TOKYO - The September issue of Wired magazine (Japanese edition) features the first screens of F-Zero X's course editor, which will be included on the 64DD upgrade to the game. The magazine features an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto (producer), Tadashi Sugiyama (director), Takaya Imamura (chief designer), Keizo Oota (chief programmer), and Taro Bando (sound composer).

　　Bando explained that music of F-Zero X isn't generated by the N64. It's a stream of pre-recorded sound. (That method enables the N64 to create F-Zero's uncharacteristic heavy metal music.) According to Bando, the method uses just 5 percent of the CPU's power. It's a sufficient reduction compared with other computer-generated music, which uses about 30 percent of the CPU's power. This technique helps the CPU focus its power to produce the 60-frames-per-second visuals in the game. Oota revealed that to reduce even more CPU load, F-Zero X doesn't use Z-buffering.

　　Imamura said that they made the backgrounds in F-Zero X simple, not only to have fewer polygons (helping the game to run at 60fps), but to be compatible with 64DD. The expansion disk, which will be released later, includes track-editor software to create your own courses. This editor is the same one that Imamura and other designers used to edit the actual courses in F-Zero X.