How to Unlock Every Ship and Pilot in F-Zero GX

To unlock the complete F-Zero GX roster, buy the standard machines in the F-Zero Shop, finish Story Mode on Normal to unlock Deathborn, finish it on Hard to unlock Spade and the AX custom parts, then clear the required Story chapters on Very Hard to unlock the remaining nine AX pilots and machines. The four starting machines are Blue Falcon, Golden Fox, Wild Goose and Fire Stingray. An optional F-Zero AX arcade route can transfer AX unlock data to GX, but it requires a compatible cabinet, a GameCube memory card and a version that supports the transfer.

What “every ship and pilot” includes

This guide covers the roster that can be used in the GameCube version of F-Zero GX:

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• The 30 standard GX pilot-and-machine pairings, including the four available at the beginning.
• Deathborn and his hidden machine, Dark Schneider.
• The ten AX pilots and machines that can be unlocked through Story Mode or, optionally, through F-Zero AX arcade data.

That is 41 pilot-and-machine entries in total: 30 ordinary GX pairings, 10 AX pairings and the separate Deathborn/Dark Schneider entry. Custom machine builds are not separate roster entries. The AX Cup and AX courses are also separate progression rewards, not prerequisites for the AX pilots and ships.

Unlock requirements at a glance

The unlock conditions above are documented by John Ricciardi’s GameFAQs machine FAQ (updated August 5, 2003), the GameFAQs guide and walkthrough by A_I_e_x, the community-maintained F-Zero Wiki roster page, and the archived Japanese official F-Zero GX/AX site. The older FAQ is specifically written around Japanese versions and warns that overseas releases may behave differently.

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Step 1: Get the standard GX machines from the Shop

Four machines are available immediately: Blue Falcon, Golden Fox, Wild Goose and Fire Stingray. The other standard GX machines are obtained through the F-Zero Shop. The archived Japanese official site explains that Grand Prix results award tickets, and those tickets are spent on machines and customization parts.

1. Enter Grand Prix and complete races to earn the ticket rewards associated with your results.
2. Open the F-Zero Shop and spend the tickets on the standard machines you have not yet purchased.
3. Continue buying the remaining standard entries until all 30 pilot-and-machine pairings in the table below are available.

The Shop route is independent of the Story difficulty rewards. You do not need to clear Very Hard to buy the ordinary GX roster, and Deathborn is a hidden Story reward rather than one of the 30 standard Shop machines. The available documentation does not give a universal ticket price for each machine, so the practical requirement is simply to keep earning Grand Prix rewards and check the Shop until the standard list is complete.

Complete standard GX roster

Blue Falcon, Golden Fox, Wild Goose and Fire Stingray are the opening four in that list. The remaining entries are the machines you should expect to purchase with Shop tickets.

Step 2: Finish Story Mode on Normal for Deathborn

Complete Story Mode on Normal to add Deathborn to the roster. Deathborn is the hidden pilot associated with the Dark Schneider machine; he is not counted as one of the 30 standard GX pairings.

The reward is tied to completing Story Mode on the stated difficulty, not to Grand Prix ticket spending. If Dark Schneider is still unavailable after you have been playing Grand Prix, check that the Story Mode completion itself was recorded on Normal. This is a single completion reward, not a character unlocked by buying a particular Shop item.

Step 3: Finish Story Mode on Hard for Spade

Complete Story Mode on Hard to unlock Spade and the AX custom parts. Spade pilots the Magic Seagull. This Hard reward accounts for one of the ten AX pilots, so the Very Hard chapter list contains the other nine.

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Do not treat the AX custom parts as AX machines. The parts are customization components; Spade’s Magic Seagull is a pilot-and-machine roster unlock. If you are checking off the AX pilots, record Spade after the Hard completion and do not wait for a separate Very Hard chapter to award Magic Seagull.

Step 4: Clear the AX chapters on Very Hard

The Story Mode walkthrough states that earlier difficulty clears open Very Hard. Once Very Hard is available, complete the chapters in order to receive the AX pilot and machine assigned to each chapter. The chapter reward is granted one at a time, so finishing only the first chapter does not unlock the rest of the AX roster.

The chapter-to-character pairing above is documented on the community-maintained F-Zero Wiki roster page. The older GameFAQs FAQ independently lists the same ten AX pilots and machines and describes the Very Hard Story route, but notes that its author had not personally confirmed every part of that route at the time. If your regional release does not match the table, check the behavior of that release instead of assuming the Japanese-version conditions apply universally.

