve gotten an even better grip on the gameplay. It’s neat!

[@Koishi97]

I honestly hate how the Golden Fox controls really.
The Firesting Ray always has been my go to vehicle since I learned about F-Zero speedrunning because of its amazing top speed and tight handling.
But wait till the Queen and King leagues come out. We'll see how long the Foxes last.

[@barcster2003]

It only works because he takes a lead early and then boosts to the limit.

[@TheVitaltundra]

It just recovers sooooo much energy.

[@barcster2003]

Yes it does. I think people arent used to the idea you are supposed to knock other players out with the other vehicles.

[@MadX8]

@@barcster2003 Good luck catching up with a good GF player though. You'll lose all your energy trying and die.
But then again, not all GF have Lunaire's level.

[@barcster2003]

@TheDanteXIII the issue is it's really hard to get kos.

[@dunnono00]

Kinda makes me happy. When I was young, Golden Fox was almost immediately my favorite after reading up on it in Nintendo Power. It looked neat, it was golden, and accelerated like a bat out of hell. Unfortunately, it was also fragile and didn't corner well, so it was considered the worst. The Stingray was what most people went with since it had the highest top speed, great cornering, and also the second most sturdy. I'm glad to see the Fox is a top choice in 99. Feel vindicated in a way lol.

[@starfox300]

There is a stingray called Dotman who beat Lunaire multiple times

[@TheFreeeemind]

A very haunting and echoing 'Fayyaaah!' gets heard.

[@feigneds7302]

not sure I recall Golden Fox ever being under represented. 9 out of 10 races I do the top 5 are mostly Golden Foxes, and it's been that way from the start.

[@splatos]

I've gotten a grand prix win with all four machines, and I'd definitely have to agree that golden fox is the most consistent. On most of the tracks the other vehicles don't have enough power meter to consistently boost out of corners that force them to lose their max speed (especially after making a mistake or getting bumped at any point in the race), or at least are forced to play extraordinarily risky in order to drive multiple laps without dropping speed. Even on tracks where the fire stingray and others can attain max speed from start to finish of the entire race (death wind I), golden fox still keeps up if not outpaces them with the more frequent boosts from my experience (not to mention the burst of speed the fox gets often really helps in overtaking 1st without them being able to block the fox behind them, while they usually have to creep up behind the fox allowing for it to block its path and knock down their speed when they bump each other). I would say however that with a solid KO or two the fire stingray has the meter necessary to fly across all of the tracks no problem once attaining 1st (I'd say the KO power increase benefits the other machines more than the fox, but it's hard to say how a stingray with 2 KOs would compare to a fox with 2, fox might still be better at holding the lead, especially with how the fox is given 1st from the start while the stingray needs to fight to get there)

[@marble9071]

Fox wins at Death Wind 1 and Mute City 1
Stingray wins at Big Blue and Sand Ocean
Silence is fairly even imo

[@ikki-gaming8933]

In the original F-Zero I only played Fire Stingray, every other car was bad compared to that, but online against 98 people I've noticed, that Golden Fox can lead much easier, bumping doesn't affect its speed as much as of Fire Stingray. Will be interesting to watch how the meta changes with patches.

[@StewNWT]

They need to mod
It because there never used to be that much variation in recovery between vehicles. He literally gets triple what the pink car gets

[@barcster2003]

I think that maybe the recovery of the others could just be a bit better.

[@owlface5023]

This video, this player. This was the origin of the golden fox hell.

[@themorbidkid187]

Its funny, cuz this is exactly how you would play the OG F Zero on the SNES if you wanted fast times and were not a WR speedrunner. Even the spots where he boosts is where you would do it on the SNES along with the fact he strafes to avoid bumpers instead of turning because if you turn you lose top speed.

[@Mitsu_Vagrant]

What in the actual fuck. That energy recovery speed is broken, I had no idea.
I’m going to riot.

[@gekinatracksuit9710]

RIP Fire Stingray
1990-2023

[@KingCrimson82]

Still works in training though

[@geo1389]

They need to make him faster!

[@ronn201]

I suspected that since it picked up speed immediately, it'd be the best at cornering.
And with most tracks have a massive amount of corners, I knew it had to be a strong contender.

[@dackattac]

the phrase "f-zero meta" hits real weird

[@Cool_Hand_Luke]

I did not expect 20XX to come for F-Zero, but here we are

[@OGNoNameNobody]

So _That's_ how you win with *Fox* in Classic _F-Zero_ ;
*Unlimited boosts!*

[@jtrevor99]

I'll be interested to see how the Fox does on Death Wind II. On the original SNES game it was literally impossible to take first versus the AI (on Master difficulty).

