"You don't win by being lucky; you win by being bold." - Captain Falcon
So F-Zero X is a pretty cool game. Perhaps a bit bare and a smidge held back by its hardware, but if you want a blisteringly fast and silky smooth racing experience with a heaping scoop of character and style, you need look no further. I've played plenty of great racers throughout the years, but I'd say that no other game has given me the same hit of adrenaline F-Zero X does.
Or anyways, no game did until I played GX.
A joint venture between Nintendo and Sega (and Namco, but I'm not here to talk about AX), F-Zero GX takes almost everything that I loved about X and brings it to new heights. It's faster, prettier, and definitely bolder.
On the content end of things, while F-Zero GX does drop a couple of features from X, it comes to the table with so much more in tow. Aside from the expected variety of tracks, racers and other unlockables, there's also a story mode and a custom machine builder, including an interface for crafting unique emblems. The added replay feature is a lovely addition for those that like immortalizing their favorite moments or reviewing their performance to look for ways to improve. There's a full suite of character profiles for the racers, giving you a means of getting up close and personal with them without the need for cracking open a manual. They even get their own theme songs!
Just for fun, here's a quick rundown of some of my favorite F-Zero contestants:
Mighty Gazelle - Was resurrected as a cyborg after a terrible accident in a previous grand prix. His new robotic body allows him to push his limits without fear of death.
Mrs. Arrow - A former F-Zero circuit model who is married to the heroic Super Arrow. She races to protect her husband on the track, but is a notably better pilot than him due to already being an experienced F-Zero entrant.
The Skull - A legendary racer from a grand prix that predates F-Zero by at least 200 years. He passed away long ago, but through the use of black magic, he came back to life because he just loves racing that damn much.
Leon - A survivor of war who now races to give hope to the people of his home planet. He plans to use his winnings to give a better life to the children of the orphanage he runs.
Draq and Roger Buster - A pair of deliverymen who had a couple of F-Zero machines turn up without addressees. Draq is a long-time F-Zero fanboy who prepped for his debut by playing the official F-Zero video games. He couldn't pass up the opportunity to participate in a race instead of simply watching them. Roger, on the other hand, is just entering to keep an eye on Draq and is hopeful the rightful owners of the machines will step up once they see their property out on the track.
Silver Neelsen - A longtime F-Zero participant who is now pushing 100 years of age. Even still, he's never won a title. He's considering retirement, but acknowledges he'll probably keep racing until he's dead.
Gomar and Shioh - They come from a planet where each individual finds a partner to live their lives with until they find a suitable mate. These two do everything together, and even have an entirely unique twin-cockpit machine.
And of course, Captain Falcon himself.
The tracks have become much more memorable, both in terms of visuals and designs. The Gamecube's strengths are on full display here, and each locale looks absolutely fantastic, to say nothing of the way improved special effects have augmented the feel of the action during a race. Energy streams out of the back of your machine as you boost, and violent sparks fly when colliding with another contender. All while still maintaining the eye-watering speed and buttery framerate you've come to expect. The visuals hold up pretty damn well even by today's standards. Meanwhile, new gimmicks and environmental hazards have been introduced that will demand lightning-fast reflexes on your part to stay in the game. Each circuit you clear is capped off by an interview with your chosen racer, which is a genuinely ingenious and charming little inclusion. It makes the world of F-Zero feel that much more alive and gives you an opportunity to get a few fun scenes from your favorite characters. All in all, GX takes an already solid experience and fills in the gaps. If you crave speed, it's top of its class on the Gamecube, and perhaps even in the broader genre all the way up to today.
Sega's influence is easy enough to see, both with regards to the racing mechanics and the changes in aesthetic. The latter is especially noteworthy, because the darker visuals and rock/metal soundtrack have given way to something much brighter and more cartoonish. While there are still some guitar riffs scattered here or there, most of the music has shifted to various flavors of techno. I happen to be a fan of both approaches, although I must admit having a stronger love for F-Zero X's angle. In particular, I'm not a huge fan of all of the changes made to the designs of some of the racers, and the newly-added characters stick out like sore thumbs. Still, this art direction fits F-Zero like a glove, and the added camp earns a few laughs while also occasionally looping back around into "just plain cool" territory. And of course, the OST is still excellent regardless of my own preferences.
