F-Zero Climax Guide _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Version 1.2 11/29/2004 TABLE OF CONTENTS 01 INTRODUCTION 02 THE BASICS 03 GRAND PRIX MODE 03.01 NOVICE/STANDARD 03.02 EXPERT 03.03 MASTER 03.04 PLATNIUM CUP 04 SURVIVAL MODE 04.01 TOUR 04.02 CHALLENGE 04.03 BATTLE 05 EDIT MODE 06 TIME ATTACK/ZERO TEST 07 COMMUNICATION 08 SECRETS 08.01 UNLOCKING PILOTS 08.02 OTHER SECRETS 09 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 10 CONTACT 11 CHANGES/NOTES 01 INTRODUCTION F-Zero has always held a special place in my heart. On the Game Boy Advance, the series has seen three games, each different than the last. But the most radical change to the series is in F-Zero Climax. New features, plus what may be the largest collection of levels and pilots in a single GBA game really do set this apart from the other racers on the system. Also, the game features an exciting Edit mode, which for the first time allows portable players to make their own levels for Time Attack and multiplayer. 02 THE BASICS The default controls for F-Zero Climax are as follows: A - Acceleration B - Boost L - Drift left R - Drift right L+R - Spin Control Pad Up - Brake Control Pad Down - Coast (while jumping) Control Pad Right - Turn right Control Pad Left - Turn left There are also three more control styles, plus these controls can be fully customized in the Options menu. Of course, there are a few advanced moves you need to learn before tackling some of the more difficult tracks out there. Blast Turning - Hit the acceleration button around tight turns Skidding - Use the L and R buttons to power skid over ice. Spin Boost - Hit L+R to spin, and then hit the boost button Max Boost - New to the series, and indicated by a grey icon, a max boost allows you to go twice as fast as a regular boost. In Grand Prix levels, you get one every lap. To perform a max boost, hit the boost button twice once you have the icon. Boost Start - On the starting grid, before the third light turns red, hit the acceleration button. This will give you a nice boost to start the race with. Be careful not to push the button early or your machine's engines will overheat. 03 GRAND PRIX MODE Here is the main mode of F-Zero Climax. By beating these modes, new pilots and time attack tracks open up. Of course, the more you play, the harder these tracks and opponents become. Here's the point totals for GP races: Place - Points 1st - 100 2nd - 93 3rd - 87 4th - 81 5th - 76 6th - 71 7th - 66 8th - 62 9th - 58 10th - 54 11th - 50 12th - 47 13th - 44 14th - 41 15th - 38 16th - 35 17th - 33 18th - 31 19th - 29 20th - 27 21st - 25 22nd - 23 24th - 20 This layout takes a little bit of explanation. Novice and Standard are basically the same deal: both have the same courses in the same order. The only change is the difficulty. To avoid redundancy, I merged them together. Same goes for the entire Platinum Cup: All eight tracks are the same whether you play them on Novice or Master. This is why that gets its own header. 03.01 NOVICE/STANDARD BRONZE CUP RACE 1 - Mute City: Six Carat BRONZE CUP RACE 2 - Sand Ocean: High Speed Edge BRONZE CUP RACE 3 - Port Town: Sky Highway BRONZE CUP RACE 4 - White Land: Wolf BRONZE CUP RACE 5 - Fire Field: Heat Circuit SILVER CUP RACE 1 - Big Blue: Slalom SILVER CUP RACE 2 - Red Canyon: Inside Out SILVER CUP RACE 3 - Mist Flow: Double Link SILVER CUP RACE 4 - Fire Field: Front Line SILVER CUP RACE 5 - Silence: Nightmare GOLD CUP RACE 1 - Lightning: R Trace GOLD CUP RACE 2 - Port Town: Half Dome GOLD CUP RACE 3 - Sand Ocean: Key Break GOLD CUP RACE 4 - Big Blue: Slip Down GOLD CUP RACE 5 - Illusion: Lost Way 03.02 EXPERT BRONZE CUP RACE 1 - Mute City: Eight Carat BRONZE CUP RACE 2 - White Land: White Wolf BRONZE CUP RACE 3 - Big Blue: Arch Hill BRONZE CUP RACE 4 - Port Town: Sky Highway II BRONZE CUP RACE 5 - Red Canyon: Inside Out II SILVER CUP RACE 1 - Sand Ocean: High Speed Edge II SILVER CUP RACE 2 - Lightning: Trust Jump SILVER CUP RACE 3 - Mist Flow: Mist Ring SILVER CUP RACE 4 - Mute City: Cactus Circuit SILVER CUP RACE 5 - Fire Field: Burnt Out Rink GOLD CUP RACE 1 - White Land: Hornet GOLD CUP RACE 2 - Silence: Nightmare Fear GOLD CUP RACE 3 - Big Blue: Single Course GOLD CUP RACE 4 - Sand Ocean: Key Break II GOLD CUP RACE 5 - Illusion: Lost Way II 03.03 MASTER BRONZE CUP RACE 1 - Big Blue: Barrel Roll BRONZE CUP RACE 2 - Sand Ocean: High Speed Edge III BRONZE CUP RACE 3 - Lightning: G Trace BRONZE CUP RACE 4 - Mute City: Ten Carat BRONZE CUP RACE 5 - White Land: Last