To give a quick introduction, the F-ZERO X: Expansion Kit was released only in Japan on April 21st, 2000, and
was the first add-on disk for the Nintendo 64DD. In order to utilize the Expansion Kit,
one does need an NTSC N64, NTSC-J version of F-ZERO X in conjunction with the Expansion Kit and 64DD.
In F-ZERO X: Expansion Kit, all of the content from the original game is available in addition to
all of the new content added through the Expansion Kit.
The purpose of this page is to provide an in-depth overview of everything that the elusive F-ZERO X Expansion Kit has to offer.
To start-off with, there is the Course Editor:
- Course Editor -
This is what the Expansion Kit is most-known for.
This tool is pretty huge, and literally allows you to create whatever you want.
I say "literally", because any course that already exists in the game can be recreated with the use of this complex tool.
The developers even included the option to load any of the official courses from the game as samples, all
of which can be edited and saved as a course for use in the "Edit cup".
In total, up to 100 courses can be stored onto the Expansion Kit disk, (not including official courses), where 6 of them
can be setup at once for play in the Edit cup. The more courses that are stored, the longer it will
take for the course related menus to load.
There's really too much that can be explained in further detail about the amount of options this complex editor has,
so I think this page is better off with just a few videos and images you can check out below.
Perhaps I'll make a more in-depth guide of the Course Editor at some point in the future, but I can't promise anything.
Videos of some awesome custom tracks:
Odd Town 4 - France (by Philippe Brodier)
Step Remix RR (by Statix)
Haunted Ocean - Cup of Tea 3 (by Philippe Brodier)
Hex D (by Uchiha)
Y Splits (by Statix)
Mount (By Daniel Z.)
Mario Kart 8's Mute City (by Uchiha)
Mario Kart 8 Rainbow Road (N64) (by Indextic)
Smooth Clouds 5 (by Philippe Brodier)
IMAGES:
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- Machine Creator -
- Machine Parts -
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The machine creator allows you to create unique custom machines to use in the game. You're given a pretty decent variety on how you would like to customize your machine. Above we have a display of all the machine parts to choose from, as well as a comparison of the lightest and heaviest machines that can be assembled. Comparing with the lightest machine combination (780 kg), the weight increases in the following order:
| Front | +20 kg | +50 kg | +80 kg | +150 kg | +310 kg | +360 kg |
| Rear | +50 kg | +120 kg | +210 kg | +380 kg | +420 kg | +660 kg |
| Wing(s) | +100 kg | +120 kg | +140 kg | +190 kg | +250 kg | +420 kg |
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- Emblem Lines -
Emblem lines can be added, but they are prefixed in where they are placed. How the lines ultimately ends up looking in size depends on the machine parts that were chosen. In total there are five variations of emblem lines (as seen in the image on the right).
- Emblem -
Emblem (Mark) is a feature that allows you to select an emblem to paste onto the machine.
Just like the emblem lines, the locations are prefixed in where they are placed.
The emblem will be pasted on four different locations on the machine;
one on the back, one on each side, and one on the front/nose.
Similar to emblem lines, the size of the emblems are depend on which "Front" machine part that is selected.
There are a total of eight emblem designs to choose from, and an option to not use an emblem at all is not available.
*Hover the cursor above an emblem in the table to the right to view them in higher resolution.
- Color -
Color customization is divided into four sections:
Body:
Determines the color of all the machine parts.
Lines:
Determines the color of the emblem lines. Using the same color as the body will essentially work
as an option for having no emblem lines.
Numbers:
Determines the color of the numbers pasted on the sides. The numbers display on the machine are dependent on which pilot
that is picked.
Cockpit:
Determines the color of the cockpit window. Some color options in this case are gradients, while
some are pretty much a solid color for the whole cockpit.
*As seen to the right, there are a total of 64 colors to choose from.
- Settings -
The stats you would like the machine to have
uses the same formula as the 30 original machines.
If a rating of E is considered "0", and each increase in
rating is considered "1", then a total of 8 points can be
used for the stats customization.
*Translation of the order (top-to-bottom): Body, Boost, Grip.
*In almost any case for advanced Time Attack, "A-A-E" is the optimal combination.
- Saving Machine -
Once a machine is ready to be saved, a name must be entered.
The character limit is 8, and a rather limited character list is used (see image below).
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- Loading Machine -
Any machine that has been saved can be loaded to view the specifics.
You can even edit upon it and make another save if that's needed.
Another thing that can be done here is to load what's called a "Super Machine".
This is only meant to provide a view of the specifics that the super machines have, as well
as giving you the option to view the machine models in a higher resolution.
If you want to delete a machine, the option at the bottom is used.
-Entry-
This is where the machines that are available for use are determined.
All of the 30 machine slots can be overwritten with preferred custom machines.
However, the three super machines can only be set to the pilots who got their own super machine;
Captain Falcon, Samurai Goroh, and Jody Summer.
If a machine entry needs to be cleared back to default, the option in the middle allows you to do that.
