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.
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