BS F-Zero Deluxe resurrects lost Satellaview tracks into the SNES game

Some intrepid fans have been able to reproduce the lost tracks from the BS F-Zero Grand Prix 2 Satellaview SoundLink event and have created BS F-Zero Deluxe, a patch to incorporate them into the SNES game.

The Satellaview was a digital satellite delivery (or broadcast) add-on for the Super Famicom. Like many prototypical digital distribution platforms, data retrieved from the service was only stored temporarily and could be overwritten whenever you downloaded something else. As such, if someone wanted to preserve a game, they had to dump it immediately before overwriting it, and obviously, few people did.

Against all odds, some games from the service were preserved, including the first BS F-Zero Grand Prix, which was composed of four separate broadcasts. This included five original tracks and four new races, which replaced the four racers of the original game. However, BS F-Zero Grand Prix 2, which consisted of two broadcasts, was considered lost. Despite a $5000 reward offered by the community, no one stepped forward with the data.

Screenshot by Destructoid However, while the data itself was considered lost, a fan uploaded a playthrough of the BS F-Zero Grand Prix 2 to YouTube in 2018. Using a number of elaborate techniques, project programmer Guy Perfect, was able to accurately duplicate the tracks within F-Zero. The entire process (along with a lot of deeper insight into the Satellaview itself) is detailed in this article on Press The Buttons.

The team then compiled all the Satellaview features and created the BS F-Zero Deluxe patch/expansion for F-Zero. This patch includes all 10 Satellaview exclusive tracks compiled into two BS-X cups, as well as the four additional vehicles, which are available alongside the originals. There’s also a new ghost time trial mode.

I should perhaps point out that there was a previous release called BS F-Zero Grand Prix 2, but this was based on the broadcast “BS F-Zero 2 Practice,” and wasn’t part of Grand Prix 2 proper. It doesn’t include the five recreated tracks. Also of note is the fact that the courses don’t include original music, since the music was streamed to the SatellaView and wasn’t actually played by the SNES hardware (there was also an announcer in the original broadcast).

The BS F-Zero Deluxe patch is available via archive.org. I’d also recommend reading the article on Press the Buttons, as it really highlights the lengths the team went to preserve these tracks.

Zoey Handley

Staff Writer – Zoey is a gaming gadabout. She got her start blogging with the community in 2018 and hit the front page soon after. Normally found exploring indie experiments and retro libraries, she does her best to remain chronically uncool.