I don't talk much about Star Fox but I assure you, I really like this series. With lovable characters and tight rail-shooting gameplay, Star Fox at its best can be some of the most pure and replayable arcade fun that gaming has to offer. However, it's also a series that I have a lot of Thoughts on since I can't exactly say that it's ever reached its fullest potential. Pretty much every Star Fox game has at least one moment of pure brilliance, maybe even several, but they also all have something that prevents them from being as good as they could've been. So I'm going to look over most of the series (excluding Zero since I don't own it) and see what makes Star Fox so great, and also why I'm still so desperate for another game.
Star Fox: Star Fox for the SNES was the first game in the series I've ever played, and for a while, I confidently called it my favorite. Nowadays, it's firmly in my Top 3. As I said, to this day, we've never really gotten a "perfect" Star Fox game, each and every entry has at least one major gripe that rubs me the wrong way. Star Fox for SNES comes the closest to my ideal Star Fox experience, but it feels almost too ahead of its time.
Star Fox was designed to be the headlining showcase for the SNES's SuperFX chip, demonstrating its ability to generate 3D visuals. Of course, this comes at a cost. It can only generate fairly basic polygons, and even then, it's likely to run into some serious framerate issues. There have been several other full 3D SuperFX games like Stunt Race FX, Vortex, and Winter Gold, but I think the original Star Fox stood the test of time the best because it feels purposefully designed around the chip. Star Fox keeps things incredibly focused and streamlined, it's a simple on-rails shooter with no deviation, it only ever shows you a straight line's worth of each location and leaves you to fill in the blanks. Star Fox as a franchise is pretty infamous for its wild gameplay shifts, so its first entry focusing pretty much entirely on what the series is best at, the rail shooting, helps it really stand out for me. There are no cases of "ugh, that level" in Star Fox SNES like there are in pretty much every later entry, it's all consistently fun arcade shmupping from start to finish. Of course, there are still framerate issues, and they are my one big issue with Star Fox SNES, but it's not deal-breakingly bad because of the simplicity of the gameplay.
And as far as the core game design goes, Star Fox SNES is pretty much a perfect on-rails shooter. The Arwing controls incredibly smoothly and surprisingly responsively given the limitations of the hardware. Right from the start, you can already break and boost, tilt your wing to pull off turns more tightly, and use bombs. Gun upgrades, helping your allies, enemy percentages, there's a lot of mechanical depth in just this first entry and it all fits into the gameplay loop quite well. The level design also manages to get a lot out of these simplistic polygons, spanning a wide range of environments from tighter-packed levels on the surface of various planets to wider and more open stages set in the vacuum of space. A highlight for me is easily the Space Armada as you get to pilot your Arwing into the enemy fleet and blast away the engine in these dodging-focused tunnel sequences. Even the boss fights are great, there's an impressive sixteen different encounters and they all have unique tactics, multiple phases, and exude a surprising amount of personality through their various simplistic animations.
On top of all that, this is an incredibly replayable game. There are already three difficulty routes to take, each with a bunch of different levels, unique boss fight, and other surprises. But even within the levels, there's a ton of micro-secrets to find on repeat playthroughs. Engaging with pretty much everything in a stage is likely to net you a ton of powerups, and most infamously, the Asteroid stage has two separate secret stages hidden away within it. Star Fox manages to wring so much out of so little, and that's especially applicable to its presentation. It can be very easy to argue that this game looks poorly-aged, what with its textureless polygonal look, but there's also such a charm to it all. I love how cinematic Nintendo tried to make the game, with several automated boss transition cutscenes and a booming Star Wars inspired score by Hajime Hirasawa. It's not my favorite soundtrack to a Star Fox game, but it's certainly close.
Star Fox is a great game. Not even great for its time, but a genuinely impeccably well-designed rail shooter. It has tight controls, brisk pacing, consistently fun level and boss design, tons of replayability, and an impressive presentation that punches far above its weight. With smoother visuals and a clean framerate, I think Star Fox could easily pass for a modern game, the fundamental design at play is that well done. It's a real shame that we never got another entry with the same kind of arcade-y focus but without the hardware limitations, no future Star Fox game would be pure rail-shooting again.
4.5/5 Stars
Star Fox 2: Star Fox 2 is obviously a very historically significant game with a lot of baggage to it, with how it was unreleased and left on the shelf until Nintendo decided to finally re-release it back in 2017. But despite that being a story I'd probably have loved, I don't think I ever really thought of Star Fox 2 as anything other than a cool historical novelty. I did try playing it a few times, but I either got overwhelmed with the real-time strategy elements, annoyed that the rail-shooting was completely replaced with all-range sections, or I stuck my nose up at the crummy framerate because there's no way a game this ambitious on SNES hardware could be that fun, right?
...Right?
Once again, I'm reminded just how much more enjoyable games can be when you actually play them in good faith because when I did take the time to sit down with Star Fox 2, learn up on its unique mechanics and rules, and gave it a proper chance, I found a deceptively addictive experience. It may not be one of my favorite games in the series but it scratches an itch that none of the other games are really able to.
Star Fox 2 has a very different structure from its predecessor. When the game starts, you are thrown onto a map screen and learn that Andross has taken over a few planets and is launching an assault on Corneria. You have to guide Team Star Fox along the map to intercept missiles, take down Andross's fleet, and free the planets he's taken over before taking the fight to him. Time moves as you travel and fight too, so you need to effectively juggle all of these different threats and prioritize which ones are more important at any give time. This system absolutely overwhelmed me at first, it really felt like I was on the losing foot and the more dour score only enhanced that feeling. But as I played more of the game, I grew to love the more desperate atmosphere Star Fox 2 has, and I grew to find the time management elements really engaging. It's tough at first, but once you get a sense of roughly how long specific tasks will take, it becomes really fun to intuit the best possible route to take out all the threats with minimal stress. And being encouraged to complete tasks as quickly as possible does a good job at making me want to get better at the dogfighting, which I can't really say about other Star Fox games. That being said, each run of SF2 still has a solid amount of randomness to keep you on your toes. There's six planets that Andross that can take over, multiple bosses he can send at you, and you can even choose to play as one of the six members of Star Fox (including the newly introduced Faye and Miyu who sadly never reappeared since) which makes for a really replayable game.
