I don’t mean to be ‘that guy’ but I believe that one contributing factor to there not being another console fzero was the lack of analog triggers on Nintendo’s home console controllers after the GameCube. Even though the original wii classic controller had analog triggers, they were barely utilised and phased out with the more popular classic controller pro.
Imma say it now... I wish the AX cup ran the races at their arcade race lengths respectively. Screw Drive- Lap 6 Meteor Stream- Lap 4 Cylinder Wave- Lap 3 Thunder Road- Lap 2 Spiral- Lap 2 Sonic Oval- Lap 8
Screw Drive and Sonic Oval with so many laps would have drastically changed the course. It would have been the F Zero equivalent to Mario Kart's baby park.
A proper game. Takes dedication and years of your life to master it and is so rewarding when you do so. Modern game developers / publishers are scared to make a game on this level of difficulty.
Double Branches is my favourite for being absolutely impossible to replicate without the F-Zero mechanics. You essentially do the track twice, once on the 'inside' and once on the 'outside' of the track. I also like Loop Cross for the same reason. (Yes the pipe and cylinder tracks also are uniquely F-Zero, but those are annoying to play on.)
I have to agree with the list... Until I learned how to properly drift... and it changes the list drastically in my head. Though I'm sure speedrunners will also have a different list of their own as that again changes everything? And that is an exceptional good thing about FzeroGX, that you can have such wildly different takes on each track based on how you wish to race the game. A friend once tried to do a " DeathRace " ranking on which track is most fun to retire every racer xD
In defense of Drift Highway, the aspects you criticize it for are what I think make it interesting. It's shortness, lacking energy strips, and turns can make it difficult to maintain a lead, especially with some of the more cumbersome machines. Also, the turns are almost perfectly designed to go full acceleration and start sliding around turns at top speed, or MTS if you have the skill and machine to do that. It's short, sweet, surprisingly difficult, and a great track to go drifting.
Sonic Oval is pretty much your standard NASCAR track. Edit: also Fun Fact, there is a 51 episode F-Zero anime called F-Zero Falcon Densetsu that actually did feature the Outer Space track and the Lightning track in 2 different episodes.
It’s a fairly neat track, albeit super challenging. What ruins it for me is always finishing around 25 on master no matter what lol. That aside, the track is kinda neat.
I'm just going to say this about Lateral Shifts: learn to shift-boost and you'll completely change your tone about this course. You can in theory reach 4000+ KMH on this track with relative ease once you do.
I love your ranking! My personal ranking for my top five favorite tracks in ascending order is Fire Field-Undulation, Big Blue-Ordeal, Lightning-Thunder Road, Green Plant-Spiral and finally, Aeropolis-Multiplex. Something about Multiplex is awesome to me. I love the design, how it’s challenging, but not overly difficult and has plenty of variety. Plus, the music for Aeropolis, ZEN, is my favorite track on the OST. Whenever I race on Multiplex, I almost never lose. I’m not a fantastic GX player by any stretch, I still can’t figure out snaking. But, even on master difficulty, I still leave the competition behind. F-Zero GX really is the greatest racing game ever made.
Lateral Shift is one of my favorites, since it’s the only one where I can do shift boosts and go over 2000 km/h on the ground. Agree with most of the ranking tho
Completely agree with your number 1. It's a track I struggle with, but because it's such a marathon and because the atmosphere is top notch, it has always stuck with me. Cosmo Terminal is a close second place for me, and then I'd have to give it to Half Pipe with Double Branches as an honorable mention.
I’m honestly surprised at a few choices here, though let’s face it : most tracks in this game are really good. I would’ve put Serial Gaps probably below the 15th spot, while Ordeal would have taken half-pipe’s place. Gotta say though, conquering Trident felt good, especially with that fatty of a shark. He’s slippery, yes, after all he’s the big fish, but dear god he’s fast. It can actually be pretty fun with him! I also would have put Surface Slide a bit higher, I really like the layout of the track, despite the simplicity of it. There’s no feelings like abusing that boost on the second part of lap 3.