Wolf SILVER CUP RACE 1 - Mute City: Cactus Circuit II SILVER CUP RACE 2 - Mist Flow: Puzzle Ring SILVER CUP RACE 3 - Lightning: Loss Landing SILVER CUP RACE 4 - Fire Field: Front Line II SILVER CUP RACE 5 - Silence: Nightmare One GOLD CUP RACE 1 - Port Town: Half Dome II GOLD CUP RACE 2 - White Land: Hornet House GOLD CUP RACE 3 - Sand Ocean: Key Break III GOLD CUP RACE 4 - Big Blue: Twin Course GOLD CUP RACE 5 - Illusion: Lost Way III 03.04 PLATNIUM CUP PLATNIUM CUP RACE 1 - Mute City: Multiply PLATNIUM CUP RACE 2 - Big Blue: Big Billow PLATNIUM CUP RACE 3 - Silence: Silence II PLATNIUM CUP RACE 4 - Port Town: Great Wings PLATNIUM CUP RACE 5 - Red Canyon: Red Canyon II PLATNIUM CUP RACE 6 - Sand Ocean: Sand Ocean PLATNIUM CUP RACE 7 - White Land: White Land II PLATNIUM CUP RACE 8 - Fire Field: Fire Field 04 SURVIVAL MODE This mode is split into three different competitions: Tour, Challenge, and Battle. Each competition has a counter for the number of pilots you've beaten it with (out of 36), and the best overall time for beating the challenge. 04.01 TOUR Players start off with five lives (represented by Captain Falcon helmets). Tour consists of five levels, including an alternate level that pops up when you play as Octoman, Dark Solider, Draq, Rodger Buster, or Blood Falcon. Beating this mode displays character and machine artwork, and also unlocks text panels that supposedly offer a synopsis of a scene from the anime series (unfortunately, these are in Japanese text only). You can access these panels from the Options menu. TOUR RACE 1 Mist Flow: Intro vs. Octoman This "Short Race" level may be a little tricky. If you have to boost, do it early, because this level is deceptively tricky. TOUR RACE 2 Sand Ocean: High Speed Edge vs. Dark Solider A simple and short "1 Lap Race" around Sand Ocean. During this race, you can boost, so the level is very easy. TOUR RACE 3 Mute City: Straight Link vs. Draq Get a boost start on this "Straight" course. If you blow out and press the accelerator too early, there are boost pads near the start of the track to help you out (you can boost on this one, too). TOUR RACE 4 Red Canyon: Slalom Link vs. Rodger Buster A "Slalom" course, where the objective is to make tight turns. Get a rocket start, and don't boost if your machine has a bad turning. TOUR RACE 5 Fire Field: Heat Circuit vs. Blood Falcon This is a simple "3 Lap Race" for anyone who's mastered the higher levels of Grand Prix mode. The same rules apply to this race as in any Grand Prix race (boosts only work on the last two laps). TOUR ALTERNATE White Land: Wolf vs. Antonio Guster This "Top Keep" level appears in place of whatever level your character would normally be apart of (for example, this race would be first when playing as Octoman, second when playing as Dark Solider, etc.) Simply put, stay in first place for the whole 1-lap race. 04.02 CHALLENGE Once again, players are given five lives to complete this Survival mode. Challenge consists of eight levels, which are more difficult than Tour mode. Beating this mode opens up the Pilot Profile for your chosen pilot, as well as another story synopsis. You can access these panels from the Options menu, and read background information on the pilot and machine (once again, all text is written in Japanese). CHALLENGE RACE 1 Port Town: Sky Highway vs. Billy The first Challenge level, a "1 Lap Race," is relatively easy. Be sure to use your boost here. CHALLENGE RACE 2 Red Canyon: Slalom Link II vs. John Tanaka Here we have another "Slalom" level. Like the first one, be sure to get a rocket start, and don't boost if your machine has a low handling rating. CHALLENGE RACE 3 Mist Flow: Double Link vs. Sliver Neelsen Simply stay in first place during this "Top Keep" challenge. Boost early on and replenish your energy in the pit zones. CHALLENGE RACE 4 Lightning: Braid vs. Mrs. Arrow A challenging "Short Race" is up next. Don't change paths, pick one branch and stick with it. CHALLENGE RACE 5 Fire Field: Front Line vs. Bio Rex For this "Speed 800" challenge, simply drive around the track without going below 800KM/Sec. Watch out for mines on this one. Fortunately, it's only for one lap, with boost enabled. CHALLENGE RACE 6 Mute City: Straight Link II vs. James McCloud Another simple "Straight" course. Get a rocket start and drive right over the course obstacles. CHALLENGE RACE 7 Illusion: Brake Link vs. Gomar and Shioh This "Braking" course might be tricky. My advice? Get a rocket start, don't boost, and let up on the accelerator as you get half-way to the finish. Then, when you're a 1/4th of the way there, use your brake. This technique has worked for me most of the time. CHALLENGE RACE 8 Silence: Nightmare vs. Michael Chain The final challenge here, a "3 Lap Race" against Michael Chain, is a bit tough. Luckily, this race works just like a normal Grand Prix mode race, so you'll get a Max Boost for every lap here. CHALLENGE RACE ALTERNATE Big Blue: Slip Down vs. Antonio Guster Once again Antonio Guster joins us for an alternate race. This "1 Lap Race" opens up when you play as Billy, John Tanaka, Silver Neelsen, Mrs. Arrow, Bio Rex, James McCloud, Gomar/Shioh, or Michael Chain. 