XCIII: "F-Zero: GP Legend"

Named after the second handheld F-Zero title, I'm guessing that a certain animator wanted to capitalize off that into making a first ever F-Zero anime. The end result is the anime F-Zero: GP Legend, which was the name of the Game Boy Advance game released at the same time. This title originally went by F-Zero Falcon Densetsu (aka The Legend of Captain Falcon), and continues to be known by its Japanese title rather than the American name. You'll see why in a little while.

For the first time in the F-Zero franchise, the setting takes place in the 22nd Century, rather than the 26th as seen in the games. One of the central protagonists in the anime is Ryu Suzaku (Rick Wheeler in the 4Kids adaption), a detective in pursuit of a criminal named Zoda. Thanks to this criminal, Ryu crashes. His injuries were pretty serious, and he would have died, had it not been for Dr. Stewart and Jody Summer. Thanks to them, he wakes up in the year 2201. After healing, he joins the taks force with those two to stop the Dark Million Organization, run by Black Shadow and Deathborn. However, Ryu's reason for assisting them is personal, as Dark Million is responsible for evolving Zoda, and he plans to take his nemesis down with this organization. In the midst of all this, he not only learns the legend of the frianchise mainstay Captain Falcon, but is found racing side-by-side with the legend himself!

The series ran for a lengthy 51 episodes, though it only took 13 episodes in the US before its cancellation. 4Kids Entertainment, who licensed it, supposedly altered the anime, and not just by name alone. While not said how it was altered, the website Kombo apparently was the one that broke the news. After cancellation, GP Legend was never heard from again on TV, while over in Japan, the series continued until its finale. Ironically, 2 memes came from this. The first comes directly from F-Zero Falcon Densetsu, where they took the audio from the final episode involving Ryu, Captain Falcon, and the antagonist Black Shadow. The second is derived from the Super Smash Bros. series by Nintendo and HAL, who had the character in all 3 games so far. Such memes uses audio from the game in certain situations, mostly in other anime. David Willis voices the mainstay Captain Falcon, while Ryu Suzaku was voiced in English (as the character Rick Wheeler) by Gregory Abbey (voice of Tristian Taylor of Yu-Gi-Oh! as of episode 11 onward), who adopted the alias John Campbell.

Where 4Kids failed, the anime was indeed good, being a reboot to the F-Zero franchise. The American version gets a piss poor 2.6 of 10, while the anime overall gets a 7.5 of 10. I grade it this way for 4Kids not due to the voices, but for the unneeded changes that brought about its cancellation.