The Huge F-Zero Accident

This article is about the huge F-Zero accident (with many injuries but no casualties) that led to the three year suspension of the F-Zero Grand Prix until F-Zero X. For the Horrific Grand Finale, which is NOT canon nor supported by any canon/official F-Zero content, see F-Zero X NOA Website Content.

The Huge F-Zero Accident was an event in the Main F-Zero Universe timeline that occured three years before the F-Zero X Grand Prix. It led to the suspension of the F-Zero races for three years, until its eventual reopening for the F-Zero X Grand Prix due to strong fan support. In addition, it also paved the way for the F-Zero Committee to enforce new rules and regulations, as well as equipment and staff changes, once the F-Zero races continued.

## The Accident

During an F-Zero Grand Prix three years before F-Zero X, many pilots were injured following an accident on the circuit.

Pico's reckless and aggressive driving was said to be the cause of the accident. Although Dr. Stewart tended to the injured and ensured that no lives were lost on that day, Mighty Gazelle still suffered the most severe injuries and nearly died, having to be revived as a cyborg with a fully mechanical body. Captain Falcon was also hospitalized.

## The Aftermath of the Accident

The accident was enough for people to point out just how dangerous the F-Zero races were, and thus, the F-Zero Grand Prix was suspended.

During Captain Falcon's hospitalization following the accident, his DNA was stolen and used by Black Shadow to create an evil clone named Blood Falcon. BS Group, Black Shadow's organization, also stole the sub engine of the Blue Falcon during the accident. The sub engine, BF-2001 x2 (The main and sub engine of the old Blue Falcon would make it BF-2001 x4), was then utilized for Blood Falcon's machine, the Blood Hawk.

During the suspension period of the F-Zero races, an F-Zero racing team known as Team Shooting Star was forced to disband. At some point, the entire team had strangely gone missing, but had designed two F-Zero machines, the Mighty Typhoon and Mighty Hurricane, before vanishing. Several pilots were stated to have gone missing after the accident. Every investigation (pertaining to the pilot disappearances) conducted by the Space Time Police (the Time Patrol), identified Deathborn as a primary suspect.

Though not a pilot at the time, Dr. Clash, an F-Zero machine engineer, took the accident into account when he designed the Crazy Bear, making sure to emphasize durability over speed to help him avoid fatality in the event of a crash.

## Eventual reopening of the F-Zero Grand Prix

After the three year long suspension following the accident, the F-Zero Grand Prix reopened under the the name "F-Zero X." Notable F-Zero pilots (Captain Falcon, Pico, Dr. Stewart, Mighty Gazelle) who were injured in the accident or were involved, made a return for the F-Zero Grand Prix's reopening three years after the accident. The new Grand Prix also featured new pilots. Some of the F-Zero X pilots, however, either have implied or factual previous experience with F-Zero (Mrs. Arrow, Silver Neelsen, Michael Chain) but were not outright known to have been part of the accident, like Samurai Goroh who is an F-Zero regular. Also among the line of new pilots was Dr. Clash, the former F-Zero engineer who had entered as a new pilot with a machine of his own design, the Crazy Bear.