04.03 BATTLE Coming Soon 05 EDIT MODE Edit mode allows players to create their own F-Zero tracks. These tracks can be as complex or as simple as you want them to be. Climax allows you to save up to 30 tracks to the cartridge. There are 225 pieces, with each piece adding points to a score that can go no higher than 255. Some pieces may cost more than other similar pieces (a good example is 2x2 turn pieces; piece No. 166 is 10 points, when piece No. 130 is 7 points, even though they're both the same size). Knowing where to save points on track pieces is important when designing large courses. Before you begin designing your track, a theme must be selected. There are 11: Mute City, Big Blue, Sand Ocean, Silence, Port Town, Lightning, Red Canyon, Fire Field, White Land, Mist Flow, and Illusion. This choice comes up every time you edit a course. Just like in the game proper, Illusion courses have no walls, and Mist Flow courses have reduced visibility. The editor does not restrict mixing certain elements of these themes, too (you could design a Sand Ocean track with ice, or a Lightning track with mines). All tracks need to start with piece No. 1 (the standard goal line), but in addition to standard turns and straight pieces, there are also some special track elements for designers to add. Jumps (like No. 203), track forks (like No. 251), and hairpin turns (like No. 211) add variety to tracks. Players can send Edit tracks to other Climax carts two ways: via the link cable, or through passwords. To transfer tracks via the link cable, go to the "Course Edit" menu, and select "Delivery." From here on out, this is pretty straightforward (the menu is in English). To get the passwords for Edit courses, go to the "Course Edit" menu, then select "Edit." Then, from the next menu, select "Password." Here you can output or input a password for a custom course. Remember to be careful when imputing passwords-while there are arrows to make small corrections, there's no way to shift the password down a line-- that is to say, there's no way to fill in a skipped line. CaitSith2 has developed a course editor for the PC: http://www.caitsith2.com/climax/index.htm Nintendo of Japan has a great site for submitting courses online: http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n08/bftj/geteditcourse/index.html And, of course, F-Mode has a section for custom tracks: http://www.planetnintendo.com/f-mode/games/fzc/courses.html 06 TIME ATTACK/ZERO TEST In Time Attack mode, players can practice on tracks and attempt to set records. The cartridge saves the top three scores for each level (along with the machine used), and the best lap time. The game can also store a single ghost that players can race against to improve their standings. Exclusive to Time Attack mode is the Championship course, "White Land: Eagle Circuit." This track mixes in every track element (mines, jumps, ice, etc) to create a final challenging test of your driving skills. This course is also available in multiplayer. Zero Test is a mode where players can put their skills to work. It's up to the player to make sure that the challenge can be completed with the machine, track, and time limit specified by the game. Challenges vary in difficulty between Class C, Class B, Class A, and Class S. Once again, since this portion of the game requires skill and speed, I can't really write a walk-through of it. 07 COMMUNICATION There are two ways to play multiplayer in F-Zero Climax: single-pak (only one player has/needs a copy of the game) and multi-pak (all players have/need a copy of the game). For multi-pak multiplayer, players can play any of the following: Bronze Cup, Silver Cup, Gold Cup, and Platinum Cup. The Championship Cup and Edit courses are available, too. In order to play Edit courses, all players need to have a copy of the track saved to