This F-Zero Anime Dub Will Never See the Light of Day (4Kids, 2004) 

I feel bad for the kids who were actually invested in the story… They’ll be haunted by the eternal cliffhanger unless the rest of the episodes resurface huh

Shame they didn't release the rest of the series, even if low ratings for the time, would of helped F-Zero stay a little more relevant in the states.

I'm from Hungary, we had this anime localized based on the 4Kids version, and though it was also cancelled here prematurely, it got aired up to episode 26

I think Nintendo should totally give the okay to Disco Tek to release their TV episodes on home media releases because I grew up with Captain Falcon in Smash and because of that, people will totally like him in the anime because he's in both Smash and F-Zero and his falcon punch is so iconic that people will just absolutely LOVE it in the anime! I mean heck, just because his franchise isn't that popular, doesn't mean they can't release his anime in the US because in the past Kirby wasn't as popular as Mario and he still got his own anime (Kirby Right Back at Ya). Rare's Viva Pinata also wasn't as big as Banjo and Kazooie and they also still got their own cartoon so just because video games aren't popular doesn't mean they still can't get their own cartoons. Speaking of cartoons, is anime still considered a cartoon? I mean I know it's animated but it's a different style of animation because it's Japanese animation called anime compared to American animation which we call cartoons.

Actually as far as I know you can't really find episodes four, five and six anywhere. But God damn David Willis's Burt Lemming?? He did one hell of a job!! F-zero GP Legend is the most underrated installment in the entire franchise! Plus I've made a playlist including the English episodes but also my fanfics as well. I've even attempted to combine the anime inside the main timeline which takes place a year after GX. It'll always be my childhood no matter what! I'll never forget the day that it died when 4Kids assimilated the FoxBox on March 2005 because I completed a state standardized test junior year. Please contact David Willis again! We really need those unaired episodes and the missing ones if he can!! Please do it!!

I remember my childhood friends older brother told me he’s watched part of the series back when it actually aired

There's 7 billion people in the world. There was about nearly 300 million people in the USA at the time this aired. I'm not sure how many people watched this on Fox Box, but I guarantee you there has to be at least a few people who have this dub on their old VHS tapes. They probably don't even know it's lost media and just have it... sitting there. 4Kids might even have the dub in their archives, so maybe someone could request a TV channel that would be most suitable to air the show to try get the license from 4Kids?

I remember this when the falcon punch meme was popular

I remember this series. It disappeared pretty quickly.

It's kinda crazy how quickly the dub was cancelled. Also some episodes that were dubbed ie 4, 5, 9 aired on tv are still lost. Also there was an Italian dub but it was cancelled around the same eps as the eng dub so theoriticaly they captain falcons actor, Dave, says they dubbed the scenes but 4kids probably never mastered and edited the footage as complete episodes. Funimation ran into a similar issue when they dubbed their tv edit of one piece for skypia for tv cause the actors said tv edit lines were recorded but that was never completed to air since ethe dub was canned on toonami but aired a couple extra edited episodes in CN Australia but then switched to uncut eps.

I remember being excited for this show airing since I was a fan of F-Zero GX at the time.

Ah. I actually watched F-Zero, but never knew it discontinued...!! I know that’s how I know Captain Falcon through the anime and not the games...

I never knew this got somewhat dubbed. I only knew about this due to the Flacon Punch meme from it being popular 13 years ago.

Man I totally remember these shows and playing some melee on the gamecube with my friends afterwards, good times!!!

Sadly, it's unlikely that the anime will get a re-release for one, Nintendo doesn't own the license to the anime. It's owned by either TV Tokyo, Dentsu, Ashi Productions since they were the committee that created the anime, Nintendo doesn't hold rights to it . So for the anime to get a re-release is rather slim, even if you get the license holder for the anime, Nintendo has final say because they own the IP in North America for copyrights and trademarks.

