Line #24 VideoGame/FZeroClimax


1	[[quoteright:640:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/61758_front_269602360.jpg]]
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3	''F-Zero Climax'' is a 2004 {{racing game}} published by Creator/{{Nintendo}} and the sixth installment in the ''VideoGame/FZero'' series. It's the third and final game on UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance, developed once again by Suzak like ''VideoGame/FZeroGPLegend''.
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5	''Climax'' is a sequel to ''GP Legend'', reinstating most of the contents found in the previous game, but it also has plenty of new ones. SpinAttack from the console games is introduced, and Boost Power has an additional power-up called Boost Fire that makes you go even faster. In addition to new courses for Grand Prix, it has new features like Survival and Course Edit.
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7	''F-Zero Climax'' became the end of the original series, as Nintendo scrapped any plans for continuing the series, only putting it into second hand appearance like ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' and ''VideoGame/MarioKart''. The series would only come back as a BattleRoyaleGame, ''VideoGame/FZero99'', 19 years later.
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9	!!''F-Zero Climax'' contains examples of:
10	* AdaptedOut: ''GP Legend''[='s=] story mode is absent in ''Climax''. You can unlock the episode guide of the animated series, but it's simply unlockable pieces.
11	* AnnouncerChatter: The announcer from ''GP Legend'' returns with more lines, such as warning you if you're about to be passed by the 2nd place racer or if you're low on energy.
12	* ArrangeMode: Survival is a new mode in ''Climax'' that applies new rules to the base game, such as "Speed 800" that demands always pushing the speed above 800km/h (similar to one mission in the story mode of ''VideoGame/FZeroGX'') or "Death Race" like the mode in ''VideoGame/FZeroX''.
13	* ArtEvolution: Despite recycling the graphics of ''GP Legend'', ''Climax'' polishes the looks of racing machines. For example, in ''GP Legend'', your racing machine simply tilted left and right whenever you make a turn. This is remade in ''Climax'' so that the machines have a proper animation of spinning their vehicle, giving better 3D impression.
14	* BreadEggsBreadedEggs: This game features the usual [[NitroBoost Boost]] mechanic and the SpinAttack. Performing a Spin Attack and then boosting in mid-spin results in a ''Spin Booster'' attack.
15	* BreakingOldTrends: This game bucks the trend of pseudo-3D ''F-Zero'' games having five-lap races, instead using three-lap races like its 3D non-arcade counterparts.
16	* {{Cap}}: Machines have a hard speed cap of 1,920 km/h. For reference, the top speed when driving normally is about 900-1,100 km/h depending on the machine; reaching 1,920 km/h requires generous use of boosts in machines that can retain surplus speed well.[[note]]There exist [[GameMod romhacks]] that remove this cap, but extended discussion of them are beyond the scope of this page.[[/note]]
17	* DifficultButAwesome:
18	** One of the new techniques available is Spin Booster, in which you use a Boost while doing a Spin Attack (or alternatively, map Spin Booster to a single button). It consumes more energy than a regular boost, which can put your machine at risk. But it also lasts longer than a regular boost and the spin continues until the boost finishes, ''and'' it can be paired with a Reactor Might to make the effect (including the spin) last even longer at no extra energy cost, so strategic use of Spin Booster can help you catch up and knock opponents out of the way (including lapped opponents, if you are really far ahead).
19	** Boosting is already this due to being CastFromHitPoints, but in this game, depending on the machine and track layout, boosting back-to-back can allow you to keep raising your speed, as high as the hard cap of 1,920 km/h. Not only does this require being really risky with boosts, it also requires you to be familiar with each track so as not to go bouncing off walls and losing all of that momentum. But when you can consistently keep yourself at speeds in excess of 1,500 km/h ''and'' in control of your vehicle, the majority of courses can be done in less than a minute -- not just per lap, but less than a minute ''for a full three-lap race'' or even '''less than 40 seconds''' -- and you end up ''lapping your opponents''.
20	* EarnYourFun: The menu has only four modes (out of nine) available at start and only one of them, Grand Prix, is a mode that unlocks something. You have to unlock the others by pouring time and dedication.
21	* GoFastOrGoBoom: Downplayed. One of the Survival mode challenges is "Speed 800", where if your speed falls below 800 km/h, you lose instantly. However, you don't actually ''explode'', you just slow to a stop as the "Mission Failed" text appears.
22	* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: The difficulties of Survival mode are, from easiest to hardest: Tour (easiest), Challenge, Battle, and [[HarderThanHard Violence]].
23	* LaterInstallmentWeirdness: The last installment of the original series, ''Climax'' has a lot of weird changes from the previous games:
24	** The Boost Power has a second upgrade, Boost Fire, which is stocked up like Super Jets from ''VideoGame/FZero1990'' and ''VideoGame/FZeroMaximumVelocity'', that can be activated in the middle of a regular Boost for an even faster burst of sped..
25	** Its scope is rolled back from ''GP Legend'',reducing the racer number to 24 and Grand Prix lap number to 3, although some of the courses are longer to compensate.
