F-1 Race (NES)

This page details one or more prototype versions of F-1 Race (NES).

This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Check for level design differences.

A prototype of F-1 Race was released by Skrybe of Lost Levels.

Title Screen#

Proto	Final

• The logo is blue instead of red, the skill level options are a bit more reddish, and the asterisk is tan instead of mint green.
• The prototype does not cycle the top score color when selecting a different skill level, defaulting to green. The final game has blue, pink, and green for the respective skill levels.
• The default top score is 0. The final increased it to 10,000.
• The player's top score is not preserved after a soft reset.
• There's a bit of delay before the demo starts after the title theme plays out, whereas it starts almost immediately in the final.
• When the demo begins, there's an additional slight delay before the countdown starts in the prototype.

Map Preview#

The map preview isn't shown after selecting a skill level. The "CIRCUIT No." is displayed at the beginning of the race and the jingle plays:

However, there is map preview after beating the first track:

Proto	Final

The prototype's map preview just says "NEXT CIRCUIT" and is silent. The final game makes this screen appear before each race, and moves "CIRCUIT No." and race start jingle there, while the race itself starts with a countdown.

Gameplay Differences#

• After the timer runs out and the player car stops, to keep up with the delay trend, a bit of time has to pass before the game over message pops up.
• The engine noise always plays during the countdown in the final, while in the prototype the player has to press A to enable it.
• The game displays goal posts even in the final circuit of the respective skill levels, which is supposed to loop endlessly, and then they revert to go posts after crossing them. This was corrected in the final.
• The arrow signs and go/goal posts tend to wrap around their graphics from right to left. This was mostly corrected in the final, where it's harder (but not impossible) to make the graphics wrap around.
• When the player crosses the finish line in the prototype, they internally turn into a rival car. Due to the rival car limit of just 3 cars, this can result in one of the rival cars disappearing, as can be seen in the screenshot below. The final game alters the goal animation handling so that the player doesn't use a rival car slot, allowing for all 4 cars to coexist.

• As a result of handling the player's goal animation through a rival car, it always moves at a consistent speed and the speedometer is instantly zeroed out. In the final game, the speed is preserved when crossing the finish line, which means the player can move at a variable speed during the animation.
• The way the game transitions from goal animation into the circuit preview screen is different: In the prototype, there's a consistent 240-frame (4-second) timer before the transition. The final game checks for all cars on-screen to disappear, waits 10 frames, then does the transition.

Graphical Differences#

Proto	Final

The smoke graphics that appear when you burn out your tires are different and less dense in the prototype.

Sound Differences#

The game over theme is longer in the prototype.