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North America

F-Zero GX

by Rick Powers - July 30, 2003, 8:56 pm EDT

Even a typhoon couldn’t keep Rick from taking the import of F-Zero GX for a spin, courtesy of Video Game Depot. Find out how it fares inside!

Arcade racing fans, a new king has arrived. F-Zero GX has been brought to you by Amusement Vision, and these guys have a great grasp of what arcade fun in your home is supposed to be. But something is getting lost in the translation because I’m just not having a whole lot of fun yet.

One thing is for sure. F-Zero GX is FAST. I mean, fast in a way most people aren’t used to. While the Ruby Cup of the Grand [sic] Prix mode will probably be finished easily enough, the difficulty ramps up quickly for the Sapphire Cup, even on Novice. This speed doesn’t come at the expense of the graphics (as it did with the previous incarnation), as this is one of the prettiest and most stylish games I’ve seen on the Cube. The music consists of a very fast techno soundtrack to match the environments, and sets the mood well. Most impressive of all is that including yourself, there are 30 racers on the track at once, which can make races rather hectic. Some of the opponents’ AI simply follows a path, likely due to processing constraints, but there are enough cars gunning for you to keep you from noticing the ones that aren’t.

The Story mode has some fabulous FMV cutscenes, but the difficulty ramps up incredibly fast, and you’re going to want to have some practice (and upgraded machines) on hand before you try to delve too far into that mode. Grand Prix is the meat and potatoes of the game, along with a multiplayer mode that sadly no longer features the anticipated LAN functionality. LAN gamers are going to have to get their fix with Kirby Air Ride, or hold off for Mario Kart: Double Dash. There’s also a Time Attack mode, and a Replay theater to watch your best races.

Garage mode lets you purchase parts and machines through points earned during play. You can even customize parts with your own emblems, created through a paint tool of sorts. These machines can be saved to a second memory card, and taken with you to use in F-Zero AX, the arcade counterpart to GX. This is of course, assuming your local arcade has the JAPANESE arcade machine, because they aren’t cross-compatible -- which is a shame, because there are more tracks and machines available for people who make an effort to play the arcade game.

Unfortunately, there’s definitely some magic missing in F-Zero GX, because I’m simply not enjoying it as much as I’d hoped. Maybe it’s the blisteringly hot Seattle sun this month, but I doubt it. Without being able to read the extensive Japanese in the game, I’m sure I’m missing something that would make this experience much more ideal.

Overall, if you’re going to be the kind of person that wants to get everything possible out of the game, I’d suggest holding off for the US release. First, your Japanese license card and Garage memory card aren’t going to work on American arcade machines. Second, the Freeloader doesn’t work properly with the game, causing the menus to come up transparent (although there are codes for the Action Replay that will fix the problem. There is a fair amount of Japanese in the game, enough where navigating some of the deeper features like the Garage will take a great deal of Trial and error, but areas like the Pilot Profiles will be completely out of reach unless you’re fluent in the language. Finally, there is always the small, lingering hope that Sega/Nintendo will come to their senses and put the LAN mode back in for the US release. Considering that, and the fact that you’re going to pay a premium for a game that will be Stateside in a month, and there’s no way I can really recommend the game to any but the most diehard.

Note: We’ve heard that the US manual for F-Zero has detailed instructions on F-Zero AX compatibility, so you should rest assured that waiting for the US version is going to be the right thing to do.

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Genre Racing
Developer Amusement Vision
Players1 - 4

Worldwide Releases

na: F-Zero GX
Release Aug 26, 2003
PublisherNintendo
RatingTeen
jpn: F-Zero GX
Release Jul 25, 2003
PublisherNintendo

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