A version of the Virtual Boy game that simply failed.
In an interview with the YouTube channel “Did You Know Gaming,” Jim Wornell, a former Nintendo of America employee, stated that an F-Zero spin-off that was planned exclusively for Nintendo’s Virtual Boy was shelved.
Zero Racers was a spin-off of the Captain Falcon and company driving tale that first appeared in the pages of Nintendo Power in the summer of 1996, two years before F-Zero X was published for the Nintendo 64.
“Anything that had to do with the North American launch of a game was my responsibility. G-Zero, later known as Zero Racers, was on my list of projects.” Said Jim Wornell, former Nintendo of America staff member.
“As an associate producer […] I wrote screen text, manual and package text, took screenshots, oversaw the debug and approval process, liaised with NCL, worked with marketing and advertising, etc,” Wornell. Said Wornell.
A full fledge game that was cancelled.
Even Jim Wornell confirmed that the game was completely ready. “Zero Racers was done. We had a complete manual, package, and label done for the game, it went through lot check, it had an ESRB rating. It was complete.”
According to Did You Know Gaming’s video, Zero Racers was supposed to feature fan-favorite racers like Jody Summer and James McCloud for the first time, but they instead appeared in F-Zero X.
Similarly, neither Zero Racers nor a new game in the F-Zero series can be seen in the distant on the horizon. This is because, according to Wornell, they are waiting for the essential technology advancements before releasing a mechanically creative new entry in the series.
