F-Zero X joins Switch Online + Expansion Pack this week

Nintendo has confirmed that the next N64 game joining the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack catalog will be gravity-defying racer, F-Zero X.

The blisteringly fast racer first released in 1998 and marked the series’ first jump to 3D visuals. It’ll join the subscription service this Friday, March 11.

The F-Zero series is famed for its high-octane racing with split-second reactions required to avoid crashing and burning on its looping and flipping tracks. To help deliver that sense of speed and responsiveness, F-Zero X was one of the few N64 games to target 60 frames per second. Super Smash Bros. 64 also pulled off the feat, but F-Zero X managed it with a chunky 30 cars on track at once.

Once F-Zero X joins the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription, the full roster of available games will be:

Nintendo has already confirmed that Pokémon Snap, Mario Golf, and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards will be joining the service further down the line. Early datamining points toward a wealth of other titles from the N64 being added in future, but Nintendo has yet to expand its official list of upcoming games. 

Also joining the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership soon is the first wave of new tracks from Mario Kart 8’s Booster Course Pass. Announced during the most recent Nintendo Direct, the Booster Course Pass will add a total of 48 tracks to Mario Kart 8: Deluxe. It’s included at no extra charge with the Expansion Pack subscription, or costs $24.99 separately. The first wave of eight new tracks arrives March 18.

It might not be a new F-Zero game, but anti-gravity racing lives on in some form at least thanks to F-Zero X’s Switch Online addition and the additional Mario Kart 8 levels.