In the same EDGE feature about Toshihiro Nagoshi's long career at Sega, the development cycle of the GameCube-hit F-Zero GX was addressed. Nagoshi explained how during this period he realised Nintendo and Sega operated in a similar manner, but it was finer details that set them apart. 

He further elaborated on this discussing how Nintendo had strict rules and regulations in place to ensure its brand image was maintained, and also noted how “not even once” was he able to change Nintendo's view during the development of F-Zero GX:

Compared to us, in the big picture, we are similar. But in the finer details - their decision-making and timing - things are different, and I learned a lot from them. In short, it's about objectivity. (...) It's hard to describe, but when I'd say about some part of the game, "It's okay like this, isn't it?" they'd say, "Our company does not allow this kind of thing. Ever." I didn't manage to change their minds about anything. Not even once. But that's why Nintendo has such a solid brand, even after all these years. That is why we lost the hardware war.

As Sega had lost the hardware war following the demise of the Dreamcast, it really wanted to impress Nintendo and show it how great the company still was by making fantastic characters and courses for F-Zero GX and creating the best graphics possible with the current technology at the time. Nintendo was apparently so impressed with the final product it requested the game's source code:

After it released, I got a call from Nintendo. They said they wanted to see all the source code for the game, and wanted me to explain how we'd made that game, in that timeframe and with that budget, in detail. They were wondering how we'd done it - they couldn't figure it out. We were able to achieve something a lot higher than what Nintendo had expected.

Nagoshi also admitted how Sega was far more successful as a developer than it was as a hardware manufacturer:

Even though we'd tried really hard making games for Sega hardware, they never sold too well, but F-Zero sold over 1.5 M copies worldwide. We realised the only thing we needed to admit was that Sega did not have the ability to sell hardware (laughs). That as a developer (...) we did not need to be pessimistic at all.

Are you a fan of Sega's version of the futuristic racing series? Have you played F-Zero GX on the GameCube? Would you like to see Sega develop another entry in the franchise in the near future? Tell us below. 

[via resetera.com]