FZ, F-Z, Fz, or fz may refer to:
Fez (French: Fès; Arabic: فاس; Berber: Fas, ⴼⴰⵙ) is the second largest city of Morocco, with a population of 1.1 million (2014).
Fez was the capital of modern Morocco until 1925, and is now the capital of the Fès-Meknès administrative region. The city has two old medina quarters, the larger of which is Fes el Bali. It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is believed to be one of the world's largest car-free urban areas.University of al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859, is the oldest continuously functioning madrasa in the world. The city has been called the "Mecca of the West" and the "Athens of Africa".
History
Etymology
The Middle Atlas mountains near the Fez city is called "Fazaz", and a small town west from Meknes is called Ait Fazzaz.
The word "فأس, Fa's" means 'Pickaxe' in Arabic, which legends say Idriss I used when he created the lines of the city. One noticeable thing was that the pickaxe was made from silver and gold.
During the Idrissid rule, Fez consisted of two cities or medinas: Fas Elbali, founded by Idris I, and Al-'Aliya, founded by his son, Idris II. During Idrisid rule the capital city was known as Al-'Aliya, with the name Fas being reserved for the separate site on the other side of the river; no Idrisid coins have been found with the name Fez, only al-'Aliya and al-'Aliya Madinat Idris. It is not known whether the name al-'Aliya was ever referred to both medinas. It wasn't until 1070 that the two agglomerations were united and the name Fas was used for the sites.
F-Zero is a series of futuristic racing video games originally created by Nintendo EAD with multiple games developed by outside companies. The first game was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990 and prompted Nintendo to create multiple sequels on succeeding gaming consoles.
The series has been known for its high-speed racing, unique characters and settings, difficult gameplay, original music, and pushing the limits of its technology to be one of the fastest racing games ever. The first game inspired the creation of games such as Daytona USA and the Wipeout series.
The series has been largely dormant since 2004, with the last title being F-Zero Climax. It has however made several appearances in other franchises such as Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros.
Games
The first game in the series and a launch game for the SNES, F-Zero was also the first Super Nintendo game to use a technique that Nintendo called "Mode 7 Scrolling". When Mode 7 was combined with scaling and positioning of the layer on a scanline-by-scanline basis it could simulate 3D environments. Such techniques in games were considered to be revolutionary in a time when most console games were restricted to static/flat backgrounds and 2-dimensional (2D) objects. The result was developer Nintendo EAD creating a game that IGN reviewer Craig Harris called the fastest and smoothest pseudo-3D console racer of its time.