Stunt Race FX
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| Stunt Race FX | |
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| Developer(s) | Nintendo EAD (assisted by Argonaut Software) |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Designer(s) | Shigeru Miyamoto (producer)[1] Tatsuya Hishida (director)[1] Shinobu Amayake (music composer)[1] Colin Reed (programmer)[1] Giles Goddard (programmer)[1] Masato Kimura (programmer)[1] Kenji Yamamoto (programmer)[1] |
| Platform(s) | Super NES |
| Release date | JPN June 4, 1994 NA October 10, 1994 EU October 27, 1994 |
| Genre(s) | Arcade Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Media | 8-megabit Cartridge |
Stunt Race FX (known in Japan as Wild Trax (ワイルドトラックス?)) is a cartoon-style, 3D-racing video game developed by Nintendo EAD assisted by Argonaut Software and published by Nintendo for the Super NES. It was the second game to use the 3D-centric Super FX chip.
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[edit] Gameplay
At first glance, Stunt Race FX appears to be like a zany version of SEGA's Virtua Racing. The gameplay of Stunt Race FX is slightly more difficult than Super Mario Kart. Also, there aren't any weapons to use in attacking other vehicles, while it is possible to boost the speeds of the vehicles, making its gameplay similar to Nintendo's other Super NES game, F-ZERO. Other things inspired by F-ZERO are the L and R buttons used by players in making sharp turns and the possibility to damage vehicles by hitting walls, environmental hazards, and other vehicles by accident during races. It is also possible to damage vehicles by landing from high areas.
[edit] Vehicles
There are three vehicles to choose from. Four if you unlock 2WD and five if you count TRAILER. Stunt Race FX's use of eyes on the vehicles was a late-in-development addition, to give character to otherwise personality-free cars. Each vehicle has different capabilities in terms of speed, body and acceleration. According to the instruction booklet, the vehicles are male.
- COUPE - A small, yellow, car with balanced settings. His MAX SPEED is 120 MPH. Besides the stable performance and tight steering, his Boost meter consumption is lower than the other vehicles. If the player controls well, the player can save a lot of time. COUPE's tire grip is relatively low, which can require the player to use the L and R buttons to drift in the corners, while making sure not to slow down too much. COUPE is designed for intermediate players.
- F-Type - A Formula One-like vehicle. His MAX SPEED is 140 MPH. Players can turn him quickly and control him easily, because of his strong down-force. As soon as he accelerates, F-Type runs very fast. His body is the weakest out of every vehicle. F-Type is designed for advanced players. There are two ways to race him. Players can chance it and try drifting with the L and R buttons, or run safely controlling the gas pedal to match the tire grip. Due to him being weak, players must adjust the balance of F-Type in mid-air using the steering buttons to land safely. This technique is very important for anyone who uses F-Type.
- 4WD - A monster truck-like vehicle that has a powerful engine to balance his heavy weight. He is a monster machine with very large tires that give great grip performance. This vehicle is designed for beginner players. His MAX SPEED is 100 MPH. He is great in a dash start and unsurpassed for off-road driving. Undeniably, he is the easiest vehicle to use in STUNT TRAX, according to the game's instruction booklet. His steering is heavy, which might require a player to turn quickly at every curve. While cornering, even if a player kept using the L and R buttons to steer harder, 4WD hardly spins. It is the only vehicle players can use in TEST RUN.
- 2WD - A two-wheeled car that can only be used in FREE TRAX after a player beats NOVICE class in SPEED TRAX. However, if a player clears MASTER class in SPEED TRAX, 2WD will be allowed to use in all modes. If a player uses the cornering buttons (L and R), 2WD will turn by shifting his weight left and right while leaning his body. If 2WD loses balance, it would be difficult for him to recover. His MAX SPEED is 140 MPH.
