F-Zero Forever

A native PC build of F-Zero for SNES.

The f-zero-forever branch includes Track Pack Loader, enabled by default and freely switchable in Mods. Its bundled CGP, Astra Front, Bower and MAX packs add 75 course versions in 15 cups, alongside the untouched original 15 courses. Drop a compatible folder or ZIP into mods/packs and restart. All installed packs load together. BS Satellaview Tracks excludes the loader; vehicle options remain independent. Optional race music uses the same filename as the course source, in its pack's music/ folder: courses/example.fzc or example.fzm uses music/example.pcm. MSU-1 and Installed pack music default on for fresh settings; missing songs use the SNES soundtrack. Explicit saved choices are respected. CGP original-car rebalances and Local 2 Player also default on. Choose VS MODE on the title menu for local split-screen. BS vehicles are a separate, conflicting opt-in; saved choices remain respected.

See local controls and mod scopes for player assignments, unpausable multiplayer and mod settings.

See pack authoring and music for JSON manifests, raw FZEdit exports, extracted course resources and separate audio packs. Mods and source-game differences describes scoped mechanics.

The current local tester release is 0.12.1. Future fixes advance the patch version; new features advance the minor version. All bundle variants share that version. See the release policy.

You bring your own legally dumped F-Zero (USA) ROM. No ROM is included.

Features

• Play F-Zero as a native app.
• Local two-player racing: enable Local Two Player, then choose VS MODE on the original title menu. Independent top/bottom views share one race and collisions.
• Versus netplay through recomp-ui and recomp-net: each participant gets a full viewport; the host selects 4:3, 16:9 (default), or 21:9.
• Widescreen modes: 16:9, 21:9, 32:9, and Fit.
• Optional HD Mode 7: 2x through 10x track rendering, independent of widescreen and presentation FPS.
• High refresh presentation: 60, 90, 120, 144, 165, 240, or 360 FPS.
• Display shaders: CRT Soft, LCD Grid, Sharp, Warm Composite, or your own GLSL shader.
• Save states with a slot browser and thumbnails, opened with F7 or Select + R.
• Offline rewind: step back through the last few seconds and drop back in.
• Gamepad support through SDL.
• Optional BS F-Zero Deluxe content.
• Discoverable track and audio packs, including raw FZEdit course exports. Reviewed ROM/IPS/BPS conversion is an author-side step.
• Optional bundled CGP soundtrack, custom MSU-1 packs and editable content presets.

Download And Play

On Windows:

1. Download the Windows x64 ZIP from the Releases page.
2. Extract the whole ZIP.
3. Run F-Zero Forever.exe.
4. Pick your own F-Zero (USA) .sfc or .smc ROM when asked.

On Linux:

1. Download the Linux AppImage from the Releases page.
2. Put your own F-Zero (USA) .sfc or .smc ROM next to it.
3. Make the AppImage executable.
4. Run it.

The app remembers your ROM path after the first launch.

Enable Skip launcher on boot to start directly with that ROM next time. The choice is saved as [General] SkipLauncher=1 in config.ini beside the executable. Run F-Zero Forever.exe --launcher (on Linux, run your AppImage with --launcher) or set the value to 0 to return to the launcher. The override also works with a ROM path before or after it. A missing or invalid remembered ROM opens the launcher so you can select a valid copy.

Settings

Open Settings > Display for:

• Aspect ratio: 4:3, 16:9, 21:9, 32:9, or Fit.
• Shader: None (default), CRT Soft, LCD Grid, Sharp, Warm Composite, or a custom shader.

Open Mods for:

• Widescreen: makes races wider.
• Presentation FPS: makes motion smoother on high refresh screens.
• HD Mode 7: sharper tracks at integer scales from 2x to 10x; off by default.
• Diagnostics: optional local performance reports for troubleshooting; off by default. See how to capture a report. Start at 2x. Above 4x can cause severe slowdown; use at your own risk.
• BS Satellaview vehicles: adds four machines independently of courses.
• BS Satellaview tracks: adds the ten original BS courses; mutually exclusive with Track Pack Loader, whose CGP pack supplies corrected versions.
• CGP vehicles: one opt-in mod for all three authored car groups (eight additional ships plus the original four). The separate original-car rebalances default on.
• CGP rules and fixes: optional gameplay rules and fixes. See source coverage.
• Community Grand Prix (prototype): a bundled course pack with one enable checkbox. Every enabled track pack adds its cups to the in-game leagues. See installation and manifest instructions.

When the Widescreen mod is on, its aspect setting wins over the normal Display aspect setting.