Nice to see Undulation so high up, it's just a really fun track. There's also a trick you can pull on that one massive jump about half-way through the track: you just drive off the side rail shortly after hitting the boost pads and you'll get to the lower cylinder a lot faster.
Its funny how the highest ranked GX map here is one designed for AX's controls; it is already fun even if a bit easy if you are used to GX's groovez but in AX it's more ridiculous due to the drift physics allowing you to get speeed when drifting- pair that with tthe long winding turns and rhat ice turn and you have FZX-tier drifting madness. And that's not even bringing up the AX exclusive T-Drift. Look up JOKER's T-drift run of Spiral and you'll get what I mean. Definitely one of the most gorgeous looking tracks though, and even a fitting final track to unlock as the last track of your prize for all Master Cups completed.
Phantom slits is the one course I also gave up on winning. I would just try to win the first 4, destroy rivals until winning became a mathematical certainty. Phenomenal final track lol
I agree with most of the rankings here. I don't care for Undulation or Port Town Aero Drive. They would be very low on the list. I like your placing Serial Gaps very high simply because I hated it at first and it was very satisfying to overcome as I believe you mentioned here. It's also a track that when I watch people play even on master difficulty speed runs, they struggle and place low like 15th. But it's because they haven't learned how to race it right and that also makes me feel like I cracked a code that isn't so easy to crack and that is also satisfying. Good video
the tracks id put at the bottom are the ones where there is only one recharge section at the start / finish. aero dive, half pipe, cylinder knot, and the tunnel one. they feel pretty slow since you cant keep your speed up
I personally don’t care for Cosmo Terminal that much. Once you ignore the gimmick of no guard rails, it’s just kinda boring. My personal favorite course would be Ordeal. That course is a ton of fun to blaze through with your boosts and is immensely satisfying to nail!
Port Town: Aero Drive is my favourite, and it's exactly for the reasons stated: no gimmicks and perfecting the simple elements. That made it a track of sustained speed and racing on the edge. That was the quintessential element that made F-Zero X so good as just about every track contained this ethos. In contrast, GX was too often mired in its gimmicks like those stupid bumps, obstacles and disappearing sections - as seen in the two Sand Ocean entries and the Port Town entry low on this list. There's also that stupid turbine track. All that ruined the flow and made for a frustrating experience. Then there were the boring tracks like that Casino one and even the Trident course. If Nintendo decides to remake an F-Zero game, X is the one for its fiendish track design, and also it's the most deserving of an upgrade. GX only needs to be ported as it never lacked in presentation.
I still play this daily. I did my first test stream yesterday on youtube. I also have gotten 1st on Slim Line Slits on Master. You really have to stay ahead to have a chance and that last turn the bots have a much sharper ability to turn beyond what a player can. It's lame.
I personally was not a huge fan of spiral. I get why others like it, however, it just doesn’t seem all that challenging for a 6 star course. However, Thunder Road right before it, it’s probably my favorite in the game. The amount of boosting available combined with the best soundtrack in the game, made this a thrilling experience. Overall, I enjoyed this review. Thank you.
Surprised to see Trident so high. I can't stand it. The sounds of Don Genie/Black Shadow slowly creeping up from behind gives it a unique level of tension, but the vast amount of dead air really kills it for me. It's the only thing keeping me from replaying the Diamond Cup more.
I know that Sonic Oval is frowned upon by your standards, but I actually love that track. Given my skills in F-Zero aren't that great, it's a great starting track for F-Zero AX.
Call me crazy but I actually had a really easy time with Phantom Road on Master. For me, I hated trident because it was the first track, meaning if you failed, you might as well just go back to the menu and restart so you have your lives back. Given the fact that it had no guard rails, it really played with my emotions when my machine did a tiny little slip.
Lateral shift is underrated. Getting speed boosts by clipping the edges of the track is not so hard and the speed is really fun. Trident is super overrated. It’s a snooze fest. Undulation as well. So many odd contact surfaces make it feel impossible to settle into a groove.
I personally dislike cylinder wave, I find the fact that the cylinder being an oval extremely annoying and kills my speed constantly as I get found into the air by the game’s inertia physics. I also hate Half pipe with a seething passion because the sharp turns with steeply curved track causes the machine to slide way to often, leading to me falling of the track more often than loosing to a cpu.
