F-Zero: GP Legend

Last updated
F-Zero: GP Legend
F-Zero GP Legend packshot.gif
North American cover art
Developer(s) Suzak Inc.
Publisher(s) Nintendo
Director(s) Yutaka Hirata
Azusa Tajima
Producer(s) Hitoshi Yamagami
Writer(s) Yutaka Hirata
Nobuhiro Kuronuma
Composer(s) Kenji Hikita
Series F-Zero
Platform(s) Game Boy Advance
Release
  • JP: November 28, 2003
  • EU: June 4, 2004 [1]
  • NA: September 20, 2004
Genre(s) Racing
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

F-Zero: GP Legend [lower-alpha 1] is a futuristic racing video game for the Game Boy Advance handheld. Developed by Suzak Inc., it was released in Japan in 2003 and in Europe and North America in 2004.

Contents

The video game is based on the anime of the same name. A sequel was released in 2004 exclusively in Japan, titled F-Zero Climax .

Gameplay

F-Zero GP Legend is a racing game that plays similar to the original Super NES version of F-Zero and uses features from F-Zero X on the Nintendo 64. The game uses a new Mode 7 effect designed for the Game Boy Advance to allow the background layers to rotate and scale to display the course.

Players take control of their vehicles known as machines by pressing A to accelerate, B to use brakes, left and right to the corresponding direction on the D-pad, and the L and R shoulder buttons to drift to the corresponding direction. Players can attack other racers using Side attacks by pressing the L or R buttons twice depending on whether the opponent is on the left or right side. Players can perform a boost ability on the second lap of races by simultaneously pressing L and R buttons. [2] Other methods of gaining a boost is by releasing and pressing the A button in quick succession and holding the A button for a specific amount of time during a race's countdown. [3]

Race tracks contain obstacles and supporting features such as Jump plates, Dash plates, Rumble Strips, and Mine Fields. [2] The Jump Plate allows the Machine to jump upward and may cause fall damage to the player's machine. To avoid damage, players can press the down directional button on the D-pad to move the machine's nose upward as the machine descends and make the jump last longer. [2] [3]

Game modes

e-Reader support

The Japanese version of F-Zero:GP Legend is supported e-Reader. Once the e+ cards are scanned in, it would create a program to send data to the game via Game Boy Advance link cable which would unlock additional content. There are four types of e-cards for cards: Machine, Course, Challenge, and Characters. Machine cards allow users to unlock a pilot/machine. Scanning one strip would transfer data about the pilot while scanning the other strip would transfer data about the machine. In order to use the machine, both the pilot and machine data have to be transferred to the game. Course cards unlock a new course. In order to transfer the course, both strips on each side of the card must be scanned. After the data has been transferred, it will be given the option to save the course. The game has been designed to allow up to five courses to be saved. Challenge Cards unlock a challenge to race against a ghost made by Nintendo staff and require a total of both sides of a set of four cards to unlock the challenge. Character cards are not compatible with the e-reader and contain information about the character from the anime and their machine. [8]

Promotion and release

To promote the game, an event dedicated to the F-Zero was held on November 8, 2003, at Joypolis amusement park where attendants could play the pre-release version of the game. [9] F-Zero: GP Legend was released in Japan on November 28, 2003. [10] Supplementary e+ card packs were released in two varieties. The "Pillow Pack" includes one Machine, two Course cards, and two Challenge cards. The "Carddass Pack" came with two e+ cards and a Character card and was made available via Bandai's card vending machines. [8] This feature was not available in the North American and European versions of the game. Nintendo re-released the game in Japan on the Wii U's Virtual Console. [11]

Reception

The game received "generally favorable reviews" according to the review aggregator Metacritic. [12] Eurogamer 's Tom Bramwell gave praise to the variety added to the game through the implementation of a number of game modes, in particular the Story mode for being challenging. [15] GameSpot reviewer, Avery Score, complimented the new story mode in the game. [18] Computer and Video Games staff found it entertaining that the story mode was restricted to one character and progressively unlocked more as one continued to play it. [26] Doug Buel from The Tampa Tribune stated F-Zero: GP Legend's effort to unite Nintendo's racing franchise with Japanese animation "works pretty well", but highlighted the game's inability to show all of the racers on the screen at once as its worst feature. Buel also thought controlling the vehicles had "complete consistency" when attempting to lean, slide, and power boost. [27] In contrast, Jeremy Parish of 1Up.com found the story mode incomprehensible. [13] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of three sevens and one eight for a total of 29 out of 40. [16] Iron Monkey of GamePro said, "Damn fast, damn challenging, and thoroughly addictive, F-Zero: GP Legend dominates the handheld circuit." [28] [lower-alpha 2]

Notes

  1. ↑ Known in Japan as F-Zero Falcon Densetsu (Japanese: F-ZEROファルコン伝説, Hepburn: Efu Zero Farukon Densetsu, lit. F-ZERO: Legend of Falcon)
  2. ↑ GamePro gave the game 3.5/5 for graphics, 4/5 for sound, and two 4.5/5 scores for control and fun factor.

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References

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  2. 1 2 3 Nintendo Team 2004, pp. 5, 6.
  3. 1 2 Nintendo Team 2004, pp. 20.
  4. 1 2 3 Nintendo Team 2004, pp. 11–13.
  5. ↑ Nintendo Team 2004, pp. 10.
  6. 1 2 Nintendo Team 2004, pp. 14.
  7. ↑ Nintendo Team 2004, pp. 15–17.
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  10. ↑ "任天堂、テレビアニメ版を題材にした GBA「F-ZERO ファルコン伝説」を発売". Impress Watch (in Japanese). November 19, 2003. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Wii Uバーチャルコンソール10月1日配信タイトル ― 『スーパーチャイニーズワールド』『マッハライダー』『F-ZERO ファルコン伝説』の3本". Inside (in Japanese). September 24, 2014. Archived from the original on September 25, 2014. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
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  13. 1 2 Parish, Jeremy (September 15, 2004). "F-Zero: GP Legend". 1Up.com . Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on June 1, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
  14. ↑ Edge staff (February 2004). "F-Zero: Falcon Densetsu [JP Import]". Edge . No. 133. Future Publishing. p. 110.
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  16. 1 2 "F-ZEROファルコン伝説". Famitsu (in Japanese). Vol. 781. Enterbrain. December 4, 2003.
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  28. ↑ Iron Monkey (October 2004). "F-Zero: GP Legend" (PDF). GamePro . No. 193. IDG. p. 90. Archived from the original on March 19, 2006. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
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