Importing CRT-Geom or another shader

In Settings > Display, use Browse beside Shader to select your own .glslp preset or .glsl shader. Keep the preset's accompanying files and subdirectories intact: for example, crt-geom.glslp needs shaders/crt-geom.glsl beside it. The app remembers the selected path; it does not copy the pack, so leave it in a permanent location. RetroArch Slang (.slangp) presets are not supported by this OpenGL path.

CRT-Geom is available upstream. It carries GPL-2.0-or-later terms. It is not bundled: redistribution compatibility with this app's differently licensed dependencies has not been established. User-selected CRT-Geom has been tested through the existing shader loader. An unreadable or invalid preset falls back to unfiltered output.

Presets and MSU-1 music

Soundtrack source: the owner confirms the replacement PC-port archive already reconciles attribution. Historical exclusions remain enforced. See source clearance and evidence.

Mods > Preset offers Vanilla, Satellaview and Community Grand Prix. Each applies an editable recipe. CGP enables Track Pack Loader, which loads all installed packs; Vanilla and Satellaview disable it. Display, controls and rewind remain untouched. CGP enables all its courses, twelve cars, original-car rebalances, rules including Legend, Community Grand Prix title and bundled music. Individual options remain editable. The console ending-credits patch is retired. F-Zero 55 title artwork is retained but hidden for a future course pack. No preset is applied automatically on startup.

Windows previews come in with-msu and without-msu ZIPs. Both support MSU playback; only with-msu includes the replacement Community Grand Prix PC-port soundtrack (29 attribution-cleared recordings). In Settings > Audio, MSU-1 music defaults on for fresh settings. Leave its source on Installed pack music, or select the CGP preset in Mods. Music starts off on a fresh installation. Missing tracks and unrelated track packs use SNES music. Track selection works in both Grand Prix and Practice.

The smaller without-msu download contains no soundtrack files. Its Audio settings let you browse for your own music folder. The CGP preset uses that custom music when configured, or SNES audio until you supply it. All courses, cars, gameplay options and other assets are identical between the two ZIPs.

Custom... opens a picker for your pack's .msu file. Existing custom folder settings are retained. Standard packs require the supported Conn/Cubear v11 f-zero_msu1.ips beside their numbered PCM files (available from the authors' page). Keep the pack's original prefix and track numbering. Packs without this patch use CGP numbering. The v11 patch and third-party custom audio are not bundled. Unsupported patch versions are refused with an original-audio fallback.

Keep using your unmodified USA ROM. Adapters apply in memory, including all derived vehicle images; no ROM file is rewritten. Save states and rewind restart the selected song from its beginning rather than its exact playback position. Existing non-MSU record/save namespaces remain separate.

For command-line use, SNESRECOMP_MSU1 can select a .msu file, folder or filename prefix; off overrides a saved enabled setting. FZERO_MSU1_PATCH can point to the v11 IPS in another folder. Headless CGP music also requires FZERO_RULES=cgp-msu (or adding cgp-msu to other chosen rules).

See preset behavior and validation and soundtrack provenance / source-build import.

Save States And Rewind

The save-state menu

Press F7, or hold Select + R on a gamepad, to open the save-state browser. The game freezes while it is open, so a state you take is that exact moment.

• Up / Down or the arrow keys pick one of 12 numbered slots or the Quick slot.
• A on a pad, or X on the keyboard, loads the selected slot.
• X on a pad, or S on the keyboard, saves to it.
• B on a pad, or Escape, closes the menu without doing anything.
• 1-9 jump straight to a slot.
• Q jumps to the Quick slot.

Each slot shows a thumbnail of the moment it was saved, so you can tell them apart without loading them. The browser stays centered at 4:3, including in widescreen windows.

Quick save and quick load

Open Controls in recomp-ui and find Host Shortcuts. Assign Quick Save and Quick Load to keyboard keys, controller buttons, or controller button combinations. These start unbound so they don't take over a gameplay button.

Quick Save overwrites the dedicated Quick slot. Quick Load restores it. Each press performs one action, even if you hold the button. A message confirms the result. The Quick slot also appears in the save browser and has a thumbnail; it is separate from your 12 numbered saves. The Quick slot stays accessible when you return to the title or change courses.

Rewind

Press R, or hold Select + L on a gamepad, to open the rewind filmstrip. It shows the recent past as a strip of frames:

• Left / Right scrub back and forward. Hold a direction to keep scrubbing.
• A on a pad, or Enter / Space, jumps to the selected moment.
• B on a pad, or Escape, leaves without changing anything.

