Interesting confirmation of a dead project: Sorry if already posted, F-Zero and F Zero turn up no results on the thread search :(

Would have been shown off at E3 2011

F-Zero is one of those franchises which Nintendo fans are constantly clamouring for, and not an E3 passes without demands from the masses for a brand-new entry. The series has been dormant for quite some time, although recent events - such as a F-Zero mini-game in Nintendo Land and the inclusion of the legendary Blue Falcon in Mario Kart 8 - have given fans hope that we could yet see a fresh instalment.

We can now confirm that the Wii U nearly launched with an F-Zero title. Back in 2011, Nintendo of Europe asked Burnout studio Criterion to work on a pitch for a new F-Zero, which would have been shown at E3 that year alongside the official unveiling of the Wii U itself. Shigeru Miyamoto has previously stated that he's at a loss about how the revive the series, which would explain why Nintendo opened up the field to third party developers, to see what they could come up with.

Our source on this particular piece of information wishes to remain anonymous, but we've since had it verified by Criterion founder Alex Ward. He confirmed that the conversation between Criterion and Nintendo of Europe did indeed take place, and that time was of the essence for Nintendo. Because Criterion had prior commitments, nothing came of the idea - and it joined the untold legions of game pitches which went absolutely nowhere.

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/06/exclusive_we_almost_got_a_wii_u_f-zero_created_by_burnout_studio_criterion

Personally I'd have loved to have seen a Criterion take on F-Zero, but Need for Speed: Most Wanted was so good I'm glad the resources went into that instead. It's a shame they couldn't have kept sweet with EA and made this happen a bit later in the system's life.

Someone in the comments made a good point when suggesting that if Nintendo Europe were looking for a developer to make a new F-Zero, Sumo Digital would be a good choice.

Would've been cool, but we'll never get an F-Zero until Nintendo thinks they can "innovate", which is dumb and unfortunate. :/

Latee

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=205068&page=1

Uhhh, actually we would have gotten an F-Zero this very generation if Criterion hadn't been too busy. At least Nintendo did try to make it happen.

As a F-Zero fan, that will see two Nintendo home consoles (not even counting the 3DS) go by which due to their unique base controllers could have offerred a good F-Zero experience graphically and potentially control wise, this feels less like trying and more like failing to me. I mean it shouldn't take that much to put out a decent racer based around extreme speeds, especially when you put in homages and such in two of your other games.

I mean they could have even given it over to the guys at Shin'en to do based on what I've seen of FAST Racing Neo, with a little instruction they could have done a decent eShop only release for either the Wii U or 3DS.

EVen if this rumor is true, Nintendo gets no points for it.

Uh, the series hasn't been around for a long time.  All you need to do is slap together a decent racing game in that universe, give it the FZero title and I think everyone would be happy.  

At this point just releasing it would be innovative.

Shin'en should be given the F-Zero franchise.

Make it 16 tracks, 4 player local multiplayer and splitscreen online multiplayer plus story mode. Release it as a budget title for $40. Add 4 dlc courses later as free dlc to justify the price.

Shin'en doesn't want to make F-Zero, either, nor would they have the resources to make a satisfyingly large game.

This is not a rumor. The former VP of Criterion confirmed it himself.

It's already pretty easy to forgive Nintendo for slacking with F-Zero for the same reason it is easy to forgive them for slacking with Star Fox and Metroid. No F-Zero game has ever outsold a previous entry. It was a 100% downward slope with no deviation. In spite of the popularity of X, it sold far less than the SNES original. In spite of the popularity of GX, it sold far less than X. There was no reason to expect this trend to suddenly reverse, especially on Wii U. Nintendo had no obligation -- worse, no financial incentive whatsoever to fund an entry in such a weak franchise for their worst-selling home and/or handheld console ever. But they reached out to Criterion anyway. They tried to make it happen for god knows what reason. They certainly get points for that in my book.