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Vehicular Smashicide - F-Type Shifts Into Gear! (Stunt Race FX available now on the Nintendo Switch Online SNES app!)

PsychoJosh

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Who?

F-Type is one of the selectable cars from Stunt Race FX, a racing game released for the SNES in 1994. The game utilized the Super FX chip (the very same used in Star Fox) which allowed for unprecedented 3D graphics at a time where they were mostly unheard of. Star Fox and Stunt Race FX both pre-date Doom!

Stunt Race FX didn't really have much for story or context. It was mostly a cartoony and lighthearted racing game where you raced cars with big goofy eyeballs. The music and atmosphere were great and the arcade-style gameplay was decently challenging. SRFX was a simpler racing game all about beating the opponents and the clock fair and square, which turned out to be more challenging in practice than you might believe. No weapons, no attacks to your name, just good old fashioned racing to the finish. You had limited health and lives, and sustaining too much damage by crashing into trees and barriers, or falling into the ocean, would spell your demise.


Why?

Well, because Stunt Race FX is one of my childhood games that I loved. And since I'm feeling kinda disappointed by the base roster choices in Smash Ultimate, I think it'd be a supremely fun idea to have a literal living race car in the game as a wacky retro character.

How would he play?

Being a speedy super-heavyweight (because, you know, he's a car), F-Type would be an oppressive in-your-face character who barely gives you any room to breathe with him constantly speeding into his opponents and battering them with his tires. Armored moves would be plentiful, and he would even be able to negate certain projectile attacks by charging at full speed. He would also be able to sacrifice some of his health in an explosion that is supremely deadly if it manages to connect.

(Incidentally, like Inkling and Charizard, he takes damage while in the water. Falling into the ocean in Stunt Race FX meant instant death for the poor guy!)

Speculated movelist:

B: Peel Out / Rocket Start

F-Type will rev his tires in place until they turn scorching red from the frictional heat. Once the tires are red he can move around again, and gains a fire effect to any tilts and jabs that use his tires. If he presses the B button a second time while the tires are red hot, he will instantly take off at maximum speed in the direction he's facing (rocket start!), crashing into anyone unfortunate enough to be in the way. While his tires are red, they will also lend a flame effect to his jab, tilt and Smash attacks (which naturally use his tires). Sometimes taking off will also leave behind a trail of flames on the ground that damages enemies. The tires cool down quickly - they will return to normal after about 20 seconds if he does not use the Rocket Start.

Forward+B: Nitro Boost

This move requires some room to accelerate. He will begin boosting in the direction held, and be able to do a circular donut and change directions with a flick of the stick. If it is held long enough, he will be surrounded by a kinetic aura upon reaching maximum speed, granting him armor and negating projectiles. Hoever, he is harder to control at top speed and needs some distance in order to brake, and during his stopping animation, he is vulnerable.

Up+B: Ramp Launch

Borrowed from the Stunt Trax portion of SRFX, F-Type spawns a ramp under his tires which he then drives up at great speed in order to launch himself upwards. If done in the air, the ramp will fall after his jump, acting as a downwards projectile and potentially spiking anyone underneath it into the abyss. Great for edgeguarding.

Down+B: Crash Out

This move damages F-Type, but if used properly, it can be worth it. F-Type will squint his eyes and begin shaking violently, beginning to charge up an explosion. Upon releasing the button, he will explode, sending out all his individual pieces in every direction and leaving behind only his eyes floating in the air. After this, he reassembles himself. A small, uncharged explosion can function as a ranged smash attack, as he will send out his pieces a short distance before reassembling. However, if an opponent is caught dead center in the middle of a fully charged blast, they will most likely be instantly killed as the dead center of a fully charged explosion does 800% damage and knockback, much like Roy's fully charged Flare Blade. Depending on the charge time, the explosions do anywhere from 5-12% damage to F-Type each time he uses them. Not a move to be abused.

F-Type can also roll around on his wheels while charging the explosion, basically making him a rolling death bomb. Also, since his hitbox briefly vanishes after the explosion, this move cannot be countered.