SHOW YOUR MOVE - Captain Falcon

We need to find the English Falcon Punch scene

Oh My God, Like A Month Ago Or So, I Actually Went To The 4Kids Website On The Wayback Machine To See Some Shows And Others Including Sonic X, TMNT, Heck, Even The Dog, But Seeing An Anime For F-Zero Blew My Mind! I Was Waiting For Someone To Upload Any Type Of Content Of This Since It Would Of Been To Hard To Make A Video Myself, Thank You For Reminding Me About This, You Mean A Lot To Me

That sucks,even though I only know Falcon from memes

The falcon punch scene still gets me,the music and atmosphere is just perfect

Dude this anime dub would have been neat to see

The Captain Falcon character looks so familiar, like a memory was just unlocked.

Speaking of stuff that aired on Fox Box. Does anyone remember that awful Ultraman Tiga dub? The one that was a bad parody dub

Again, Dave Wills response to your tweet was basically "uhhhhh I THINK we did?" But he didn't sound confident about it. And all the other hints/clues that have been revealed about the dub lean to more likely that the whole show was NOT dubbed.

i always wondered if the episodes that DID air were somewhere online. so thanks for that, i just wanted to always here dub Falcon compared to F-Zero GX.

I still hope you can do an update to this video. Michael Haigney, the dub script adapter said not a while lot was done. An AMA with a 4kids music person said not while lot was done. The Hungarian dub based on rhe 4kids version only last 26 eps, a typical 4kids fox season order etc

I remember it well. Have the GBA game based on the show too. Shame it never got finished over here though.

this is the example of Nintendo hates their fans

Not surprised that 4kids would do something like that, they have a habit of ruining dubs so they would fail.

I'm beginning to lose all hope, ever since Sora was announced. I doubt the anime would have another chance, let alone F-Zero. I doubt even Pirate Bay, uTorrent, and others would have them, but I guess these and Discotek are our only resorts, if the latter should hear us now...

Also, seems like Nintendo has more prominent items in their archive than Disney! First, Slamfest ‘99 and then the complete series of Capt Falcon in English!

Honestly, I would much rather have the entire show redubbed

I played gp legend on the gba as a kid, never realized until recently that there was an anime

Oddly enough I remember this series and always thought it was bad even though I actually like f-zero

Discotek needs to save this series!

Awesome

2:53 No, they haven't. There are two episodes missing.

Speaking of 4kids anime, Funimation actually was handed most of 4kids previous anime they licensed, infact funimation currently has the rights to the Kirby anime, so it is possible that they have Fzero as well, Something that needs to be looked into, because if funimation has it, then it is possible that with enough fan demand, funimation might release the full dub.

