F-Zero X Expansion Kit
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| F-Zero X Expansion Kit | |
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| Developer(s) | Nintendo EAD |
| Publisher(s) | RANDnet |
| Series | F-Zero |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo 64DD |
| Release date | JP April 21, 2000 |
| Genre(s) | Productivity |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: N/A |
| Media | 1 64MB DD Disk |
| System requirements | F-Zero X (full JP version), Expansion Pak |
The F-Zero X Expansion Kit (エフゼロ エックス エクスパンション キット F-ZERO X Ekusupanshyon Kitto?, F-ZERO X EXPANSION KIT) was released exclusively for the Nintendo 64DD, as an add-on disk for the game F-Zero X. It was available only in Japan, and was released on April 21, 2000. As the first ever expansion of a Nintendo game, the disk adds two new cups in addition to the four originals and the X cup. The disk has the cups containing six new tracks each, a couple of new F-Zero machines and a track editor, which allows user-created data to be saved to the disk. Up to a hundred tracks can be saved directly to the disk. With the added space on the 64DD disk, the disk lets people save up to three ghosts in each track in Time Attack mode. Furthermore, the player now has the ability to compete against the development team's ghost racers in time trials.[1] Hard drive support is included.
The F-Zero X Expansion Kit is often to hailed as being the swansong of the system. The price of the actual Expansion Kit disk is relatively low. However, the cost of the 64DD drive, the Japanese F-Zero X cartridge and the RANDnet subscription plan is much more expensive. The kit has upgraded the entire soundtrack to surround sound and comes along with some new course songs.
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[edit] Changes from the base game
There are a few changes that are applied to the standard F-Zero X game when the Expansion Kit is enabled in addition to the features mentioned above.
- The main menu includes two new selections: "Course Edit" in the bottom-left corner and "Create Machine" in the lower right. These take the player to the course editor and machine creator, respectively.
- The Select Course menu is modified to show three new icons: DD-1 Cup, Edit Cup and DD-2 Cup. The DD-1 and DD-2 Cups are new courses provided by Nintendo for the game, and Edit Cup is a custom series that players can manipulate using their own courses.
- The X Cup, which generates random courses, has been modified to accommodate the new soundtracks provided by the Expansion Kit. Previously, background music was linked to the course's randomly-selected graphical scheme, but now the music itself is also chosen randomly.
[edit] Additional tracks
The additional tracks labeled DD1 and DD2 is a collection of twelve new tracks included with this add-on. Obviously geared towards experts who have beaten the other four cups, these tracks are harder, and some are quite wild. Fortunately, despite the crazy nature of these tracks, they are all just as well-designed as the 24 tracks of the original game.
[edit] Track editor
Before the player can create a track, a theme, background, and sky must be chosen. There are ten themes to choose from (city, lava, sky, water, etc.). The player starts by placing control points down to make the basic layout desired. There can be up to 64 control points on a single track. After that, individual points and their location can be adjusted on a 3D grid, their banking, and so on. The individual segments of track between two control points are used to adjust the width of the track, change the type of track (regular, no guard rails, tunnel, tube, cylinder, etc.) and pick textures and styles based on the theme desired. It is possible to adjust all these things in real-time, or just clear the track and start over. The player can test their creation at any time as well, with unlimited boost and energy, to get a feel for how it is coming along. The only real limitations are what pieces you can link together. For example, its not possible go from inside a tube to a cylinder because the machines would fly off the track. The player have to have a regular piece of track between them. But this editor gives some fantastic opportunities to show off creative skills. In addition to the track, the player is allowed to place up to 16 roadside objects (buildings, gates, billboards) per track, as well as 32 turbo arrows and 8 mines. Energy recharge strips, patches of dirt and ice can be added where desired. Besides being able to save up to a hundred tracks directly to the 64DD disk once finished, the player can select up to 6 of these tracks to put in the Edit Cup which appears on the track selection screen.
[edit] Machine creator
The Machine creator lets people create a machine 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 machines can be applied to any of the existing 30 racers.
- Machines are constructed by selecting three parts; one of each of Front, Rear and Wing.
- There are 7 selections for each part type. These parts primarily affect the appearance of the machine, but they also specify the weight.
- There are pinstripes on the machine that can be modified by selecting various pinstripe styles from a menu.
- Images--called Emblems in F-Zero GX-- can be selected from a list to appear on the machine.
- Colors can be applied to each of the Body, Pinstripe, Number and Cockpit Window of the machine. Each element's color is specified by selecting it from a palette of 64 colors.
- The three performance stats (Body, Boost, Grip) can be selected manually to give them a rating of A (best) to E (worst). However, there are limitations that restrict selections. For example, a machine cannot have an A rating for all three stats.
- A name can be given to the machine by selecting characters from a character set. Names can be up to 8 characters long.
- Machines can be saved to and loaded from the Expansion Kit disk.
- A menu is provided to replace any of the 30 pilots' machines with a custom machine of the user's choosing.
- At any time during machine construction, the preview of the machine can be rotated, translated and zoomed.
In addition to the ability to construct an original machine, the Create Machine feature also provides access to the three new machines that the Expansion Kit provides: Super Falcon, Super Stingray and Super Cat (Captain Falcon, Samurai Goroh and Jody Summer, respectively). When replacing machines, only the pilot's default machine can be replaced. For example, the Super Falcon can only replace Captain Falcon's machine, the Blue Falcon. Doing this will cause the three characters' in-game artwork to change as well. This affects various aspects of the game like menu images and congratulatory messages.
[edit] Audio
The entire soundtrack is upgraded to support additional audio channels. Without the Expansion Kit enabled, only Stereo was provided for sound effects and only Mono was provided for music. With the Expansion Kit enabled, surround sound is provided for sound effects and Stereo is provided for music. The Expansion Kit also includes a few new musical pieces to improve the experience. The Course Edit and Create Machine features have their own soundtracks and five new background musics were added for in-race scenarios. The track editor is able to select from any of these musics to use as the background tune for user-created courses.
The track Rainbow Road in the Joker Cup is a remake of the course by the same name from Mario Kart 64. However, since the release of F-Zero X, the background music used in this course was a different music borrowed from other courses in F-Zero X. With the Expansion Kit enabled, however, this course plays a remixed Rainbow Road music from Mario Kart 64 done in the same rock/metal style as the other tunes in the game. Also, the Red Canyon and White Land themes are extended with new bits of song within them.
[edit] References
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