## Trivia

* This has nothing to do with the infamous "Horrific Grand Finale," a non-canon event in which Super Arrow was the sole survivor of an F-Zero race that killed 14-34 other pilots including the Skull. This alleged and non-canon event has no known origins in official Japanese sources, is believed to have originated solely from the Nintendo Of America F-Zero X website and lost webcomic, and blatantly contradicts official canon sources, the sources in which confirm that there were no fatalities in the Huge Accident and that Super Arrow was not a pilot prior to F-Zero X. The Skull was also an F-MAX pilot, and according to an English translation of his F-Zero GX JP bio, he had only been part of F-Zero since the F-Zero X Grand Prix.
	+ With regard to the NOA F-Zero X website’s bios and its claims concerning the Horrific Grand Finale, it is believed Nintendo of America was taking information from the English F-Zero X manual’s bios and expanding upon them. However, the English F-Zero X Manual is missing contents from the JP F-Zero X Manual. Examples include the English F-Zero X manual excluding Jody's role as a Galactic Space Federation fighter pilot, Leon's ACTUAL HOME PLANET of Zou, and many, many other bits of information that can be found within the JP X manual.
* Oddly, Samurai Goroh's GX Pilot Profile does not mention a specific involvement in the Huge Accident, although his F-Zero GX in-game US Pilot Profile states "He enters every Grand Prix without fail and is known as a rival of [Captain] Falcon who will never stop trying to defeat him." He is also a main pilot in the series. Entering every Grand Prix makes it highly possible, if not confirmed, that he was part of the accident race, however.
* Though unconfirmed, it is possible Mrs. Arrow, Michael Chain, and Silver Neelsen, were part of the accident race, as each of their pilot bios imply past experience with F-Zero. Such experience would have to be either in the accident race itself or other races prior to F-Zero X, as there were no races during the suspension.
	+ Mrs. Arrow - The F-Zero X US manual states "Actually, her racing experience makes her a better pilot than her husband." The JP manual states she has participated in F-Zero in the past, and the GX machine bio for her Queen Meteor says she was part of the competition in the past albeit with a machine before the Queen Meteor.
	+ Michael Chain - The F-Zero X US manual states "Michael participates in the Grand Prix to show off his driving skills to members of his gang. Since he rarely wins, members are slowly leaving the gang." The JP manual states he has either always been part of F-Zero races or has participated each time.
	+ Silver Neelsen - The F-Zero X US manual states "Neelsen has participated in more Grand Prix races than anyone, but has yet to win."
* Also, given the wording of the Red Gazelle's machine bio, there is a possibility that Mighty Gazelle may have had a different machine during the accident. Cyber Stick was the corporation who revived Mighty Gazelle as a cyborg and then designed the Red Gazelle to have an emphasis on boost as opposed to body strength, due to the fact that its pilot had become a cyborg.
* Kate Alen, while not a racer until F-Zero X, could have possibly been a witness to the accident, although it is not confirmed for certain. Kate Alen's JP X manual bio states she was the singer for the F-Zero Grand Prix opening ceremonies in the past, meaning prior to F-Zero X.
	+ Interestingly, in the Japanese script of one of her GX interviews, there is an interview that pertains to her opinion of the reinstated rules and regulations after the accident four years prior to GX, to which she opposes it, saying that she wants to experience the full thrill of F-Zero. The English script is rendered as Mr. Zero saying "There are some who say the rules need to be tightened to prevent accidents during the race." and Kate responding with "Accidents are what spice up this race. I love that extra thrill!"
* Because Mr. Zero is the prime announcer for the F-Zero Grand Prix races, it is also possible that he had witnessed the accident as well.
* It is not known how many pilots participated in the accident race in total. With hypothetical guesses and canonical information alone, it only makes about 8 individual pilots on the list of guesses.
	+ It is possible that two F-Zero racing teams (Team Shooting Star and Team Lightning Bolt, the latter of which are a famous veteran F-Zero racing team who designed Jack Levin's Astro Robin) were also part of the accident race. However, it is not known how many pilots made up those teams either.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 [1]F-Zero X JP manual
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 [2]F-Zero X US manual
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 F-Zero GX US in-game Pilot Profiles
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 [3]F-Zero GX JP/English Interview Scripts, Blood Hawk and Blood Falcon JP Profiles
5. ↑ [4]F-Zero SNES US manual
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 [5]F-Zero GX JP/English Interview Scripts, Mighty Typhoon and Draq JP Profiles
7. ↑ [6]F-Zero GX JP/English Interview Scripts, Mighty Hurricane and Roger Buster JP Profiles
8. ↑ [7]Tweet explaining the Space Time Police and the Time Patrol being the same thing, due to the same JP word used to describe both things
9. ↑ [8]F-Zero GX JP/English Interview Scripts, Crazy Bear and Dr. Clash JP Profiles
10. ↑ [9]F-Zero GX JP/English Interview Scripts, Sonic Phantom and The Skull JP Profiles
11. ↑ [10]F-Zero GX JP/English Interview Scripts, Queen Meteor and Mrs. Arrow JP Profiles
12. ↑ [11]F-Zero GX JP/English Interview Scripts, Red Gazelle and Mighty Gazelle JP Profiles
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 [12]F-Zero GX JP/English Interview Scripts, Super Piranha and Kate Alen JP Profiles
14. ↑ [13]F-Zero GX JP/English Interview Scripts, Astro Robin and Jack Levin JP Profiles