- TRAILER - A special semi-trailer truck that can only be played in each SPEED TRAX Bonus Game. Because of his very large size and the flexibility of the hitch between the cab and trailer, he is very tough to drive. Unlike other vehicles, TRAILER's camera angle is different, which can be confusing to players controlling him. It is impossible to damage this vehicle.
[edit] Modes
The game features five modes: three for racing levels, one for obstacle courses, one for test-driving, one for time-attacking and one for multiplayer racing.
- SPEED TRAX - This mode can only be played by one player. Player must beat a class in order to move up to the next class. Each class has four courses and a Bonus Game. There are three classes: NOVICE (for beginner players), EXPERT (for intermediate players) and MASTER (for advanced players). For a total of fifteen tracks (twelve courses and three Bonus Games). To complete a course, player much complete three laps before time runs out. Every time a player completes a lap or passes through a Checkpoint, the countdown timer will extend. After the third lap is completed, all the time left will be taken to the next course. However, players can not carry more than 100 seconds. There are three rival vehicles for a player to compete against. If a player makes a vehicle he or she controls run of course into a water hazard, completely fill up the Damage meter and destroys it, run in fourth/last place or if the timer drops to zero, player loses a try and restarts the race on the same course he or she was on. If runs out of tries, the game is over. Bonus Games are the only courses in this mode that allows players to either play them or not. They are also the only courses in the game where players can earn extra tries, just in case if players often lost races and wanted to try a few more times.After EXPERT class has been cleared, MASTER class will be unlocked.
- STUNT TRAX - The goal of this mode is to drive all the way through each course as fast as possible while touching every star in sight to make a perfect score. There are four courses exclusive in this mode: Ice Dance, Blue Lake, Rock Field and Up'n Down. There are four Areas and three gates per course. When driven through a gate, the gate will close, making the player unable to reenter the previous Areas already passed through. A Special Course called Radio Control can be unlocked after the other four courses have been cleared. Unlike the other four courses, Radio Control doesn't have any stars nor gates, which it is actually a destruction derby course with the style of radio-controlling. The goal in this course is to run the vehicle the player is controlling into every other vehicle to destroy them.
- BATTLE TRAX - This mode is for head-to-head racing. Up to two computer players or human players can participate in this mode. For a computer player or two, players must have both standard controllers plugged in, while leaving at least one of them alone, in order to activate a computer player or two. There are four courses exclusive in this mode: Marine Pipe, Port Arena, Cotton Farm and Toxic Desert (titled as Toxic Dessert in the game).
- TEST RUN - This mode is designed for beginners to practice by test-driving. Only one vehicle (4WD) and one nameless course is playable in this mode. After finishing three laps, the screen blacks out while the mode select screen returns. After FREE TRAX is unlocked, TEST RUN will no longer be playable; however, if the saved data was erased after FREE TRAX is unlocked, TEST RUN will be playable again.
- FREE TRAX - This mode can only be unlocked by beating either NOVICE class or EXPERT class in SPEED TRAX. Players use this mode for practicing courses from completed SPEED TRAX classes, including ones that are from the Bonus Games. This mode is also used for time-attacking. There is no time limit.
[edit] Graphics
The capabilities of the Super FX chip are demonstrated extensively in Stunt Race FX. Each course appears to be constructed with 3D polygons, complete with road bumps and overhead passes, resulting in a considerably large number of animation screens. Detailed billboard advertisements also appear throughout each race course. These realistic representations were possible on the Super NES because the Super FX chip rendered 2D sprites in a visual format that resembled 3D polygons. Under this format, polygons would not "crash" together to become distorted, though the graphics would run slower. This lack of speed was incorporated into the gameplay by featuring cars that were heavier and clumsier than those included in conventional racing games.