@@radladstudios yeah so it would be even better for new players have emerald cup replaced with ax cup and have emerald cup be unlocked after beating 3 novice or higher grand Prix and another new cup would be awesome as a switch exclusive
The in-game AX content unlocks are actually kind of a "backup" option. You're intended to use an actual AX arcade game to unlock the machines and AX cup, with the very late-game in-game unlock methods being just for if you don't have access to one. So if you wanted to unlock it early, all you had to do is locate an F-Zero AX arcade cabinet and play it once with each AX-"exclusive" machine.
@@FzeroVaporeon If we were to somehow get a Switch version, it's most likely going to be an emulated port of the game with no changes. But we're not likely to get that. 1. Miyamoto went on record saying he hated F-Zero GX, that it played "too fast and hard", according to an IGN podcast. For someone who retired from being the company president and CEO, he still has a ton of say in the company. 2. Nintendo doesn't even actually have the source code for the game, SEGA has it. So unless Nintendo swallows their pride and asks SEGA to work with them again (something SEGA's gone on record saying they'd gladly do, but something Nintendo definitely has no intention of doing), a Switch-native port isn't going to happen. 3. F-Zero GX is EXTREMELY difficult to get running in an emulator. It took well over a decade to get it working properly in Dolphin and even then there's noticeable stutter whenever the game has to load from disk or a memory card and at race start, which isn't acceptable for a commercial release. Nintendo doesn't have the best track record with their own emulated ports, so there's no way they're going to be able to pull that off with GX.
i won’t lie to you this list is really bad. trident doesn’t deserve to be that high considering it really offers nothing that makes f zero unique. it’s still a gx track, so it’s still miles above most other racing games best, but still. dragon slopes is amazing, ordeal is amazing, multiplex is amazing. much higher placings
12:07 As many have pointed out, it should be Port Town Aero DIVE instead of Drive.
For some reason my mind always autocorrects it to drive lol.
You know, I’d personally put any of the aeropolis tracks much higher simply because of that kickass ost.
There needs to be more fzero gx rankings out there. This one was so high quality and I loved every second. Thank you!
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Honestly, the main reason I made it was because nobody else had ranked them, and I wanted to correct that!
Pilot bonus videos and character themes ranked
We also need more track rank videos for other F-Zero titles too.
F-Zero GX was way, way ahead of its time. It's the only reason why there hasn't been another one of these, especially on the Switch.
I don’t mean to be ‘that guy’ but I believe that one contributing factor to there not being another console fzero was the lack of analog triggers on Nintendo’s home console controllers after the GameCube. Even though the original wii classic controller had analog triggers, they were barely utilised and phased out with the more popular classic controller pro.
Imma say it now... I wish the AX cup ran the races at their arcade race lengths respectively.
Screw Drive- Lap 6
Meteor Stream- Lap 4
Cylinder Wave- Lap 3
Thunder Road- Lap 2
Spiral- Lap 2
Sonic Oval- Lap 8
Screw Drive and Sonic Oval with so many laps would have drastically changed the course.
It would have been the F Zero equivalent to Mario Kart's baby park.
Thunder Road and Spiral both had 3 laps
Casino Palace Split Oval is essentially the successor to Silence High Speed in F-Zero X
1:25 *"I challenge you to a race in the underworld!"*
A proper game. Takes dedication and years of your life to master it and is so rewarding when you do so. Modern game developers / publishers are scared to make a game on this level of difficulty.
Double Branches is my favourite for being absolutely impossible to replicate without the F-Zero mechanics. You essentially do the track twice, once on the 'inside' and once on the 'outside' of the track. I also like Loop Cross for the same reason. (Yes the pipe and cylinder tracks also are uniquely F-Zero, but those are annoying to play on.)
The same thing happens in mobius ring.
