F-Zero for Wii U was nearly a thing, but Burnout Paradise developer turned it down

Nintendo fans have wanted a new F-Zero racing game for years, and they nearly got one back in 2011.

Nintendo of Europe approached the U.K. studio Criterion Software at the time, asking it to work on a Wii U version of F-Zero. Criterion turned down the opportunity due to a lack of time according to Nintendo Life, who confirmed the missed deal with Criterion founder Alex Ward. It shows that Nintendo does want to bring back some of its fan favorites — as we’ve seen with the recently announced Star Fox Zero for Wii U — but it doesn’t necessarily want to do it in-house.

Nintendo apparently wanted to show off a vertical slice of Criterion’s F-Zero game at that year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show alongside the newly-announced Wii U. Sadly, the project never got off the ground.

Four years on, and the closest we’ve actually come to a new F-Zero title is a mini-game in Nintendo Land, an F-Zero track in Mario Kart 8’s dowloadable content, and an appearance from series figurehead Captain Falcon in Super Smash. Bros for Wii U. In fact, there hasn’t been an F-Zero release since 2004’s F-Zero: Climax on Game Boy Advance. If Criterion hadn’t been so busy working on Need for Speed: Most Wanted — and Nintendo hadn’t wanted the prototype in such a hurry — things might have been very different.