F-Zero GX

F-Zero GX
Developer: Amusement Vision Publisher: Nintendo Platform: GameCube Released in JP: July 25, 2003 Released in US: August 25, 2003 Released in EU: October 31, 2003 Released in KR: March 6, 2004 This game has unused areas. This game has unused code. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused modes / minigames. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused models. This game has unused sounds. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden sound test. This game has regional differences. This game has a prerelease article

F-Zero GX is the faster, prettier, Sega-assisted sequel to F-Zero X, boasting unique data-sharing capabilities with its Triforce counterpart F-Zero AX. F-Zero GX contains an abundance of unused data. However, since most of the leftover F-Zero AX code is perfectly usable, the following regards assets that are not used by either game.

To do: Some characters have unused test animations that can be seen in the Debug Menu. The debug menu page needs to be updated, as many of those things do not crash the game. Some of the "empty" courses in the debug menu may have some leftover data. #Internet Ranking all codes and origin website collecting the codes

Sub-Pages

Prerelease Info

Regional Differences Changes to graphics, access to special content, and more.

AX Game Mode F-Zero GX is capable of loading an F-Zero AX game mode. This sub-page details what functionality is available and how to access it.

F-Zero GX Debug Menu A comprehensive debug menu. Debug scenes, models, textures, animations, sounds, input, and more!

Unused Audio

It is interesting to note that many of the unused voice clips in the game are duplicates of dialogue lines spoken in F-Zero X for the Nintendo 64. It would appear that GX was designed to be closer in design to F-Zero X initially before developing its own personality.

Sound Effect Pack 1

Sound bank 1 contains a lot of unused audio clips.

First Place!

It sounds like a variation on F-Zero X's "Alright! You got first place!"

Bingo!

F-Zero X's Versus mode "VS. Slot" audio clip remade for GX. This implies that the VS. Slot minigame was considered to make a return for the multiplayer mode.

Too bad, you lost your machine!

A beautiful return of F-Zero X's "Too bad, you lost your machine!"

You got your machine!

Since "You lost your machine!" plays when the player loses a life, "You got your machine!" sounds like it would have played when the player defeats 5 other competitors in a single race which results in a life gained.

Clear!

The narrator yelling "Clear!", possibly an alternative to the used "Mission clear!"

Goal!

Perhaps another variation of "Mission clear!"

Danger!

The narrator concernedly shouting for the player to watch out.

Hurry Up!

This phrase is used in most Monkey Ball games when 10 seconds remain. Similarly, F-Zero GX has a siren sound for every second when 10 seconds remains in a mission or in the AX game mode.

Draw

It appears as though there was going to be a check for a draw during a Time Attack race. A tie with a Staff Ghost has been observed before, but this audio clip did not play. (See Discussion page for details.)

Unused Graphics

Warning Message

A message warning that "there is not enough memory to render this model". Its 3D model, found within common, is named "WARN_MES_OVER".

Fallout

FALLOUT is the term used in the Monkey Ball series when the player falls off the stage. Seeing as the game was built upon the Monkey Ball engine, it is likely they used this until "Off Course" was chosen as the out-of-bounds cue.

Casino Laser Sign

The textures for LASER_CASINO, a rotating sign hologram like the Triforce and GameCube logos seen in Sonic Oval. It lays dormant exclusively in the Japanese bg_com (Sonic Oval) texture archive.

The sign's projection texture.

MAGCARD

Early AX License Design	Final AX License Design

Shorthand for "Magnetic Card", the F-Zero AX license card used to store one's AX data. It is quite peculiar as each side of the model use its own texture. What's of great interest is the prototype card texture, which has "F-Zero T_RANS X" written on it instead of F-Zero AX. MAGCARD is found in card, an older version of both operation and operation_us, a file used in the AX advertise screen.

F-Zero T_RANS X could be an earlier title preceding the 2002 F-Zero AC title which later became F-Zero AX...however, as the logo effects are very similar to the final F-Zero AX logo, and the F-Zero AC logo used a striped blue metallic texture for the AC part with entirely different fonts, it may have been designed after the AC name.