I want to give a special shout out to the story mode because I feel it's the most underappreciated part of the experience. It's cheesy as hell and the CG hasn't held up especially well, but it is exactly what you would expect an F-Zero story to be. You follow around Captain Falcon as he tries to have a normal day before the next big F-Zero tourney. He dodges boulders in a high-speed canyon run, gets forced into a bet race, goes toe to toe with a street gang, saves a friend from an exploding building, reenacts the plot of Speed, and takes home the title belt before kicking the big bad's ass. And then, if that weren't enough, the final chapter involves the Cap being challenged to a race by who is essentially God. His reaction? To tell God to stuff it. And then he kicks God's ass, too. In the meantime you get little glimpses into the world of F-Zero and the people inhabiting it. It doesn't go nearly as deep as I would have liked, but I feel that it just captures the spirit of F-Zero so perfectly I can't help but love it. It's 100% the kind of narrative you would anticipate from a realm where bounty-hunters, superheroes, genetic experiments, pop stars and delivery drivers all compete for fame and fortune.
I mean, I do have some criticisms. The artificial difficulty quotient isn't necessarily any lower or higher than in the past - it simply shifted focus. Higher difficulties will still have you hounded relentlessly by vicious competitors who simply do not make mistakes and will scoop a win out from underneath you if you so much as sneeze. This, combined with the more hostile track design, will assuredly test your patience if you're a completionist. However, while the overall gameplay experience is arguably more hardcore than its predecessors, the relative chaos on the course also means a higher variance in placements amongst your rivals. This means that compared to F-Zero X (at least in my experience) taking home the cup doesn't always demand that you place 1st on every track. I haven't dared to brave the Master difficulty as of writing, so perhaps I simply have yet to experience true pain. Car-to-car combat is fairly awkward, much like in the previous game, and thus the systems attached to cratering troublesome opponents still feel like something of an afterthought. The same could be said for a significant portion of the available racers, as body is just an all-around inferior stat to boost and grip (and low-grip machines don't seem to benefit from a unique potential for some fancy drifting as they did in X). Thus, if you're really trying to win, you're likely to be limiting yourself to a small handful of characters. I think that improving your offensive options while also granting bonus ranking points for eliminations would be a solid move. It would give bulkier machines more relevance and would make aggressive playstyles more competitive. The story mode, while fun, is definitely a bit short and needing to unlock each chapter with credits feels like unnecessary padding. There's a good number of unlockables, but I feel things like the ship builder could have been expanded just a bit. A track editor would have been a welcome inclusion as well, especially since we never got the F-Zero X expansion pack stateside, and the return of a Death Race mode could have been good fun as well. All minor complaints in the end, and ones that I think could easily be ironed out should Nintendo ever opt for a port of this game.
Seriously, add a few layers of extra content and you're golden. Especially online multiplayer. F-Zero 99 showed that the potential is there. Thirty players on a single track, streaking by at supersonic speeds? Full tournaments with battle-royale style mechanics, and winners taking home trophies, credits and unique parts for their machines? There's nothing else out there like it. That's the kind of blood-pumping, nerve-twisting action that the genre needs right now. Maybe a few extra bells and whistles - redo the CG cutscenes, bring back some tracks and music from X and the SNES original, perhaps a custom pilot creator to go along with the machine builder. And something should probably be done about snaking. Leave it in the single-player modes if you can, but find a way to prevent it from being used online. I don't think it adds anything of benefit to the experience. Oh, and please add in the ability to reset a grand prix from any point in the process without needing to quit out to the main menu first. I have plenty of suggestions I could make on how to potentially improve an already great experience, but even with the handful of gripes I do have, I feel that Nintendo and Sega did a fantastic job here. It's about as close to perfection you can reasonably get, and the biggest complaint I have is that we haven't had a meaningful follow-up since.
This game came out twenty years ago.
