1. Unlocking everything in F-Zero GX is more difficult than collecting all the trophies in Wipeout HD. It’s not a landslide by any means, but it’s definitely a noticeable difference. I’ll also add that unlocking additional parts and ships is infinitely more fun than simply getting achievements. Sure, there’s skins to unlock in Wipeout HD… but that’s about it.

2. F-Zero GX is a pure racer. If you’re looking for different kinds of races, Wipeout HD will keep you going for a LONG time. Eliminator mode is deliciously evil, and Zone mode is tons of fun, especially with custom soundtracks. GX is Texas Hold ‘Em… solid, reliable, great for everyone. Wipeout HD is your Omaha, High & Low, etc. Lots to do, lots of fun to be had, and requires learning different sets of strategies. This breathes life into the game and I love it.

3. F-Zero GX’s overall sense of speed kicks the living crap out of Wipeout HD. The latter doesn’t actually begin to approach the former in terms of raw track speed until about Zone 50. In standard races, Phantom speed is really quite slow (though not the Mario Kart-crawling speed of Venom).

4. The airbraking and shifting systems are drastically different, and really depends on your preference. Personally I love the physics system in F-Zero GX – it may be arcade-y, but it feels solid and learning how to master L+R curves is one of the game’s finest and most hidden secrets. Wipeout HD’s airbraking system on the other hand, drives me to drink. I’ve experimented with all levels of sensitivity to no avail. I’m not sure what they did to it, but it feels simultaneously too sensitive, and not sensitive enough.

5. Wipeout HD has a rubber band AI. If you finish with a 2:16, the computer will get 2:12. If you get 2:12, it’ll get 2:07. Eventually you get lucky with a quake weapon and steal first place. I won’t elaborate on how big of a pet peeve this is in general for me, no matter what game I’m playing. (It’s a logical progression of the ever-popular “Computer Assistance” on NES and SNES, and it wasn’t cool then either.)

6. I’ve struggled almost my entire time playing to remember what tracks are what in Wipeout HD, because the’re virtually indistinguishable from each other. F-Zero GX, on the other hand, has an instantly-identifiable palette of track styles and running themes (like Big Blue, Aeropolis and Lightning).

7. Cool as F-Zero GX’s music is, Wipeout HD’s is deliciously awesome, especially after the Fury add-on. But then again I’m a whore for half the electronic groups on the soundtrack. :)

Bottom line, they’re both amazing racing games that are well worth the time to explore. Wipeout HD + the Fury add-on is hands down the best modern racing experience you’ll find on any current-gen console.

* Additional tip: If your Wii is connected via digital out, F-Zero GX was actually engineered in 480p 16:9, and will display as such if played on a widescreen HDTV. It was initially intended for digital out -equipped GameCubes, but those are few and far between, and cables for it even harder to find. This alone makes the entire game worth replaying from scratch.

CUBE.

My personal favourite is Wip3out — it took the better controls and approach to track design in 2097 and polished everything to a high sheen.

The PS2 iterations were forgettable.

The Pulse and Pure games were a solid step in the right direction, but frankly were hampered by the god awful controls on the PSP and the size of the screen — it just didn’t give me the immersion that the previous games did. A real shame, since the track and craft designs were brilliant and I particularly enjoyed some of the downloadable tracks in Pulse.

However the UI design and the graphics in general were fiddly and inconsistent. They were obviously a hodge podge of elements from the previous games, which no overarching direction — poor emulations of The Designers Republic’s work.

Wipeout HD fixes all this. A beautiful, consistent UI — I particularly love the animated panels when selecting a competition — solid controls and running on a big HDTV rather than a little PSP screen :)

I’m hoping that in the future we’ll see some DLCs with more tracks. I’d particularly like to see some of the tracks from 2097 remade in HD. It’d be pure Hi Def nostalgia for me.

Basically, I bought a PS3 to play this game. No regrets. It’s beautiful, unremittingly difficult and awesome fun.