I couldn’t play much of Toshihiro Nagoshi’s last game, Super Monkey Ball, before storming off in frustration. I mean, there is definitely something pure and beautiful about the game — the design so simple, the control spot on, the level geometries astounding, the characters hilarious, and many of the mini-games fantastic. It was just the unforgiving falling in pits that turned me cold after a few ultranarrow tightrope acts.
Strange, then, that his follow-on game — a game based on a similar kind of tightrope act (only this time in a ship instead of a ball, racing other ships instead of the clock, oh and at 1400 mph) — would be so totally entrancing that now I’m willing to endure the Nagoshi-patented ever-regular pit plunge over and over. In fact, I’m begging for it. Give me narrower paths, fewer guardrails, more difficult jumps, more risky shortcuts! I’m up to the challenge, I promise. Gimmie! GIVE ME!
I’m still trying to figure out why I prefer this new installment in the age-old F-Zero franchise over rolling monkeys down steep inclines. Maybe it’s just that the game feels a bit more forgiving. One thing is for certain, though: Nagoshi-san has found the sweet spot for me. F-Zero GX rocks my tank.
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