''F1 Pole Position 64'', released in Japan as , is a racing video game for the Nintendo 64 developed by Human Entertainment and published by Human Entertainment in Japan, and published by Ubi Soft for North American and Europe. It is the fifth and final game in the ''

Human Grand Prix ''F1 Pole Position'' is a 1992 racing video game for the SNES, developed by Human Entertainment and published by them in Japan, while the other versions were handled by Ubisoft. It is the first game in the ''Human Grand Prix''/''F1 Pole Posit ...

'' / ''F1 Pole Position'' series (with the ''F1 Pole Position'' branding skipping over the previous ''III'' and ''IV'' editions), featuring Formula One branding. ''F1 Pole Position 64'' is based on the

1996 Formula One season The 1996 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 50th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. The championship commenced on 10 March and ended on 13 October after sixteen races. Two World Championship titles were awarded, one for Drivers an ...

, although the Japanese version did not have licenses from the FIA or the FOCA.

Gameplay

The game features all the tracks from the 1996 season, at a time when the racing began in Australia, and ended in Japan. Teams are set up with relevant drivers (with Jacques Villeneuve being replaced with a generic driver named "Driver-X" due to Villeneuve not licensing his likeness), however there is a roster-feature included, which allows the player to reassign drivers to different teams (including assigning the same driver to more than one role), and even removing a real driver and replacing him with unknown drivers named "Driver <1~8>" (Driver 2's image, date of birth and nationality all match that of Ralf Schumacher, who did not begin his F1 career until ; in the Japanese version, the drivers are loosely named after Formula One drivers not racing in 1996). If the player finishes overall first in the World Grand Prix mode, they can change engines between teams as well. Both driver and engine swapping will significantly affect the performance of the car. The car can be controlled with either the analog stick or D-pad on the standard Nintendo 64 controller. Weather is variable, and inclement weather can occur in the middle of a race. On the bottom left corner of the screen are different indicators for car conditions: a fuel gauge and five indicators, one for each part of the car (in order: wings, tires, suspension, brakes and gearbox), all of which change color according to the car's condition, from blue to yellow to red to flashing red. When an indicator reaches flashing red, the player risks retiring from the race if it isn't fixed in time. The main Grand Prix Mode allows players to progress through the racing calendar, with each race being ten laps; there are also battle mode (single race format) and time trial modes. Battle mode allows the player to choose what drivers to race against as well as standard options like laps and weather options. The game features internal vehicle damage (see bottom left of screen shot) but no external, apart from smoke that would appear if a driver blew their engine. The game only allows players to drive by default a maximum of 10 laps on every track, however by holding down a button when one is selecting how many laps to do, the player can exceed that limit and race up to 30 laps.

Development

The game was showcased at E3 1997.

Reception

The game received mostly negative reviews. ''

Next Generation Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to: Publications and literature * ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company * Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...

'' said of the Japanese version, "This a game for the starving, desperate Nintendo fan who simply has to have an F1 racing game, quality be damned. If you're not desperate, forget it." However, they found that considerably more work went into the U.S. version, with less pop-up and overall smoother graphics. They reviewed that "All in all, the game will satisfy F1 enthusiasts and may even nab general racing fans as well. With all of its modification choices, tons of courses, modes of play, and real-life racers and courses, ''F1'' is a game worth a look." However, most reviewers commented that even with the improvements made for the U.S. release, the amount of pop-up is unacceptable, the controls are poor, the music is dull and generic, and the engine sounds are high-pitched and completely unrealistic. '' IGN'' and ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' also criticized the lack of any multiplayer, though ''IGN'' and ''Next Generation'' noted that players can still compete with each other by using the Controller Pak to transfer their records. The most widespread compliment for the game was that the courses are challenging to master. ''IGN'' criticised that "the tracks look almost nothing like their real-life counterparts." Glenn Rubenstein, writing for '' GameSpot'', concluded that "it looks good, but that's the only thing it has going for it." In '' Electronic Gaming Monthly'' Kraig Kujawa wrote: "For racing simulation fans, ''F-1'' might be worthwhile, but otherwise, don't bother." The game held a 58% score on the review aggregation website

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

based on 16 reviews. In Japan, '' Famitsu'' gave it a score of 24 out of 40.

Notes

References

External links