General public perception seems to be that Nintendo simply doesn't see the value in releasing a new title. Perhaps they don't have any new concepts to build a game around, or maybe they don't want to pull any attention away from their "flagship" racing series, Mario Kart. Maybe they just flat out don't have any faith in it to make a splash even if they were to pour their best efforts into producing a new entry. I'm personally hung up on one particular quote from Shigeru Miyamoto in an interview with French site Gamekult about ten years back: "Why F-Zero? What do you want to see that hasn't been done yet?" Based on his statement, it would be easy enough to suggest that Mr. Miyamoto simply doesn't think the franchise has any untapped potential and thus isn't worth revisiting. However, I think he has a point. I'm not entirely sure what meaningful new features you could add to F-Zero because almost everything that I'd dare to ask for is already present in GX. If the goal was to make a completely new F-Zero, are we sure Nintendo could approach it in such a way that wouldn't ultimately draw unfavorable comparisons to their last fully-fledged offering? Obviously tastes differ from person to person, but you need look no further to see the potential for a misstep than Star Fox. There have been several new titles featuring Fox McCloud over the years, even as recently as 2016, but not a single one of them have reached the acclaim or sales numbers of 1997's Star Fox 64. After so many flops, wouldn't it be easier to say that we peaked long ago and leave it at that? Why invite the opportunity to leave a blemish on a series with an otherwise (mostly) sterling reputation? Maybe it's better to let sleeping dogs lie. We can remain content with F-Zero as it once was and still is. Maybe someday another challenger can carry the torch and introduce the world to a worthy successor of the King of Speed.
Which is what a coward would say.
I know we can do better. F-Zero simply has too much going for it to languish in a cobweb-ridden corner of Nintendo's basement. There is no reason why a company with so many timeless experiences under its belt couldn't make an absolute smash hit out of this franchise if they really wanted to. There is potential here to create the greatest racing game of all time. You may already feel that GX is the greatest racing game of all time, and I think that's valid. However, I firmly believe a new entry, if handled with love and care, could become the undisputed champion.
Be bold, Nintendo. I expect to see you out on the track.
So F-Zero X is a pretty cool game. Perhaps a bit bare and a smidge held back by its hardware, but if you want a blisteringly fast and silky smooth racing experience with a heaping scoop of character and style, you need look no further. I've played plenty of great racers throughout the years, but I'd say that no other game has given me the same hit of adrenaline F-Zero X does.
Or anyways, no game did until I played GX.
A joint venture between Nintendo and Sega (and Namco, but I'm not here to talk about AX), F-Zero GX takes almost everything that I loved about X and brings it to new heights. It's faster, prettier, and definitely bolder.
On the content end of things, while F-Zero GX does drop a couple of features from X, it comes to the table with so much more in tow. Aside from the expected variety of tracks, racers and other unlockables, there's also a story mode and a custom machine builder, including an interface for crafting unique emblems. The added replay feature is a lovely addition for those that like immortalizing their favorite moments or reviewing their performance to look for ways to improve. There's a full suite of character profiles for the racers, giving you a means of getting up close and personal with them without the need for cracking open a manual. They even get their own theme songs!
Just for fun, here's a quick rundown of some of my favorite F-Zero contestants:
Mighty Gazelle - Was resurrected as a cyborg after a terrible accident in a previous grand prix. His new robotic body allows him to push his limits without fear of death.
Mrs. Arrow - A former F-Zero circuit model who is married to the heroic Super Arrow. She races to protect her husband on the track, but is a notably better pilot than him due to already being an experienced F-Zero entrant.
The Skull - A legendary racer from a grand prix that predates F-Zero by at least 200 years. He passed away long ago, but through the use of black magic, he came back to life because he just loves racing that damn much.
Leon - A survivor of war who now races to give hope to the people of his home planet. He plans to use his winnings to give a better life to the children of the orphanage he runs.
Draq and Roger Buster - A pair of deliverymen who had a couple of F-Zero machines turn up without addressees. Draq is a long-time F-Zero fanboy who prepped for his debut by playing the official F-Zero video games. He couldn't pass up the opportunity to participate in a race instead of simply watching them. Roger, on the other hand, is just entering to keep an eye on Draq and is hopeful the rightful owners of the machines will step up once they see their property out on the track.
