List of characters in the F-Zero series

These are characters from Nintendo's F-Zero video game franchise listed chronologically by game release. In each completed installment of the F-Zero video games, new playable characters were unveiled. They come from all over the universe to compete in the F-Zero Grand Prix. Each have their own unique reason for entering the Grand Prix and unique vehicle that have different performance abilities. Some of the characters are superheroes, supervillains, cyborgs, mutants, and the like, which makes the series akin to something out of an American comic book. The most pilots to debut in a single game is F-Zero X which brought twenty-seven new characters into the franchise.

Creation and development

During the of development of the first F-Zero game, Takaya Imamura was surprised at the level of freedom he was given to design the characters and courses. With the introduction of a story mode in F-Zero GX, Miyamoto mentioned that the characters Imamura created are finally "coming to life and taking on some personality." The characters Mr. EAD and James McCloud resemble Mario and Fox McCloud respectively. "EAD" is also the same abbreviation used with Nintendo's internal development group located in Japan. According to Nintendo Power, "It's just one of the fun things the developers decided to put into F-Zero GX." They also stated "As similar in looks as they are, Fox and James McCloud don't have any connection."

Toshihiro Nagoshi, one of F-Zero GX's co-producers, stated that its story mode was included because the development team felt that the F-Zero universe was unique and they wanted to explain some of the characters' motivations and flesh out the game world. Nagoshi was fond of the characters and found a way to draw out their personalities.

Pilots

:^† indicates name alterations due to localization.

Captain Falcon

is considered the poster child of the franchise. He is described as an accomplished F-Zero pilot and renowned bounty hunter. In F-Zero X, it is rumored that he is called "Captain" because he was once an officer on the Internova Police Force. By the age of 36, Captain Falcon had built a reputation as one of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy, one that has earned him many enemies. This constant danger forces him to live in a sanctuary on a chain of islands off the coast of Port Town, where he spends most of his time. His desire for solitude is such that even after winning a race, he takes his award and quickly dashes home. Each of his home islands contains a different racetrack, allowing him to keep his racing skills at their peak while remaining relatively safe.

Captain Falcon drives the Blue Falcon in his races, and uses a sidearm and a midsize spacecraft called the Falcon Flyer in bounty missions. In F-Zero X, Captain Falcon’s DNA is stolen while he is hospitalized following an accident in the F-Zero Grand Prix. The thieves use the DNA to create a clone of Captain Falcon, Blood Falcon. In F-Zero GX, Captain Falcon is 37 years old and the sitting champion of the F-Zero Grand Prix, boosting his already high popularity even higher. In the games' story mode, after winning a number of races and saving Jody Summer, he goes on to defeat Black Shadow and Deathborn. In F-Zero: Maximum Velocity, which is set twenty five years after the main series, Kent Akechi claims to be the son of Captain Falcon.

Captain Falcon is a representative for F-Zero in the Super Smash Bros. series. He is a fast close combat fighter whose combat techniques mix Kung Fu and street brawling. His signature move is the Falcon Punch, a slow but powerful punch in which a flaming falcon surrounds his fist. "Captain Falcon" also appears in the F-Zero GP Legend anime, though as a title given to a person. Throughout most of the anime, Bart Lemming holds this title, and it is passed onto Rick Wheeler after Bart's death in the last episode. Although he does not appear in every episode, he plays a significant role in the series: his main goal is to stop the efforts of the Dark Million Organization.

Other pilots

References

• F-Zero GX instruction manual at Replacementdocs. Last accessed on August 28, 2007.
• Pilot & machine at the Official F-Zero GX website. Last accessed on August 27, 2007.
• F-Zero: Climax Cheats at IGN. Last accessed on August 28, 2007.

fr:Pilotes de F-Zero ja:F-ZEROの登場人物