F-Zero X - "Alright, First Place!"
NOTE: I played this on a Wii with a GameCube controller
I used to love this game back in the day. I never owned a copy, but I would play at a friend's house and I'm pretty sure I rented it about 3 times. Here are some of my thoughts:
The Difficulty:
This game is difficult! The controls take a while to master, especially when combined with vehicle selection and tuning. I started doing a little better when I discovered that favoring max speed over acceleration helps a lot. Even so, I failed Expert Jack Cup one too many times and got anxious to start GX. I gave up and used the code to unlock the bonus tracks, just so I could play them before moving on. No surprises - Joker Cup is super hard and X Cup is just insane. I'm assuming most people never saw the bonus tracks because you have to beat the other 3 cups on expert mode, which isn't easy!
Track Design:
As a lifelong roller coaster geek, I've always loved F-Zero's track designs. Many of them revolve around a single signature element (or "whoa!" moment) like a giant loop, jump or half pipe. I remember being blown away by the tracks that have you racing inside or outside a tube! Revisiting the game, I'm still impressed by a lot of the tracks.
Framerate vs Graphics:
I'm impressed that the N64 can handle such a fast, smooth framerate even with 30 racers on screen. It still plays great to this day. The graphics aren't so hot though. The vehicles look plain and the backgrounds are almost nonexistent. They did the right thing by focusing on framerate and gameplay, but the graphics were hurt badly because of it.
Vehicle/Character Design:
I love the over-the-top vehicle and character design. I mean, come on - the cast includes a space monkey, a space T-Rex, a space octopus, an old man, and James McCloud! Awesome.
The Character Portraits:
Sweet Baby Jesus, the character portraits are awful! (I'm talking about the smaller face portraits, not the full character drawings) They have about 15 pixels and are unrecognizable without squinting.
The Music:
I remember this game having a metal soundtrack but damn, it is so metal. Some songs even have double bass pedals and harsh vocals! Cheesy as hell, but songs like Mute City and Big Blue are Nintendo classics.
Overall, I had a great time replaying F-Zero X. It holds up surprisingly well for an N64 game. I was worried that my nostalgia would end up letting me down, but it didn't!
I'll return with my GX impressions once that game beats me down...