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Giving respect to Stunt Race FX thread

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Probably among the last games I really enjoyed on the SNES. Like Starfox before it, it utilized the very little used Super FX chip. But unlike with Starfox, I actually enjoyed this racer whereas Starfox wasn't my cup of tea (funny thing is that I traded Bubsy in disgust for Starfox, which was hardly better, IMHO).

sninstuntracefx1.png


Though Starfox had the novelty, Stunt Race FX was still in the pre-32-bit era were 3D poly games were rare so it was kinda of a big deal. I remember a few games like Hard Drivin' and FaceBall 2000 before all of them, but they were barely playable. Stunt Race FX wasn't a testament to smoothness nor did the real action even cover 60% of the screen, but it was just enough to be enjoyable in a silly kind of a way. :)

Stuntrace2.jpg


I'm not going to pretend the game was much to look at, it wasn't. It was painfully slow, clunky and blocky, but it did offer a somewhat different experience from other racers on consoles, including those using scaling on Sega CD and SNES. I still liked some of the attention to details such as different expressions on the cars faces, billboards advertizing Nintendo franchises or even the Ridge Racer-inspired sunsets.

I did kinda like the soundtrack even though it was mostly muzak in retrospect.

ss_srfx_luigi.gif


One thing the game did right was not merely rely on its racing tournament gameplay and offered some more skill-based courses in arenas. I think this gave Stunt Race FX more replay value (Similarly, I also thought the battle mode made Super Mario Kart really shine). There were also those bonus rounds with the 18-wheeler, but those seemed too much for the system to handle. Very cumbersome to play.
 

Sapiens

Member
What was this, 5 frames per sec.??

Eyeballs on the cars?

Horrible control?

Unplayable. Even back in 1994. You could just go down to the arcade and play Daytona.
 
I enjoyed it too. Memories are a bit vague, but I remember that motorcycle on the mountain ? track with those boulders falling.

Back then I didn't even know or care of framerate :D
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
there was a better Super FX racer involving motorcycles.. I dont remember much about it at all, but I recall really liking it. This game was never playable however.
 
But the game has brilliant level design. And pleasing aesthetic through the roof. I have yet to play a racing game as charming. I love the level where it starts raining on your windshield.
 
I used to love that game, I can still remember some of the music from it. I loved watching the car break apart and come back together.
 
I still play this game. The frame rate actually makes the game challenging, which is kinda funny. But this is definitely one of my favourite racers. The press liked to make fun of it and compared it to Virtua Racer, which was incredibly stupid. I remember one magazine taking points off because the wheels were sprites.

Awesome game!
 
Virtua Racing was technically superior. No shame in admitting that. But with only 3 tracks, Sega's effort was a short-lived experience, no matter how challenging those few tracks were.
 

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
i actually returned this game because i mastered the game in like 2-3 days. i even played every track in the difficult first person mode
 
I didn't care about Starfox. I know there was a lot of hype and it was fairly epic as a game, but it really paled in intensity compared to classic 2D shooters.

I understand many people didn't like Stunt Race FX. I accept it. :)
 

Koshiro

Member
I liked it at the time, but memory is rose tinted. In my memory, it's really smooth and playable. I bet if I picked it up now, it'd be a "wtfomg!" moment.
 

Sapiens

Member
Instigator said:
Did EGM ever review the game? I can't find a review of it...


Yes, and I believe they scored it very well. I no longer have the issues, but, VR for Genesis got 8s and 9s (maybe a 7 too), while SRFX got 7s (maybe a 6).

EGM definitely favoured Virtua Racing.
 

ourumov

Member
When it comes to 3D games on 16 bit systems my choices would be Star Fox and Virtua Racing genesis (with the almighty SVP)...Never liked Stunt Race...
 

Forsete

Gold Member
Very nice game.. Hard as hell though.

I remember being impressed by the graphics. ;)
This, Lock On, Donkey Kong Country and Pilotwings were probably my favourite SNES games. Oh, forgot about Super Mario World.
 
I was such a Nintendo nerd back then (still am). I memorized the credits of many games, including StarFox and Stunt Race FX. Those were the good old days :(
 

Monk

Banned
I want to see another racer from Nintendo. Stunt Race was AWESOME, at the time it as the only game to give me a sense of speed, and I mastered the motorcycle. The motorcycle owns, haters can die.
 

_Angelus_

Banned
I remember being in agony when I couldn't afford Virtua Racing. A year later I saw it used at BlockBuster for 15 bucks though. It wasn't *that short* though,unless I'm thinking of the 32X version you could also race tghe tracks reversed and mirrored,which made it a different expereience. Still not worth the 100 dollars Sega were asking for it though,but it sure was nice grabbing it for under 20 bucks a year later. For me its still one of the best 3D racers for me this very day,though I prefer the 32X version over the Genny and PS2 vesions overall.
 

Ranger X

Member
I never thought there was anyone except me liking this game!
Nice thread. Stunt Race FX as stole alot hours from my teen life!
I still dream for a sequel. ;(
 

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
there's actually an orchestrated version of one of the music tracks from stunt race fx on the Orchestrated Game Concert cds. and it's the only song that i can remember from the game because of that cd
 

ShowDog

Member
I played this a whole lot when i was younger, but really the control is pretty bad and I think its mainly due to the horrible frame rate. It was fun at the time for someone who only owned a super nintendo and didnt care about any other systems, but today its crap. Think of 3d novelty and crap game Battle Arena Toshiden style.
 

byproduct

The Amiga Brotherhood
I remember renting Stunt Race FX, expecting similar smoothness to Star Fox. What I got was a slideshow - I couldn't make out where the course was or whether what I was doing on the controller had anything to do with what was happening on the screen. After 15 minutes I ejected it and played whatever else I rented with it.

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to try it again and it was just as bad the second time. They never should have released this - the frame rate made it unplayable and it felt like it probably would have been good at twice the frames. Maybe it should have been an N64 title.

Stunt Car Racer on the Amiga - now THAT was playable and is still fun today.

Edit: Played it on a PAL system so it may have been worse than the NTSC version?
 
All I remember about this game was going off ridiculous jumps and destroying my car, or something. It was fun back then but my head would probably explode if I tried to play it again... early 3-D is so painful.
 
byproduct said:
I remember renting Stunt Race FX, expecting similar smoothness to Star Fox. What I got was a slideshow - I couldn't make out where the course was or whether what I was doing on the controller had anything to do with what was happening on the screen. After 15 minutes I ejected it and played whatever else I rented with it.

Smoothness and SNES Starfox are two things that you should not find together in one sentence. :)
 

Chittagong

Gold Member
Great game, one of my highest anticipated in the whole generation. I started to count days when it was still called FX Trax... Then we had Star Fox 2, FX Fighters, Comanche, Virtual Boy, Sound Fantasy... Those were the days!
 
The could probably pull off a really neat version on the DS/GBA. I'd love to see a WiFi enabled port/upgrade of Stunt Race FX. Since the track design and visual aesthetic is already there, they would just need to bring the framerate up to 60, and maybe improve some course details. I really wouldn't want them to ditch the awesome simplicity that makes it so imaginative.
 
evilromero said:
The could probably pull off a really neat version on the DS/GBA. I'd love to see a WiFi enabled port/upgrade of Stunt Race FX. Since the track design and visual aesthetic is already there, they would just need to bring the framerate up to 60, and maybe improve some course details. I really wouldn't want them to ditch the awesome simplicity that makes it so imaginative.

Why limit the game to a tiny screen? :)
 
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