F-Zero: Climax: F-Zero: GP Climax

F-Zero Climax has the largest list of playable courses of any F-Zero Game. Grand Prix mode alone has 53 courses, split across the Novice/Standard, Expert, and Master difficulties. Just like its predecessor, GP Legend, almost all of the courses in the game have harder variants when you get to the Expert and Master difficulties. Some even have a 3rd level of difficulty. Unlike GP Legend though, it's not always clear which courses are harder variants of which.

There are two things that obscure the courses' relations. First, many of the variants don't share a name with the track they are based on. For example, based on name alone, there's no way to know that "Big Blue: Arch Hill" is a harder variant of "Big Blue: Slalom", but has no relation to "Big Blue: Slip Down". Second, the courses do not always appear in the same cups, or even the same order within a cup. "Big Blue: Slalom" is the 1st race of the Silver Standard Cup, but "Big Blue: Arch Hill" is the 3rd race of the Bronze Expert Cup. Overall, this makes Climax feel like a less-cohesive game than GP Legend, and makes finding a specific track in Time Attack a chore.

This patch, GP Climax, presents its Grand Prix courses in the same way as GP Legend, with harder versions of courses appearing in the same cup, and for the most part, the same order. 10 of the 53 courses have been swapped between Cups, and 5 of the 9 Cups have had their tracks re-ordered. (See the readme for details.) This gives each Cup its own self-contained identity.

GP Climax is compatible with the Japanese original rom, as well as the English and Spanish translations done by the "F-Zero Climax: Translation Project Team". It contains the smaller patches "Sandstorm" and "Rat Race Added to Survival Mode". Since this patch simply re-orders content from the original game, without changing any of the content, it is appropriate to use during a first playthrough.

Title: F-Zero: GP Climax
Author: PowerPanda
Version: 1.11

Applies to: F-Zero: Climax (JP original and translations)

Contents: fz_gp_climax_v1.2.ips - The patch for all versions

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-=Intro and Description=-

F-Zero Climax has the largest list of playable courses of any F-Zero Game. Grand Prix mode alone has 53 courses, split across the Novice/Standard, Expert, and Master difficulties. Just like its predecessor, GP Legend, almost all of the courses in the game have harder variants when you get to the Expert and Master difficulties. Some even have a 3rd level of difficulty. Unlike GP Legend though, it's not always clear which courses are harder variants of which.

There are two things that obscure the courses' relations. First, many of the variants don't share a name with the track they are based on. For example, based on name alone, there's no way to know that "Big Blue: Arch Hill" is a harder variant of "Big Blue: Slalom", but has no relation to "Big Blue: Slip Down". Second, the courses do not always appear in the same cups, or even the same race slots. "Big Blue: Slalom" is the 1st race of the Silver Standard Cup, but "Big Blue: Arch Hill" is the 3rd race of the Bronze Expert Cup. Overall, this makes Climax feel like a less-cohesive game than GP Legend. (It also make finding a specific track in Time Attack a chore!)

This patch, GP Climax, presents the courses in the same way as GP Legend, with harder versions of courses appearing in the same cup, and for the most part, the same race slot. 10 of the 53 courses have been swapped between Cups, and 5 of the 9 Cups have had their tracks re-ordered. This gives each Cup its own self-contained identity. Because this patch simply re-orders content from the original game, without changing any of the content, it is appropriate to use during a first playthrough.

Lastly, GP Climax contains two smaller patches.
1. "Rat Race Added to Survival Mode" - This patch is somewhat self-explanatory... in Survival Mode, Tour difficulty, the Grand Prix course "Fire Field: Heat Circuit" is replaced with "Fire Field: Rat Race". Rat Race was previously only accessible through a single-pak link cable game, and was inaccessible for most emulation setups. Fire Field: Heat Circuit is still in Grand Prix mode, so it is still playable.
2. "Sand Storm" - Added in F-Zero Climax v1.2. This patch separates the sandstorm version of Sand Ocean into its own separate venue, changing the name of Key Break I/II/III. Then, it makes Sand Storm a selectable venue within the course editor.

