F-1 Spirit (series)

Did You Know?

• The game soundtrack of F-1 Spirit was released on May 21, 1989 by King Records exclusively in Japan.
• The game soundtrack of F-1 Spirit was released on May 19, 2014 by EGG MUSIC RECORDS / D4Enterprise exclusively in Japan.
• A similar product, F-1 Sensation, was released for the Family Computer in 1993, based around the 1992 Formula One season.

F-1 Spirit: The Way to Formula-1

F-1 Spirit: The Way to Formula-1 is a top-down Formula One racing game released for the MSX in Japan and Europe in 1987. Its game engine closely resembles that of Konami's Road Fighter. The game uses Konami's custom SCC sound chip, a five-channel chip that adds five voices to the three-channel PSG sound chip of the MSX, and was one of the first ROMs on MSX to feature this sound capability. Together with its 3D spinoff, it was the most extensive racing game Konami released for the MSX. The player begins with stock cars and progresses through rally cars, Formula 3, Formula 3000, endurance races, and finally Formula 1 races across 16 tracks. Points are awarded based on finishing position: nine points for first place, eight for second, and so on, with no points for tenth place or lower. Winning races unlocks new tracks and car classes, and the difficulty increases as faster cars and more challenging tracks become available. A total of 21 tracks exist in the game.

F-1 Spirit 3D Special

F-1 Spirit 3D Special, released in 1988 for the MSX2+ spec, is a full successor to the original game. It uses scaling-based third-person graphics similar to Pole Position and focuses exclusively on F-1 racing. The game includes Free Run and Grand Prix modes, as well as a two-player Battle Mode. Difficulty can be set, and in Free Run settings such as lap count are variable. Cars are fully customizable: the body, color, engine, tires, suspension, brakes, gear, and wings can all be modified. It was released on two floppy disks and is the only game Konami ever developed for the MSX2+ spec. A special cable, the JE700 Multiplayer Link Cable, was sold separately to link two MSX2+ computers via the second joystick port. The game uses MSX-Music (FM-PAC), the Yamaha YM2413 OPLL sound chip, the only Konami game to do so; other Konami games with enhanced music use the SCC chip. The original music was composed by Goro Kin, supposedly a pseudonym.

F-1 Spirit (Game Boy)

Released for the Game Boy in 1991, this entry was known as World Circuit Series in North America and The Spirit of F-1 in Europe. It is a top-viewed racing game like the original. Players compete in Formula 3, Formula 3000, and Formula 1 across 25 tracks from around the world. As players advance in class, tracks become longer, requiring pit stops, and turns become more challenging. The game was later re-released on the first volume of Konami GB Collection in Japan and Europe, where it was renamed Konami Racing.

F-1 Spirit remake

In 2004, an unlicensed remake of the original F-1 Spirit was released by Brain Games for the Retro Remakes competition, developed as a successor to that team's Road Fighter remake. It retains much of the original gameplay and content but features changed physics, sound and graphical improvements, and online leaderboards. The remake was ported to Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and ARM devices, with binary versions for Windows and OS X, a .deb package for Ubuntu and Debian, and source code available for other systems.