Silver Neelsen - A longtime F-Zero participant who is now pushing 100 years of age. Even still, he's never won a title. He's considering retirement, but acknowledges he'll probably keep racing until he's dead.
Gomar and Shioh - They come from a planet where each individual finds a partner to live their lives with until they find a suitable mate. These two do everything together, and even have an entirely unique twin-cockpit machine.
And of course, Captain Falcon himself.
The tracks have become much more memorable, both in terms of visuals and designs. The Gamecube's strengths are on full display here, and each locale looks absolutely fantastic, to say nothing of the way improved special effects have augmented the feel of the action during a race. Energy streams out of the back of your machine as you boost, and violent sparks fly when colliding with another contender. All while still maintaining the eye-watering speed and buttery framerate you've come to expect. The visuals hold up pretty damn well even by today's standards. Meanwhile, new gimmicks and environmental hazards have been introduced that will demand lightning-fast reflexes on your part to stay in the game. Each circuit you clear is capped off by an interview with your chosen racer, which is a genuinely ingenious and charming little inclusion. It makes the world of F-Zero feel that much more alive and gives you an opportunity to get a few fun scenes from your favorite characters. All in all, GX takes an already solid experience and fills in the gaps. If you crave speed, it's top of its class on the Gamecube, and perhaps even in the broader genre all the way up to today.
Sega's influence is easy enough to see, both with regards to the racing mechanics and the changes in aesthetic. The latter is especially noteworthy, because the darker visuals and rock/metal soundtrack have given way to something much brighter and more cartoonish. While there are still some guitar riffs scattered here or there, most of the music has shifted to various flavors of techno. I happen to be a fan of both approaches, although I must admit having a stronger love for F-Zero X's angle. In particular, I'm not a huge fan of all of the changes made to the designs of some of the racers, and the newly-added characters stick out like sore thumbs. Still, this art direction fits F-Zero like a glove, and the added camp earns a few laughs while also occasionally looping back around into "just plain cool" territory. And of course, the OST is still excellent regardless of my own preferences.
I want to give a special shout out to the story mode because I feel it's the most underappreciated part of the experience. It's cheesy as hell and the CG hasn't held up especially well, but it is exactly what you would expect an F-Zero story to be. You follow around Captain Falcon as he tries to have a normal day before the next big F-Zero tourney. He dodges boulders in a high-speed canyon run, gets forced into a bet race, goes toe to toe with a street gang, saves a friend from an exploding building, reenacts the plot of Speed, and takes home the title belt before kicking the big bad's ass. And then, if that weren't enough, the final chapter involves the Cap being challenged to a race by who is essentially God. His reaction? To tell God to stuff it. And then he kicks God's ass, too. In the meantime you get little glimpses into the world of F-Zero and the people inhabiting it. It doesn't go nearly as deep as I would have liked, but I feel that it just captures the spirit of F-Zero so perfectly I can't help but love it. It's 100% the kind of narrative you would anticipate from a realm where bounty-hunters, superheroes, genetic experiments, pop stars and delivery drivers all compete for fame and fortune.
I mean, I do have some criticisms. The artificial difficulty quotient isn't necessarily any lower or higher than in the past - it simply shifted focus. Higher difficulties will still have you hounded relentlessly by vicious competitors who simply do not make mistakes and will scoop a win out from underneath you if you so much as sneeze. This, combined with the more hostile track design, will assuredly test your patience if you're a completionist. However, while the overall gameplay experience is arguably more hardcore than its predecessors, the relative chaos on the course also means a higher variance in placements amongst your rivals. This means that compared to F-Zero X (at least in my experience) taking home the cup doesn't always demand that you place 1st on every track. I haven't dared to brave the Master difficulty as of writing, so perhaps I simply have yet to experience true pain. Car-to-car combat is fairly awkward, much like in the previous game, and thus the systems attached to cratering troublesome opponents still feel like something of an afterthought. The same could be said for a significant portion of the available racers, as body is just an all-around inferior stat to boost and grip (and low-grip machines don't seem to benefit from a unique potential for some fancy drifting as they did in X). Thus, if you're really trying to win, you're likely to be limiting yourself to a small handful of characters. I think that improving your offensive options while also granting bonus ranking points for eliminations would be a solid move. It would give bulkier machines more relevance and would make aggressive playstyles more competitive. The story mode, while fun, is definitely a bit short and needing to unlock each chapter with credits feels like unnecessary padding. There's a good number of unlockables, but I feel things like the ship builder could have been expanded just a bit. A track editor would have been a welcome inclusion as well, especially since we never got the F-Zero X expansion pack stateside, and the return of a Death Race mode could have been good fun as well. All minor complaints in the end, and ones that I think could easily be ironed out should Nintendo ever opt for a port of this game.
