Llámenme old school, antiguo, boomer, no sé, como gusten, pero seguiré convencido de que ningún mensaje de una aseguradora de fondos de pensión debería tener como asunto
"Te contamos cómo le fue a tu plata en julio 😉"

Los emojis están muy bien para muchas cosas, pero no para hablar de mi jubilación, manga de atorrantes.

22 years of F-Zero GX/AX

By a coincidence, I ended up playing F-Zero AX the first time around on its 22nd anniversary day. Those twenty odd years ago, I found myself buying F-Zero GX on the release date, despite having a dislike towards all kinds of racing games. They were not my thing, and they still really aren’t at the end of the day. However, with F-Zero GX I found a game that was genuinely hard, but also rewarding. There’s no other game that gives the same kind of rush of speed. All other futuristic racers are either far too floaty (because they make the whole hovering-above-the-ground part of their shtick) or heavily base themselves on weapon combat (which I find boring and something that messes up with racing itself.)

Sega’s AM2 focused on the driving. Easy to learn, extremely hard to master. There are no extra bells and whistles thrown to mess up with the player’s driving, something a lot of these new futuristic racers want to do. Some put in track parts that are about flying, thus changing the driving to something else. Others put some kind of twist how you can maximize your speed when coming off a ramp, requiring you to spin or some other unnecessary addition that’s not part of the core driving. Weapon and racing often go hand in hand, but it requires a different approach to the racing then. When you’re doing two different things, one has to be automated. More often than not, the weapons are the ones that get automated, all you gotta do is lock in and push to fire. It’s slow and boring. F-Zero GX /AX disregards weapons, as per series past, and focuses solely racing. Sure, you can bump enemies with a powered tackle or spin, but these have value as other kind of maneuvers as well. The fact that they’re also an arsenal in controlling your craft of choice is important; they’re not just an addition to shoot or otherwise pester your opponents. Either you get good at driving, or you’re left in the wake of others.

Of course, F-Zero as a series has been diminishing returns when it comes to the sales figures. Each mainline entry has seen less sales, which is why Nintendo has stated they’re not interested in making new games to series that have low sales. Yet they went in to make more Pikmin… Nevertheless, the 2D games seem to be the darling of the series. However, I have no issues saying how remarkable it is that F-Zero ever so any continuity. The first game is a glorified tech demo for Mode 7 at best, with unrefined controls and bad track design. Sega had done better racing games in 2D with their Super Scaler technology, something that AM2 probably took some roots from. Some argue that F-Zero X is the best game in the series, and it just might be in terms of driving, and due to some of the tracks. I find it bland because the visual design is no nearly as strong.

As F-Zero has its roots in the American comic books, X tries to use those heavy blacks and rock music to sell itself to the audience. That’s also why a lot of the designs are wacky and out there, something that makes the game look a bit unbalanced. It looks like a mockery in many ways, while GX found its own style and design that looks different from the bunch. X is a marvel for its time, 60fps with 30 racers on the course at the same time. What the staff had to sacrifice for this was effectively everything else when it comes to visuals of the game. X looks bland because it has no environments to speak of. Most of the environments are relegated to the skybox as distant objects, with some basic blocks present themselves as buildings on a small number of tracks. AM2 took what where the best bits and went to town with them; GX/AX has stunning environmental design, something that very few futuristic racer nails down. The atmosphere is unbeatable, cohesive and pumps you up. I could give that X has better driving. Everything else is better in GX/AX. As with everything, this is a matter of taste, so you might find X’s lack of visuals more appealing.

F-Zero GX has connectivity with F-Zero AX, it’s arcade counterpart. By slotting your GameCube Memory Card into the arcade machine, you are able to unlock AX specific machines, parts and tracks easier than in GX. Easier is the keyword, as you still have to work yourself to unlock them. You need to win each track on the AX cabinet to have it unlocked on your Memory Card, showcased by the track’s name being transferred to your memory card. Similarly, you need to finish a race with each of the AX exclusive pilot to unlock their craft on your save. You can finish last, but you must finish the race nevertheless. Even if you run out of time or place the last in a race, you get Tickets.

All this means that you can unlock the racers on your GX save relatively easily, but the tracks can cause some issues, as the CPU gets serious after the Easy tracks. You also need to use the Tickets to buy both the tracks and the racers at home, meaning all those Tickets you got are going to go into good use. There’s no easy way in this game, is there? Either you go the less hard way, or you go even harder way.

It would also seem that the arcade machines are region agnostic, as a PAL save functioned without issues on a Japanese arcade machine.

I explain this connectivity as there are very few sources that go deeper into what and how it works.

AX plays very much like its home-bred brother. However, it has slightly different physics and you have a wheel in front of you. Unless you rock a Logitech Speed Force wheel and pedals, you have a precious few moments to learn the new control schematics and get accustomed to them. Even then, the game can proceed to kick your ass if you’re not ready. Even as an arcade game, a place where things are made to give you a rush, F-Zero AX is a different kind of beast that not everyone will want to play. Mario Kart Double Dash is more likely to attract attention, or whatever version of Initial-D is running on the side. All the strengths the game has as an arcade game are also its weaknesses. It’s not an inviting game, it’s not a game that eases you in, even if the first track is an oval. While it has a lot of goofiness around it due to being a third big F-Zero game, the racing itself is as serious as it gets. Its marquee may not be loud and flashy, but its sound booms across the room. Each boost kicks up a burst and a light show that attracts the eye. The loud alarm when low on Energy will cause anxiety and draw more attention why such a sound is going off. A well designed arcade game from an era when arcades were already dead.

Sega’s nail on the franchise might’ve been its last one. Nintendo sees low sales and a challenge to renew the play somehow, but for better or worse, F-Zero‘s racing can either be fine-tuned even further, or needs to be completely revamped. Nintendo doesn’t seem to have the hutzpah to do either. X gets new stages from time to time, with some modders making whole new Cups. Most GX mods mostly tweak the stats rather than make new stages. Not that GX/AX needs any of these. The series needs a new entry, but that’ll happen only when there’s enough demand within Nintendo. Maybe if the Switch 2’s GameCube emulator can run the game at a decent pace, and flawlessly, people will end up playing it more and give Nintendo stats to showcase that there is a demand for more undiluted speed.

For now, pop that disc into your console and try to beat that Story Mode again.

#arcades #FZero #FZeroAX #FZeroGX #FZeroX #GameCube #Nintendo #videoGames

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