______       _______  ______  ______  ______
|  ____|     |_____  ||  ____||  __  ||      |
| |               / / | |     | |  | ||  __  |
| |___   ____    / /  | |___  | |__| || |  | |
|  ___| |____|  / /   |  ___| |    __|| |  | |
| |            / /    | |     | |\ \  | |__| |
| |           / /___  | |____ | | \ \ |      |
|_|          |______| |______||_|  \_\|______|
____________________________________________
|                                            |
|          For Game Boy Advance              |
|____________________________________________|

FAQ/Mini-Walkthrough v0.5
By Olly Dean (nekofever@hotmail.com)
F-Zero and GBA, (c) 1992-2001 Nintendo Co Ltd
This Document (c) 2001 Oliver Dean

THIS DOCUMENT MAY BE USED FOR FREE ON THE INTERNET AS LONG AS THE USER HAS 
EMAILED PERMISSION FROM THE AUTHOR (nekofever@hotmail.com) AND THE FILE IS 
NOT BEING USED FOR PROFIT. IT MAY BE USED IN PRINT IN SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES, 
ALTHOUGH IT MAY NOT BE USED IN PRINT FOR FREE. IF YOU ARE FOUND TO BE IN 
VIOLATION OF THESE GUIDELINES, LEGAL ACTION WILL BE TAKEN.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=
1.1 CONTENTS
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
1.1 CONTENTS
  2 INTRODUCTION
  3 FAQ
  4 CONTROLS
2.1 VEHICLES
  2 TRACKS
  3 CORNERING TECHNIQUE
  4 OPTIONS TRANSLATION

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
1.2 INTRODUCTION
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The original F-Zero was released on Nintendo's 16-bit Super Nintendo 
Entertainment System (SNES) very early in the console's lifespan. It was a 
notable release for two reasons, firstly as the first real futuristic racing 
game, paving the way for the likes of WipeOut on the PlayStation, and 
secondly as it was a real showcase for the SNES's pseudo-3D technique, Mode 
7 (it wasn't true 3D as all it involved was making the tracks into large 
images and tilting them to create the illusion of depth, perspective, and 3 
dimensions).

F-Zero disappeared from the Nintendo ranks until 1998 when the true-3D 
F-Zero X for the Nintendo 64 (N64) was released. This featured many 
improvements, the most notable being attacks, 30-craft races, 4-player mode 
(the SNES version was 1-player only), 3D tracks with loops, hills, and 
corkscrews, and infinite tracks through a great random track generator. The 
game was brilliant, not mentioning insanely fast, and was probably the best 
racing game on the N64, and one of the Top 10 games.

This brings us to F-Zero for Game Boy Advance (to be called F-Zero: Maximum 
Velocity outside Japan). The game is technically the same as the SNES 
version, but it contains more features such as 4-player mode, multiple 
layers of Mode 7, and all-new craft and tracks. Never mind the fact that 
it's PORTABLE. The game launched on March 21st 2001 in Japan with the 
release of Game Boy Advance. It was one of the first games to take advantage 
of (albeit limitedly) the GBA's 1-cartridge-4-player mode.

=-=-=-=-=
1.3 FAQ
=-=-=-=-=
Email any questions to me at nekofever@hotmail.com and I'll email you back 
an answer and post them here.

Q. HOW MANY CRAFT AND TRACKS ARE IN THE GAME?
A. As far as I know, there are only the 4 standard cars (not the same        
as in the SNES version) called Hot Violet, Fire Ball, JB Crystal, and Crazy 
Horse. I'm not sure of the total number of tracks, but I'd guess around the 
same number of the SNES game (about 24).

Q. WHICH CRAFT IS THE BEST?
A. It's down to personal preference. I favour JB Crystal (slow but great 
handling).

Q. HOW DOES THE 1-CARTRIDGE MULTIPLAYER WORK?
A. After about 20-30 seconds of downloading data, you can play multiplayer 
with one cartridge. It's disappointing, though, as you can only play one 
track, only the master GBA (the one with the cart) has music, and all the 
cars are the same.

Q. SO IS 4-CARTRIDGE MULTIPLAYER BETTER?
A. Yes, as you can play all tracks, all cars, and all GBA's have music. Not 
to mention it's as addictive as a very addictive thing.