Final Smash: Bonus Trax

F-Type charges forward and crashes into his opponent. He knocks them onto a stretch of road where he enters TRAILER, his big 18 wheeler friend, who comes barrelling down the track and sideswipes all the enemies with his gigantic semi-trailer. With a cartoonish "KA-BOOM" onomatopoeia appearing on screen, the disastrous wreck naturally sends everyone flying.

Thread music:

 
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fleshdude.gov

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Count me in too! F-Type seems like they'd be really fun, especially if they kept the pseudo-clay look the official art for Stunt Race FX has!
 

PsychoJosh

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I doubt they'd keep the clay look and give him an appearance more consistent with the fact that he's a car. But the clay appearance could be an alternate skin like Felt Yoshi.
 

fleshdude.gov

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I doubt they'd keep the clay look and give him an appearance more consistent with the fact that he's a car. But the clay appearance could be an alternate skin like Felt Yoshi.
I'd rather they not try to give a semi-realistic car big cartoonish eyes, personally, but that'd probably end up being the case.
 

PsychoJosh

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I'd rather they not try to give a semi-realistic car big cartoonish eyes, personally, but that'd probably end up being the case.
I don't think he looks realistic, and in-game I picture that he'd have cartoony/chibified car proportions. Something like this.





just felt like i had to make these...
Good effort, but making it a front view of his face doesn't look that great. I think his stock icon would be the same as the lives icon in the original game. View of the whole car from the side.

1547700713013.png
 
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smash puffle

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That's fair, and would be a cute reference that Sakurai would definitely would put in. I don't really want to make a new one though...
 

Cabbagehead

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While I'm not terribly familiar with Stunt Race FX, I really resonate with the passion and nostalgia behind this support thread. And who knows? Maybe this is a game I'll end up trying out for myself in the near future. I'm sure I'll have an awesome time with it.

F-Type is also the type of character I'd love to see in Smash: a completely random character from Nintendo's past who might revitalize an old franchise by, you know, existing again.

Count me as a supporter, please!
 

PsychoJosh

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Sure thing.

And yeah, you may get your chance to try it soon. SNES games are reportedly in the pipeline for Switch Online, and one of them is Stunt Race FX.

Personally I'd recommend playing it on an original SNES instead of the Switch's emulator, because FX chip games tend to be affected by emulation in particular, usually running at way faster speeds than the developers originally intended the game to run at. This actually ruined the VC port of Star Fox because it ran way too fast and made the game nearly unplayable.

The game is currently pretty cheap on ebay, so if you have a SNES, give it a go.
 

Cabbagehead

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Sure thing.

And yeah, you may get your chance to try it soon. SNES games are reportedly in the pipeline for Switch Online, and one of them is Stunt Race FX.

Personally I'd recommend playing it on an original SNES instead of the Switch's emulator, because FX chip games tend to be affected by emulation in particular, usually running at way faster speeds than the developers originally intended the game to run at. This actually ruined the VC port of Star Fox because it ran way too fast and made the game nearly unplayable.

The game is currently pretty cheap on ebay, so if you have a SNES, give it a go.
I'll definitely give it a go when I get the chance! I have Nintendo Switch Online, but I like to track down physical copies of the games that pique my interest, so if it's better quality that way, then no big deal.
 

PsychoJosh

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So, when Kirby inhales F-Type, I'm imagining he just becomes Wheel Kirby with a pit crew cap (or perhaps a racing helmet?) that has the Stunt Race FX logo on it. It'd be a bit hard to implement a transformation where he gets a spoiler or fenders.

He turns into Wheel Kirby to do the Peel Out move.
 
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MacDaddyNook

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Ok, this one is pretty out there, and I love it; it's just a crazy enough idea that I can see Sakurai going for such a thing. I haven't played Stunt Race FX since the demos at Toys R Us, but it was a pretty good game and being able to fight as a car is just hilarious (plus, it'd be the closest thing to my last unrealized childhood fighter wish, Uniracer).

