DAY 146 / GAME 146
F-Zero X
Although Nintendo may have really started the future racing genre going with the introduction F-Zero for the Super Nintendo, Psygnosis really took off with it on the next generation of consoles in Wipeout 2097. What the PlayStation could now offer was so much more advanced than the 16-bit systems and perfectly suited the requirements to properly build the ideal future racer. Of course, Nintendo wasn't about to lose that race and in 1998 -two years later, they released a sequel F-Zero X for the Nintendo 64.
Continuing the tradition of a very manga/comic book style and shooting for high speed and party play over complex graphics; F-Zero X was very much successful, making for a very pleasing racer.
When they designed F-Zero X, they decided to shoot for simple graphical design with low poly counts in order to reach super high framerates at the time. This was really a bonus in a game where you wanted to enjoy that sense of a really high speed, but it was also important because of two other reasons: F-Zero X allowed for up to 4 players split-screen simultaneous. A lot of N64 games that offered this had to cut out some features in order to facilitate this, but not here. There was this and also the fact that there was THIRTY ships racing on the same track. There was no sign of slowdown when flying past dozens of ships at once when fighting your way through the pack at the starting line.
Not only are there 30 ships on the track at once, but they are 30 different ships. Once unlocked, you can choose between thirty hover racers each unique in stats and style. The simple, low-poly designs mean they are easily recognizable and feature unique silhouettes. Just a bit of proof that high-poly high-detail graphics may not always provide the best look. Tracks are wide and open giving the impression of giant stretches of a high-tech racing surface. A surface which defies gravity at every chance, twisting, looping tightening into a tunnel and opening up into the outside of a pipe. (This is always scary.) To make things even better, F-Zero X was designed with a random track generator. You could essentially race over and over again, barely ever on the same track.
The funny thing about the track generator was that now and again it would create a track with turns that were near impossible. You could make them, but you'd have to be careful about it. The best part was that the A.I. cars quite often couldn't make the turns and would end up flying off the track. This wasn't a big issue though, since we mainly used it during multiplayer. Now multiplayer was where I really spend the most time in the past. Four of us, Mike, Trevor, Jamie and myself -the old high school crew- used to play this a bunch. We used to call out what the random tracks looked like in the map view. Typically a human organ. The other amazing thing we figured out was that if player 1 and 3, or 2 and 4 did a 'spin attack' the minute the light turned green, it would hit the player in-between. This hit was so powerful it would fire that player (typically Mike) far off into the distance for a winning start. But the hit also drained that player's shields to nil. One bad turn and that player was toast. And since we were playing randomly generated tracks most often, this was almost definitely a sure thing.
F-Zero X was a terrifically fun future racer. Not necessarily my favorite, but for sure a timeless classic. I actually just received this free on the Wii through Club Nintendo and I was playing it for a couple hours the other night. I almost forgot how solid it was. It's a ton of fun and if you ever get a chance to try it out be sure to do so.
F-Zero X
Although Nintendo may have really started the future racing genre going with the introduction F-Zero for the Super Nintendo, Psygnosis really took off with it on the next generation of consoles in Wipeout 2097. What the PlayStation could now offer was so much more advanced than the 16-bit systems and perfectly suited the requirements to properly build the ideal future racer. Of course, Nintendo wasn't about to lose that race and in 1998 -two years later, they released a sequel F-Zero X for the Nintendo 64. Continuing the tradition of a very manga/comic book style and shooting for high speed and party play over complex graphics; F-Zero X was very much successful, making for a very pleasing racer.
When they designed F-Zero X, they decided to shoot for simple graphical design with low poly counts in order to reach super high framerates at the time. This was really a bonus in a game where you wanted to enjoy that sense of a really high speed, but it was also important because of two other reasons: F-Zero X allowed for up to 4 players split-screen simultaneous. A lot of N64 games that offered this had to cut out some features in order to facilitate this, but not here. There was this and also the fact that there was THIRTY ships racing on the same track. There was no sign of slowdown when flying past dozens of ships at once when fighting your way through the pack at the starting line. The funny thing about the track generator was that now and again it would create a track with turns that were near impossible. You could make them, but you'd have to be careful about it. The best part was that the A.I. cars quite often couldn't make the turns and would end up flying off the track. This wasn't a big issue though, since we mainly used it during multiplayer. Now multiplayer was where I really spend the most time in the past. Four of us, Mike, Trevor, Jamie and myself -the old high school crew- used to play this a bunch. We used to call out what the random tracks looked like in the map view. Typically a human organ. The other amazing thing we figured out was that if player 1 and 3, or 2 and 4 did a 'spin attack' the minute the light turned green, it would hit the player in-between. This hit was so powerful it would fire that player (typically Mike) far off into the distance for a winning start. But the hit also drained that player's shields to nil. One bad turn and that player was toast. And since we were playing randomly generated tracks most often, this was almost definitely a sure thing.F-Zero X was a terrifically fun future racer. Not necessarily my favorite, but for sure a timeless classic. I actually just received this free on the Wii through Club Nintendo and I was playing it for a couple hours the other night. I almost forgot how solid it was. It's a ton of fun and if you ever get a chance to try it out be sure to do so.
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