Famicom Grand Prix: F1 Race

Famicom Grand Prix: F-1 Race (ファミコングランプリ　F1レース) is a Japan-exclusive racing game released for the Family Computer Disk System on October 30, 1987. It is a racing game starring Mario in Formula One cars. A tournament was held for this game from October 30 to December 15, 1987. The top 100 players of each of the four difficulty levels received a trophy with their name and rank along with a poster that had the names of all 400 trophy holders. They, along with thousands of runners-up and raffle winners got a Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch sealed in a case shaped like Diskun, the mascot of the Disk System who appeared on all Disk System game covers (and also made an appearance as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee). They also received mock driver's licenses. A sequel was released months later, known as Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally, and it was very different from F-1 Race and also subject of a tournament.

In the game, players can choose to play alone or with other cars. Cars have a certain amount of health and fuel, which decreases whenever the player crashes into a wall or another car, as well as whenever he or she drives off of the road. The player can go to a pit-stop to regenerate the health and fuel; however, doing this takes away race time. Winning the Grand Prix rewards players with coins (Money), which can be used to unlock hidden cars.

This game, along with its sequel, was possibly an ancestor to the Mario Kart series, most likely due to the fact that it features Mario and possesses similar 2D racing mechanics, which was later carried on to Super Mario Kart.