Seriously, add a few layers of extra content and you're golden. Especially online multiplayer. F-Zero 99 showed that the potential is there. Thirty players on a single track, streaking by at supersonic speeds? Full tournaments with battle-royale style mechanics, and winners taking home trophies, credits and unique parts for their machines? There's nothing else out there like it. That's the kind of blood-pumping, nerve-twisting action that the genre needs right now. Maybe a few extra bells and whistles - redo the CG cutscenes, bring back some tracks and music from X and the SNES original, perhaps a custom pilot creator to go along with the machine builder. And something should probably be done about snaking. Leave it in the single-player modes if you can, but find a way to prevent it from being used online. I don't think it adds anything of benefit to the experience. Oh, and please add in the ability to reset a grand prix from any point in the process without needing to quit out to the main menu first. I have plenty of suggestions I could make on how to potentially improve an already great experience, but even with the handful of gripes I do have, I feel that Nintendo and Sega did a fantastic job here. It's about as close to perfection you can reasonably get, and the biggest complaint I have is that we haven't had a meaningful follow-up since.
This game came out twenty years ago.
General public perception seems to be that Nintendo simply doesn't see the value in releasing a new title. Perhaps they don't have any new concepts to build a game around, or maybe they don't want to pull any attention away from their "flagship" racing series, Mario Kart. Maybe they just flat out don't have any faith in it to make a splash even if they were to pour their best efforts into producing a new entry. I'm personally hung up on one particular quote from Shigeru Miyamoto in an interview with French site Gamekult about ten years back: "Why F-Zero? What do you want to see that hasn't been done yet?" Based on his statement, it would be easy enough to suggest that Mr. Miyamoto simply doesn't think the franchise has any untapped potential and thus isn't worth revisiting. However, I think he has a point. I'm not entirely sure what meaningful new features you could add to F-Zero because almost everything that I'd dare to ask for is already present in GX. If the goal was to make a completely new F-Zero, are we sure Nintendo could approach it in such a way that wouldn't ultimately draw unfavorable comparisons to their last fully-fledged offering? Obviously tastes differ from person to person, but you need look no further to see the potential for a misstep than Star Fox. There have been several new titles featuring Fox McCloud over the years, even as recently as 2016, but not a single one of them have reached the acclaim or sales numbers of 1997's Star Fox 64. After so many flops, wouldn't it be easier to say that we peaked long ago and leave it at that? Why invite the opportunity to leave a blemish on a series with an otherwise (mostly) sterling reputation? Maybe it's better to let sleeping dogs lie. We can remain content with F-Zero as it once was and still is. Maybe someday another challenger can carry the torch and introduce the world to a worthy successor of the King of Speed.
Which is what a coward would say.
I know we can do better. F-Zero simply has too much going for it to languish in a cobweb-ridden corner of Nintendo's basement. There is no reason why a company with so many timeless experiences under its belt couldn't make an absolute smash hit out of this franchise if they really wanted to. There is potential here to create the greatest racing game of all time. You may already feel that GX is the greatest racing game of all time, and I think that's valid. However, I firmly believe a new entry, if handled with love and care, could become the undisputed champion.
Be bold, Nintendo. I expect to see you out on the track.
2 Comments
@imshitting420 Definitely a great tune, high-energy with a really optimistic tone that's a great match for the courses it plays on
imshitting420
4 months ago