The back side of MAGCARD which reads the following:

<Be sure to face this side down.> This card is used to store your game data. If you fold, bend, soil, or expose it to a magnetic field, the data may be lost and become unusable, so please handle it carefully. Sega and card-issuing stores are NOT responsible for any loss, theft, or destruction of this card or the data contained within. Please refer any questions to the issuing store.

This is less text than actual Japanese MAGCARD, which read the following:

<Be sure to face this side down.> This card may only be used with F-ZERO AX. This card is used to store your game data. If you fold, bend, soil, or expose it to a magnetic field, the data may be lost and become unusable, so please handle it carefully. Sega offers no restoration or warranty for loss or destruction of the data on this card. Please understand that Sega and stores offering F-ZERO AX are NOT responsible for any loss, theft, or destruction of this card or the data contained within. Cards with "Expired Licenses" (cards used more times than the specified limit) may not be used. Please refer any questions relating to this card to the address below. Sega AM User Support e-mail: AMusersupport@sega.co.jp

An English card also exists, which reads the following:

<Be sure to face this side down.> This card records your original "F-ZERO AX" data magnetically. If you bend, soil or put this card close to the magnetic fields, the card reader may not be able to read your data. Sega is NOT responsible for any lost, stolen or damaged cards. This card has no cash value and is non-refundable.

Unused Models

Flag

FLAG is located in common, bundled along with other, far less detailed pylon cones. Its intent is unknown, but could have been used in story mode, especially since the first mission requires going through specific locations on the track.

Test Cones 00-04

TESTCONE00 through TESTCONE04 each come in their own color, sporting their namesake number. They are highly primitive objects. Their use is unknown, but was surely used in early development.

Pylon

PYLON can be found in both common and efcmodel. It could have served such purposes as a tool for testing the vehicle handling mechanics, for use in objective-driven missions, or perhaps, when used in pairs, to designate the starting line.

Coin

COIN is supposed to be a background object for the Casino Place venue, though it does not seem to appear in either Split Oval or Double Branches. The model has a reflective quality to it.

The texture, which reads "F-ZERO NINTENDO & AMUSEMENT VISION"

Elevator Screen

ELV_SCREEN01 was supposed to be a monitor screen used in Cosmo Terminal, much like the Space Elevator Information screen seen near the starting gate in Trident. It ultimately went unused, sporting a placeholder texture as it does not have its own.

GameCube Memory Card

A rather large and fairly detailed 3D model of a GameCube Memory Card, present in card along with MAGCARD.

Creator Head

falcon_face_st9 is a model of a Creator, intended for chapter 9. Since chapter 9 has you racing against a staff ghost instead of an opponent, this does not get used.

(Source: Siontix)

Unused Stages

GX had plans for a 14th venue (taking into consideration that Sonic Oval is its own venue referred to as com) and contains remains of an additional course in order to prevent the debugger from crashing.

AUR Venue

There is a Course Select venue backdrop graphic named bmp_stg_aur that references an unused venue. "aur" is the shorthand name of this venue which does not correspond to any venue. It only appears in the Japanese versions of GX and AX. Since it has not seen any progress since its inclusion in AX suggests it was scrapped early in development.

Unfortunately, the image used is a "DUMMY" placeholder, leaving no insight into what "aur" stands for.

Stage 00

Viewed through the F-Zero GX's asset viewer from the debug menu.

GX has an unused course indexed as course 0. It will call the assets from Sand Ocean with the track Screw Drive (in the Aeropolis venue in the final game). Models can be viewed using the game's debug stage viewer. However, playing the stage will only load universal assets such as zippers and the starting gate, along with the collision data of Twist Road (Mute City). This is due to the fact that the stage has no associated "COLI" (rather scene) file. Its only purpose appears to be to prevent the game from crashing when starting up the stage viewer as it always loads stage 0 first.