26	** It has incredibly busy controls, trying to put SpinAttack into the gameplay with less buttons on the Game Boy Advance, and as a result the game has customization that automates some of these.
27	** All opponents have absolute positions on the course now, even opponents behind you, rather than just having a marker for the opponent behind you with RubberbandAI that keeps up with you even on SequenceBreaking shortcuts. This can be seen on courses with jumps over previous sections of the course, where you can see the opponents further down the grid passing down the section you jump over, and it is possible to even lap backmarker opponents (as opposed to generic "bumper" cars simulating them).
28	** In the Grand Prix modes of ''VideoGame/FZeroX'', ''VideoGame/FZeroGX'', and ''VideoGame/FZeroGPLegend'' (all of which have fixed grids of racers) , the higher your standing is when you finish, the lower your standing will be at the start of the next race, all the way down to 30th place if you finish 1st on the previous round for ''X'' and ''GX'' and down to 4th place in ''GP Legend''. In this game, you start at the exact same position you finished the previous race in, so if you finished 12th place in the first round, you'll start the next round in 12th, for example.
29	* LevelEditor: Course Edit similar to ''VideoGame/FZeroX'' returns for this game. It supports link cable to share the custom courses with other players or generates passwords for the courses if link cables are unavailable.
30	* LimitBreak: By tapping Boost Power button twice, you can activate Boost Fire if you have one in stock, which increases the speed even more than Boost Power.
31	* MegamixGame: This installment includes a comprehensive list of features from every game installment before. In addition to polishing the PreRenderedGraphics of ''VideoGame/FZeroMaximumVelocity'' and the general systems of ''VideoGame/FZeroGPLegend'', it introduced new systems like Boost Fire, which works like a power-up in VideoGame/FZero1990, and Spin Attack from the console games. The Survival mode adds even more from the console games, like Death Race ripped from ''VideoGame/FZeroX''.
32	* NoobBridge: Pressing down on the D-pad widens your drift allowing you to make sharper turns (notably, this is the only button that cannot be mapped to another function, other than the usual Select and Start). Not knowing this can make the game much more difficult...and unless you read the manual, read discussion about this game between players, or notice that there's a hidden tutorial that can be accessed from the title screen, you probably won't know about this technique.
33	* OneHitPointWonder: One of the possible objectives in Survival mode is No Crash, in which your Energy meter starts off empty and you race on a course with no pit zones. This means you cannot [[CastFromHitPoints boost]], and any contact with your opponent or the walls will immediately kill you. ''Somewhat'' downplayed as [[AntiFrustrationFeatures you'll just respawn back on the track after exploding rather than failing the mission]], but it's still a considerable setback.
34	* RecycledSoundtrack: When playing the Platinum Cup courses, the game uses tracks from ''VideoGame/FZeroGPLegend'' rather than its own (arranges of the existing ''F-Zero'') tracks. Strangely, this game's recreations of Red Canyon II and White Land II use the ''GP Legend'' arranges of those locales' ''VideoGame/FZeroX'' tracks rather than the same game's existing ''VideoGame/FZero1990'' arranges, despite those two courses being recreations of the latter game's courses.
35	* RemixedLevel:
36	** Playing Bronze, Silver, or Gold Cup on Expert difficulty gives you access to harder variants of the original courses. Playing on [[HarderThanHard Master]] unlocks yet another set of variants. This makes for a total of 15 tracks for each of those cups. Additionally, the course order on Expert is different from the below difficulties, and again on Master, with some courses being put in different slots of the cup or even being put in other cups altogether.
37	** Platinum Cup features extended versions of four tracks from the original SNES game, in addition to copies of four courses from that game with a few differences (Sand Ocean, Fire Field, Red Canyon II, and White Land II). Unlike the other three cups, it does not have Expert or Master variations of these courses.
38	* SequenceBreaking: Similar to ''GP Legend'', you can exploit jumps to take massive shortcuts on some courses due to the lack of any sort of countermeasure against such (like the flying saucer that moves your machine back like in ''VideoGame/FZero1990'' or spontaneous combustion like in ''VideoGame/FZeroGX'').
39	* TruerToTheText: The game has more elements of the anime ''Anime/FZeroGPLegend'' than the previous Suzak game, adding aura effect for Boost Power and introducing Boost Fire technique in the animated series. When Boost Fire is used by villianious characters like Black Shadow, the annoucing narrator reads it as "Black Fire", also a nod to the anime. The game has more CallBack to the later part of the anime, like Hyper Zoda being playable, as the game was released just after the anime was concluded. Ironically, this game lacks the Story Mode of ''GP Legend'', instead relegating the plot to a series of unlockable story recaps.
40	* UnlockableDifficultyLevels: In Survival mode, after clearing Battle difficulty (the hardest of the three available-by-default difficulties) with at least one character, the [[HarderThanHard Violence]] difficulty opens up.

Context VideoGame / FZeroClimax