Hi! so i'm actually on a bit of a quest right now, and I stumbled upon this video. I'm not particularly interested in the americanized version of this show, as its.. Honestly not that great. But, what I am interested in, is the soundtrack. So, I could be totally miss-remembering this, as there is very little to no information about it online. But from what I remember, there was a vote before this show was aired on foxbox. The vote was to see an early episode of one of three video-game based anime. those being, f-zero, kirby. and... I think sonic X? Again, there is little to no information about this online. I'm going purely off what I remember as a kid. This vote was held in america, as it was run by fox. and as a Canadian viewer, I was not allowed to vote. I believe it was through text? or.. Possibly email? Though I've been using the same email literally since 2004 and I can find no record of this. But I do have a memory of getting some sort of "sorry, only american residents may vote" type message. Possibly on my mothers mobile phone? Anyways, Pointless details I suppose. Point is, F-zero won. And it had its first episode broadcast early on foxbox. This was huge to me as a kid, as F-zero was one of my most played games at that age. particularly, as a kid, and still now, I was IN LOVE with the soundtrack. Literally to the point of recording the music on a cassette tape with a microphone off the TV so i could listen to it at school... Wild. Anyway! As someone who was in love with this game, and the music, HOLY was I excited when this show aired. Again, I'm not 100% sure about this, as its been almost 20 years now (wow) But from what i remember, this early episode aired with no opening scene. Instead, the foxbox.. host? Narrator? The foxbox voice simply gives a brief summery of the vote, declaring f-zero the winner, then explains the episode a bit (I think?) before the show cold-opens on the shot of the dragon birds' engine firing up. The episode plays basically exactly as it would when its first episode is officially broadcast some time later, with one HUGE difference. This early pilot, if you can call it that, had the original japanese anime's soundtrack. People familiar with the dub will know that they totally removed the iconic f-zero soundtrack and replace it with.. some.. generic techno stuff. But, I've not encountered a single person mention this early airing of the show. The reason that I don't think this is simply me miss-remembering the show as a kid, Is because of how much I loved this soundtrack, and how AMAZED I was at this early pilot. This was one of the biggest moments of TV that I remember. The cold-open on the engine, no music playing through the whole opening chase lap (pole-position lap?) And the weird techno that starts to play as the racers prep for the actual race. The very next scene with the racers taking off, and exploding out the gate, was fried so firmly into my mind as a kid. The opening guitar riff breaking into the mute-city theme left such a huge impression on me, that this was the definitive version of this song in my head for literally close to a decade. I don't even remember if the entire episode was aired at this time, or just like, the first 15 minutes? Another thing I remember, though not as firmly as the soundtrack, is that jack levin did not have an Australian accent. The reason I mention this, is because the episode played for real the next week, or sometime after this premier of the pilot, and of course I was there to watch it day one. And thats where my 20 year confusion sets in. Another profound memory from my childhood was the confusion and disappointment of the airing of the first episode. As its essentially the same, but now it had the lackluster opening narration (is that the same dude that narrates the yugio dub opening??) And the depressingly generic american soundtrack. I remember this being so, so disappointing. To the point where it had kind of colored my memories of this show. The disappointment basically overwhelmed my memories of how much I loved that original pilot. until recently, that is. fast forward to fairly recently, where I had come across the show again on youtube. I was watching the dub, up to episode 16, where it ended. So, wanting to continue watching, I switched over to the original japenese audio. And my shock to learn that the original japanese show had the real soundtrack washed all these childhood memories of the pilot back. Sure enough, watching the original first episode of the japanese show, the EXACT version of mute city that I remember hearing 20 years earlier kicks in, note for note with how I remember it in the show. Okay this has gotten out of hand. jeez, sorry. TL;DR, there was a 4kids dub of the first episode with the original japanese soundtrack. And I want it. Though, more than this. I want the original japanese soundtrack, as it was never released. But, if I can prove that the dub studio had access to this soundtrack, It will potentially make tracking down this soundtrack a bit easier. I highly encourage anyone to watch the opening few minutes of the original anime to experience this for yourself. As the version of the mute city them that plays in the show simply KICKS ASS even today. And to anyone who's a fan of the F-zero soundtrack, another AMAZING remix of big-blue actually serves as captain falcons theme song in the original anime. Since the entire series is easily accessable on youtube, I highly encourage tracking down a captain falcon episode and scrubbing through until you find his theme song. The soundtrack of this anime is so, SO good. It's also the originator of the song "lightning" that appears in the gameboy advance game, a song thats SO GOOD, it has literally been repurposed and used in other video games. Though i suppose thats a topic for another time.. ANYWAYS. UH. YEAH.

I'm betting all my money that western audiences got a totally different (and worse) version of the show (like Yu-Gi-Oh) and it didn't click like it did with Japan

Do a video about tv plot on RU-vid like hazbin hotel and how some get tv show or web series

Well let’s be honest, I do prefer the music that was in the Japanese dub

Wii halffff 2 feeyend Diiss 36 epeesodes bro i have 2 Doo sum Mincerft stufff

I would love to see how 4kids handled the scene with the Falcon Punch.

Ahh, this anime. This is one of the main things that made me as big of a F-zero fan as I am. Great show, I hope the dub gets found eventually. (I still prefer the sub though)

I knew about the English version of the anime, but I never got to watch it, due to me never getting to watch it in time. Maybe this is presumptuous of me, but they gave F-Zero a very bad time to air on Saturday mornings. I only got to see one commercial and that was it. The only way I could watch it was online of course....man, being a F-Zero fan has been nothing but pain since 2004.

Nintendo really wouldn't have any say over the animation, that would be entirely up to Ashi productions. I've honestly expected Discotek to release the show for a while now. The cool thing about Discotek is that their catalog is specifically catering to niches as opposed to what's hot on the market so its really just a matter of time.