the carts, and this needs to happen before you can play on these tracks (to put it another way, there's no way to upload Edit courses on the fly from the Communication screen). Single-pak was designed to give off a taste of the standard multi-pak gameplay. First off, players are automatically assigned one of four "Dragon Bird" machines, distinguishable by color. There's no sound, players can't perform the L+R Spin move, and the track detail takes a hit (unlike the regular details, it looks flat and shaded). The one unique course is "Fire Field: Rat Race," which includes mines as a nice touch. It's nothing spectacular, but it's a good way to kill some time if you've got a link cable handy. 08 SECRETS Just like any other game, F-Zero Climax has it's share of secrets. 08.01 UNLOCKING PILOTS Here's a little chart to make things easy. This first chart is what unlocks when you complete the class/difficulty (in other words, you need not be in first place to get these pilots). CLASS - DIFFICULTY - PILOTS UNLOCKED Novice - Bronze Cup - Jody Summer/White Cat Novice - Silver Cup - Lisa Brilliant/Panzer Emerald Novice - Gold Cup - Roger Buster/Mighty Hurricane Novice - Platinum Cup - Zoda/Death Anchor Standard - Bronze Cup - Lucy Liberty/Elegance Liberty Standard - Silver Cup - Octoman/Deep Claw Standard - Gold Cup - Clash/Crazy Bear Standard - Platinum Cup - Bio Rex/Big Fang Expert - Bronze Cup - EAD/Great Star Expert - Silver Cup - Miss Keller/Moon Shadow Expert - Gold Cup - John Tanaka/Wonder Wasp Expert - Platinum Cup - The Skull/Sonic Phantom Master - Bronze Cup - Kate Alen/Super Piranha Master - Silver Cup - Baba/Iron Tiger Master - Gold Cup - Super Arrow/King Meteor Master - Platinum Cup - Antonio Guster/Green Panther This second chart shows what pilot unlocks after you've placed 1st in the Grand Prix. CLASS - DIFFICULTY - PILOTS UNLOCKED Novice - Bronze Cup - Mrs. Arrow/Queen Meteor Novice - Silver Cup - Michael Chain/Wild Boar Novice - Gold Cup - Jack Levin/Astro Robin Novice - Platinum Cup - Gomar and Shioh/Twin Noritta Standard - Bronze Cup - Draq/Mighty Typhoon Standard - Silver Cup - Blood Falcon/Blood Hawk Standard - Gold Cup - Mighty Gazelle/Red Gazelle Standard - Platinum Cup - Black Shadow/Black Bull Expert - Bronze Cup - Silver Neelson/Night Thunder Expert - Silver Cup - Beastman/Hyper Speeder Expert - Gold Cup - Leon/Space Angler Expert - Platinum Cup - James McCloud/Little Wyvern Master - Bronze Cup - Billy/Mad Wolf Master - Silver Cup - Neo Captain Falcon/Neo Blue Falcon (See Below) Master - Gold Cup - Clank Hughes/Dragon Bird Master - Platinum Cup - Dark Soldier/ Soldier Anchor There are a few alternate pilots (which are accessible by pressing the R button on the pilot select screen). Zoda's alternate (Zoda/Death Anchor -> Hyper Zoda/Hyper Death Anchor) is unlocked once you've come in first place on all difficulties on the Bronze, Silver, and Gold cups. 08.02 OTHER SECRETS Unlock Time Attack/Zero Test - Beat any cup Unlock Survival - Beat Bronze and Silver cups on Novice difficulty Unlock Master difficulty - Beat any cup in Expert difficulty Unlock Championship - Beat Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum cups Race on Fire Field: Rat Race - Play a "VS. Single Pak" multiplayer 09 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Q. What character is the best? A. Captain Falcon is usually the best choice for beginners, but I practically beat the entire game with Lucy Liberty/Elegance Liberty. Q. Why doesn't this game look good on my Game Boy Player? A. You might need to adjust your Game Boy Player (for the GameCube) settings. Press the Z button, and change the filter option to "Normal." If it's set to Soft, the game can get blurry, and if it's set to Sharp, the map will shimmer uncontrollably. Q. Where can I get this game? A. I ordered my copy from play-asia.com, after having good success with them in the past. Currently, Climax is only available in Japan. 10 CONTACT If you're going to contact me, might as well do it over AIM. If you have any corrections, questions, or comments, please talk to me. E-Mail: arson_winter@yahoo.com AIM: ArsonWinter 11 CHANGES/NOTES Version Changes: 1.0 - 11/24/2004 - FAQ started 1.1 - 11/25/2004 - Survival Challenge added; minor corrections 1.2 - 11/29/2004 - Secrets added, Communication and Edit Mode updated Domains allowed to host this FAQ: GameFAQs - http://www.gamefaqs.com/ F-Mode - http://www.planetnintendo.com/f-mode/ Tide Blue - http://www.tideblue.com/ - Ryan "ArsonWinter" Painter