True to the series, GX relies on two main gameplay principles: speed and pissing you off. And both are doled out regularly with no apologies. There's a reason they finally went with an arcade version, after all. But if you're an F-Zero veteran, you know what to expect and will be pleased that Amusement Vision has kept the toughness intact. To be stuck on a huge track with no walls and rivals that want nothing but to get ahead of you is both a beautiful and ugly thing. And the speed is there too: rocketing down tracks in the cockpit view (something the N64 game desperately needed) and then hitting a boost (or five) is an experience that won't be matched for quite a while.

Perhaps in order to extend its audience, GX allows you to create your own racing craft with a variety of parts and customize it with colors and emblems that you place on your machine. Naturally, you can do just fine by playing with one of the racers already provided, but hey, it's fun to show off. Creating your own emblems is done via an in-game paint program, not unlike Animal Crossing, except that you have more than 32x32 pixels in which to work. The game provides its own emblems if you don't have the time or the artistry, letting you choose from simple numbers to crazy patterns to old-school Mario mushrooms.

Borrowing a small page from games like Gran Turismo 3, F-Zero GX also lets you customize your racer by buying new parts. Parts can change your machine's performance through the standard A-through-E rankings, but they can also affect things on a larger scale, which encourages you to maintain a fine balance between cornering, max speed, momentum and so on to stay ahead of the pack.

Naturally, buying parts, as well as new characters and story chapters beyond Captain Falcon, will require you to earn cash, and luckily you can do so in basically every mode by winning races and cups. And as you may have gathered by my statement above, if you want to race as Mr. EAD, James McCloud or any of the other characters, you'll have to pay for it. Thankfully, most of them are inexpensive, and overall it's easier to deal with buying them than having to unlock them through some outlandish means.

Beyond the usual grand prix, time-trial and practice modes, you can do even more racing in Story mode, which follows the exploits of the golden-boy, Captain Falcon, as he tries to take the F-Zero championship crown once more. Seasoned with wonderfully animated but horribly voiced FMVs, the story moves along in chapters that each present a mission for Falcon to accomplish. From simply completing a trial course to having to beat a small group of super-aggressive baddies, you'll get tested just as well as you would in the grand prix. Complete one chapter and the next opens up, but you'll have to buy it in the shop first, and they get more expensive as time goes on, so you'll have to do some seriously difficult racing to see what happens next. Admittedly, it gets to be more fun to just tackle Grand Prix, so it's probably best to finish up the rest of the game beforehand.

In the past, the futuristic, mile-high racing worlds of F-Zero were rendered with flat, repetitive graphics. But now, thanks to the Dolphin chip and Amusement Vision's own creative touch, it's all much more believable. Sprawling cities glow with lights, fireballs dance around huge furnaces, and giant R.O.B. units, reminiscent of Nintendo’s failed first peripheral, act as port equipment. It's a cinematic level of detail that keeps you in the world and doesn't let go.

The music in GX is sub-par midi at best, and it doesn't really motivate you like in past F-Zero efforts. There are a couple remixes of classic tunes, but it's mostly standard electronic beats. However, there are some shining moments of mirth when you open up the Pilot Profiles to find out more about your favorite racer and discover their accompanying theme song, some of them with vocals! Why these weren’t included in the racing modes is beyond me.

Perhaps to get us lazy couch gamers to the arcade, Nintendo, Sega and Amusement Vision have teamed up to create an arcade version of F-Zero that allows you to take your customized racer, via memory card, and pit it against the local hoods. By winning races and earning points, you can unlock the exclusive AX tracks, parts and pilots in the Gamecube version. But it will probably be hard for most folks to find an arcade, much less the game, so you're free to unlock all of the AX goodies at home, provided that you’re the reincarnation of some holy deity and can actually meet the requirements (beating all of story mode on Very Hard, for example). For most people it’s going to be better just to take a road trip to the nearest Gameworks.

F-Zero GX is full of stomach turning visuals, beautiful textures (if you can detach yourself from the race), and insanely difficult racing, but those are only small parts of what makes it the best and most difficult F-Zero yet. Unlocking everything will take you forever and a day, the story mode is fresh, and making your own machine is just plain fun. The biggest issue I have is that it's basically a super version of F-Zero X, and if you didn't like that one, GX probably won't change your mind.

See more screens on the FZero GX media page