F-Zero: Maximum Velocity - Gameplay

Gameplay

Every race consists of five laps around a race track. A player will lose the race if his or her machine explodes due to either taking too much damage or landing outside of the track, gets ejected from the race due to falling to 20th place or due to completing a lap with a rank outside of the rank limit of that lap, or he or she decides to give up. In the single player Grand Prix mode, all of these conditions requires the player to use an extra machine if and only if he or she has one or more spare machines to try again.

For each lap completed the player is rewarded with a speed boost, to be used once any time, one of the "SSS" marks will be shaded green to indicate that it can be used. A boost will dramatically increase a player's speed, but will decrease their ability to turn. A boost used before a jump will make the player jump farther, allowing the player to use a shortcut. Boost time and speed varies according to the machine, and is usually tuned for proper balance. For example, one machine boasts a boost time of twelve seconds, yet has the slowest boost speed of the entire game. Players can also take advantage of the varying deceleration of each vehicle. Some vehicles, such as the Jet Vermilion, take longer than others to decelerate from top boost speed to normal speed, once the boost has been used up. Players can also take advantage of this effect on boost pads.

The Grand Prix is the main single player component of Maximum Velocity. It consists of four series named after Chess pieces "Pawn", "Knight", "Bishop" and "Queen", the fourth of which can be unlocked by winning the others on "Expert" mode. They have five races in four difficulty settings, "Master" mode is unlocked by winning expert mode in each series, the player unlocks a new machine after completing it. The player needs to be in the top three at the end of the last lap in order to continue to the next race. If the player is unable to continue, the player will lose a machine and can try the race again. If the player runs out of machines, then the game ends, and the player has to start the series from the beginning.

Championship is another single player component. It is basically the same as a "Time Attack" mode, except the player can only race on one, special course: the Synobazz Championship Circuit. This special course is not selectable in any other modes.

Maximum Velocity places a particular emphasis on skillful use of the chosen vehicle's capabilities and knowledge of the tracks. In the hardest difficulty, "Master", the slowest vehicle available to the player will often pass the player when driven by the computer, even if he or she is using the fastest vehicle available. Computer-controlled opponents who are on the lead lap will catch up to the player within seconds, no matter how dramatic a shortcut is taken or boost used in Master difficulty. In all difficulties, the player must also dodge backmarkers and lapped vehicles that could be spawned in locations that could be impossible for them to legitimately reach (e.g. on sections of track that can only be reached by jumps that are so long that these slow machines always fall off the track and crash when they do attempt those jumps). Finally, the racers have to contend with floating bombs that are spawned on the track during the race and mines that are pre-placed on the track as part of the track. Most drivers must avoid them, though a few vehicles are tough enough and have enough traction that their drivers with enough skill can run into them intentionally for speed boosts.

Also, some vehicles that are hard to use due to their poor handling and/or acceleration exhibit remarkable capabilities in expert hands. Most worldwide records have been set using the Jet Vermilion, which is supposedly the vehicle with the worst turning and acceleration. Master players overcome this with ingenious control and take advantage of its superb deceleration from boost modde, top speeds in both normal and boost modes, and top-of-the-line toughness. Some of the other vehicles the player has access to, though they may appear quite easy to use, have no such potential.