I'm curious to how it would fight, outside of the specials. Would it stay on all fours or "stand up" sometimes like Hornet in Fighters Megamix? Also, I'm curious as to how to balance it since being fast and heavy, with crazy strong finisher, might make it a little too OP. Still, those specials do sound fun to use.
 

fleshdude.gov

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I'm curious to how it would fight, outside of the specials. Would it stay on all fours or "stand up" sometimes like Hornet in Fighters Megamix? Also, I'm curious as to how to balance it since being fast and heavy, with crazy strong finisher, might make it a little too OP. Still, those specials do sound fun to use.
Since Smash is a platform fighter and not really hand-to-hand combat like Fighters Megamix, and F-Type's build wouldn't really work standing up in the same way Hornet's does, I'd imagine they'd be staying on all fours.

Also, I think a good way to balance F-Type would be to make it so that it has the slowest running turning speed of any character (because it's a car, it has to drift to turn), and to make it not so great in the air (not absolutely terrible, but not great). They're not really known for their aerial mobility.
 

PsychoJosh

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Ok, this one is pretty out there, and I love it; it's just a crazy enough idea that I can see Sakurai going for such a thing. I haven't played Stunt Race FX since the demos at Toys R Us, but it was a pretty good game and being able to fight as a car is just hilarious (plus, it'd be the closest thing to my last unrealized childhood fighter wish, Uniracer).

I'm curious to how it would fight, outside of the specials. Would it stay on all fours or "stand up" sometimes like Hornet in Fighters Megamix? Also, I'm curious as to how to balance it since being fast and heavy, with crazy strong finisher, might make it a little too OP. Still, those specials do sound fun to use.
F-Type would be on all fours. The whole reason Hornet was standing on its rear tires was for gameplay reasons (as well as looking hilarious) - Hornet was mimicking the other martial artists in the game, and he needed to be upright in order to function with the gameplay (he needed to be vulnerable to high/low attacks like every other fighter, as well as being able to make use of the body damage mechanics). F-Type is a large enough target that he doesn't really need to stand upright.

Since I come from a traditional fighting game background, I tend to look to them for ideas on how to balance characters. In games like Street Fighter a heavy rushdown character would naturally have the drawback of having bad defense - huge damage output and armor on attacks, but lots of startup frames on its normal attacks as well as not being able to easily escape pressure (the best example would be Abigail from SF5).

My general idea with Smash fighters is to "figure out what's fun first and do the balancing later". F-Type would need to consistently accelerate to maximum speed in order for it to get the most benefit from its moves, and also has the natural drawbacks of being a large character (big target, gets juggled easily). While powerful and speedy, several of its attacks would have lots of startup. And the Crash Out special would be difficult to land, you are not going to be performing well if you go for fully charged explosions every time. It would still have utility as a shield break punish or for insane reads on ledge rolls.
 
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smashkirby

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I support this SO much. Hey, if the Hornet was a thing for Fighters Megamix, what's stopping a company as whimsical as Nintendo from adding this big guy in Smash?

What's more, I always imagined that if F-Type were fighting on all four tires, he could just borrow his attacks from the Devil Car enemy in Smash Run/EarthBound, right (Like the jumping side tackle, spinning along the ground, emitting exhaust fumes to stun opponents, etc.)?
 

PsychoJosh

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Oh, I wasn't aware that was an enemy in Smash Run, but yes, I do picture it having similar attacks to that. I go into detail on the movelist I wrote about. Didn't really talk about its tilts, aerials and jabs, but I imagine its forward smash would be a sonic horn blast, its up smash would be the thing it does where it stands on its axels, and its down smash would be doing a hot donut. Just like in real life, you do not want to get hit by a car, since these would be among some of the deadliest smash attacks in the game.

Anyways, I added you to the list, welcome aboard.
 
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smashkirby

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Oh, I wasn't aware that was an enemy in Smash Run, but yes, I do picture it having similar attacks to that. I go into detail on the movelist I wrote about. Didn't really talk about its tilts, aerials and jabs, but I imagine its forward smash would be a sonic horn blast, its up smash would be the thing it does where it stands on its axles, and its down smash would be doing a hot donut. Just like in real life, you do not want to get hit by a car, since these would be among some of the deadliest smash attacks in the game.

