F-Zero GX
エフゼロ ジーエックス
Developed by Amusement Vision (now called Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio) and published by Nintendo for the GameCube console in 2003, there was F-Zero GX. Was it a hard racing video game known for its hilarious “OFF COURSE! RETIRED!” message? Let’s find out since I didn’t own any F-Zero games, except for the SNES and N64 games. Hidenori Shoji and Daiki Kasho scored the game’s soundtrack, while Toshihiro Nagoshi (Ryu Ga Gotoku/Like a Dragon and Super Monkey Ball creator) and Shigeru Miyamoto are the game’s producers.
F-Zero GX is the successor to F-Zero X and continues the series’ difficult, high-speed racing style, retaining the basic gameplay and control system from the Nintendo 64 game. A heavy emphasis is placed on track memorization and reflexes. GX introduces a “story mode” element, where the player assumes the role of F-Zero pilot Captain Falcon through nine chapters while completing various missions.
This futuristic racing game has up to thirty competitors racing on massive circuits inside plasma-powered machines in an intergalactic Grand Prix. F-Zero GX is much more difficult than the previous F-Zero games, retaining the basic gameplay and control system from the Nintendo 64 game. Tracks include enclosed tubes, cylinders, tricky jumps, and rollercoaster-esque paths. Some courses are littered with innate obstacles like dirt patches and mines. A heavy emphasis is placed on track memorization and reflexes, which aids in completing the game. Each machine handles differently, has its own performance abilities affected by its weight, and has a grip, boost, and durability trait graded on an A to E (best to worst) scale. Before a race, the player can adjust a vehicle’s balance between maximum acceleration and maximum top speed. Every machine has an energy meter, which serves two purposes. First, it is a measurement of the machine’s health and is decreased by accidents or attacks from opposing racers. Second, the player is usually given the ability to boost after the first lap but must sacrifice energy to do so. Pit areas and dash plates are located at various points around the track for vehicles to drive over. The former replenishes energy, while the latter gives a speed boost without using up any energy. The less time spent in the pit area, the less energy will regenerate. Courses may also have jump plates, which launch vehicles into the air enabling them to cut corners.
Each racing craft contains air brakes for navigating tight corners by using an analog stick and shoulder buttons. Afterwards, the game’s physics modeling give vehicles setup with high acceleration a boost of acceleration. Players can easily exploit this on a wide straight stretch of a circuit to generate serpentinous movements. This technique called “snaking” delivers a massive increase in speed, but it is best used on the easier tracks, when racing alone in Time Trial, and with heavy vehicles with a high grip rating and given high acceleration. According to Nintendo, the snaking technique was an intentional addition to F-Zero GX’s gameplay.
F-Zero GX is the first F-Zero game to feature a story mode. Its story has the player assume the role of F-Zero pilot Captain Falcon in nine chapters of various racing scenarios; such as Falcon’s training regiment, a race against a rival through a canyon with falling boulders, attack and eliminating a rival’s gang, and escape from a collapsing building through closing blast doors. Each chapter can be completed on a normal, hard, and very hard difficulty setting. Toshihiro Nagoshi, one of the game’s co-producers, stated that this mode was included because the development team felt that the F-Zero universe was unique and they wanted to explain some of the characters’ motivations and flesh out the game world.
F-Zero GX can be found on eBay, and despite the game having positive reviews, the game sold poorly and is now being sold at high prices. I’d rather avoid the game because it’s insanely hard, and you might want to stick with F-Zero X. Is this the final GameCube game review on Medium? One can never say since Shinkansen Retrogamer will cease publication this week.