Just like another installment of the F-Zero franchise will never see the light of day... sigh

I've always remembered hearing of this show back when I was a little kid. Even when the gaem of the same name was releasd. Though it took me until the Wii U Virtual Console release to actually pick it up. I even knew of its existence but much like with Viewtiful Joe, I’ve never been able to watch it due to the Fox Box block cutting short a few shows each weekend in my hometown. Heck I never even heard of any sort of physical release back in the day. I mean even Viewtiful Joe got some sort of physical release on UMD but even THAT was hard to find back then! Only time I was able to get my hands on one was through GameFly when they still had UMDs available to rent.

Wait, so you're saying that the very last F-Zero game ever made was actually a tie-in game?!

I actually watched all 51 episodes of the Japanese version since they’re subbed here on RU-vid, and I really enjoyed the series as a whole. It’s an interesting alternate universe take on F-Zero, and although I do think the Japanese version is superior, i would be curious to see what else was changed in the dubbed versions. The remaining episodes would be worth finding just for that Falcon Punch scene alone!

Wasn't the Fox Box the block that replaced Fox Kids

"FALCON PUUUUNCCCHHH"

Maybe we could pay David Wills to redub the Falcon Punch scene as close to his original take as he could?

This anime seems to have been such a failure in america that I don't know if 4Kids even bothered selling it to other countries, I remember waiting for it to come to Brazil back in the day and it never did, lol

Discotek has released many obscure Fox Kids anime titles such as Medabots, Mon Colle Knights etc, however for Mon Colle Knights they could only released the subtitled version as they couldn’t find any masters for the dubbed version, however they are asking people if they have any copies of the dub in their possessions and are seeking to hopefully receive proper masters for the dub of Mon Colle Knights. Edit: In late 2021, Discotek had finally received proper dub masters for Mon Colle Knights, and they released a complete series blu ray for the dub in May 2022

Man, I feel this anime was just poor timed If it was released before GX, it would've been hyped and probably would've help the game in sales. If it was released today, people would be happy and very curious that an old Nintendo property got an anime and of course, 4Kids is no longer around. Instead it came out in an age when F-Zero was taken for granted and people were starting to get pretty tired of 4Kids bs

They replaced the meaning of truth with a generically boring guitar theme, they didnt deserved this anime

I really hope the full catalog can be found one day and archived; it sucks to see so much work go to waste.

Lost Media is now gaining my interest.

If the Super Mario Bros Super Show and the Donkey Kong Country cartoon got DVD releases, I can't see Nintendo having too much of an issue with F-Zero. Did the English dub perhaps air in its entirety anywhere overseas? I know an English dub of the Powerpuff Girls Z anime was created and aired in the Philippines, so sometimes stuff shows up in other areas where you wouldn't think to look. This reminds me of the Canadian Dragon Ball Kai dub that never saw the light of day. The Ocean Group (who dubbed DBZ before funimation took over) dubbed a large portion (I've heard everything up until the end of Cell, when the series originally ended before being brought back for The Final Chapters) of Kai in the hopes of getting it on Canadian and European TV. They didn't get any buyers and the recordings are currently in the Toei vault. VAs like Brian Drummond and Scott McNeil confirmed that they recorded for it, so it definitely exists but will almost certainly never be released.

I remember seeing some episodes of the dub on RU-vid when I was younger, maybe someday, they’ll turn up somewhere online

Oh wow GP legend was the only f zero game I've ever played. I had no idea it was based off a show

Reminds me a bit of Mew Mew Power which 4Kids lost the rights to halfway through the run of the series because of toy sales or something. Granted though given what 4Kids did to Tokyo Mew Mew (the show MMP was based on), we dodged a bullet of the 2nd half of that series not being dubbed.

i watched this dub as a kid

I would like to see this dub version as a way of having closure.

Too bad Nintendo hates FZero

Oof! I would loooove to see this full show dubbed.

Kinda reminds me how MAR Heaven's dub on Toonami was never complete and we never got the rest of the episodes in English.

As a massive F-Zero fan, it hurts me but doesn't surprise me to hear that this show didn't do as well as it did. Also, with my love for old YTPs, I need to hear that English-dubbed Falcon Punch ASAP!!

