Rocket Start

A Rocket Start (called Boost Fire in F-Zero: GP Legend and F-Zero: Climax) is a technique in F-Zero, F-Zero: Maximum Velocity, F-Zero: GP Legend, and F-Zero Climax, where the pilot starts the race with a burst of speed, by revving up their engines. This is different than a boost. However, upon a successful start, the pilot will lose speed very quickly, roughly in the range of 250 and 300km/h, so a recommended strategy is to try and get in front of the other racers (look for check on the bottom of the screen), preferably by drifting. Each machine is different to how fast they can rev up their engine, how much they decelerate, and how quickly they lose speed. In F-Zero: GP Legend, the lowest speed is around 600km/h. In F-Zero Climax, the negative effects are much less.

In F-Zero: Maximum Velocity, F-Zero: GP Legend, and F-Zero Climax, it is possible to overheat at maximum revving, causing the engine to backfire and speeds to drop much more drastically (as indicated by the announcer saying "Fire!"). All overheated Rocket Starts behave in the same way. Compared to a successful Rocket Start, this decelerates a machine down at a faster rate. The slowest speed is a near-crawl. This effect lasts for about five seconds before the thrusters recover. The negative effects are immediately negated if the pilot collides with a Mine or runs over a Dash Zone.

In F-Zero: GP Legend, the Engine Settings affect how quickly a machine can rev up.

Gallery

Successful

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  F-Zero

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  F-Zero: Maximum Velocity

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  F-Zero: GP Legend

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  F-Zero Climax

Overheat

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  F-Zero: Maximum Velocity

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  F-Zero: GP Legend

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  F-Zero Climax

Trivia

• The same technique appears in the Mario Kart series.
• If one were to calculate the amount of g-force the pilots experience at the start (0 to 1280km/h with 0'00"01 time passed), the g-force experienced is around 3626G.