Stunt Race FX is another polygonal 3D game on SNES - this time it’s a racer, seriously seems like the next natural progression from earlier SNES efforts such as F-Zero and Mario Kart merged with Star Fox.

I’m stunned by how legitimate this is, I adore Virtua Racer and while Stunt Race FX runs a little slower on the FPS and is less graphically impressive. Stunt Race still manages to squeeze in 3 cups with 4 courses each (against 3 foe racers), 3 bonus stages in the Speed Trax and 4 additional Stunt Trax which is a typical “collect all 40 stars” affair but on new courses.

Rounds it out to about 19 distinct and different courses, there are some that appear underwater and have visual flair such as a dolphin jumping the course or later the Star Fox fleet zooming around the course, the frames take a huge hit with so much activity on the screen but it’s very cool and nifty.

There is Battle Trax for 2 player multiplayer and Free Trax which is a time trials mode.

Mucking around with (eventually) every title on the Nintendo Switch Online service I can honestly say the 1 or 2 hours I spent mucking around was worthwhile. I feel this could have been referred back to, like a random stage being pulled into Mario Kart or a kart having a basis on the Coupé for instance.

With the release of Star Fox back in 1993, Nintendo had proved to the world just what the Super Nintendo was truly capable of, bringing advanced 3D graphics to the console scene where their competition couldn’t, and it definitely paid off in the end. Sure, the game may look extremely primitive by today’s standards, but it was revolutionary for its time, and it managed to sell 4 million copies by 1998, so based on this success, it was clear that not only did Star Fox have a bright future ahead (or so they thought), but so did the Super FX chip. Plenty of devs would then use this chip to develop more games for the system, including Nintendo themselves, who would use it to develop another beloved classic from the SNES’s library… which we will talk about later, but for now, let’s do Stunt Race FX.

I have known about this title for quite a while now, but I haven’t really had any interest in playing it for myself. It looked fine enough from what I have seen on the cover of the game and some short gameplay clips here or there, but it just looked like “the SNES 3D racer” and nothing more, giving me no reason to play it over others. But hey, why not, it can’t be that bad right? I have had good experiences with these experimental titles from Nintendo on this system before, so this one can’t be that much of a downgrade from what we got before. So, I went ahead and played it for a good while, and I did actually end up liking it a lot. I wouldn’t say it is anything revolutionary, or even that much better than other racers on the system, but for what it sets out to do, it does a fine enough job, and I am glad to say that I finally got it out of the way.

The graphics hold the same level of quality as Star Fox did, and by that, I mean it is polygonal as shit and extremely primitive, but once again, it is really impressive for the SNES, and a lot is happening at once to where it is visually interesting to look at at times, the music is pretty good, having some enjoyable tracks that get you in the mood to be racing, but I couldn’t really pay too much attention to that when I am trying to steer this bathtub on wheels, the control works out well for the most part, but of course, given the graphics and the kind of game this is, it can get pretty frustrating to control in plenty of areas, and the gameplay is extremely typical, just being your average racing game… but in 3D!.......... even though that had already been done at this point, but shhhhhhhhhhhh.

The game is your typical racer, where you take control of one of three-four vehicles to race on the track with, each one with their own specifications and stats in terms of speed and durability, race along plenty of different prix and courses across plenty of environments, make sure to stay on the track while maintaining first place against your other competitors, gather several power-ups that can either give you a speed boost or help fix any damage that has been done to your car, and check out plenty of the other modes available, such as obstacle courses, a time attack mode, multiplayer modes, and the bonus stages that will make you tear your hair out. A lot of this is pretty standard for a racing game of this time, but once again, the main difference between this and all the other ones is that it is using ambitious 3D technology, and for the most part it works… well enough, and I had fun with it, despite how rough around the edges it is.

Unlike a lot of racers, where they are all about going fast and making quick turns to make sure that you can reach the goal before any of your opponents, this one takes things a little slower, not just because of the graphics are the frame rate, but also by having cars that feel much heavier to drive around with. This can even be seen whenever you collide with something, as the cars’ parts will jitter around all over the place, with you flopping about like a fish before you can get back on track and into the race again. Some may see this as a downgrade from other racers, and I can completely understand why, but for what it is worth, I think it works well enough for this kind of game. I can’t even imagine what playing this game would feel like if all of the cars were meant to go as fast as cars in other racing games go. It would probably feel like an absolute nightmare to try to get a handle on. Not to mention, this game gives the player plenty of things to do despite how simple its set-up is, so if you end up really liking what you get here, then the game will keep you busy with quite some time with all of the other modes and tracks that you can race on, each featuring plenty of detail and fun inclusions that spice the gameplay up.

Of course, with all that being said, this game leaves a lot to be desired in terms of a 3D racer, even at this point in time. At this point, we have had Virtua Racing, Ridge Racer 1/2, Daytona USA, and even by the end of the year, games like Sega Rally Championship and Cruis’n USA would be released, all of which manage to be great early 3D racers that don’t need to sacrifice speed in order to maintain proper gameplay. Sure, this one has the benefit of being able to be played at home, but not only could it be doing a lot better to keep one’s attention for much longer, but there were also much better racers on the console to check out like F-Zero or Super Mario Kart, making one question why they would bother playing this over others.

Not to mention, while most of the game works well enough to where I didn’t have too many problems with it, the turning on the tracks can definitely give you a hard time, especially when you are taking control of specific vehicles. One instance I had that was really hard to get a proper handle on is with the bonus stages in the prix, where your car would go inside this trailer truck, and you would have to drive it through all of these gates, and let me tell you, trying to turn with this thing is beyond impossible if you are hoping to have a smooth and clean turn. They were trying to make it so that the turning on this thing was as realistic as possible, which I guess I can appreciate for a game like this, but considering that this is the same game where all of the cars have goofy-ass eyes on them, I’m clearly not playing this for realism, and I would just like to have a much smoother race.

Overall, despite there being many better options out there and having the turning be a pain in the ass in plenty of moments, for being the first racing game to take use of the Super FX chip, Stunt Race FX did a pretty decent job with what it had, providing plenty of enjoyable races, modes to try out, and yet another showcase of what this console can really do, and while it certainly doesn’t reach the same levels of other racers that came before and since in terms of quality, it still does a good job with what it has. I would recommend it for those who are big racing fanatics, as well as those who like the more experimental titles on the SNES when it comes to presentation, but for everyone else, again, I would stick with any of those other titles I mentioned earlier before playing this. But hey, I guess if anything, the game is much more memorable than other racing games that used the Super FX chip, like Dirt Racer or Dirt Trax FX. Yeah, bet you don’t know what either of those games are, don’tcha? Don’t feel bad, I didn’t either until I looked it up 2 minutes ago.

Game #548