All ten AX pilots and machines

This table reconciles the two difficulty routes: Spade is the Hard-mode AX reward, while the other nine AX entries are tied to Very Hard chapters. Thus, “clear all nine AX chapters” does not mean there are only nine AX pilots; it means Spade has already been awarded by Hard and the remaining nine arrive chapter by chapter.

Story difficulty route versus arcade route

There are two documented ways to bring AX machines into GX, but they are not equally available to every player:

The Story route is therefore the dependable completion plan for a GX owner. The arcade route is best viewed as an optional shortcut or preservation feature for players who actually have access to the required cabinet. A memory card by itself cannot generate an AX unlock.

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Optional route: transfer unlocks from F-Zero AX

If you have access to a compatible F-Zero AX arcade cabinet, the machine FAQ describes another way to obtain AX machines in GX. It is optional; you can unlock the AX roster through the home-console Story Mode route alone.

1. Bring a GameCube memory card that can store the arcade data.
2. At a compatible AX cabinet, select one of the ten AX machines for an AX race.
3. Finish the race with that selected machine.
4. Save the arcade data to the memory card and use the card with GX as described by the cabinet and game version.
5. Check the GX Shop or roster after the transfer to see whether that AX machine has become purchasable.

The FAQ describes this process for Japanese versions and cautions that overseas GX and AX versions may differ. A memory card does not replace the cabinet: you still need access to a compatible AX machine and a cabinet that supports the data transfer. Because arcade availability is region- and venue-dependent, the Very Hard Story route is the dependable home-console option.

Do you need Expert or Master Grand Prix?

No. Grand Prix difficulty progression is separate from the AX pilot-and-machine route.

• According to the walkthrough, clearing Grand Prix races on Expert unlocks Master.
• The machine FAQ says that completing all four cups on Master unlocks the AX courses.
• The AX courses then open the AX Cup.
• None of those Master or AX Cup steps is required when you are using the Story Mode Very Hard route for the AX pilots and ships.

Use Grand Prix for tickets and Shop purchases, and use Story Mode difficulties for Deathborn, Spade and the AX roster. Keeping those systems separate prevents a common mistake: spending time on Master cups while expecting them to unlock the AX characters. Master and AX Cup progression is worthwhile only if you also want the separate AX-course content.

Recommended completion order

This order minimizes backtracking while preserving every unlock path:

1. Play Grand Prix whenever you need tickets, then purchase the standard GX machines from the Shop.
2. Complete Story Mode on Normal to obtain Deathborn and Dark Schneider.
3. Complete Story Mode on Hard to obtain Spade, Magic Seagull and the AX custom parts.
4. Use the earlier Story clears to make Very Hard available, then clear Chapters 1 through 9 on Very Hard for the remaining nine AX pilots and machines.
5. Only pursue Master cups and the AX Cup if you also want the AX courses and that separate competition content.
6. Use the arcade transfer only if you have a compatible cabinet and want an alternative route; it is not necessary for a complete Story Mode unlock run.

You can interleave Grand Prix and Story Mode; there is no requirement to finish the Shop roster before starting the Story route. The order above simply makes the reward categories easy to verify: tickets cover ordinary GX machines, Normal covers Deathborn, Hard covers Spade, and Very Hard covers the remaining AX entries.

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Troubleshooting missing unlocks

A standard machine is not in the Shop

• Confirm that you have earned and spent Grand Prix tickets; Story Mode completions do not substitute for the Shop purchase.
• Compare your roster with the 30-entry standard table. Deathborn and the AX machines are not part of that ordinary Shop list.
• Check that the purchase was completed rather than merely viewing a machine’s information.
• Remember that the opening four are already available, so they will not appear as a new purchase reward in the same way as later entries.

Deathborn or Dark Schneider is missing

Verify that Story Mode was completed on Normal. Grand Prix progress, ticket totals and ordinary Shop purchases do not unlock this hidden pairing.

Spade or Magic Seagull is missing

Verify a complete Story Mode run on Hard. Spade is not one of the nine chapter rewards in the Very Hard table, so replaying a Very Hard chapter will not replace the Hard completion condition. The AX custom parts awarded with Hard are a separate confirmation that the difficulty reward was recorded; they are not a substitute for checking the pilot roster.

