Hey look, it’s a Nintendo first party game: if you can’t figure out where this review is going then you owe me a dollar. It’s become almost predictable to assume that a title made by Nintendo is going to be worth playing and F-Zero GP Legend is no exception.

F-Zero GP Legend is the second game from the franchise to appear on the Gameboy Advance (GBA). Everything that was worth carrying over from F-Zero Maximum Velocity (the first title on the GBA), has been moved onto this iteration. The scary thing for you to consider when playing this F-Zero is to realize that the gameplay has remained unchanged from the original that spawned this franchise years ago on the Super Nintendo – that’s how good the game was back then; it’s stood the test of time.

Racing in the game is easy to pick up, yet hard to master. You’ll press A button to accelerate, B button to break, and use both shoulder buttons to turbo boost. Where the game gets more difficult is with power slides that are done using either the left or right shoulder buttons individually. You can see how the difficulty level increases exponentially as you’re boosting, releasing one of the shoulder buttons to power slide, and then getting back on the shoulder button to continue accelerating. It sounds much easier then it actually is; trust me when I say it requires quite a bit of co-ordination.

You have one health/energy meter (as you always have in F-Zero). The meter is used for both your damage and your boost. Boost too much, and you’ll waste all your energy, meaning one tap on any wall, and you’ll explode. It’s a tried and true gameplay element that forces you to strategize when to use your boost, and when to ease off and assume you’ll incur damage. Your energy bar can be recharged several times during a race by driving over green energy strips that are placed in different spots on each track.

The big upgrade (if you can really call it that) for this version of the franchise is the basis of this title. F-Zero GP Legend is based on the cartoon which was playing in Japan a few years ago, and is now playing on North American soil on Saturday mornings. The story themes are taken almost entirely from the show, and the characters are lifted from the cartoon as well. Besides playing as characters from the show you also have a choice of being part of the good or bad guys. You can be part of the Elite Mobile Task Force, or the Black Shadow (take a guess which is good and which is bad), all depending on who you choose to play as.

The game builds on itself with the story. You’ll be able to play as very few of the characters when you first boot up the F-Zero GP Legend cartridge, but as you beat each characters story mode you’ll unlock more characters which you can then turn around and do the same with. It doesn’t take too long to beat the story mode, but when you take into account that each story is different for each character, and that there are quite a few characters to unlock you’ll be playing for a while with Legends.

Beside the story mode which could take up much of your time, you’ve got time trials, Grand Prix, and Zero tests, all of which add up to a lot of replay value. In Grand Prix mode you’ll face off against other racers to finish as high as you can in each track of each cup. There are 9 cups in all, with each one having a minimum of 5 races. Zero tests though are where you’ll find the most difficulty in GP Legends. You’re asked to complete various timed challenges on courses. The game will take something as seemingly simple as a turn, and force you to take that turn as perfectly as it could possibly be taken. To complete each test you’ll have to finish with a top three time; which isn’t all that hard. To finish with the best time however is almost impossible, and will require you to have very good F-Zero driving skills.

One of the best features of F-Zero GP Legend (which was thankfully carried over from Maximum Velocity), is that you can play the game with friends if you only have one cartridge of the game at hand. No need for all of you to spend money on the game to play it together; and with the new wireless adapter from Nintendo you can play the title with no cables now either. If ever there was a GBA title that screamed to be played in multiplayer this is it.

With great sound, great graphics and gameplay that has stood the test of time, F-Zero GP Legends is going to appeal to almost everyone. Well everyone who doesn’t already own F-Zero Maximum Velocity. The games are very similar in feel, and really the only thing separating them is story. Those of you who own Velocity, be weary of a purchase, because it may feel like more of the same. Those of you who haven’t purchased an F-Zero title for your Gameboy Advance should definitely pick up GP Legends, as it is the better of the 2, and should provide you with quite a bit of gameplay for the next few months.