Nintendo decided to give the
Super NES classic
F-Zero an official sequel (not counting the
Satellaview-only mini-sequel
BS F-Zero 2) in 1998's
Nintendo 64 racefest
F-Zero X. The pseudo-3D
Mode 7 races of the past are a memory, having been replaced by honest-to-goodness 3D racetracks that twist and weave and curve all around over cities and oceans at sixty frames per second, leading to spectacular crashes should you fall from the race. The core concept is still the same - win the race - but there are new tricks among the old favorites. Thirty cars shoot through halfpipes, straightaways, curves, and jumps as they try to a) win the race and b) destroy the other cars on the track. Boosts, energy failures, explosions, and other hazards will all stand in the way of these goals, of course, but that's part of the fun.
Available game modes include single player GP, time trials, death race (in which the goal is not to win, but to destroy the other twenty-nine cars in the race), up to 4-player multiplayer, and a practice mode. F-Zero X contains a total of thirty playable cars, each with their own quirks and statistics. Only a handful of these cars are available at the start of the game, but as you progress through the races new ones unlock. Likewise, only three difficulty levels and three sets of six tracks are available initially, but over the course of the game an additional difficulty level and two more sets of tracks can be unlocked. If someone of the track names sound familiar, that's because some of them are based on other tracks from past Nintendo racing games such as F-Zero, Stunt Race FX, and Mario Kart 64. Let's go to the list.
Jack Cup
- Mute City
- Silence
- Sand Ocean
- Devil's Forest
- Big Blue
- Port Town
Queen Cup
- Sector α
- Red Canyon
- Devil's Forest 2
- Mute City 2
- Big Blue 2
- White Land
King Cup
- Fire Field
- Silence 2
- Sector β
- Red Canyon 2
- White Land 2
- Mute City 3
Joker Cup (hidden)
- Rainbow Road
- Devil's Forest 3
- Space Plant
- Sand Ocean 2
- Port Town 2
- Big Hand
X Cup (hidden)
- Consists of six randomly created tracks
F-Zero X is also one of the few Nintendo first-party games to feature an expansion pack. Japan was fortunate enough to get the F-Zero X Expansion Kit in 2000 for the 64DD/Randnet unit. Due to the 64DD being unreleased in the rest of the world, nobody else saw this addon. It's a shame, too, because the addon features a complex track editor, car creator, and twelve new tracks divided up into two new cups. If you're craving an F-Zero fix feel free to track down a used copy of this game and, beyond that, you can check out the three sequels that this game spawned: F-Zero: Maximum Velocity for the Game Boy Advance, F-Zero GX for the Nintendo GameCube, and F-Zero AX in your local arcade. See you at the finish line!
References:
http://www.GameFAQs.com