F-Zero X

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F-Zero X

Developer(s)	Nintendo EAD
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Release date(s)	^JP July 14, 1998 ^NA September 30, 1998 ^EU November 6, 1998 ^CN 2004 (iQue)
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64, iQue
Media	256Mb (32MB) Nintendo 64 cartridge
Input	Gamepad

F-Zero X (エフゼロエックス, F-ZERO X^?), is a video game for the Nintendo 64 console. It debuted in Japan on July 14, 1998, in North America on September 30, 1998, and in Europe on November 6, 1998.^[1] The game sold 56,457 copies during its first week of sale in Japan. The North American release of F-Zero X supposedly suffered from a three month delay due to Nintendo of America's then release policy of spacing the release of first-party games out evenly.

F-Zero X is the third in Japan (second in North America and the rest of the world) installment in Nintendo's F-Zero series. Although it failed to match the sales success of its predecessor, the Mode-7 SNES F-Zero game, F-Zero X is the first 3D release and fully polygonal game in the series. The F-Zero X team was made up of several Wave Race 64 key programmers (including the lead programmer).^[2]

The Expansion Kit for this game was released nearly two years later in Japan. To leave the field open for future, Nintendo added 64DD features into F-Zero X that would allow for add-on disks such as track editors or course updates. The 64DD was never released in North America, so these features were never taken advantage of.

1 Gameplay
2 Graphics engine
3 Music and sound
4 Expansion kit
5 Notable Differences Between F-Zero and F-Zero X
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Gameplay

The game takes place after the suspension of the original F-Zero Grand Prix. The competition was brought back under the name "F-Zero X" (also the name of the Nintendo 64 game) and the rules and regulations were revised.^[3]

F-Zero X offers the choice of either preserving energy for your defensive shield, or using it to boost ahead of the competition by the press of B button. Also, after choosing a character, on the screen to set the speed of the machine to minimum or maximum speed, you can change the color of the machine by pressing the R Button (Next Color), and the Z Button (Previous Color) With a steep learning curve, at that point in time, F-Zero X was one of the best in its genre. One of the gameplay enhancements include a feature only in F-Zero X, a "random track generator". A feature that was included in the predecessor game, is the inclusion of dash plates located at various points around the track. When you run over one of these plates, you get a speed boost that doesn't cost you any energy. F-Zero X can be used with a Rumble Pak, which allows for force feedback.

[edit] Driving tactics

Basic driving operations include using the A button for Accelerate, B for Boost (only available after lap 1), C-Down for air brakes, the control stick to steer the machine and the R and Z buttons drift from side to side. If R and Z were held together it would skid. R or Z were double tapped to execute the 'Side Attack' move. Holding R and double tapping Z (or hold Z double tap R) was a spin attack.

Of particular interest is that prior to each race players may adjust their vehicle's balance between maximum acceleration and maximum top speed. This adds strategy and replay value, as players with greater knowledge of the tracks can make better decisions. There are also Special driving techniques, one such technique is known as the 'Railslide'.

[edit] Modes

Modes include GP Race, Time Attack, VS Battle, Death Race, and Practice and a four-player multiplayer. Full records of Time Attack and Death Race times are stored on the game cartridge, as well as Cups won with each machine in each difficulty setting. The game includes the following gameplay modes:

Grand Prix: Race against twenty-nine other opponents through the tracks of a Grand Prix tour. The player need to select a difficulty level: Novice, Standard or Expert. The higher the difficulty level, the tougher the opponents and less spare machines. If you lose all energy, fall off the track, start over or change settings after the game is paused, you will lose one spare machine. When you are out of spare machines, the selection to start the track over or change settings while the game is paused is disabled, and if you die, the game is over. After the final course is completed, the Final Results in Grand Prix screen will appear. If ranked 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, there will be in the night scene with the other two racers. If ranked 1st, the character of the player used will have the head to appear from the blast, and the player will receive an X mark above the cup cleared. If ranked 2nd or 3rd, "TRY AGAIN" will appear from the blast and that cup was not cleared. If ranked 4th or lower, there will be in the daytime scene with only the players' pilot racing around the track and you will need to start all over.

