F-Zero GX

[Stanshall]

Having never played, well, any of the F-Zero games for more than a few minutes here and there over the last 25 years, I was intrigued by KSub's recent claim that GX was 'closer to Groove Coaster' than a traditional racing game. Even accounting for the blatant emotional manipulation and coercive reasoning, I decided to extend my faith and generosity and put the lofty pronouncement to the test.

Oof. This is a bit good.

First of all, I can't believe how good it looks. I'm running it off my Wii in Progressive Scan and widescreen, with an HDMI converter. It frankly has no right to look this good on a modern telly. Its very heartening, and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into the rest of the Wii and GC catalogue. I've also siphoned the sound off via an HDMI audio extractor into headphones, and I've been impressed by how well the audio stands up, too. Very punchy and full of life. But back to the visual performance, it flies like shit off a shovel. It feels absolutely rapid even on Novice Mode. (In fact, I decided to do a quick capture to see how it would come out. I think this looks superb - although funnily enough not as good as on the telly, I'll have to investigate, seems I can only capture the Wii at 30fps via HDMI.)



I'm obviously crap at it but I can feel what's appealing. The sliding round hairpin corners and S-bends is especially satisfying (when I can do it) and although I haven't yet experienced what KSub suggested in terms of the rhythm game mechanics, my brief moments of success on higher difficulties give me a little glimpse of what it is to chain little stretches together through muscle memory rather than simply reading and reacting to the track. I was intrigued, but now I'm feeling like I've missed out for the last fifteen years! I'll definitely be burning through my battery stash on this.

Anyway, not too much in-depth analysis yet, I've only just started playing but I wanted to get the ball rolling to see if there are any more fans here. If not, I'll just continue to share a few evolving thoughts!

[KSubzero1000]

Yay! Endless joy!

Even accounting for the blatant emotional manipulation and coercive reasoning

Hey, I need to get through that thick skull of yours somehow! I'm at my wits' end here!

I haven't yet experienced what KSub suggested in terms of the rhythm game mechanics

In my defense, I did say that Story Mode was the most scripted and memorization-heavy part of the game, whereas Grand Prix was always going to have a much higher amount of randomization on account of all the on-screen opponents.

Have you tried it yet?

The sliding round hairpin corners and S-bends is especially satisfying (when I can do it)

So, I assume you haven't got the manual in front of you, and this game has a couple of crucial semi-secret techniques that the in-game interface doesn't tell you about, for better or for worse.

Arguably the most important one is the difference between Slide Turning and Drift Turning. Slide Turning is the easiest of the two and is performed by steering in the direction of a simple drift (shoulder button).

Drift Turning is a bit more complicated and is performed by pressing and holding down both the L and R buttons while / before steering. This significantly reduces the traction of your vehicle and makes it more difficult to handle, but allows you to take much sharper turns after a slight delay. A lot of late-game tracks will flat-out reject any other turning techniques.

You'll need to master both to deal with what this game has in store for you, my friend.


PS: Oh, and NATIVE WIDESCREEN in the OPTIONS.

[Michiel K]

One of the alltime greats. Welcome to the circle of aficianados, Stanshall! Love the capture as well.

[Suits]

Lovely game, looks great, handles very well, just an incredible difficulty spike out of no-where on I think track 5 ruins it for me.

Every time I play this game with a serious passion to push on, I'm wiped out by those silly blind jumps into oblivion.

Sad.

[Suits]

I’m gunna try this again you know.

It can’t be that hard, or maybe I’m missing something .

[NoMoreSpearows]

One of my crowning achievements is that I beat the first mission in Story Mode on the hardest difficulty, meaning I have unlocked the privilege of being able to play as the utterly unremarkable Dai Goroh. Hoo... hooray?

I imagine my skills have all but vanished over the years, but I used to have what it took to consider myself a passable player. I use the Little Wyvern, as that was also my go-to pick in F-ZERO X, but there's probably some statistical something-or-another that says the best car is, I dunno, the Mighty Hurricane or something. Maybe it's time for me to revisit this game as well.

[Michiel K]

When noty using a custom build, I often gravitated to Octoman.

[Magical_Isopod]

GX is a good time, but if you want the best F-Zero experience possible, I highly recommend tracking down F-Zero AX at an arcade. It's GX, but you're in this big hovercar. When you hit a wall, it jolts violently. It tilts with the motion of your car. It's one of the best arcade experiences I've ever had.

[duskvstweak]

GX is a good time, but if you want the best F-Zero experience possible, I highly recommend tracking down F-Zero AX at an arcade. It's GX, but you're in this big hovercar. When you hit a wall, it jolts violently. It tilts with the motion of your car. It's one of the best arcade experiences I've ever had.

You know, I don't think I've ever seen one of those out in the wild, even back during release?
And weren't you able to bring your memory card from home to use on it as well?

[Magical_Isopod]

GX is a good time, but if you want the best F-Zero experience possible, I highly recommend tracking down F-Zero AX at an arcade. It's GX, but you're in this big hovercar. When you hit a wall, it jolts violently. It tilts with the motion of your car. It's one of the best arcade experiences I've ever had.

You know, I don't think I've ever seen one of those out in the wild, even back during release?
And weren't you able to bring your memory card from home to use on it as well?

That's entirely possible. The one I played was at Canada's Wonderland outside Toronto, so they definitely exist in North America, but I have to think the "harshness" of the mechanical function makes it prone to wear. I suspect one would have to do some research to find an arcade with a working unit. Or track down one of those companies doing arcade cab rentals.

[Flabyo]

I’ve seen the Mario Kart arcade machines ‘in the wild’ a few times now, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen the F-Zero ones.

[Magical_Isopod]

I’ve seen the Mario Kart arcade machines ‘in the wild’ a few times now, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen the F-Zero ones.

The Mario Kart ones are much newer. Based on Mario Kart 8 I think?

[Flabyo]

I think they’ve done Mario kart twice now, but yeah, the ones I saw were definitely based on 8.

[Stanshall]

They have done it twice. I played the original Mario Kart arcade in China in 2009.

[ratsoalbion]

Four times in fact - including the VR one!
2005, 2007, 2013 and 2017.

F-Zero was just the once in 2003 though.

[Stanshall]

Wow! I wonder which one I played then in '09.

Arcains in Liverpool had one of the modern ones when I visited a few months back. It was fun, better than the first one I played.

[Suits]

F-Zero arcade machine, WOW.

[ratsoalbion]

If you have the GC version then you have the AC version: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/0 ... _f_zero_gx

Albeit without the cabinet.