Rainbow Road (F-Zero X)
Rainbow Road is the first course of the Joker Cup in F-Zero X. It is actually the course of the same name taken from Mario Kart 64, though the original track itself was altered to fit in with the F-Zero theme. Star-shaped barriers and Mario character neon lights around the track have been removed, and road bumps have been put in place of the Super Mario universe's Chain Chomps. At the track's bottom isn't outer space but an ocean. The course also isn't completely rainbow-colored, with many dark gray areas, due to the graphical limitations of the game.
The lore idea of F-Zero X's adaptation is that the original track was infamously long in Mario Kart 64, taking about 2 minutes for each lap in 150cc, making it perfect for F-Zero's much faster speeds. It can accommodate both the fact that the tracks are similar, but different, and that the vehicles can roll the map in the same times in both games while being hyper-speed hover modules able to reach well over 1000 Km/h on F-Zero X and simple go-karts on Mario Kart 64.
Rainbow-themed tracks can also show up in some X Cup courses.
The well-known shortcut from Mario Kart 64 is blocked in F-Zero X, and results in death even if aimed properly due to the different control point system used to create the F-Zero X courses. If the player has the Japanese-exclusive F-Zero X Expansion Kit, a heavy metal remix of Mario Kart 64's Rainbow Road theme will play instead of the normal music.
Every game in the Mario Kart series has a different version of Rainbow Road, usually serving as the Grand Prix finale. The one in this game is based on the Mario Kart 64 track of the same name, which – in aforementioned game – is the final course of the Special Cup (Mario Kart 64's equivalent to the Joker Cup), the longest course of the whole franchise, and one of the hardest.
Trivia[]
- Rainbow Road was planned at one point during development in F-Zero GX, but was scrapped. The title 'Rainbow Road' still exists in the game's files. The reason for its 'replacement' is due to a number of contributing factors: [1]
- Phantom Road is actually a recolored Rainbow Road. The original coloring was much brighter, and the background squares moved at a much faster pace. All this was likely toned down due to concerns the bright colors will induce seizures. Because the coloring of the tracks and the slower background speed produced a rather gloomy scenery shift, the name 'Phantom Road' was eventually adopted.
- According to Mario Kart 64, Rainbow Road is 2000 meters long (1.24 miles). However, the F-Zero series confirmed that due to the supersonic speeds of the F-Zero Machines, the courses are at a far more colossal scale, with a single lap spanning over 6 miles.