Death Race: Driving on a perpetual straightaway, destroy the other 29 racers in the shortest time possible.

Time Attack: Choose a track and complete it in the shortest time possible. Good times will unlock recorded races against which to test oneself. The game comes with a staff ghost on the time attack for the level 'Silence'. The time that the staff ghost sets is 1'17"74.

Practice: Practice any track with 29 opponents.

Multiplayer: In VS Battle, two to four players can play simultaneously. Four machines will race in all multi-player modes (machines not used by players will be operated by the computer). If a player ends up retiring before the other players, that person will enter VS Slot. A slot machine will appear. Pressing the A Button will start the slots and the A Button to stop them. If three pictures are matched, its then possible make another player's machine lose all or half of its energy (depending on which pictures matched). If three "X" marks appear, the leading machine will lose all its energy. In VS Handicap its possible to adjust the HANDICAP option (on the Options screen) will give the slower machine an advantage; +1 Boost power will not consume as much energy, +2 Boost power will consume even less energy.

[edit] Cups and vehicles

The game features 30 vehicles, including the four from the original F-Zero, all of which are in F-Zero GX. Six are available from the start and more can be unlocked as the player completes the cups.

Initially, there are three Cups to choose from, each consisting of six courses. When selecting a Cup, and a brief explanation of the first course will appear at the bottom of the screen. There are five cups in total, most with names based on face cards: the Jack, Queen, King, Joker and X Cups. The X Cup becomes available once the player has beaten all the other cups in expert mode (or if appropriate cheat codes are entered). Drivers with little experience might want to start with an easier Cup.

JACK CUP - Beginner

QUEEN CUP - Intermediate

KING CUP - Expert

Every time a Cup is won, an "X" mark will appear on the Course Select screen. There are three classes with three Cups. When three "X" marks are obtained, the second row of machines will become available for play. The third row of machines will become available once six "X" marks are received and the fourth row when nine are received. That means a total of nine "X" marks are obtainable. But that only lets the player select from 24 machines. Once all of the cups are completed on each and every difficulty level, the game's end credits will be shown. After resetting the N64, the title screen and intro music will change and the final row of six machines will be selectable.

Screenshot of F-Zero X

[edit] Jack Cup

*Mute City — This course is the first of all courses. There is only one jump plate which is mainly trivial. This course is in a Figure-8 style. You loop right before you go to the start line.

*Silence – This course is a course where you only go straight, and unlike other courses, it has no curves to turn left or right.

*Sand Ocean – On this course, you can go in and out of the pipes. However, this is the first course that has pipe elements.

*Devil's Forest – This course has a corkscrew, along with some dirt and fairly sharp turns.

*Big Blue – This course has a cylinder where you can go on the top, bottom, or underneath. Be careful not to fall off the course, while on the cylinders. This is the first course with cylinder elements.

*Port Town – On this course, while up on the hills, you hit the Dash Plates to increase speed as you jump, but while in the air, tilt the Control Stick up, so your opponents don't get in front of you.

[edit] Queen Cup

*Sector Alpha – On this circuit the track is invertedly looped from the starting grid to the tunnel behind it.

*Red Canyon – On this course, the track elements are red and are of rocks, not cement.

*Devil's Forest 2 – An up-down section after the starting grid and the 270 degree left turn and before the high-walled banked corner and the narrowing of the course before the start/finish wire.

*Mute City 2 – This is the second Mute City course. This is the first Mute City course in this game that has Jump Plates, but this one has only one Jump Plate. This course takes place at night and unlike the other two, the buildings in the background are black as the lights are turned on in those buildings.

*Big Blue 2 – This is the second Big Blue course, and has just regular track elements.