I don't know why this video showed up in my recommended, and I've never played F-Zero, but for some reason I watched the whole thing, lol
F zero is awesome
I have to agree with the list... Until I learned how to properly drift... and it changes the list drastically in my head. Though I'm sure speedrunners will also have a different list of their own as that again changes everything? And that is an exceptional good thing about FzeroGX, that you can have such wildly different takes on each track based on how you wish to race the game. A friend once tried to do a " DeathRace " ranking on which track is most fun to retire every racer xD
In defense of Drift Highway, the aspects you criticize it for are what I think make it interesting. It's shortness, lacking energy strips, and turns can make it difficult to maintain a lead, especially with some of the more cumbersome machines. Also, the turns are almost perfectly designed to go full acceleration and start sliding around turns at top speed, or MTS if you have the skill and machine to do that. It's short, sweet, surprisingly difficult, and a great track to go drifting.
Giving you the glimpse of what is like racing in type 3 civilization
Sonic Oval is pretty much your standard NASCAR track.
Edit: also Fun Fact, there is a 51 episode F-Zero anime called F-Zero Falcon Densetsu that actually did feature the Outer Space track and the Lightning track in 2 different episodes.
My man put my all time favorite track at second to last. My depression. 😢
It's pretty love it or hate it
It’s a fairly neat track, albeit super challenging. What ruins it for me is always finishing around 25 on master no matter what lol. That aside, the track is kinda neat.
Earned yourself another subscriber, nailed down this game with utmost technicality it was my childhood. Great work👍👍👍
I'm just going to say this about Lateral Shifts: learn to shift-boost and you'll completely change your tone about this course. You can in theory reach 4000+ KMH on this track with relative ease once you do.
Bingo. The track is basically a tailor made tutorial to do it as well.
I love your ranking! My personal ranking for my top five favorite tracks in ascending order is Fire Field-Undulation, Big Blue-Ordeal, Lightning-Thunder Road, Green Plant-Spiral and finally, Aeropolis-Multiplex.
Something about Multiplex is awesome to me. I love the design, how it’s challenging, but not overly difficult and has plenty of variety. Plus, the music for Aeropolis, ZEN, is my favorite track on the OST.
Whenever I race on Multiplex, I almost never lose. I’m not a fantastic GX player by any stretch, I still can’t figure out snaking. But, even on master difficulty, I still leave the competition behind. F-Zero GX really is the greatest racing game ever made.
This was a really great video and fun watch. These types of videos don't come around to often so thank you.
Lateral Shift is one of my favorites, since it’s the only one where I can do shift boosts and go over 2000 km/h on the ground. Agree with most of the ranking tho
Completely agree with your number 1. It's a track I struggle with, but because it's such a marathon and because the atmosphere is top notch, it has always stuck with me. Cosmo Terminal is a close second place for me, and then I'd have to give it to Half Pipe with Double Branches as an honorable mention.
Guys will see Green Plant and just think "Hell Yeah!"
I’m honestly surprised at a few choices here, though let’s face it : most tracks in this game are really good.
I would’ve put Serial Gaps probably below the 15th spot, while Ordeal would have taken half-pipe’s place. Gotta say though, conquering Trident felt good, especially with that fatty of a shark. He’s slippery, yes, after all he’s the big fish, but dear god he’s fast. It can actually be pretty fun with him!
I also would have put Surface Slide a bit higher, I really like the layout of the track, despite the simplicity of it. There’s no feelings like abusing that boost on the second part of lap 3.
Half pipe was a bold choice.
The trident rating didn't surprise me: it's a basic looking track but it's incredibly well designed, teaching you precise control and micro movements.
Nice to see Undulation so high up, it's just a really fun track. There's also a trick you can pull on that one massive jump about half-way through the track: you just drive off the side rail shortly after hitting the boost pads and you'll get to the lower cylinder a lot faster.
1:27 “Ive been waiting for you, did you bring the champions belt?”
*Holds up belt*
“Gooood.”
watching the way this guy races makes me feel like he hasnt completed all of the story mode on very hard, yikes driving skills.
Its funny how the highest ranked GX map here is one designed for AX's controls; it is already fun even if a bit easy if you are used to GX's groovez but in AX it's more ridiculous due to the drift physics allowing you to get speeed when drifting- pair that with tthe long winding turns and rhat ice turn and you have FZX-tier drifting madness.
