F-Zero GX is a 2003 racing game published by Nintendo and the fourth game in the F-Zero series. It was developed by Sega's development division Amusement Vision, a predecessor to Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio.
Nintendo made an atypical deal to make F-Zero GX happen. It worked with Sega and Namco (currently Bandai Namco Holdings) to develop the Triforce, an arcade board based on Nintendo GameCube and the same platform Mario Kart Arcade GP was on. Whereas Mario Kart Arcade GP was an arcade exclusive, it released both on GameCube (F-Zero GX) and arcade (F-Zero AX), both versions almost identical to each other due to similar architectures. In addition, as already mentioned, GX was developed by Sega, the first major collaboration between Nintendo and Sega after the latter became a third-party developer. It was co-produced by Toshihiro Nagoshi, future designer of the Like a Dragon series.
In terms of gameplay, at its heart, it is similar to the previous home console game, F-Zero X, reinstating almost all of the major systems. The story mode is introduced, where you follow Captain Falcon's through 9 chapter missions. Other features include Garage, a Design-It-Yourself Equipment mode, and F-Zero Shop that sells unlockable characters and other items. You can move save data between GX and AX to get an Old Save Bonus.
For the sake of convenience, examples in the page cover GX and will only mention AX when necessary.
F-Zero GX contains examples of:
- 10-Minute Retirement: Implied. Captain Falcon retired from racing after winning F-Zero X (seen by beating a Grand Prix as him on Master difficulty), yet he's back in the driver's seat yet again with no explanation to compete in F-Zero GX.
- Absurdly Short Level: Sonic Oval (Mute City) is a simple circle track that only takes 20 seconds to complete a lap without trying, with a total of 1 minutes for full course. Perhaps because of this, it is not included in any Grand Prix cup.
- Art Evolution: GameCube allowed the game to be a lot more expressive in the graphics F-Zero X was lacking of. It's best seen in backgrounds, which have unique biomes like desert, ocean, space and such.
- Classic Cheat Code: Remixes of the original "Mute City" and "Big Blue" become available when you type certain button combinations on F-Zero Shop.
- Continuity Nod:
- The interviewer at the end of Grand Prix cup is Mr. Zero, who first appeared in the comic that came with F-Zero (1990).
- The Grand Prix of the last game is referred to as "F-Zero X", the same way it was in the manual of F-Zero X.
- Cutting Off the Branches: The manual claims Captain Falcon was the winner in F-Zero X, rendering other character endings non-canon.
- Gainax Ending: A lot of character endings in Grand Prix are nonsensical, dancing or doing other ludicrous things without explanation of what's going on.
- Go Fast or Go Boom: In the chapter 6 of story mode, Black Shadow binds the Blue Falcon with a bomb that will set off if its speed drops below a certain limit. Said limit goes up on higher difficulties (700 km/h on Normal, 800 km/h on Very Hard).
- Nerf: In X, you get an extra life for every five opponents you destroy in a single race. In this game, you now only get it for the first five opponents, not for 10, 15, etc.
- No Fair Cheating: If the game detects that you are taking a Sequence Breaking shortcut, your machine will spontaneously combust, resulting in an immediate Retire. If Retire is disabled, you'll be merely set back by a flying saucer (the same saucer that hoists you back on the track if you go off-course).
- Old Save Bonus: Pluggin your GameCube memory card into AX unlocks the AX courses in GX immediately, instead of having to beat all four Cups on Master difficulty. If you created a license card in AX, you can purchase racers in GX, which normally requires beating story mode chapters on Very Hard difficulty.
- Super Title 64 Advance: The game is titled GX on GameCube and AX on Arcade.
- Un-Reboot: The game ignores Soft Reboot of F-Zero: Maximum Velocity and brings back the original cast again.
- Violation of Common Sense: The game has a quirk in its thrust physics in that once you go above your machine's speed limit, releasing the throttle causes your machine to decelerate more slowly than if you keep the throttle on
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FINISH! ALL RIGHT, FIRST PLACE!
