F-Zero GX

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

F-Zero GX
Racing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

F-Zero GX is a 2003

arcade system board
.

F-Zero GX retains the basic gameplay of the previous

Captain Falcon
through nine chapters.

The GX and AX project was the first significant game collaboration between Nintendo and Sega. GX received positive reviews for its visuals, intense action, sense of speed, and track design, though its difficulty was criticized. In 2025, it was rereleased on the Nintendo Classics service for the Nintendo Switch 2.

Gameplay

See also: Gameplay of F-Zero

F-Zero GX is a futuristic racing game where up to thirty competitors race on massive circuits inside plasma-powered machines in an intergalactic Grand Prix.[1] It 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.[2][3] Tracks include enclosed tubes, cylinders, tricky jumps, and rollercoaster-esque paths.[2][4] Some courses are littered with innate obstacles like dirt patches and mines.[4] An emphasis is placed on track memorization and reflexes.[2][3] Each machine handles differently,[5] has its own performance abilities affected by its weight, and a grip, boost, and durability trait graded on an A to E (best to worst) scale.[6] Before a race, the player is able to adjust a vehicle's balance between maximum acceleration and maximum top speed.[3] Every machine has an energy meter, which serves two purposes. First, it is a measurement of the machine's health and is decreased from accidents or attacks from opposing racers.[7] Second, the player is usually given the ability to boost after the first lap,[8] but must sacrifice energy to do so.[7] 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.[8] Courses may also have jump plates, which launch vehicles into the air enabling them to cut corners.[9][8]

Each racing craft contains

shoulder buttons.[10] Afterwards, the physics modeling gives 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.[11] This technique called "snaking" delivers a massive increase in speed,[3] 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.[12]

head-up display and racing craft. The game features widescreen and progressive scan support.[2]

F-Zero GX features numerous gameplay modes and options.

difficulty levels: Novice, Standard, Expert, and Master.[15] Players get a certain number of points for finishing a track depending on where they placed, and the winner of the circuit is the character who receives the most total points.[9] If the player has a "spare machine"—the equivalent of an extra life—then the race can be restarted even if the player's vehicle is destroyed from losing all energy or falling off the track. A predetermined number of spare machines based on the difficulty level chosen are given to players before starting a cup.[17] Players get an additional spare machine for every five contenders they destroy through vehicular combat,[18][8] with each destroyed and eliminated opponent also granting extra energy.[18]

The Vs. Battle is the multiplayer mode where two to four players can compete simultaneously.

full motion video sequence.[23]

Customize mode is divided between the F-Zero Shop, Garage, and Emblem Editor. The shop is where opponent machines, custom parts for vehicle creation, and miscellaneous items such as story mode chapters and staff ghost data can be purchased with tickets. Tickets are acquired as the player progresses through the Grand Prix, Time Attack, and Story mode. In the Garage section, players can create a machine with three custom parts or print emblems on any vehicle. The parts are divided into body, cockpit, and booster categories, and affect the vehicle's overall durability, maximum speed, cornering, and acceleration. The Emblem Editor lets players create decals.[24]

F-Zero GX is the first F-Zero game to feature a story mode.

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 eliminate 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.[25] Toshihiro Nagoshi, one of the 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.[20]

Arcade counterpart

F-Zero AX
Triforce

F-Zero AX is a futuristic racing

JAMMA arcade show. The Cycraft machine, co-developed between Sega and Simuline, is a cabin suspended in midair controlled by three servomotors for an in-depth motion-based simulation.[31]

The game features 14 playable vehicles with their pilots, consisting of ten newcomers and the four returning characters from the original F-Zero, as well as six race tracks.[26] Each track must be completed before time runs out. Time extensions are awarded for reaching multiple checkpoints on a course however, the player will receive time penalties for falling off-course or depleting their energy meter.[32] Two gameplay modes are available: Race mode, in which the player races against twenty-nine opponents; and Time Attack mode, in which the player attempts to complete a track in the fastest time possible.[33] Connecting multiple cabinets opens up "Versus Play" in the race mode, thus enabling up to four players to compete simultaneously.[32]

Data storage devices

F-Zero AX cabinets can dispense

magnetic stripe cards called an "F-Zero license card" to keep track of custom machine data, pilot points, and race data. A card was bundled with the Japanese release of F-Zero GX. The card expires after fifty uses, but its data can be transferred to a new card.[26] Once inserted, the game builds a machine with three custom parts which can be upgraded by earning pilot points.[34] Pilot points are acquired as the player progresses through the Race and Time Attack modes.[32] Players can increase point earnings by improving finish place, eliminating opponents, and finishing races with a large amount of energy reserved.[26] A magnetic stripe card is needed to enter the F-Zero AX Internet Ranking system.[35] Similarly to GX,[20] players receive a password after completing a Time Attack race to enter on the official F-Zero website's ranking system.[36]