Rewind is on by default. You can turn it off in the launcher's Settings, where you can also set:

• Rewind depth: how many snapshots to keep (50, 100, 150, or 200).
• Rewind interval: how many frames apart they are (1, 4, 8, 12, 15, or 30).

More snapshots make the history longer; a shorter interval makes it finer. Both cost memory: one snapshot of F-Zero is about 330 KB, so 100 of them is roughly 33 MB. At the default 50 snapshots every 15 frames you can step back about 12 seconds.

Changing the keys

Both keys are rebindable in the launcher's Controls page, as SaveStateMenu and Rewind. They are saved to config.ini next to the executable and take effect the next time you start the game. The rewind switch, depth and interval are remembered in the same file.

F-Zero's keyboard shoulder defaults are D = L and C = R. These and the rewind binding apply only to F-Zero; saved custom bindings remain respected. Ctrl+R still resets the game.

The numbered-slot keys - F1-F12 to load a slot, Shift + F1-F12 to save one - still work. F7 is reserved for the save-state browser by default; its slot is available through that browser. F8 is now a normal numbered-slot key. Rebinding the browser elsewhere frees F7 as well. A key assigned to Quick Save or Quick Load takes priority over its old action.

Where states are kept

Stock F-Zero and BS F-Zero Deluxe keep separate states, because they are different cartridges and their snapshots are not interchangeable:

Mode	Slot files
Stock	saves/fzero<N>.sav
BS F-Zero Deluxe	saves/bs-deluxe/fzero-bs-deluxe<N>.sav
Stock + MSU-1	saves/msu1/fzero-msu1<N>.sav
BS Deluxe + MSU-1	saves/bs-deluxe/msu1/fzero-bs-deluxe-msu1<N>.sav

A thumbnail sits beside each as .sav.thumb. If a state from the other mode somehow ends up in a slot, loading it is refused and the game keeps running - the title bar says so and nothing is disturbed.

BS F-Zero Deluxe

BS F-Zero Deluxe is included with permission from its authors: GuyPerfect, Porthor, and PowerPanda.

The release includes two BS Deluxe files:

• mods/bs-deluxe.dat is used by this app.
• patches/bs-deluxe-usa.ips is the upstream v1.1 USA SNES patch for your own ROM.

No patched ROM is included.

Reporting playtest problems

Recent inputs and checkpoints are recorded by default, including local and online VS. Reproduce the problem, quit, then double-click Collect diagnostics.cmd beside the game and send the ZIP it selects with an approximate time and a description. A crash is not required. Nothing is uploaded automatically.

The ZIP includes recent replay sessions, crash reports when present and the latest exit, performance and transport logs. It contains game memory, saves and local paths; share it privately when appropriate. See recording and replay instructions.

Build From Source

Clone with submodules:

git clone --recurse-submodules git@github.com:mstan/FZeroSNESRecomp.git
cd FZeroSNESRecomp

Put your own USA ROM at fzero.sfc, then generate and build:

bash tools/regen.sh
cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build

Local ROMs, generated files, saves, captures, and builds are ignored by git.

Run the ROM-free regression suites with ctest --test-dir build --output-on-failure. With your local ROM and the upstream patch ZIP, tests/test_msu_integration.py checks stock/Deluxe playback using generated test tones, missing-track fallback and invalid-patch rejection. On Windows, tests/test_desktop_integration.py additionally checks real launcher persistence, imported shaders, controller overlays and save/load. Both scripts accept --help and keep their test data under ignored captures/ directories; neither bundles music or a shader.

python tests/test_rom_persistence.py --source build checks ROM selection through the actual Windows file dialog, then Play/close and repeated restarts. It also checks cancellation, an invalid pick, and selecting a moved ROM. It requires an interactive desktop and never seeds the ROM cache itself.

python tests/test_launcher_options.py --source build --rom PATH --output captures/launcher-options exercises the real Skip Launcher control, relaunch/recovery, and typed HD resolution persistence. On Linux, prefix it with xvfb-run -a. --appimage-layout also checks settings beside an AppImage instead of inside its executable directory, using the AppImage environment.

On Linux, xvfb-run -a python3 tests/test_appimage_rom_persistence.py --appimage PATH --output captures/rom-persistence-linux exercises the packaged AppImage through the real zenity picker, then Play/quit and repeated relaunches. It requires zenity and xdotool; use a fresh output directory for each run.

License

MIT License, Copyright (c) 2026 Matthew Stanley. See LICENSE. Bundled dependencies keep their own licenses under licenses/ in each release; BS F-Zero Deluxe content is included with its authors' permission and is not covered by this license.

F-Zero belongs to Nintendo. The game ROM is not included.