And that's not even bringing up the AX exclusive T-Drift. Look up JOKER's T-drift run of Spiral and you'll get what I mean.
Definitely one of the most gorgeous looking tracks though, and even a fitting final track to unlock as the last track of your prize for all Master Cups completed.
Phantom slits is the one course I also gave up on winning. I would just try to win the first 4, destroy rivals until winning became a mathematical certainty. Phenomenal final track lol
6:15 YES YES YESSS I'VE BEEN WANTING SOMEONE TO MAKE THAT JOKE FOREVER
I heavily dislike Serial gaps, the Green plant one that is almost entirely a tube and Phantom Road...
I didn't like spiral so much but I agree with parts of your list. Drift highway was always one of my least favourite.
Great video! I would also like to see a ranking video of all the characters as well, that would be interesting! :)
12:07 This whole time, I've been calling that Aero DIVE because the stair step descent.
It's actually called Aero Dive. RadLad made a mistake
I agree with most of the rankings here. I don't care for Undulation or Port Town Aero Drive. They would be very low on the list. I like your placing Serial Gaps very high simply because I hated it at first and it was very satisfying to overcome as I believe you mentioned here. It's also a track that when I watch people play even on master difficulty speed runs, they struggle and place low like 15th. But it's because they haven't learned how to race it right and that also makes me feel like I cracked a code that isn't so easy to crack and that is also satisfying. Good video
This game is my absolute favorite of all time. Best racing game of all time for SURE
Multiplex should be higher and I'm glad you like Trident because I hate that stage with a passion lol
Man! What I wouldn't give for a remastered version of this game on the Switch!
the tracks id put at the bottom are the ones where there is only one recharge section at the start / finish. aero dive, half pipe, cylinder knot, and the tunnel one. they feel pretty slow since you cant keep your speed up
I personally don’t care for Cosmo Terminal that much. Once you ignore the gimmick of no guard rails, it’s just kinda boring. My personal favorite course would be Ordeal. That course is a ton of fun to blaze through with your boosts and is immensely satisfying to nail!
That's fair, tbh half the reason I like Cosmo Terminal is because I like how easy it is to take out other racers lol
I agree totally. Boring as hell. Its only value was a guaranteed win when trying to beat Diamond League on Master. 🤣
I honestly place Port Town Aero drive way higher only because of the port town music. The music DEMANDS me to boost when the music really kicks in
It's funny how this F-Zero game was actually developed by SEGA
The blue square stuff is supposed to be ice? I thought it was like glass
Port Town: Aero Drive is my favourite, and it's exactly for the reasons stated: no gimmicks and perfecting the simple elements. That made it a track of sustained speed and racing on the edge. That was the quintessential element that made F-Zero X so good as just about every track contained this ethos. In contrast, GX was too often mired in its gimmicks like those stupid bumps, obstacles and disappearing sections - as seen in the two Sand Ocean entries and the Port Town entry low on this list. There's also that stupid turbine track. All that ruined the flow and made for a frustrating experience. Then there were the boring tracks like that Casino one and even the Trident course. If Nintendo decides to remake an F-Zero game, X is the one for its fiendish track design, and also it's the most deserving of an upgrade. GX only needs to be ported as it never lacked in presentation.
the only thing that lets me like Surface Slice, I just look at the map and see Bold and Brash
I still play this daily. I did my first test stream yesterday on youtube. I also have gotten 1st on Slim Line Slits on Master. You really have to stay ahead to have a chance and that last turn the bots have a much sharper ability to turn beyond what a player can. It's lame.
I personally was not a huge fan of spiral. I get why others like it, however, it just doesn’t seem all that challenging for a 6 star course. However, Thunder Road right before it, it’s probably my favorite in the game. The amount of boosting available combined with the best soundtrack in the game, made this a thrilling experience. Overall, I enjoyed this review. Thank you.
Surprised to see Trident so high. I can't stand it. The sounds of Don Genie/Black Shadow slowly creeping up from behind gives it a unique level of tension, but the vast amount of dead air really kills it for me. It's the only thing keeping me from replaying the Diamond Cup more.