Since polygons would not crash together under the FX graphics chip, it became impossible to depict cars crashing into water or being submerged in water. In courses with lakes or rivers, where it is possible for the player to run off the race course into the water, the player's vehicle automatically veers off-screen when the vehicle is about to enter a body of water. The game screen then fades-out to return to another camera angle.[2]
[edit] History
[edit] Development
In 1991, Nintendo and Argonaut partnered to develop a custom 3D cartridge chip called the FX chip to be used on the Super NES. Throughout the co-development of the hardware Nintendo and Argonaut began conducting various experiments. Stunt Race FX was mainly developed by Nintendo with the assistance of future Nintendo gaijins Colin Reed and Giles Goddard. Nintendo took the polygon concept and decided to create an animated racing title filled with high flying stunts and obstacles. While the game was solid, the overall product quality and timing of release weren't favorable to its success. Nintendo has since discontinued the idea of franchising the series. The one prior incident took form with a canceled sequel on the Nintendo 64 called Buggie Boogie.[3] Wataru Yamaguchi, the clay modeler who created the official clay models of the Stunt Race FX vehicles, later did the clay models for the Nintendo GameCube title, Pikmin 2.[4]
[edit] Marketing
Two different television commercials were made: one for Japan and one for North America and Europe. The Japanese commercial was a full-motion video of the vehicles from the game in action with gameplay footage of the game itself. In the commercial for North America and Europe, it showed a police officer talking to viewers, along with gameplay footage of the game itself.
Around the time Stunt Race FX was released in the United States, Nintendo of America teamed up with Kellogg's and Mattel to give away a promotional, Hot Wheels brand, F-Type race car to people who mailed a rebate from a box of Apple Jacks to Nintendo of America. The television commercial for it showed the toy car move across a kitchen table in front of a box of Apple Jacks while a young, blonde-haired boy wearing glasses looks at the toy car from behind the box of Apple Jacks. At the same time, the announcer in the commercial said "Now you can get the Super NES Stunt Race FX car free, when you mail a rebate from a box of Apple Jacks." This marketing idea didn't support Stunt Race FX's sales in the United States much. Currently, the limited-edition F-Type car is quite rare, especially the ones that are still factory-sealed.
[edit] Cameos
- The Arwings from the Star Fox series made a cameo appearance in this title. In the Night Cruise track, when you bump a vehicle you are controlling into one of the first three Star Fox bill boards, an Arwing will drop a Boost power-up in front of you, before you enter the first tunnel. In the Sky Ramp track, all four Arwings of the Star Fox Team will fly around, air show-style.
- Some billboards very briefly appear on courses with the faces of Mario, Fox McCloud, and Kirby.
[edit] Other appearances in media
- In the Wii game, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, two vehicles from Stunt Race FX appeared as one of the many Stickers to obtain. One was F-Type, the other was TRAILER (which was referred to as "Tractor Trailer"). The name of their origin was referred to as "Wild Trax" instead of "Stunt Race FX".
[edit] Reception
| Reviews | |
|---|---|
| Publication | Score |
| Videogames NZ | 92 of 100[5] |
| AllGame | 4.5 of 5[6] |
| Bad Influence! | 4 out of 5[7] |
| Compilations of multiple reviews | |
| Compiler | Score |
| Game Rankings | 92% (based on 1 review)[8] |
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g N-Sider.com: Stunt Race FX. N-Sider.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-02.
- ^ http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ワイルドトラックス
- ^ N-Sider.com: Stunt Race FX. N-Sider.com (December, 13, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
- ^ ほぼ日刊イトイ新聞 - 樹の上の秘密基地。. www.1101.com (September, 11, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
- ^ Videogames NZ - Stunt Race FX. Retrieved on 2007-11-19.
- ^ allgame ((( Stunt Race FX > Overview ))). Retrieved on 2007-11-19.
- ^ Bad Influence Series 3 Episode 3 Part 1. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
- ^ Stunt Race FX Reviews. Game Rankings. Retrieved on 2007-11-19.
[edit] External links
- Official Nintendo web page (Japanese) (Translated using Excite.Co.Jp)
- Stunt Race FX guide at StrategyWiki
- Stunt Race FX at GameFAQs
- Stunt Race FX at MobyGames
