30 Days of Video Game Music: Day 20 -- Music from a Racing Game

Check out the Day 1 post for the full challenge list.

“Title BGM” – Taro Bando

Game: F-Zero X (1998, N64)
Original: Track (YouTube), Full OST (Higher Quality) (YouTube)
F-Zero X Guitar Arrange Edition: arr. Ryuichi Katsumata (YouTube, KHInsider)
Cover: Opening of F-Zero X Medley by Mell Laurant (YouTube, “Serious version” SoundCloud)
Cover: Camilo Solórzano, segues to Results theme (YouTube)

One of my favorite games of all time, one of the best box arts of all time, one of the best soundtracks of all time. F-Zero X has it all. It’s probably true that tracks like “Big Blue”, “Mute City”, and “Red Canyon” from the SNES game have stuck with me longer (especially in their F-Zero X and Super Smash Bros. Melee versions with respect to the former two), but the title theme of F-Zero X is special to me to. X is my favorite of the F-Zero games (even if it may not necessarily be the best), and its title theme is part of the reason why. As soon as the N64 logo appears on the screen, it greets the player with a guitar lick like a bolt of lightning, which segues into the title theme proper. It continues with a great driving riff and onward with a rollicking solo. It sets the stage for the fastest race known to man and for the grimy comic book aesthetic the game series would continue to hone in its sophomore chapter. I can’t think of a better way to get ready to play, aside from maybe putting on the excellent Guitar Arrange version linked above. No longer restricted by the N64’s sound capabilities, it showcases this piece’s full potential.

Hopefully EAD will take this series under its wing again one day and produce an achievement as mighty as it did the last time it touched it with F-Zero X, and hopefully with equally good music.