"Sand Ocean ---" loaded through cheat codes

WiiRD/Gecko Code (NTSC-U)
48000000 801A6B70 DE000000 80008180 1001C959 00000000 E2000001 80008000

Action Replay Code (NTSC-U)
AW48-J1VD-AH5YB F6DK-FPJ5-NGN28

Translation Notes

There exists a reference note called game_msg_jp.txt, which translates the English menu options and result texts to Japanese.

RANKING:ランキング
POINT:ポイント
RUNNING:走行中
COURSE:コース
VIEW:ビュー
RESULT:けっか
RESET:リセット
(LATER):(よてい)
RANK:ジュンイ
TOTAL:トータル
BEST LAP:ベストラップ
PUSH A or MENU BUTTON:Aまたはメニューを押して下さい
MAX SPEED:さいこうそく
LAP:ラップ
GOAL:ゴール
REPLAY:リプレイ
RETRY:リトライ
DISQUALIFIED:失かく
YES:はい
NO:いいえ
OK:はい
EXIT:終了
CANCEL:キャンセル
NEXT STAGE:次のステージ
RETRY:リトライ
REPLAY:リプレイ
GHOST:ゴースト
SAVE:保存
LOAD:読込
STATUS:ステータス
EDIT:へんしゅう
DESTROY:はかい
CAR:車
SETTING:セッティング
FORCE:強制
WIN:勝利

Miscellaneous

Internet Ranking

Each cup has an internet ranking, similar to Mario Kart: Double Dash!! contest code. Go to time trial records and select a cup. Each cup varies what code to put in. Codes only work once all time trials are completed for each cup.

Ruby	Hold L and press R, A, Z, A, C-up, C-left, A, C-down, R, Z
Sapphire	Hold Z and press L, A, L, A, C-up, L, C-right, A, R, C-up
Emerald	Hold R and press Z, A, C-down, L, C-left, A, Z, C-left, L, A
Diamond
AX

Hidden Messages

fz.sample.rel

This Japanese test menu file contains the word "BAKA" at offset 0x7F8. This word is used as a kind of key to generate the file location string "enemy_line/line__.bin".

fze.sample.rel

To be consistent, the English version contains the word "FUCK" at the same offset. Stay classy.

line__.bin

This file is an encrypted LZ-compressed archive of main.rel hidden in the "enemy_line" folder which contains most of the game's logic. The file fz.sample.rel (fze.sample.rel USA/EUR) loads, decrypts, and unpacks this file to dynamically link it to the main.dol.

Gachinko Difficulty

While F-Zero AX employs five difficulties accessible through the game's internal setup menus used to set the arcade cabinet's difficulty and lap settings, F-Zero GX does not. However, there is an internal listing for a difficulty called Gachinko (a word meaning "game played earnestly"). Forcing the game to load it during a Grand Prix grants the player 10 extra lives. Novice is set as fallback difficulty. Disabling the fallback value grants the Gachinko difficulty which makes the game significantly harder. The below cheat codes set the difficulty to Gachinko and disable the fallback value.

WiiRD/Gecko Code (NTSC-U)
48000000 801a66dc DE000000 80008180 1400bf08 60000000 E0000000 80008000 48000000 801b4250 DE000000 80008180 18001c08 00000004 10010002 00000000 e0000000 80008000

Action Replay Code (NTSC-U)
421a66dc 5F846000 421a66dc 5F850000 421b4250 0E040004 421b4250 0E050004

Unused Cups

The file fze.sel.rel contains a number of unused cups on top of the Gachinko difficulty.

AC Cup

In F-Zero GX, the AX Cup orders the tracks starting with Aeropolis [Screw Drive] and ends with Mute City [Sonic Oval] as it is not used during a Grand Prix. AC Cup is the same, only it orders the tracks by difficulty rating, thus begins with Mute City [Sonic Oval], just how it is listed in F-Zero AX. This cup is not truly unused, as GX's AX mode (see above) loads its track list from there.

WHF Cup

WHF stands for World Hobby Fair. In January 2003, Sega demoed F-Zero GX (named back then F-Zero GC) at the 17th World Hobby Fair. While this Cup setting was made specifically for it, unfortunately none of the 12 track listings match with any stage slot remaining in either F-Zero AX or F-Zero GX. The Cup points to stages 82, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 81, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, respectively.