Q. I DIDN'T LIKE F-ZERO X. WILL I LIKE THIS?
A. Try it first. F-Zero X was more focused on combat than this or the 
original F-Zero so you might like it. Even if you don't at first, give it an 
hour or so before you dismiss it.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=
1.4 CONTROLS
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
_______ _____________ _______
|__L____|             |__R____|
|        _____________        |
|    |  |             |       |
|   -+- |             |    A  |
|    |  |             |  B    |
|  o    |             |       |
|  o    |_____________|       |
|_____________________________|

L:   Left Airbrake
R:   Right Airbrake
A:   Accelerate
B:   Brake
L+R: Boost

--------------------

=-=-=-=-=-=-=
2.1 VEHICLES
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
HOT VIOLET
MAX SPEED: NORMAL: 422
           BOOST: 579
BOOST TIME (secs): 6
BODY STRENGTH: 69
TURN: PERFORMANCE: B
      BALANCE: C

FIRE BALL
MAX SPEED: NORMAL: 440
           BOOST: 565
BOOST TIME (secs): 6.5
BODY STRENGTH: 82
TURN: PERFORMANCE: C
      BALANCE: B

JB CRYSTAL
MAX SPEED: NORMAL: 418
           BOOST: 560
BOOST TIME (secs): 9.5
BODY STRENGTH: 63
TURN: PERFORMANCE: C
      BALANCE: A

CRAZY HORSE
MAX SPEED: NORMAL: 428
           BOOST: 585
BOOST TIME (secs): 5.3
BODY STRENGTH: 50
TURN: PERFORMANCE: A
      BALANCE: D


BEST FOR SPEED: Crazy Horse
BEST FOR BOOST: JB Crystal
BEST FOR STRENGTH: Fire Ball
BEST FOR TURNING: JB Crystal

As you can see, JB Crystal has the most in it's favour, but fails on speed 
as it is the slowest vehicle in the game. Although Hot Violet excels in 
nothing, it is a great all-rounder. Crazy Horse's name sums it up really, it 
is insanely fast but is crazy to control. Fire Ball comes into it's own on 
tracks where you are likely to take a lot of damage or need to eliminate 
some rivals. Overall, choose Hot Violet until you get used to in intricacies 
of the gameplay, and then move onto one of the others when you develop your 
own playing style.

=-=-=-=-=-=
2.2 TRACKS
=-=-=-=-=-=
BIANCA CITY:
This will give you very little grief. The only potential sticking points are 
the long corner before the ramp, the turn after the second black section 
(before the area with gravel on either side), and the turn before the zip 
pads. These will be easily negotiated using the proper turning technique.

STARK FARM:
This track may cause beginners problems because of the sharp, constant 
chicanes and right-angled corners. Once again, use the proper turning 
technique to breeze through it.

LAPUTAN COLONY:
This track is a lot of fun if you've got a vehicle that's good for 
cornering. The right-angles and double-right-angle hairpins are no problem 
if you're good and the section where the track splits (both sides are the 
same) has 5 zippers to hit. If you get all 5 you'll have no problem winning.

STARK FARM 2:
This has Stark Farm's trademark right-angled turns, but with the added 
problem of oil slicks at the track sides. It's not hard if you use the left 
and right airbrakes.

CLOUD'S CARPET:
This is tricky as there are some tough corners and the track is narrow. The 
big jump is fun though, and as long as you're in a fast vehicle, boost 
before the jump, and use the left-hand zipper you may be able to cut off 
some of the hairpin. I've never done it but I've seen the CPU vehicles do 
it.

-- to be continued --

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
2.3 CORNERING TECHNIQUE
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
This allows you to take corners much tighter and shave precious seconds off 
your time. There are a few methods here for different types of turn.

(i) Small Chicanes:
-------------------
If you come up on a small chicane like the one below, you can just 
double-tap the relevant airbrake (A) to nudge just inside the corner like 
below:

|   ^|
|   ||
\  | \
  \ <A \
   |    |
   |    |

(ii) Larger Chicanes
--------------------
Here you should use the airbrakes (A) but turn at the same time both ways  
to negotiate the corners:

|        |
|      ^ |
|      | |______
|      |        |
|      |        |
|      A---<-   |
|______      A  |
       |      \ |
       |       \|
       |        |
       |        |

(iii) Other Turns
-----------------
IMPORTANT! This is the main technique in the game. As you negotiate the 
turn, stab the accelerator to turn more tightly, and brake if you are 
turning wrong and must correct it to avoid a collision.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
2.4 OPTIONS TRANSLATION
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
There are only 2 menus in Japanese in the whole game and they are in English 
as follows (not literally):

Game (which takes you to the second menu)
Records
Options

And the second:

Grand Prix
Single Race/Time Trial
Multiplayer Vs
1-Cartridge Vs

--------------------
Game Boy: Over 100,000,000 addicted