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-=Grand Prix Course Listings=-

Key
+Course Replaced
#Course Reordered
^Venue Renamed

ORIGINAL ROM | PATCHED ROM
=====================================================================================
=BRONZE NOVICE/STANDARD= | =BRONZE NOVICE/STANDARD=
Mute City Six Carat | Mute City Six Carat
Sand Ocean High Speed Edge | Sand Ocean High Speed Edge
Port Town Sky Highway |# White Land Wolf
White Land Wolf |# Port Town Sky Highway
Fire Field Heat Circuit |+ Red Canyon Inside Out
|
=BRONZE EXPERT= | =BRONZE EXPERT=
Mute City Eight Carat | Mute City Eight Carat
White Land White Wolf |+ Sand Ocean High Speed Edge II
Big Blue Arch Hill |# White Land White Wolf
Port Town Sky Highway II | Port Town Sky Highway II
Red Canyon Inside Out II |+ Fire Field Heat Circuit
|
=BRONZE MASTER= | =BRONZE MASTER=
Red Canyon Barrel Roll |# Mute City Ten Carat
Sand Ocean High Speed Edge III | Sand Ocean High Speed Edge III
Lightning G-Trace |# White Land Last Wolf
Mute City Ten Carat |+ Red Canyon Inside Out II
White Land Last Wolf |+ Fire Field Burnt Out Rink
________________________________________|___________________________________________
=SILVER NOVICE/STANDARD= | =SILVER NOVICE/STANDARD=
Big Blue Slalom | Big Blue Slalom
Red Canyon Inside Out |+ Mute City Cactus Circuit
Mist Flow Double Link | Mist Flow Double Link
Fire Field Front Line | Fire Field Front Line
Silence Nightmare | Silence Nightmare
|
=SILVER EXPERT= | =SILVER EXPERT=
Sand Ocean High Speed Edge II |+ Big Blue Arch Hill
Lightning Trust Jump | Lightning Trust Jump
Mist Flow Mist Ring | Mist Flow Mist Ring
Mute City Cactus Circuit |+ Red Canyon Barrel Roll
Fire Field Burnt Out Rink |+ Silence Nightmare Fear
|
=SILVER MASTER= | =SILVER MASTER=
Mute City Cactus Circuit II |# Lightning Loss Landing
Mist Flow Puzzle Ring |# Mute City Cactus Circuit II
Lightning Loss Landing |# Mist Flow Puzzle Ring
Fire Field Front Line II | Fire Field Front Line II
Silence Nightmare One | Silence Nightmare One
________________________________________|___________________________________________
=GOLD NOVICE/STANDARD= | =GOLD NOVICE/STANDARD=
Lightning R-Trace | Lightning R-Trace
Port Town Half Dome | Port Town Half Dome
Sand Ocean Key Break |^ Sand Storm Key Break
Big Blue Slip Down | Big Blue Slip Down
Illusion Lost Way | Illusion Lost Way
|
=GOLD EXPERT= | =GOLD EXPERT=
White Land Hornet |+ Lightning G-Trace
Silence Nightmare Fear |# White Land Hornet
Big Blue Single Course |#^ Sand Storm Key Break II
Sand Ocean Key Break II |# Big Blue Single Course
Illusion Lost Way II | Illusion Lost Way II
|
=GOLD MASTER= | =GOLD MASTER=
Port Town Half Dome II | Port Town Half Dome II
White Land Hornet House | White Land Hornet House
Sand Ocean Key Break III |^ Sand Storm Key Break III
Big Blue Twin Course | Big Blue Twin Course
Illusion Lost Way III | Illusion Lost Way III
________________________________________|___________________________________________
=PLATINUM ALL DIFFICULTIES= | =PLATINUM ALL DIFFICULTIES=
Mute City Multiply | Mute City Multiply
Big Blue Big Billow | Big Blue Big Billow
Silence Silence II | Silence Silence II
Port Town Great Wings | Port Town Great Wings
Red Canyon Red Canyon II | Red Canyon Red Canyon II
Sand Ocean Sand Ocean | Sand Ocean Sand Ocean
White Land White Land II | White Land White Land II
Fire Field Fire Field | Fire Field Fire Field
|
=CHAMPIONSHIP= | =CHAMPIONSHIP=
White Land Eagle Circuit | White Land Eagle Circuit
________________________________________|___________________________________________


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-=Patching Instructions and Compatibility=-

This patch can be applied to the Japanese original rom and both the English and Spanish translations done by the "F-Zero Climax: Translation Project Team". Neither of the translation projects re-order the portions of the rom that hold the course lists. It can be applied with Lunar IPS.

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-=Credits=-
Hacking: PowerPanda, GuyPerfect
Special Thanks: Porthor, Victor Hedgehog

Programs Used: HxD (Hex Editing), 010 (Hex Editing), no$gba (Debugging), VBA (Testing)

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-=Code Changes=-

07/FBC6-07/FBFA Time Trials Course List
08/603C-08/609B Grand Prix Course List
63/A100-63/A17F Pre-Race Preview Screen Course List
63/D0B8-63/D137 Post-Race Results Screen Course List
09/93F8 Address where Rat Race course was added

Database match: F-Zero - Climax (Japan)
Database: No-Intro: Game Boy Advance (v. 20210227-023848)
File/ROM SHA-1: 6EB9208C493E8BAA43ECC0DACF71A8CB631BE7CA
File/ROM CRC32: DBDC71E3