The bottom option clears all of the entries back to default. Another way of clearing up the machine selection
is to reset the console. And yes, every time the game is turned on-and-off, the machine selection must be customized again using the
Machine Creator.
- Super Machines -
In addition to custom machines, the Expansion Kit offers three exclusive "Super Machines".
The super machines have stat configurations that goes beyond the formula of which the standard 30 machines follow.
As far as advanced Time Attack goes, though, none of the super machines have stats
that are suitable to make the them top tier.
If you would like to see how the super machines rank in a machine tier list, check out the list I've made at:
http://crazygamenerd.web.fc2.com/FZX_MTR.html
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By the way, a funny thing that can be done through this mode is to create one machine and spam it across all of the 30 machine slots. What this does is that it makes all of the racers use that particular machine in GP mode etc., similar to:
- Courses -
Besides the two new modes, the Expansion Kit offers two new cups called the DD-1 cup and DD-2 cup.
The 12 new courses within these two cups were specifically made with expert players in mind, so
they feel quite challenging in comparison to majority of the courses in the original game.
Of course, as previously possible, these courses can be played in either GP, Practice, or
Time Attack mode. In Time Attack mode the courses got their own unique Staff Ghost as an additional challenge.
The "Edit Cup" is customizable and can include up to 6 courses created with the Course Editor.
The slots of the Edit cup that aren't customized will have a simplistic oval-shaped course set by default.
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- Staff Ghosts - 
It's required to set a certain time on the particular course in order to unlock the staff ghost.
An in the course menu (besides the staff ghost) is an indication of that its time has been beaten (does not have to be raced against).
Rounding Errors:
The times displayed below are approximated. The time seen is the frame where the Staff Ghost is no longer visible as a racer. This timing method is indeed slightly off by an error margin (probably up to ±0"02). As for the machine settings, I believe most should be accurate down to the finest value in memory (although I got them through testing, so I cannot confirm with certainty). Hover the cursor above the settings graph image to see exact settings.
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| Staff Ghost: | 1'39"68~ | Staff Ghost: | 1'54"72~ | Staff Ghost: | 1'53"35~ |
| Machine: |
King Meteor
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Machine: |
White Cat
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Machine: |
King Meteor
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| Settings: |
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Settings: |
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Settings: |
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| Staff Ghost: | 1'48"75~ | Staff Ghost: | 1'51"82~ | Staff Ghost: | 2'00"62~ |
| Machine: |
Twin Norrita
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Machine: |
Night Thunder
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Machine: |
Night Thunder
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| Settings: |
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Settings: |
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Settings: |
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| Staff Ghost: | 1'31"08~ | Staff Ghost: | 1'30"98~ | Staff Ghost: | 1'38"58~ |
| Machine: |
Twin Norrita
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Machine: |
Red Gazelle
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Machine: |
Deep Claw
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| Settings: |
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Settings: |
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Settings: |
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| Staff Ghost: | 1'39"42~ | Staff Ghost: | 1'38"52~ | Staff Ghost: | 1'37"28~ |
| Machine: |
Hell Hawk
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Machine: |
Twin Noritta
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Machine: |
Hell Hawk
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| Settings: |
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Settings: |
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Settings: |
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- TA Ghost Storage -
In the original game, only one Time Attack ghost could be stored at a time. Not as many as one on each course, just one on the cartridge... Fortunately, due to memory expansion with the Expansion Kit, three personal record ghosts can be stored for every course! Not only that, you won't need to worry about internal battery-backed memory to fail with time and delete the ghosts, since the EK disk doesn't make use of the same method for memory storage.
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- Audio - 
Something that is not so well-known about the Expansion Kit is that the audio quality
improved from the original game. Due to memory limitations with standard N64 cartridges,
the soundtrack had to be compressed into mono sound.
With the Expansion Kit, however, the memory expansion made it possible to
include all of the soundtrack in stereo sound instead.
Increase in quality is not everything, because additional space means more music could be put into the game.
List of expanded soundtrack:
Rainbow Road - (Mario Kart 64 RR remix, using F-ZERO X SoundFont)
*This will also play on the original Rainbow Road course in the game if the Expansion Kit is attached (Video).
Silence 3 - Regeneration
Sand Ocean 3 - Rollercoaster
Big Foot
Big Blue 3 - Japon
Not as noticeable, but two of the older tracks got extended versions in the Expansion Kit:
Red Canyon - The Long Distance of Murder
White Land - Climb Up! And Get the Last Chance!
Three new songs outside of the courses were also added:
Course Editor
Machine Editor
Unknown
Lastly, there's actually a feature included in the options menu called "Sound Mode",
which allows you to set the audio to playback in either mono or stereo (many TVs back in 2000 only had support for mono sound).
- Bonus Ending -
A secret ending video is provided as a reward to those
who were crazy enough to beat every single cup in GP mode on Master difficulty, with all 30 of the pilots (I believe you can use custom machines?).
Here's a YouTube video of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVZnxIfULYM
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