Playing in the Galactic Grand Prix! - F-ZERO 99

On February 10th/11th, The F-Zero Discord (FZD) challenged every pilot in the galaxy to participate in 3 GPs in a row, with the total amount of points from those GPs being counted towards an overall standing.

Notes:

Knight League - My set goals for this event was to try to play and finish all tracks and focusing on collecting as much points as possible for the overall standings. So missing the dash-plate in the beginning of MCI was like having a bucket of ice cold water being launched at you from out of nowhere... But that's what happens sometimes. So I tried to just pick up the pieces and remain cool, and focus on not ranking out primarily. Then, one KO and two skyways later, it still turned out to be a decent start in the GP. But boy was it a nerve-racking start. Thanks to the KO, I was able to play slightly less nervously going forward. BB and SO both went pretty well, and on DWI (or as it's also known as - The Stingray Killer) I had a very fortunate start, which allowed me to play in a relatively safe approach for the rest of the track. I also had the opportunity to potentially win on Silence, but unfortunately I hit a red snail at the end of lap 3. Since my focus was on finishing and not crashing out, I took it extra safe on the last lap. Overall though I was quite satisfied with this GP considering how insanely tense it felt to play in it.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Queen League - After a 15 minute break it was time for the next GP. I was definitely a little less tense going into this one. The first couple of laps on MCII went really well, but then unfortunately lost some speed on lap 3 and had to settle for 3rd - which was still a great start all things considered. PTI was a bit scary since I had lower energy than usual throughout the track, but despite that I managed to get through it at least (that red snail at the end of lap 4 definitely could've been the end for me though). RCI was also unnerving, but the skyway is very strong here, and luckily I managed to dodge another red snail at the end. My biggest mistake came in WLI where I was heading towards another podium-position, but then decided to spin attack over the jump-plate on the last lap, which caused me to hit the red snail next to me as I tried to pass it. It likely happened because of the pressure I felt from the Goose behind me. I was then too conservative with my boost leading up to the finish line, which made me fall down a bit more in the ranking. I then took it pretty safe on WLII; my mindsent was just too much on not crashing out at this point. Overall not the best GP, but still not too bad considering I also didn't have any KOs to work with this time.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

King League - Unfortunately the lobbies got split (I heard there were least five King League lobbies), which meant my lobby didn't get full. That didn't mean though it wasn't stacked with many great pilots. I probably should've crashed out on MCIII, but as luck would have it, I managed to squeeze by another red snail at the end - by the looks of it thanks to getting pushed away from it by a Goose. DWII didn't feel good, but still got a good placement out of it. PTII went splendid with a strong finish, but it was a bit strange that I got the 1st place - probably had something to do with server lag. RCII however did not go so well... Regretably got stopped in my tracks by a blue snail at the end of lap 3, and since I already had quite low amount of energy I very much felt like a sitting duck on lap 4, and just tried to reach the finish line intact, with the result being a pretty low placement. I was starting to feel a little tired at this point, so wanted to have a somewhat stressless experience on Fire Field (lol). Of course that definitely wasn't what happened... but at least I crossed the finish line alive which was my main goal.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Overall summary: I'm definitely very satisfied getting 3rd place in the overall standings and being the highest ranked Stingray with so many good pilots participating. Despite some rocky performances on some tracks, and some near-death experiences, I think I did pretty well on the whole.
It's been a while since I was gaming this sweatily, and I must say it was exciting to feel that "high" again of playing in a gaming-competition. Thanks to FZD for hosting the event, and I hope to see more community-events like this for the game in the future. Last but not least, congrats to ‪@Misalol‬ for being the Galactic Champion!

Bonus: After the event had concluded, FZD hosted a private lobby with a King League being played. You can watch my VOD of that race here:    • Galactic Grand Prix Bonus Lobby  

Timestamps
0:00 Intro
1:15 Mute City I
4:15 Big Blue
7:24 Sand Ocean
10:47 Death Wind I
13:45 Silence
17:27 Mute City II
20:34 Port Town I
23:36 Red Canyon I
26:25 White Land I
29:23 WhiteLand II
34:13 Mute City III
37:41 Death Wind II
41:11 Port Town II
44:52 Red Canyon II
48:06 Fire Field

Played on February 11th, 2024.