*White Land – This is the first White Land course. On this course, there are steps after you hit each jump plate, so be careful not to fall off the edge of each step.

[edit] King Cup

*Fire Field – On this course, the blacktop is completely black and after you hit the Dash Plates and go off the end, whenever you land, there is a red line throughout and you don't return to the elements withough a red line until you get very close to the Start Line.

*Silence 2 – This is the only Silence course that you can turn left or right. However, there's a wavy road area on this course that has no barriers, so be careful.

*Sector Beta – This course has more inversions on this course. If you hit the traps on this course in front of you, your Energy Meter will decrease.

*Red Canyon 2 – This course has also green elements, although most of them are red. This is the only Red Canyon course that has a tunnel.

*White Land 2 – This course is all a half-pipe, so be careful not to fall from the edge. You enter the half-pipe right after the START, but you get back on the regular elements right before you race the whole lap.

*Mute City 3 – This course has a lot of Jump Plates. Unlike the other two Mute City courses, there are many areas that have no barriers, therefore making this the easiest Mute City course to fall off from, and it has no tunnels.

[edit] Joker Cup

*Rainbow Road – The whole track has the same order of elements from Mario Kart 64. Unlike Mario Kart 64, no characters in neon lights appear, there are various area that have no barriers, the whole bottom is like water (although in MK64, you keep falling until Lakitu tows you since that course has no bottom), there are traps as first seen on Sector Beta, and the elements contain rainbow lines, and some of them are just clear.

*Devil's Forest 3 – This course is a Mirror-Road course, where you can invert and see directly where you were before on this course during each lap. Try not to fall off the course since a lot of areas have no barriers. The pipe, seen in the first Sand Ocean is much shorter, and you exit it right to the Start Line.

*Space Plant – This course is the second course that has a cylinder, first seen in the first Big Blue course. There are high jumps on this course, although it has no Jump Plates.

*Sand Ocean 2 – This course is a Wave Panic course. Unlike the first Sand Ocean, there are no pipes.

*Port Town 2 – This course is much like the one in the SNES game, F-Zero, except, when you go from one end to another, you go up the hill, go off the edge, and land to the other end, but this course has no Jump Plates like the game it first appeared in.

*Big Hand – This course has deadly curves, and you go around the course like a hand. The deadly curves are the fingers, since this course has more U-Turns than you expected.

[edit] X Cup

The "X Cup" is a collection of 70+ random tracks. However, there is a misconception that these tracks are randomly generated, for similar tracks can be played on separate (or sometimes even on the same) occasion. While this added much replayability to the game, much of the tracks were either simplistic (involving a simple oval shaped track/pipe) or were difficult to race without being retired. (Many CPU vehicles would simply fly off the track.)

[edit] Death Race

The purpose of the Death Race in F-Zero X is to annihilate the 29 other racers as speedily as you can, as may be inferred by the name. There is only one course and no difficulty level. There is no limit to the number of laps, boost can be used right away, and best times will be saved to memory. A star is earned for each rival machines actually destroyed. The player won't get a star if a rival machine crashes into another. When the number of remaining rival machines is zero, the game is over. If the players Energy Meter reaches 0, or if he or she fall off the track, the player will need to start the whole race all over.

[edit] Graphics engine

F-Zero X is one of the first home console racing games that runs at 60 frames per second with up to 30 machines on screen at the same time, which is unusually fast for a Nintendo 64 game. In order to keep the frame rate, polygon counts on the vehicles, textures and track detail are sacrificed. Furthermore, the disabled Z-buffering of the N64 is replaced by an alternative drawing scheme that results in the occasional visual glitch seen throughout gameplay.

[edit] Music and sound

The F-Zero series is notable for a high quality synthesized glam metal/electronic style soundtrack. To carry on this idea on the N64 the normal sound processor was bypassed: around 10% of the processor is allocated just to background music.

