Galaxy 5000 (NES) Playthrough

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Published on January 15, 2022 9:04:23 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDQpN--yA0E

Game:

Galaxy 5000 (1991)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 1:26:45

8,248 views

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A playthrough of Activision's 1991 futuristic combat racing game for the NES, Galaxy 5000: Racing in the 51st Century.

In this video I play through every race without using any warps, including the unlockable final race for the true ending.

Galaxy 5000 is an isometric racer that feels like a mid-point between Rare's R.C. Pro-AM and Interplay's Rock n' Roll Racing, as well as a close cousin to Ultimate Air Combat. You, and a friend if playing in the 2P simultaneous mode, race over four tracks for each planet in the solar system in a selection of heavily armed turbocraft.

The tracks are made up of winding roads suspended across the void of space. The goal is to win the race while making as much money as possible, and the best way to build up cash reserves is to destroy everyone else in the race. Your turbocraft is equipped with front and rear-facing weapons, and these can be made more potent by picking up items on the track. While some are sitting right out in the open, others are hidden in objects that can be destroyed, and it's in your best interests to find them all given how bloodthirsty the CPU-controlled racers can be.

Some races also have hidden entrances to bonus areas, warp zones, as well as secret invisible paths that provide all sorts of perks for anyone lucky enough to find them. I doubt I got all the secrets in this video (and I purposely avoided warping), but I do show several of them throughout.

After each race you can repair the damage to your vehicle, or, if you've saved up enough, purchase a new one. The turbocraft that you can buy offer huge upgrades in speed, maneuverability, and firepower, so it's a good idea to minimize the amount of damage you take. Repairs can really chew through your funds if you aren't playing defensively enough.

Galaxy 5000 plays extremely well. It's fast and the framerate is usually pretty stable. At least, it is until the final few races where the on-screen chaos starts to become a bit too much for the system.

The controls are a little difficult to come to grips with, but you are given a couple options for button setups. The alpha controls move your ship in the direction you push on the d-pad. This is the mode that's easier to use initially, but it's limited since you have no control over your speed and you have to stop moving to fire backwards. The beta controls treat the up and down buttons as your gas and brake while the left and right buttons rotate the ship, and though this setup takes a bit of effort to learn, once you've got it, the game becomes much easier and more fun to play. (Still, it makes me wish the NES controller had another button or two!)

The graphics are great - they're sharp, clear, and bright, and the ships are nicely animated - the music is plenty funky, and the digitized voices are top-notch for the NES and give the game a unique sense of humor.

Galaxy 5000 is a fantastic racer, and so long as you're willing to put in the effort to learn it and don't mind a steep challenge, it's a fun game that'll keep you busy for awhile.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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