Fast RMX is the third game in Shin’en Multimedia’s Fast series and is exactly what it looks like: a game in which you race in anti-gravity vehicles in ultra-futuristic settings at high velocity, set to thumping electronic music.
Games of this genre don’t come around often anymore compared to their heyday during the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 days, but if you’ve ever played Wipeout, Extreme-G, F-Zero, or Star Wars Episode I: Racer, then you have experience with what type of game Fast RMX is.
The original Fast Racing League released for the Wii in 2011. The sequel, Fast Racing Neo, released on the Wii U in 2015. Fast RMX, released as a launch title for the Switch, is an expanded version of the Wii U game, with all of its downloadable content included, plus six new tracks. All total, Fast RMX has a total of 36 courses to zip around on.
I’m going to be making a lot of F-Zero comparisons in this review when talking about Fast RMX, so let’s get the short history lesson out of the way in case you’re not familiar with the F-Zero series, especially F-Zero GX:
F-Zero GX is the Sega and Nintendo collaboration that produced the fastest, most technically impressive, and brutally difficult game to release for the Nintendo GameCube. F-Zero GX’s speed and difficulty are legendary. The now defunct Amusement Vision team at Sega developed it with Nintendo’s oversight and created one of the best racing games ever.
That was in 2003, and that’s pretty much the last we’ve seen of the F-Zero series despite years of pleading from fans for Nintendo to make a sequel, or even a remaster – but since not many people bought F-Zero GX, that hasn’t happened. Shin’en’s Fast series takes most of its inspiration from F-Zero GX (even bringing back Jack Merluzzi as the game’s announcer) and is the closest thing fans have gotten. Although it falls short in a couple areas, it also succeeds in many other areas, and even exceeds it in places. Far from being a mediocre knockoff, Fast RMX is quite good, especially for its $20 price tag.
The goal of Fast RMX is…to go fast. Or as fast as you can without crashing. You might say that’s the goal of every racing game, but in Fast RMX, you can go not just fast, but extremely fast. Since the game runs at a smooth 60 FPS with sharp visuals and a thumping soundtrack, it’s almost sensory overload at times.
However, there’s a unique hook: it uses orange and blue boost strips on the courses that you have to match with the color of your engines. You can switch between blue and orange boosters on your vehicle to match the color of the boost strips on the courses with the press of the X-button. If you match the colors, you’ll get a big speed boost. If your colors aren’t coordinated, you’ll get a crackling sound and your vehicle will slow down. It adds another strategic wrinkle to the game that deepens the gameplay.
Other than not crashing violently, your boost meter is the mechanic you have to pay the most attention to. Orbs are scattered all over the courses that fill your boost meter. If your meter isn’t empty, pressing the R-button allows you to go faster. Getting these orbs and using your boosts in strategic spots is essential for first place finishes.
The vehicles have more weight to them than in F-Zero GX. When you come down off a jump, you hit with a satisfying bang. All the vehicles have their own unique engine noise as well. The sound design overall is excellent.
You’re not going to find any famous video game characters in Fast RMX. Captain Falcon and friends aren’t present. What you will find is a hefty amount of content for a budget price game: Championship Mode featuring 36 courses and 15 vehicles, Time Trials, Hero Mode, local multiplayer, and online multiplayer.
Hero Mode is very akin to F-Zero GX’s story mode, but without the characters and actual story. It’s a challenge mode in which you have to finish first on each course without crashing. If you crash, you have to start over. Or if your boost meter runs dry and you get clipped from behind by another driver, you crash and have to start over as well.
Some of the tracks look like they are ripped straight out of F-Zero GX and remixed, but Shi’nen’s track design takes a more modest approach so the courses aren’t so insane and difficult. Straightaways that allow you to use your boost are more common. In fact, there are courses that are built around straightaways and using your boost meter to go as fast as possible without losing control.
Tracks hazards like boulders, or fire shooting up from under the track, occur as well. The more modest track designs definitely make the game more approachable and less intimidating than F-Zero GX.
I found the music to be an improvement on the F-Zero series, which has always championed cheesy rock music in its games. Fast RMX takes after Wipeout with driving electronic/techno music that is a better fit with the futuristic aesthetic of the game.
VERDICT
For almost ten years now, the Fast series has served as a fill-in for the F-Zero game Nintendo refuses to make. As much as I’ve complained in the past about Nintendo neglecting the Metroid series, it pales to their neglect of F-Zero.
The purists won’t be satisfied until Nintendo gives them either an F-Zero sequel or a remaster of F-Zero GX, but if you like high-speed futuristic racers that are a throwback to their heyday, you should consider giving Fast RMX a hard look. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does a fantastic job of imitating it and, in some ways, improving on it. It’s a budget price game and delivers a great ride.
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