, released in Europe as ''Formula 1 Sensation'', is a 1993

racing In sports, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific g ...

video game by

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

for the

Family Computer The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the U ...

, and a

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

licensed product. It is heavily based on their 1988

MSX2+ MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corpo ...

title, '' F-1 Spirit 3D Special''. It was Konami's final original Famicom game before re-releases.

Summary

''F-1 Sensation'' features championship races and drivers from the

1992 Formula One season The 1992 Formula One World Championship was the 46th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1992 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1992 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested c ...

, including

Ayrton Senna Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Senna won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with McLaren, and—at the time of his death—held ...

and

Andrea Moda Formula Andrea Moda Formula was a Formula One team that competed during the 1992 Formula One World Championship. The team was owned by Italian shoe designer Andrea Sassetti, who named the team after his company. The team contested nine races but man ...

's original drivers,

Enrico Bertaggia Enrico Agostino Bertaggia (born 19 September 1964) is an Italian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One at eight Grands Prix in and . Bertaggia enjoyed success in Formula Three, winning the Italian Formula Three Championship i ...

and

Alex Caffi Alessandro Giuseppe "Alex" Caffi (born 18 March 1964) is an Italian former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Caffi participated in 75 Grands Prix, debuting on 7 September 1986. In 2006, he raced in ...

. The game contains 18 tracks (the same 16 from the 1992 season, plus

Jerez Jerez de la Frontera () or simply Jerez, also cited in old English-language sources as , is a city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Located in southwestern Iberia, it lies on the Campi� ...

and Phoenix, respectively the venues of the

1990 Spanish Grand Prix The 1990 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Jerez on 30 September 1990. It was the fourteenth race of the 1990 Formula One World Championship, and the fifth and last Spanish Grand Prix to be held at Jerez (though the circui ...

and

1991 United States Grand Prix The 1991 United States Grand Prix (formally the XXVIII Iceberg United States Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on March 10, 1991 in Phoenix, Arizona. It was the first race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship. The 81-lap race was ...

, as extras), each playable separately in the "Free Run" mode, or one-by-one against the 16 of the 1992 season in the "Grand Prix" mode. In the latter, a one-lap qualification drive must be passed before each race, determining the starting position in the grid, and also serving as a short practice for the upcoming course. In both, player drivers and rival drivers can be freely selected. Each driver in the game is divided into three levels based on real-life skill: A, B, and C. Because there are less entries than there are racers, these choices directly affect the game's difficulty.

Pit stop Pitstop may refer to: * Pit stop, in motor racing, when the car stops in the pits for fuel and other consumables to be renewed or replenished * ''Pit Stop'' (1969 film), a movie directed by Jack Hill * ''Pit Stop'' (2013 film), a movie directe ...

s are included, and a team-radio imitation tells the player when to go to the pits for

tire A tire (North American English) or tyre (Commonwealth English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineeri ...

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

and

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ge ...

repair. Weather forecasts are available before every racing session. However, in rare cases the weather can change during the race, forcing players to make an unscheduled change of tires. Each race has five laps, allowing for an arcade-like experience. Colliding (even sharply) with the opponents' cars heavily damages the opponent and slightly decreases the player's own stats. This encourages a brawl-like style of racing not unlike ''

F-Zero is a series of racing games published by Nintendo, developed by Nintendo EAD and other third-party companies. The first game was released for the Super Famicom in Japan in 1990. Its success prompted Nintendo to create sequels on subsequent co ...

'', forcing the entire set of competitors out of the race and taking the sole stand on the podium. Real world sponsors are placed on the billboards that are in the background of each race course; including

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

Sasol Sasol Limited, commonly referred to as Sasol, is an integrated energy and chemical company based in Sandton, South Africa. The company was formed in 1950 in Sasolburg, South Africa, and built around coal liquefaction processes that German ...

, and

Agip Agip S.p.A., acronym for Azienda generale italiana petroli, was an Italian automotive gasoline, Diesel fuel, diesel, Liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, lubricants, fuel oil, and bitumen retailer established in 1926 and Subsidiary company, subsidiary ...

. The car may be customized: the player selects the body type of the car, color, at the start of the game; and later also other intrinsic parts. The game's soundtrack is quoted to sound similar to other Konami FC/NES products such as ''

Blades of Steel ''Blades of Steel'', later released in Japan as , is an ice hockey video game released by Konami for North American arcades in 1987, and ported to the Family Computer Disk System and Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988. All teams are fiction ...

'' and ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (''TMNT'') is an American media franchise created by comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Donatello (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), D ...

'', chiefly because of the same tools used in the creation process. The game can be completed in one relatively short sitting, or using password and battery-backed save support like in the original ''3D Special''. Passwords consists of both small and capital Latin letters, with some additional characters uncommon to NES games. The only known differences between the Japanese and European releases are the title of the game and the locations of the screen where lap and position information are displayed.

References

{{Formula One games 1993 video games Formula One video games Konami games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Video games developed in Japan Video games set in 1992