However, this article notes that there were only four playable stages at the 17th World Hobby Fair: Mute City [Twist Road], Port Town [Long Pipe], Green Plant [Intersection], and Port Town [Aero Dive]. In other words, the E3 Cup lineup.

E3-0

This is a cup with four tracks to demo at E3 2003. As noted above, it was also used for demoing at the World Hobby Fair in 2003, months prior to E3. It features the following courses: Mute City [Twist Road], Port Town [Long Pipe], Green Plant [Intersection], and Port Town [Aero Dive].

More Cups

There appears to be two nullified entries called "E3 1" and "E3-1".

E3 VS

This "Cup" links to a single track: Casino Palace [Split Oval]. This track was used to demonstrate the multiplayer mode during E3 2003.

Unused Track Names

GX upholds a convention where each track has a venue and name. This includes Story mode and extra tracks. Story 1 and 2 have unique track names, but they do not get displayed. They're referenced in fze.story.rel.

	Venue	Course Name
Story 1	Mute City	Virtual Circuit
Story 2	Sand Ocean	Under Construction
Story 3	Casino Palace	---
Story 4	Big Blue	---
Story 5	Lightning	---
Story 6	Port Town	---
Story 7	Mute City	---
Story 8	Fire Field	---
Story 9	Phantom Road	---
Grand Prix Podium	Mute City	---
Victory Lap	Mute City	---

Story Mission 9 Staff Ghost Times

Story Mode's Mission 9 "Finale: Enter the Creators" has the player race against a staff ghost using the Blue Falcon machine. Nowhere in-game is it stated what time the ghost achieves. However, that data is encoded in the staff ghost files and listed below.

Stage Index	Ghost Index	Difficulty	Machine	Time	Name
45	00	Normal	Blue Falcon	2'32"810	FZ
45	01	Hard	Blue Falcon	2'25"073	FZ
45	02	Very Hard	Blue Falcon	2'20"176	FZ

Oddities and Obscurities

While this data can be seen in the game, it is interesting to note as it is so very easily overlooked.

Early Story 3 Course

A glimpse at the track during the opening cinematics.

The backdrop for the mission "High Stakes in Mute City" features a red-colored track as opposed to the green one that is playable, suggesting the course's color was changed very late in the game's development. Furthermore, Story 3's intro movie depicts the course as being purple, indicating that the track went through multiple color schemes before settling on green. F-Zero AX's version of Story 3 uses this red-colored texture.

Note the alpha of the Clown's hand clipping both some of the track's red texture and the "K!" of the "GOOD LUCK!" sign.

Hidden R.O.B.

What are you doing there, robotic operating buddy?

Hidden on the outskirts of the stage Aeropolis Multiplex lies a fully animated R.O.B. model from the Port Town courses. It is cleverly placed behind a few of Aeropolis' many buildings off to the left of Mother Q. It can be seen by Space Flying to the edge of the map, though it is very difficult to get into view as the game only renders R.O.B. from close proximity and resides behind some out-of-bounds collision mesh. It is much easier to see it by using the debug menu.

Untranslated Logos

Close, but no cigar.

Despite their efforts ensuring that all Japanese text and graphics were translated for the game's localized releases, they still missed this one texture! It is used on some of the monitors in the back during the interviews. Perhaps the more interesting characteristic is its monstrous 512×256 pixel size.

It may have intended to have been used for something else since it is much, much larger than necessary.

AX's GX Pilot Descriptions

F-Zero AX (and AX boot) display description cards like these in the left pane to describe the vehicle and pilot. However, since F-Zero AX only uses fifteen machines (the original four, the ten AX characters, and one custom machine), 27 GX character cards go unseen. In order to view the remaining cards, the player must save one of the unused GX characters' vehicles to a slot in their Garage, then hover over that machine during vehicle select.

Sand Ocean Reflective Texture

A reflective texture used for the solar panels on Sand Ocean. A similar green color can be seen in the WHF 2003 trailer, albeit more saturated.