Game music of the day: F-Zero GX

Today, rather than look at just one or two tracks from a given game, we're going to really dive into the exhaustingly thorough F-Zero GX. Regardless of your musical preference, there's bound to be something in the game's 80-song soundtrack that pushes the right buttons. The mere fact there's so much diversity in a futuristic racing game, including dozens of songs created just forthe menu-obscured pilot profile area, earns this game a place in VGM history.

Pilot profile themes

Above: Pico's theme, a kickass mix of electro-guitar madness

Above: The game's villain, Black Shadow, slams your speakers with this industrial-strength dance blast

Above: Bio Rex drops the tech and goes for a KMFDM-esque guitar riff (plus lots of yelling)

Above: Prefer shredding guitars with screaming '80s men? Billy's theme is for you

Above: PJ starts off with an indie-rock sound, then abandons all sense and goes for a nutso jig vibe

Above: Michael Cain's theme opts for a Tekken 3 sound, which we also happen to love

Above: Mrs Arrow is one of the handful of themes that also sports vocals. Dumb as hell, but so so catchy

Above: The end-all be-all ofcheesy videogame music, Captain Falcon will always be my hero

Above: Need a mid-week pick me up? Put on Dr Stewart's music and you'll show up to work with glowsticks

Track themes

Above: The Lightning level would be right at home in any Matrix fight scene

Above: One of the most popular F-Zero tracks, remixed for 2003

Above: Fire Field is already a balls-out awesome song - now imagine screaming down a tube that's suspended over a vat of fire and lava with it blaring out of your TV

I could go on and on, honestly. It's all very arcadey and to many is extremely disposable music, but I've had this stuff on my iPod since iPods were invented. I couldn't love the soundtrack more, which only adds to my similarly overwhelming affection for the game itself. Here's a slick as shit racer, on GameCube, running 60 frames per second with 30 cars onscreen and some of the most intense track design in gaming history. How this hasn't earned a Wii follow-up is utterly beyond me. Good news though - your Wii still plays GC games, so if you want a tough as hell (but hugely rewarding) racing experinece, there is nothing like F-Zero GX. Theactual discsare pretty expensive these days, but it's totally worth it considering how long you (potentially) could be listening to it.

Still Alive by Lisa Miskovsky (SO GOOD)

Healing Ground by Inon Zur and Stuart Chatwood

Bloodpool by Yuzo Koshiro