Anyways, I added you to the list, welcome aboard.
Sorry I haven't responded here for all this time. Just wanted to tell you that your ideas for F-Type's 'standard' moves sound pretty good. Strange thing, but I imagine the horn blast would stun opponents rather than do knockback.
 

PsychoJosh

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The horn blast could also be a special but I wanted to focus more on the overt racing car mechanics for those. I was also thinking its forward smash could be like a little headbutt, like it plants its wheels in the ground and then snaps itself forward on its axles like a rubber band.
1560014412117.png
 

PsychoJosh

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I am in. Would rather see the 4WD but OK.
Me too, but 4WD is not a small dude. Even F-Type tilts the scales as a super heavyweight despite being the smallest car in the game. Having 4WD playable may be a bridge too far unless they introduce an "ultra heavyweight" class.
 
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PsychoJosh

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Alright! They confirmed today that SNES classics are coming to NSO, and one of them is Stunt Race FX, so you can get in there and finally play F-Type's charming little game.

Just hope they finally fixed the emulation issues.
 

CroonerMike

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Alright! They confirmed today that SNES classics are coming to NSO, and one of them is Stunt Race FX, so you can get in there and finally play F-Type's charming little game.

Just hope they finally fixed the emulation issues.
I also love how they made a point to say that Stunt Racer FX was coming. That excited me!
 

Buzzwole

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I'd LOVE to see F-Type as a playable character. There's something so simple about cars with googly eyes, and itd certainly be a unique kind of character.
 

PsychoJosh

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Added you to the supporter list.

Hope you guys got a chance to check out SRFX on the Switch. It's trickier than you thought it would be, huh?

The Super FX emulation on the Switch still isn't perfect but it is one of the better emulators. They did fix a lot of the clockspeed issues that plagued previous attempts at emulating the chip. It still runs too fast in some areas, which is better or worse depending on your perspective. Some could argue that it's a quality-of-life change for the games that use the chip and it won't annoy the kiddies as much who grew up with 60FPS on everything. But for me personally, nothing beats original SNES hardware.
 
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MurasameBro210456

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Who?

F-Type is one of the selectable cars from Stunt Race FX, a racing game released for the SNES in 1994. The game utilized the Super FX chip (the very same used in Star Fox) which allowed for unprecedented 3D graphics at a time where they were mostly unheard of. Star Fox and Stunt Race FX both pre-date Doom!

Stunt Race FX didn't really have much for story or context. It was mostly a cartoony and lighthearted racing game where you raced cars with big goofy eyeballs. The music and atmosphere were great and the arcade-style gameplay was decently challenging. SRFX was a simpler racing game all about beating the opponents and the clock fair and square, which turned out to be more challenging in practice than you might believe. No weapons, no attacks to your name, just good old fashioned racing to the finish. You had limited health and lives, and sustaining too much damage by crashing into trees and barriers, or falling into the ocean, would spell your demise.


Why?

Well, because Stunt Race FX is one of my childhood games that I loved. And since I'm feeling kinda disappointed by the base roster choices in Smash Ultimate, I think it'd be a supremely fun idea to have a literal living race car in the game as a wacky retro character.

How would he play?

Being a speedy super-heavyweight (because, you know, he's a car), F-Type would be an oppressive in-your-face character who barely gives you any room to breathe with him constantly speeding into his opponents and battering them with his tires. Armored moves would be plentiful, and he would even be able to negate certain projectile attacks by charging at full speed. He would also be able to sacrifice some of his health in an explosion that is supremely deadly if it manages to connect.

(Incidentally, like Inkling and Charizard, he takes damage while in the water. Falling into the ocean in Stunt Race FX meant instant death for the poor guy!)

