Mute City Soundtrack
When one thinks of games with edgy, nihilistic, counter-culture aesthetics, one doesn’t typically think Nintendo. Part of what makes F-Zero X such an intriguing game is how unique it is as both a Nintendo and an F-Zero game. Distancing itself from the light-hearted anime campiness of its SNES prequel, F-Zero X is straight up metal. This can be seen in everything from the darker art style to the “Death Race,” where the object is not to come in first, but kill the other players by ramming into them until they explode or fly off the track. What really emphasizes the game’s macabre kill-or-be-killed feel however, is the soundtrack.
As soon as you start F-Zero X, the N64 logo appears, accompanied by an attention-grabbing guitar riff that pretty much sets the tone for the game. From there, it only gets heavier. The character select screen music is a chugging riff with deep, unintelligible vocals. It’s really unlike anything you’ve ever heard in a racing game, let alone one developed by Nintendo.
The songs are (fittingly) faster once the races start. The oddly titled “Crazy Call at Cry” and “Fall Down to the Scream” are both double bass drum thrash that would likely scare the soy milk lattes out of the mom crowd that Nintendo is aiming for these days. By the time they got to “Devil’s Call in your Heart,” they would probably be phoning the nearest parish about an exorcism for their console.
The soundtrack doesn’t all sound like a record by a band whose logo you can’t even read though. There are also some pretty shredding arrangements of F-Zero tunes from the original game for the nostalgic. “Endless Challenge” and “Decide in the Eyes” (from the Mute City and Big Blue courses, respectively) actually surpass the classic SNES versions with their tight full band interpretations of the songs.
While I would love to see (and hear) another metal-inspired F-Zero title, it seems unlikely coming from post-Wii Fit Nintendo. But who knows? Nintendo does have a tendency to surprise. I mean, who in 1998 would have expected the Reign in Blood of racing games to follow Yoshi’s Story?