[@TheNelman]

I see a rework for the Golden Fox, effectively nerfing it but making it a better fit against the others.

[@mikaelrivacov5705]

I'd actually love watching 10 Golden foxes destroying each other🦊😂

[@CS2SILVER1]

Definitely going to try this still haven't got win but consistently getting top tens.

[@rosienroller]

Y'all out here acting like this game has had years of meta. It's a week old

[@zerobyte802]

Golden Fox was always my favorite machine.
Watching this run reminds me of what a good run on master difficulty looks like using Fire Stingray. It’s only good if you can get in front and maintain top speed perfectly, and its dash zone behavior seems nerfed. Will be interesting to see if it ever makes a comeback.

[@fsfreturns5242]

I've met xLunaiire in the game, and I got bodied by them on Sand Ocean despite maining GF myself. I do have almost the same boost pattern on Mute City as they do, but I'm trying to conserve a bit of health by keeping one extra boost just in case. And there were times where I was right to keep that boost, since there were times the extra health saved me from being killed by a red bumper.

[@sleeplessarcher]

I prefer fire stringray because of its amazing handling, the thing can take a lot of heavy turns without needing to slow down at all. But Golden Fox is also very fun

[@DrNuyenVanFaulk]

When there’s a gang of foxes in the lead beating the hell out of each other, the ability to boost frequently is going to go. It’ll be a mini battle royale but the victor is still going to be left in a dangerous condition.

[@broden4838]

Never knew the true potential of Dr. Robert Stewart

[@Kohchu]

I can't really say I'm shocked that it would evolve this way. I always viewed the Blue Falcon and Wild Goose as the safe picks, recommended for new players getting in, while the Fire Stingray and Golden Fox are more expert ships, as they punish you harshly for mistakes.
However, I hope at some point some of the mechanics are more adjusted. A lot of the mechanics from F-Zero X were brought into F-Zero 99, such as the boost system, and the spin. The game also openly encourages KOs, with them increasing your energy meter, and even refilling your energy if you KO another player... however; achieving this in game is almost never possible, unless someone boosts way too much and puts themselves in critical condition. The devs changed the spin to a defensive move (which is fine. With 99 players, you need an option to protect yourself), but without a dedicated way to attack; KOing seems like something you rarely get to do, unless you happen to pass by a player who's car is glowing, and they'll usually spin anyways to stop you.
In my opinion; this could easily be fixed by adding the shove from F-Zero X, where if you double tap L or R; you shove your car in that direction; which can shove players into the blast border for extra damage. This could also create a risk/reward system, since the Shove could now be countered by the Spin. If you shove a Racer when they are Spinning, you get pushed away instead; and there's always the threat of missing if you're off.

[@markg5480]

I think you're right. Golden Fox and Fire Stingray were the "high risk high reward" crafts. Golden Fox was very difficult to handle, and, much like DonkeyKong/Bowser, Fire Stingray was great up until you hit a barrier and had to endure its slow acceleration.
Adding a shove would be great. I don't mind the spin, but a lot of the time I don't know what or who I'm affecting with it.

[@Kohchu]

@@markg5480 The Golden Fox does well on stages that are more wide open where they can boost freely. It becomes more of a problem in stages like the newly added Death Wind II; because you're much more likely to lose control and bounce around. Stages like Death Wind II make the Fire Stingray and Wild Goose more viable, because they can take corners/hits better; while the Golden Fox can still win, it's much harder since a single mistake could see you crash out.
I still believe the shove would be a good addition to spice up the gameplay. I'm fine with the way the Spin was added; taking it from the F-Zero X version (which was purely for offense) and toning it down into a defensive move is great. But we need an offensive move to encourage aggressive driving and be able to influence the match more. KOing is rewarding, and can change the flow of the race; but because it's so difficult currently, it just feels like luck if you do it. Camp KOing the Grey Cars is easy, but KOing players is absurdly hard, unless that person is making mistakes left and right.

[@miguelferrazcosta]

It's interesting seeing the Golden Fox on the lead, it's more closer to the original plot of F-Zero :D
Oh well, it seems that I have to change from my Blue Falcon.

[@xxSKAGhosTxx]

I wish the bumpers would appear so kindly out of my path like this.

[@SuperCrazyfin]

I feel ashamed that this is the first time i found out what recovery does.

[@GoodMomo]

These Golden Fox players have been dominating since the first few days. They make it look easy but its definitely the hardest ship to use.

[@MrDerpHerpinThe3rd]

Bruh it's the easiest to use

[@Retronize84]

I've done this myself and I'll always end up hitting a bumper and dying, lol

[@MegamanNG]

With Queen League about to drop, it's going to be interesting.