Speculated movelist:

B: Peel Out / Rocket Start

F-Type will rev his tires in place until they turn scorching red from the frictional heat. Once the tires are red he can move around again, and gains a fire effect to any tilts and jabs that use his tires. If he presses the B button a second time while the tires are red hot, he will instantly take off at maximum speed in the direction he's facing (rocket start!), crashing into anyone unfortunate enough to be in the way. While his tires are red, they will also lend a flame effect to his jab, tilt and Smash attacks (which naturally use his tires). Sometimes taking off will also leave behind a trail of flames on the ground that damages enemies. The tires cool down quickly - they will return to normal after about 20 seconds if he does not use the Rocket Start.

Forward+B: Nitro Boost

This move requires some room to accelerate. He will begin boosting in the direction held, and be able to do a circular donut and change directions with a flick of the stick. If it is held long enough, he will be surrounded by a kinetic aura upon reaching maximum speed, granting him armor and negating projectiles. He is harder to control at top speed and needs some distance in order to brake, however, and during his stopping animation, he is vulnerable.

Up+B: Ramp Launch

Borrowed from the Stunt Trax portion of SRFX, F-Type spawns a ramp under his tires which he then drives up at great speed in order to launch himself upwards. If done in the air, the ramp will fall after his jump, acting as a downwards projectile and potentially spiking anyone underneath it into the abyss. Great for edgeguarding.

Down+B: Crash Out

This move damages F-Type, but if used properly, it can be worth it. F-Type will squint his eyes and begin shaking violently, beginning to charge up an explosion. Upon releasing the button, he will explode, sending out all his individual pieces in every direction and leaving behind only his eyes floating in the air. After this, he reassembles himself. A small, uncharged explosion can function as a ranged smash attack, as he will send out his pieces a short distance before reassembling. However, if an opponent is caught dead center in the middle of a fully charged blast, they will instantly be dealt 500% damage and knockback and most likely be killed in one hit, much like Roy's fully charged Flare Blade. Depending on the charge time, the explosions do anywhere from 5-12% damage to F-Type each time he uses them. Not a move to be abused.

F-Type can also roll around on his wheels while charging the explosion, basically making him a rolling death bomb.

Final Smash: Bonus Trax

F-Type charges forward and crashes into his opponent. He knocks them onto a stretch of road where he enters TRAILER, his big 18 wheeler friend, who comes barrelling down the track and sideswipes all the enemies with his gigantic semi-trailer. With a cartoonish "KA-BOOM" onomatopoeia appearing on screen, the disastrous wreck naturally sends everyone flying.

Thread music:

So basically , he'd be a joke character.
 

PsychoJosh

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So basically , he'd be a joke character.
Define "joke character". Are Mr Game and Watch, Duck Hunt and the Ice Climbers joke characters?

No. While these characters may be offbeat and wacky, they are not jokes. They are legacy Nintendo characters that pay fanservice to their more esoteric IP and also have tools to hold their own in a fight.

Labeling a character as a "joke" character means they're not meant to be taken seriously as a competitive fighter, in other words, created to be useless. I dont think theres any character in Smash that fits this criteria (unless we go back to Melee Pichu) and I certainly didnt write F-Type intending for him to be a joke in this way. While he does have a more silly and less expected design than your average sword wielding anime pretty boy he is not meant to be taken as a joke, he is meant to be every bit a viable fighter as anyone else in the cast. Smash is at its best when it incorporates wildly diverse and over the top character designs like this.
 
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smashkirby

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If F-Type was added, do you think it'd replace Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings for the Toy-Con Car Spirit battle? I doubt it, but it's just something I've been thinking about.
 

Doc Monocle

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I very much like the concept! I played Stunt Racer FX, and I think this character would be one of the most unique designs in the roster. I tried thinking of a moveset for F-type, and you came up with things I would not have thought to include. Good job, and I support!
 

smashkirby

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Holy smokes, how cool would it be to play as a stunt car? It would be so unique and just different enough from Bowser Jr’s clown car to be its own thing.

I support
I'm pretty sure I've talked about it on here before, but if Sakurai needs inspiration for F-Type's moveset, he doesn't just have to look only into Hornet's moveset in Fighters' Megamix.

He can even look to Smash Bros. itself for inspiration. Specifically, he can look to Smash Run as the Devil Car from EarthBound has a lot of what could make for a good moveset for the likes of F-Type.
 
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