The soundtrack was released on CD on January 27, 1999 in a "Guitar Arrange Edition" featuring live electric guitar arrangements of 10 of the game's music tracks. Both the game soundtrack and the "Guitar Arrange Edition" are composed and performed by Taro Bando & Hajime Wakai.

[edit] Expansion kit

Main article: F-Zero X Expansion Kit

Start screen of the Expansion Kit.

An Expansion Kit was released in Japan on April 21, 2000 for the 64DD, a removable disk add-on that plugged into the bottom of the N64. This disk includes new cups, a couple of new machines, a track editor, and a machine editor.

The Track Editor lets people create any track the way they want it by using 64 course points to determine the track layout. People can also add course details like pit areas, dash plates, tunnels, etc. The disk can save up to 100 tracks and can put 6 of them in a specially designed 'Edit' Cup to use them in other modes like GP, VS or Time Attack.

The Car Editor lets people create a car using a set of pre-existing parts that then combine to assemble the machine. People can also change its colors, stats, and name it to save it to the disk. The created cars can be applied to any of the existing 30 racers.

[edit] Notable Differences Between F-Zero and F-Zero X

There are now 26 more pilots and their machines.
The tracks are now in complete 3D with slopes, tunnels, loops, and other inversions, and are lots of feet above the ground.
The meter that said POWER, was renamed to ENERGY.
The flames that blast out of the machines were changed from red to blue.
In the original F-Zero, the machines were referred to as cars on the screens such as "SELECT YOUR CAR" and at the end of each course on PRACTICE Mode; which includes a selection "CHANGE CAR." Since F-Zero X, Nintendo no longer refers to the machines as cars.
In the original F-Zero, the B Button was used for acceleration in-game and confirming selections on menus and the A Button was used for a Boost in-game. From now on, you will use the A Button to confirm selections on menus and accelerate in-game and use the B Button to cancel selections or return to the previous screen on menus and use Boost in-game.
F-Zero X is the first game in the F-Zero series to include female pilots.
3 laps around are now required.
In the original F-Zero, Death Wind I, Death Wind II, and Fire Field were the only courses that have Dash Plates, and in F-Zero X and all later games, Dash Plates are now on most courses, but the name, Death Wind is discontinued.
The course names other than Mute City and Big Blue do not have the exact BGM: Sand Ocean, Silence, Port Town, White Land, Red Canyon, and Fire Field.
Port Town 2 in F-Zero X is almost similar to Port Town II in the original F-Zero, but the only differences are, that the background is much different, and the one in F-Zero X has removed the Jump Plates, the track is made into 3D with all the other tracks, the end after the START line is sloped up, and the Dirt Zones are next to the barriers on the slope.
When the Energy Meter is close to 0, the machine flashes. The flash was changed from white to red.
When your machine explodes, in the original F-Zero, the track map and the RANK number both disappear, the music stops abruptly, and the camera rotates after it is zoomed a distance away to see the machine that exploded. In F-Zero X and later games, the Energy Meter will go down to 0 abruptly if you fall of the course.
In the original F-Zero the Cups were referred to as "Leagues." From now on, Nintendo no longer refers to the Cups as "Leagues." F-Zero X is the first game that has unlockable Cups. However, "Knight League" was renamed to "Jack Cup", because the Cups often referred to the Royal People in a card game, called Poker.

[edit] References

^ GameSpot.com. Release dates. Retrieved June 13, 2006.
^ N-sider.com. Japanese sales for the week ending March 2, 2003. Retrieved on June 13, 2006.
^ “F-Zero X manual.” World of Video gamesSite. Retrieved October 2, 2006.

[edit] External links

The F-Zero series v • d • e
Main series:		F-Zero \| F-Zero X \| Maximum Velocity \| GX/AX \| GP Legend \| Climax
Remakes & updates:		BS F-Zero series \| F-Zero X Expansion Kit
Anime:		F-Zero GP Legend
Locations:		Big Blue \| Mute City \| Port Town \| Planets

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Categories: F-Zero series | Nintendo 64 games | 1998 computer and video games