[@vvlaze]

I feel like it doesn’t excel as much in Grand Prix due to extended energy meters carrying over between races. A Fire Stingray that can safely boost a similar amount means Golden Fox’s advantages are far fewer.
I’m curious if it will excel as much on future tracks. Boosting might be much harder to abuse when harder turns become more prevalent.

[@hobojoe285]

In single races. Golden fox might become problematic. However in GPs, Wild Gooses and Stringrays have a new goal. Kill foxes, get more boost. Hunt top foxes. The bully class machines will realize their goals. This is where falcon comes back into play being the slightly tankier fox.

[@prophetrob]

Bigger bar doesn't help as much when it doesn't fill as fast

[@aleckermit]

I do think Stingrays will do well on tracks like Sand Ocean.

[@zspro123]

Stingrays can keep up with golden foxes on mute city, you just need to make use of getting in front of everyone and making use of the speed boost from people bumping into the back of you. I think stingrays raw speed/cornering can outclass GF's boost.

[@barcster2003]

​@@prophetrob1 destroy gets you full bar.

[@Shibanu_]

That's exactly what i have been doing all the time and i stay in the lead for the entire race, before crashing out because i eventually run into a red bomb car.

[@Shotgunner_K]

The energy recovery makes it a good choice for newbies and the acceleration is PHENOMENAL

[@GELTONZ]

No items. Fox only.

[@dave9515]

Asia specifically is dominated by blue falcons and stingrays now. The west seems to love wildgoose. Blue falcon is definitely the meta thats being developed and the top player of this game currently on the leaderboard with the most points uses blue falcon meaning blue falcon has won the most GP's the most consistent. Golden Fox is already falling off. Its issue is getting the lead and when people use their spins and boosts wisely you can keep the GF from ever breaking away for a long time so stingray has better lead potential since it can brawl. I am just surprised to see BF get so many great consistent results all of a sudden honestly given the vehicle usually never dominates in any way. Guess the 99 players is a factor to it and it can surprisingly do well keeping up with the stingray when the ray break aways if people are good at the track.

[@kongobongo6064]

Falcon and Goose has produced the most wins for me so far. I think Stingray has a lot of potential but I need to get better with iy

[@superxavxii421]

It's crazy how this game already has a meta like this. It's growing fast

[@kongobongo6064]

​@@superxavxii421 It's amazing, and I'm still chasing the GP win. I've gotten second multiple times but I'm always against a purple stingray with 99+ wins 💀

[@dave9515]

Good luck with that man but i am gonna be honest. Game has drastically changed now and people are insanely good now that golden fox and blue falcon have fallen off quite hard imo. You can't survive the pack well enough or get a high enough top speed to break away that it feels really luck dependent winning with blue falcon now and golden fox cannot front run now that goose mains agressively start matches to counter frontrunning along with everyone else if they are good. The change in playing has altered the game yet again. I think falcon and fox are unreliable because of their reliance on boost for speed now.@@kongobongo6064

[@m3tr0idgrl]

That grand poo bear guy plays like this

[@jc___underscore___]

I’ve seen all four ships among the top spots when I’ve played

[@barcster2003]

They all defintely can.

[@Nintendude.]

The ship might get nerf in the future but I think that if there are more Foxes in the lead they can hinder each other leaving other racers to that a chance.
One side is that I hope they don't nerf the Fox to soon since there might be a chance that other players might find other ways for the another vehicles to succeed.

[@aleckermit]

Agreed, I hope they wait until all three cups have their time to be played before considering any ship changes. The difficulty of the Queen and King cups might greatly diminish Fox's oppression.

[@barcster2003]

Pretty sure when players learn to destroy more they will catch the fox. It's because people aren't battling enough.
Not to mention none of the players are battling the fox either

[@nomorenames5568]

I can't imagine how anyone picked anything else than the car with the best acceleration and health recovery in a car fighting game you can die in.

[@aleckermit]

To be fair though, the Golden Fox is terrible when stuck in the pack.

[@exp4397]

I chose golden fox as soon as I saw it’s stats. My highest rank right now is a 39th in Big Blue, but I am starting to get better

[@KitogoruGames-wq6cx]

Great summary, that is exactly what happened in the meta

[@servantofcygnus]

"You've landed some first place finishes..."
nope

[@PixelatedRhythm]

Let's be real, in any racing game there is always going to be a meta or something more dominant online than other things. I'm kinda glad that I've chosen Golden Fox since day 1 rather than just choosing it from the meta. Hopefully Nintendo doesn't release too much balance patches like they did for Mario Kart 😅

[@squiddu]

See, for MK it was good, because it made more vehicles viable. Sure, there was still a "best build", but there was more that was still usable.
This feels more like they should wait a while before trying to balance anything significantly, perhaps between the Queen and King leagues.

