Hot Wheels Velocity X (2002). Play online

Summary

Hot Wheels: Velocity X on the Game Boy Advance packs the console's high‑octane chaos into a handheld pocket. Saffire’s version, dropped on October 31 2002 in the U.S., takes advantage of the GameCube’s link cable to unlock extra content—something that set it apart from most GBA racers at the time. The story mode is a stream of races interspersed with “Professor” tasks like wrecking rival cars or retrieving items, each culminating in a showdown with a boss driver. Gameplay boils down to two core challenges: Battle, where you blow opponents away, and Tag, a demolition‑ram style sprint. You start with three cars and can acquire more as you progress, though the expansive vehicle‑customization seen on home consoles is missing. In 2005 THQ re‑bundled this GBA edition with Hot Wheels: World Race, giving fans a convenient retro collection.

Storyline

Hot Wheels Velocity X follows 17‑year‑old street racer Max Justice, a prodigy for Team Hot Wheels, who receives a distress call from his hometown of Monument City. He rushes back to find his family’s engineering plant and tire factory blown up, then learns a gang has stolen his father’s experimental HW Prototype 12 and a set of Velocity X research disks. The prototype runs on uranium and can turn invisible, while the disks contain a formula for a fuel that doubles a car’s speed.

Guided by Gearhead, the robotic assistant built by Max’s father, Max chases the thieves across locations such as Turbine Sands, Crankshaft Bay, and the Burnout Glacier volcano. He rescues his friend Sparky, gathers map fragments, intercepts uranium shipments, and wins a series of high‑stakes races against gang members Nitro, Belcher, Fast Lane, Slick and Rupert.

The final data cube reveals the Velocity X project was meant for vehicle‑assisted time travel, a plan Otto von Diesel wants to use to erase the Justice family. Max defeats Otto’s crew in Monument City’s Underworld, stops the temporal transmission, and returns to street racing, while Otto escapes police custody.