Revisit the race of the 26th century with a German orchestra playing F-Zero music

There’s something about Nintendo theme music that lends itself to big orchestral arrangements. More complex scores like, say, the Ocarina of Time sound great coming from a full orchestra, naturally, but so do the simpler themes of the 8- and 16-bit eras. Just check out this German performance of F-Zero theme “Big Blue.”

“Big Blue” was last heard in a more guitar-centric remix on the soundtrack to Mario Kart 8, which also featured an F-Zero-themed “Big Blue” course. This version is closer to the original 1990 SNES theme in all its MIDI-saxophone glory.

Sadly, both this kick-ass theme and the concept of racing in the 26th century as a whole appear to have been relegated by Nintendo to Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. tie-in status. Nintendo has not released a proper F-Zero game since 2004's F-Zero Climax, which was designed for the Game Boy Advance, and Shigeru Miyamoto has not indicated any real interest in reviving the franchise, beyond saying that he would consider it if perhaps a new controller design inspired a second look. Does the Nintendo Switch count? No? Fine.

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