Kinda weird how endurance tracks vs tracks that give plenty of energy arent really touched upon
I know that Sonic Oval is frowned upon by your standards, but I actually love that track. Given my skills in F-Zero aren't that great, it's a great starting track for F-Zero AX.
Great video!!!
Call me crazy but I actually had a really easy time with Phantom Road on Master. For me, I hated trident because it was the first track, meaning if you failed, you might as well just go back to the menu and restart so you have your lives back. Given the fact that it had no guard rails, it really played with my emotions when my machine did a tiny little slip.
My top 5 are Trident, Serial Gaps, Loop Cross, Lateral Shift & Multiplex
Oooh cosmo terminal: Trident is My favorite, hoped to see it in 1st place
Why is lightning half pipe 4x harder than big blue ordeal.... why
You gotta embrace your inner Tony Hawk
Deep claw represent
Lateral shift is underrated. Getting speed boosts by clipping the edges of the track is not so hard and the speed is really fun.
Trident is super overrated. It’s a snooze fest. Undulation as well. So many odd contact surfaces make it feel impossible to settle into a groove.
I personally dislike cylinder wave, I find the fact that the cylinder being an oval extremely annoying and kills my speed constantly as I get found into the air by the game’s inertia physics.
I also hate Half pipe with a seething passion because the sharp turns with steeply curved track causes the machine to slide way to often, leading to me falling of the track more often than loosing to a cpu.
next to mkwii this is definitely my favorite racing game ever
Awesome game.
Cosmo Terminal is my favorite
i thot u meant ost tracks
Cylinder Knot and Cylinder Wave coud eat shit for all I care. Is it due to a skill issue? Yes, but also fuck those tracks.
I am one of only eight people in the world to have watched this video. GIVE ME MY MEDAL
Take this medal and wear it with honor
I can't descirbe in words how much I hate Fire Field Undulation, literally harder than phantom road for me.
Gx remastered should have ax cup unlocked way earlier especially because I heard it was a easier cup
AX Cup is honestly easier than even the Sapphire Cup lmao
@@radladstudios yeah so it would be even better for new players have emerald cup replaced with ax cup and have emerald cup be unlocked after beating 3 novice or higher grand Prix and another new cup would be awesome as a switch exclusive
The in-game AX content unlocks are actually kind of a "backup" option. You're intended to use an actual AX arcade game to unlock the machines and AX cup, with the very late-game in-game unlock methods being just for if you don't have access to one. So if you wanted to unlock it early, all you had to do is locate an F-Zero AX arcade cabinet and play it once with each AX-"exclusive" machine.
@@VestedUTuber that makes sense for the original version but I'm talking about a switch version
@@FzeroVaporeon
If we were to somehow get a Switch version, it's most likely going to be an emulated port of the game with no changes. But we're not likely to get that.
1. Miyamoto went on record saying he hated F-Zero GX, that it played "too fast and hard", according to an IGN podcast. For someone who retired from being the company president and CEO, he still has a ton of say in the company.
2. Nintendo doesn't even actually have the source code for the game, SEGA has it. So unless Nintendo swallows their pride and asks SEGA to work with them again (something SEGA's gone on record saying they'd gladly do, but something Nintendo definitely has no intention of doing), a Switch-native port isn't going to happen.
3. F-Zero GX is EXTREMELY difficult to get running in an emulator. It took well over a decade to get it working properly in Dolphin and even then there's noticeable stutter whenever the game has to load from disk or a memory card and at race start, which isn't acceptable for a commercial release. Nintendo doesn't have the best track record with their own emulated ports, so there's no way they're going to be able to pull that off with GX.
It's Aero DIVE, not Aero DRIVE!
12:09 Tsk tsk tsk, Ya been playing for 20 years, and you still can't get the name right for shame my friend for shame.
i won’t lie to you this list is really bad. trident doesn’t deserve to be that high considering it really offers nothing that makes f zero unique. it’s still a gx track, so it’s still miles above most other racing games best, but still. dragon slopes is amazing, ordeal is amazing, multiplex is amazing. much higher placings
godzilla earth WAY too low. unsubbed.