GameCube memory cards, on which saved games are kept, can be inserted into these arcade units.[37] A memory card is required for players a chance to win the AX-exclusive pilots, their vehicles, and tracks for use in GX.[38] Players can store up to four machines from GX on a memory card, then play them in AX. If a memory card is used with a magnetic stripe card, players have additional options; they can enter stored GX machines into the F-Zero AX Internet ranking system, and transfer custom AX machine parts to GX.[37] F-Zero AX content can also be acquired by completing GX's tougher challenges,[39][40] or through the use of a cheat device.[41]

Development

After Sega transitioned from

Triforce" was being developed in conjunction between Nintendo, Namco, and Sega.[29] The idea for the arcade board originated after discussions between Sega and Namco about the capabilities and cost effectiveness of the GameCube architecture to make arcade games.[45] Sega, having helped to develop Nintendo's Triforce arcade system, wanted to support it with software that would "stand out and draw attention to Nintendo's platform."[44] Nagoshi was suggested to develop a driving game and agreed under the stipulation he could come up with something unique—which was working on the next installment in Nintendo's F-Zero series.[44] Nagoshi contemplated declining the project due to the combined pressure of making a great impression on Nintendo and creating the next installment of an esteemed franchise, but his curiosity about what he and his team could create overcame his hesitation.[46]

"With Nintendo, it comes to a question of letting some other companies work on our franchises. We focus more on specific relationships with talented producers; we look for people who will care, spend a lot of time and energy, on a specific franchise. We also want to allow these producers to work on franchises that they are interested in working on."

— Shigeru Miyamoto,
Nintendo EAD General Manager, The Nintendo/Sega Press Conference on July 7, 2003.[20]

In March 2002, an announcement from Sega and Nintendo revealed that Amusement Vision and Nintendo would collaborate to release F-Zero games for the Triforce arcade board and the GameCube.

Daytona USA and other racing games.[52] F-Zero producer Shigeru Miyamoto stated that Nintendo "gained a lot of fans among current game developers, including famous producers like Mr. Nagoshi who grew up playing Nintendo games and are big fans of some of our titles."[20] and thought the collaboration resulted in a "true evolution of the F-Zero series", enhancing the simulation of racing at high speeds and expanding the "F-Zero world on a grand scale."[53]

While Amusement Vision was responsible for most of the development,

audio mastering.[58]

Nintendo revealed the first footage of F-Zero GX at the Pre-

video conference call from Japan on July 7, Miyamoto, Nagoshi, and Imamura answered questions about the two F-Zero games. There, Miyamoto announced the Japanese version was finished and would soon be available to the public. Nagoshi mentioned that back at E3 2003, he was hoping that they would have that time to include a local area network (LAN) multiplayer mode, however they chose not to support this mode. The development team focused more on the single-player aspects, and a LAN multiplayer mode would distract greatly.[20] Imamura commented that even though he worked directly on F-Zero throughout its different incarnations, this time he took a "step back and was involved at kind of a producer level at looking over the game."[20] Imamura added "hav[ing] worked on the F-Zero series, and seeing the results of the collaboration with Sega, I found myself at something of a loss as to how we can take the franchise further past F-Zero GX and AX."[20]

Release

Published by Nintendo,

Scitron Digital Content record label on July 22, 2004.[65][66] The first disc consists of forty-one tracks and the second has forty with an additional track rearranged by Supersweep's AYA (Ayako Sasō) of "Big Blue".[58][66] F-Zero GX was added to the Nintendo Classics library for the Nintendo Switch 2 on June 5, 2025.[67]

Reception

F-Zero GX has an average score of 89/100 on the aggregate website Metacritic.[68] Some video game journalists consider it as one of the best racers of its time and the greatest racer on the GameCube platform.[72][69] It was listed "Best GameCube Racing Game" in the E3 2003 IGN Awards and "Best Racing Game of 2003" by IGN.[73][74] F-Zero GX was named the best GameCube game of August 2003 and "Best GameCube Driving Game" of 2003 overall by GameSpot, and was nominated for "Console Racing Game of the Year" at the 7th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards held by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.[75][76][77] Official Nintendo Magazine ranked it the 92nd best game available on Nintendo platforms. The staff felt it was best for hardcore fans.[78] In 2007, Edge named it the 66th-best game.[79]

The game has been credited for its visuals,[2][4] arcade/home connectivity, longevity, sharp controls, tough challenge,[80] and fleshed-out single-player modes.[4][69] The game's most common criticism is its difficulty, especially in the story mode.[2][81] It earned fourth place in IGN's and GameTrailers' toughest games to beat.[80] GameTrailers mentioned F-Zero GX demanded players to master the "rollercoaster-style tracks [which] required hairline precision" to avoid falling off-course.[82] Electronic Gaming Monthly criticized GX's sharp increase in difficulty and GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann agreed stating it "will surely turn some people away before they've seen the 20 tracks and unlocked all the story mode chapters".[2][69] Bryn Williams of GameSpy mentioned that "purists may find it too similar to [sic] N64 version" and criticized the lack of LAN play.[4]

Player's Choice line in both Europe[85] and North America[86] by selling at least 250,000 copies.[87] Nagoshi said in a 2018 Edge interview that F-Zero GX sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide.[88]

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Bibliography

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