I remember Fox Kids then to Fox Box and 4Kids as you forgot FoxKids that started 4Kids thats hurt lmao as i watched the X-Men Cartoon on FoxKids and Tick, but i also remembered this show but man i was wondering what happened as man i love Captain Falcon a lot but glad i stayed with it till they pulled it off.

Funny how I learned about a famous meme clip I've seen in RU-vid Poops came from that show.

Again, people should ask 4kids staff if they kept anything.

and not to mention nintendo are tyrants that hate archival, but i do hope the lost dub episodes get released more so for archival reasons rather than interest

Good video

This anime really needs to return, i believe it is so underrated, we need to start spreading the word around in order to find those remaining episodes and we need to also tell discotek media because there have actually been blu ray dvds of several 4kids tv shows such as: ultimate muscle and tmnt 2003 and f zero could be next, we just need to spread the word. #bringbackfzerogplegend #fzerobluraycompleteseries #fzerpgplegendepisodes16to26released

I would love to see one on any, any, any lost sitcoms, some mysterous ones could be the live action Dilbert pilot, the lost Christopher Lloyd Dictator sitcom, or the reality TV show My Life is A Sitcom.

Villainous by alan ituriel is a good show.

3:29 like he said less popular anime the first anime that shows up is lupin

The arabic dub was found and that's 26 episodes as well.

A recent interview with the co-producer, Mike Pecoriello, of the 4kids Ultraman Tiga English dub adaptation confirmed that whole series was dubbed(and they have the unaired one which are lost media which are like 20+ episodes!) Hopefully someone will be able get more out of it one day. Also hopefully a former 4kids worksr kept copies of F-Zero GP Legend hq quality eps 1-26.

So, the failure of F-ZERO really screwed a lot of things for Nintendo localization.

I never understood the notion of obscure shows owned by larger companies never getting a new release from other companies. Smaller shows from Disney "can't" get a rerelease from Shout Factory. It' been done before, but either the smaller company never tries and of course the bigger company wouldn't bother. But if they're not using the show at all, why not just let the smaller company release it? If it holds value, then they should release it themselves.

Apparently Nintendo is announcing a "new" F-Zero game this week, thisbis our chance to make our voices heard for the lost 4kids F-Zero GP Legend English dub for streamkng at least like how Capcom put up megaman nt warrior and axess on RU-vid

Please. Do a lost media video about Pirates of Dark Water.

So, have you played F-Zero 99 yet?

I hear there was some lawsuit with F-Zero which is why they can't legally release it but who knows?

Please do a video about KIKU-TV English subtitles for Crayon Shin-chan.

This has a very similar story to the English dub of 4Kids' dub of Ultraman Tiga. Any chance you could cover that next?

You can watch it here on youtube. Albeit not in the best quality & subtitled but its all there. 😊

I watched the entire series subbed on RU-vid around 3 years ago. I watched it around the time I first played F-Zero GX, and both the game and anime made me a huge F-Zero fan. I tried watching some of it dubbed, but subbed is way better for this show. It’s a really fantastic series and I hope we do see some kind of an official release in the west some day.

18 years later and still nothing I just hope they bring GameCube games to switch online including f zero gx at least

I remember seeing f-zero anime series and I like it. 😀👍

Remember Kids never watched dubbed anime

Discotek is the best. They brought Sonic X in Japanese to the US without 4Kids edits, and the 2 Zatch Bell movies with English subtitles.

If Nintendo was okay with Captain N and the Donkey Kong Country cartoons being brought to DVD, then there's a chance.

Remember watching this when they were releasing one piece, mew mew and f zero around the same year. They held a vote which of the 3 would get it's sneak peek F zero won. Many were upset, they thought the contest was rigged. And that might also made people rage quit the show. I thought it was cool.

I love the anime as a kid and I always wondered what happened to the English dub.

I remember the Foxbox. It's a costume that changes into a fox-like box whenever it feels like it.

Oh my gosh thank you so much for covering this anime!! This is genuinly my favorite anime and my favorite media in the F-Zero franchise! It's honestly super upsetting that the failed English dub is partly (if not fully) the reason for the downfall of the franchise. As for the anime itself, I 100% recommended it. I can't think of anything to actually convince people to watch it, but it's so worth your time especially if you have ever had interest in Nintendo anime and F-Zero.