F-Zero 'Lost Courses' Recreated Through Ingenious Methods After Decades in Obscurity
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Nintendo's Satellaview add-on had F-Zero courses that were broadcast weekly in 1996-97 in Japan. The data was essentially lost after broadcast.
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Some course data was found on untouched memory cartridges and used to partly restore content. But some courses have a $5K bounty for their recovery.
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10 "lost" courses were recreated using a VHS recording, machine learning tools, and manual pixel art to be 99.9% accurate.
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The result is a modded F-Zero ROM called F-Zero Deluxe with new ships, leagues, courses, and ghost data.
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A key tool used was Graphite, which can analyze game footage to reproduce inputs. Its creator has removed access to it recently.