[@dakotajones293]

not in trackmania, or basically any game thats speedrunned. theres no stats so its pure skill

[@WhyYouWahYoo]

I love the early days of a game. Try Harding is inevitable and I’m not complaining, I’m just glad I got my fill in before the game was solved, because I don’t have the time or care to try this hard.

[@draakisback]

Golden fox is solid, I do think it is a little overpowered in the sense that no other ship can boost like that. I find in most laps I can get about four boosts without worrying about exploding. The two round ships can maybe get two boosts a lap which is ridiculous. And falcon can get three sometimes. Some people are really good at landing KO's and as a result they can make the other ships work. But the fact that you have to land KOs to boost on par with the Golden Fox is just problematic balancing especially since bumpers don't give you the energy refill that players do. What is basically means, is that the strategy with the other ships is to lag behind player one in the top five, wait for one of them to get close to death and blow them up going into the last lap. I hope Nintendo figures out a way to balance this game, I like that the other ships have different playstyles but it's obvious that one of them is much more dominant because of how powerful boosts are in general. Maybe if they give the other ships slightly better acceleration and top speeds, and they can compete with Fox more consistently, I like playing goose and stingray because they rely more on consistent driving than perfect boosting so I hope the balance team is able to bring them in line with the other two racers.
I will say though, the harder maps definitely do not favor fox as much. Maybe you can boost a lot, but because of how many turns are in those maps, it can be difficult to pull off proper boosts without slamming into the wall especially since Golden Fox has worse handling than the other cars. If they put the harder maps into circulation maybe they can balance the game a bit better without having to change the car properties.
At least with Grand Prixs you can hunt gray bumpers to get your energy up really high. If you do it properly, you can compete with Fox on any car. Thougj, if a fox is good at doing it, you're kind of screwed. In the future, the meta will probably involve many more KO's and bumper kills.

[@dave9515]

Nah Fox is bad because if everyone goes aggressive at the start then you can skyway ahead or as a goose knock them back into the pack and get them killed. Its not problematic just a beginner stomper. only good vehicles are goose and stingray.

[@draakisback]

@@dave9515 lawl good luck with that dude.

[@dave9515]

Lol tells me you are bad at the game. GF cannot get a lead anymore. People now push aggressively at the start of every match. You can literally bully boost reliant vehicles for free. Might be hard for a neanderthal player to understand this but top speed matters more than boost especially with skyway and strategy changes in this case. Its not even hard to get a GF killed. The lol already told me how bad you are at the game and you have no counterargument. Keep playing GF cause its free kills for a pack of gooses though. Never learn and play the right vehicles and see how far it gets you in a competent lobby.@@draakisback

[@draakisback]

@@dave9515 I've literally won multiple matches today alone using Golden Fox including a grand prix. You are shoveling a ton of shit apparently. You know if you read my original comment, I mentioned that I like playing stingray and goose but that I feel that they are slightly underpowered because they can't really get as many boosts per lap. I like that they focus specifically on good driving rather than boost timing, but boost is just such a strong mechanic that it overpowers most of that. Also by the way, if you are really good you can more or less just avoid people trying to kill you by timing your spins and your boosts around when they approach you. But if you're in the front and you get far enough in front, no one's even going to challenge you. And that's the thing, the games I win with Fox, usually involve me pulling so far ahead from the pack that I don't see anybody for the last lap where as in the games I win with goose or stingray involve me fighting tooth and nail until the very end. I prefer the latter because it's more interesting from a gameplay point of view, but the former is just easier and that's what makes Fox overpowered.

[@dave9515]