An AX chapter reward did not appear

• Make sure the chapter was completed on Very Hard, not merely on Normal or Hard.
• Clear the chapter’s required Story sequence completely so the game records the chapter completion.
• Check the specific chapter-to-pilot mapping rather than searching for the pilot under a different name; for example, Terry “Digi-boy” Getter is paired with Pink Spider, and Dai San Gen is paired with Cosmic Dolphin.
• If you are playing an overseas release, remember that the Japanese FAQ warns of regional differences. The community roster mapping is useful, but it should not override what your version actually records.

The arcade transfer did not unlock a machine

• Confirm that the cabinet was a compatible F-Zero AX machine and that the race was finished with the chosen AX machine.
• Confirm that the arcade data was saved to the GameCube memory card before removing it.
• Check whether your GX and AX releases support the same transfer behavior. The documented FAQ is Japanese-version specific and explicitly warns that overseas versions may differ.
• If any of those requirements is uncertain, use the Story Mode route instead: Hard for Spade and Very Hard Chapters 1–9 for the other AX entries.

Final roster checklist

• 30 standard GX machines purchased or otherwise available, including Blue Falcon, Golden Fox, Wild Goose and Fire Stingray.
• Deathborn and Dark Schneider from Normal Story Mode.
• Spade and Magic Seagull from Hard Story Mode.
• Rainbow Phoenix, Spark Moon, Rolling Turtle, Fat Shark, Pink Spider, Silver Rat, Cosmic Dolphin, Bunny Flash and Groovy Taxi from Very Hard Chapters 1–9.
• AX custom parts from Hard, if you want the associated customization content.

When checking the list, count pilots and machines as pairs. A machine showing in the Shop does not by itself prove that every Story reward has been recorded, and unlocking an AX course does not prove that the corresponding AX pilot is available. The roster screen and the individual Story completion rewards are the useful checks.

Once those entries are recorded, you have the complete GX-useable pilot and ship roster described by the Japanese-version FAQ, Story Mode walkthrough and roster documentation. The arcade route is an optional alternative, not an additional requirement.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you unlock all characters in F-Zero GX?

Buy the standard machines in the F-Zero Shop with Grand Prix tickets, complete Story Mode on Normal for Deathborn, complete it on Hard for Spade, then clear Very Hard Chapters 1–9 for the other nine AX pilots.

Which four F-Zero GX machines are available at the start?

Blue Falcon, Golden Fox, Wild Goose and Fire Stingray are available immediately.

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What difficulty unlocks Deathborn?

Complete Story Mode on Normal. Deathborn is paired with the hidden Dark Schneider machine.

What difficulty unlocks Spade and Magic Seagull?

Complete Story Mode on Hard. Hard also awards the AX custom parts.

How do I unlock the AX pilots?

Use the Story Mode route: Spade comes from Hard, while Phoenix, Princia Ramode, QQQ, Don Genie, Terry “Digi-boy” Getter, Dai Goroh, Dai San Gen, Lily Flyer and PJ come from Very Hard Chapters 1–9 respectively.

Do I need Master Grand Prix or the AX Cup to unlock AX pilots?

No. Expert Grand Prix opens Master, and all four Master cups open the AX courses and AX Cup, but those rewards are separate from the Story Mode AX pilot route.

Can I unlock AX machines through an arcade cabinet?

Yes, optionally. The documented route uses a compatible F-Zero AX cabinet, a GameCube memory card and a completed race using the selected AX machine. Regional versions may differ.

Does a GameCube memory card work without an F-Zero AX cabinet?

No. The memory card stores transferred arcade data; it does not replace access to a compatible cabinet.

Why is my AX pilot missing after I cleared a chapter?

Confirm that the chapter was completed on Very Hard and that the full Story sequence was recorded. Then verify the chapter mapping and consider regional differences, since the older FAQ is Japanese-version specific.

Are AX custom parts the same thing as AX machines?

No. Hard Story completion awards AX custom parts alongside Spade, while the AX machines are separate pilot-and-machine roster entries.

The Bottom Line

For the complete F-Zero GX roster: buy the 26 non-starter standard machines with Grand Prix tickets, clear Story Mode on Normal for Deathborn/Dark Schneider, clear Hard for Spade/Magic Seagull and AX parts, and clear Very Hard Chapters 1–9 for the other nine AX pilots and machines. The F-Zero AX arcade transfer is optional and may vary by region.

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