Wow you won against a bunch of passive racers so impressive. Not to mention no you can't avoid people with spins all day that thing has a cooldown. You cannot frontrun with GF and no Boost is not busted its mid as a stat unless you are wild goose since not being bumped around much also means you can't be slowed while boosting by people bumping you. Top speed and handling are busted not boost. You have no coutnerarguments to support your claim also GF gets the most boosts per lap? No it effing doesn't Goose has the least boost consumption in the game above Golden Fox which clocks out in second place. Goose has more boosts in one lap than a fox. Thanks for proving you know nothing. You are winning because people you played with aren't good. Play with competent players then come back and brag about wins lol. You will not be getting super far in front when people play the right way which is aggressively and a goose consuming 75% boost is not dangerous for them cause they also have the most durability in teh game. Top that with second best handling and top speed and its no shock goose is busted. Stingray has second best durability, and best top speed. Fox only get best acceleration and recovery and BF has second best accel, third best durability and handling and top speed. Boost vehicles are trash and Golden Fox is the worst vehicle in teh game with that abysmal handling, durabilty and top speed. You cannot consistently frontrun against competent players with anything but stingray but even stingray needs a skyline to start frontrunning or else someone behind will get a skyline and run straight to first because skyline is broken and mid at the same time. Can't boost when sky meter is filled and not only that its duration alters based off position and track spots like on turns it never drops you when its sharp allowing you to skip a whole lap on courses like white land I and Port Town II at times. Sorry if i come off as agressive but you don't know what you are talking about here. I have seen it all now. There is already someone rank S10 and they are a wild goose main. I promise you you will not be winning in lobbies full of more competent players especially since you play the worst vehicle in the game. Congrats to your wins and i would commend the skill but i know the truth. Its that you were carried by skill difference and not skill alone. Best region at playing this game is hands down Asia btw. Even Asia is mostly Goose now though with some stingray so there is a clear issue with stingray and goose. Lobbies should not be 50% goose at all. Anyways i hoped you learned something from this at the very least.@@draakisback

[@illusionaryheart3325]

I just started playing yesterday and loved using the Golden Fox cuz of the recovery

[@Hunewm]

I'm not too concerned with this myself. I usually only see 1 Golden Fox do well like this, or no golden fox do well. I've also seen madmen use all their boost to catch up and ragdoll them on the first lap. Sort of risky though. Lastly, I think when people figure out how to use the lucky bumpers better it'll happen less often. I myself have knocked a few Golden Foxes from first to 20th with those. I've also been killed in first place by them.

[@Mitjitsu]

Didn't know you were still around great video 👍

[@paulchapman8023]

The video shows what happens when one player uses Golden Fox extremely well, but I suspect that if there were two or more such players, using that many boosts would be much more dicey.
If the hares all blow each other up, it might be a tortoise that ends up winning the race.

[@ShamwowYeah]

one hare blows up the other and now has full boost though

[@paulchapman8023]

@@ShamwowYeah fair point. I forgot that causing a KO replenishes boost power.

[@wompstopm123]

i cant believe they made a new f zero game

[@mack4691]

You don't get to use the skyway when you're gfoxxing so we'll see how useful it is for the harder cups

[@deejams18]

The night is still young for this game. I think we need to see top players for the other machines, too. The golden fox starting out in front and staying in front means it can't take advantage of the skyway, for example.

[@deejams18]

Saying that, though, I did manage to get 3 consecutive wins with the fox recently. Maybe in optimal conditions it's the best, but the stingray suits me better overall.

[@deejams18]

Just played against xlunaiiire myself. Can't argue with evidence

[@astrofenix9839]

Wild Goose supremacy

[@KingCrimson82]

in training (unregulated gameplay) a sting still can beat a fox with relative ease

[@OmegaVideoGameGod]

All machines are great if you can use them :3

[@SimpCity2000]

I’ve been driving the Golden Fox since the SNES and still having decent success in 99.

[@internetgodlilbihh]

knew a game like this wouldn't last for the casual player

[@KingCrimson82]

its mega regulated i really gave it a chance and i gonna play but it is obviously regulated.

[@Kdkjdjewerdnxa]

I’ve been seeing Golden Fox topping nearly every race / gp recently. Hopefully the meta changes so it’s more balanced or they do a slight nerf to its recovery to prevent it from just constantly boosting without much worry

[@AeternamTenebras]

no patch or nerf needed, have you seen the ridiculous amount of energy fox loses when it gets hit?, also, as for the moment we still only have the knight tracks, when queen and king tracks arrive it will sadly be left behind

[@VestedUTuber]

@@AeternamTenebras
Getting hit isn't really something you have to worry about if you manage an early breakaway. The bumper patterns are predefined, not random.

[@iamspikefire]

After seeing this video, streaming for 5 hours and running into the guy, yeah hes CRACKED

[@denniso4405]

This is the machine I've mained since launch, and what I thought the whole time! I couldn't believe early tier lists were putting Dr.Steward in last place.

[@VestedUTuber]

Those tier lists were based on early strats which reflected that of F-Zero SNES. In the SNES game the Golden Fox was garbage and was actually incapable of beating Death Wind 2 on Master.

[@MetabolicFrolic]

Recovery needs to be equal across all 4 ships. Boosts should be like F-Zero GX, where one machine might be able to boost 10 times/bar, but each boost lasts half as long or you can boost 5 times/bar and get a longer and more powerful boost.