The moment-to-moment gameplay has also dramatically changed from a linear, directed rail shooter to open air all-range dogfighting. I've always preferred rail shooting personally, dogfighting can get kind of annoying if there's an enemy that keeps darting out of range and Star Fox 2 lacking the homing charge shot that the later games have doesn't help matters. However, what keeps Star Fox 2 fun is that most of the dogfights in this game can go by really fast, you'll rarely ever have to take down more than five enemies at a time so they never drag out or overstay their welcome. But where this game really shines is when you land on a planet or enter a battle carrier, at which point you're given the ability to transform your Arwing into a Walker mech. Both modes have their own benefits, the Arwing is fast but turns slow, the Walker is slower but has auto-aim and can turn on a dime, but they both control really smoothly and switching back and forth is really fun. The more enclosed stages are able to squeeze in some Star Fox 1-esque obstacle courses for the Arwing to handle, while the Walker bits are able to add in a bunch of platforming and light exploration. It is worth mentioning that the framerate in Star Fox 2 isn't the greatest, it might even be worse than in the first game at points, but it wasn't as bad as I was fearing. Despite the more complex gameplay and open level design, there was never a point where Star Fox 2 felt completely unmanageable.
Similarly to the routes in the first game, Star Fox 2 has three levels of difficulty. The Normal difficulty is a great practice mode as Andross only takes over two planets, it's a great option for getting to grips with all the mechanics or if you want a more bite-sized Star Fox 2 experience. However, if you only play Normal, you're probably going to be left wanting more since it's fairly lacking in boss fights and most of the level design is simplified. Hard Mode is where Star Fox 2 really comes alive for me. Andross takes over more planets, the base design itself is more involved, there are a lot more bosses and variation in the kinds of setpieces you'll have to deal with, the time management is more challenging, and it feels a lot more satisfying to complete while still being replayable. Normal Mode was what quelled my fears about Star Fox 2 and showed me how fun it could be, but Hard Mode is when I really got hooked. Upon beating Hard Mode, you'll also unlock an Expert Mode where Andross takes over every planet and launches pretty much everything but the kitchen sink at you, allowing you to experience everything Star Fox 2 has to offer in one-go. I've never attempted it though, it's too intimidating. Beyond the difficulties and all the random events, Star Fox 2 also has a bunch of collectible medals, a ranking system, and some unlockable upgrades like permanent twin lasers and (hallelujah!) a charging homing shot, though you'll have to work for them. Despite being released decades later, Star Fox 2 is a truly feature-filled package that I was tempted to sink hours upon hours into.
As I said, Star Fox 2 isn't my ideal Star Fox game. I will always prefer a more arcade-y, streamlined, real shooter experience. But giving Star Fox 2 a proper chance really showed me that this series can be more than just an arcade-y rail shooter. While at times a bit too ambitious for its own hardware, Star Fox 2 is a mechanically rich and highly replayable RTS/dogfight hybrid that feels satisfying to learn and improve at. I'd make the argument that SF2 is just as tightly-designed, briskly-paced, and immensely addictive than its predecessor, just in different ways.
4/5 Stars
Star Fox 64: Star Fox 64 is the most beloved Star Fox game and is pretty unanimously regarded as the best in the series, so it might come as a surprise to learn that I don't hold it up as the best Star Fox game. It's definitely in my Top 3 alongside the original and a certain other game we have yet to talk about, but it's not my favorite. The thing with SF64 is that it actually took me a while to really love this game, my first few playthroughs of it were honestly really rough. So let's talk about why that was and what made me warm up on the game over time.
Star Fox 64 improves on its predecessors in two notable ways: Game feel and story. The Arwing controls aren't too dissimilar from how they were on the SNES, but the improved hardware of the Nintendo 64 and far smoother framerate means Star Fox 64 feels so much tighter and more fluid to play. For a lot of people, this single improvement is enough to make 64 the better game and I totally get it, it's hard to go back to the jittery framerate of the SuperFX chip after playing a game like 64 or Assault. Star Fox 64 also formally introduces all-range mode and it feels a lot better too here than it does in Star Fox 2. You're given more maneuvers to make tracking enemies easier, along with having the homing charge shot being made a part of your default kit. The clearer visuals and the fact that no all-range battles take place exclusively in space means it's also easier to figure out where you are in relation to everything else. On pretty much every level, Star Fox 64 simply feels better to play than the SNES games.
As for the story, Star Fox 64 mostly retells the first game but fleshes out pretty much everything. The introduction of the backstory involving Pigma's betrayal of Peppy and Fox's dad gives the whole game more personal stakes, making the Star Fox team's existence inherently more meaningful. Star Wolf is formally introduced as proper rivals, the effect of Andross' terror is shown in more detail, and most of all, the members of Fox's team have more of distinct personalities. Peppy is now more of a mentor figure because he has that connection to Fox's father, Falco is still a jerk and a hotshot but he also gets moments of friendly banter with Fox to prevent him from feeling too unsympathetic, and while Slippy is made a bit more childish here, I still find him really charming and I like that he was made into the tech guy of the team. 64 does a great job to endear the player to the rest of Team Star Fox and it makes you want to keep them alive throughout each run. I can't really talk about 64's story without mentioning the cheesy voice acting though, but honestly that just adds to the charm. I adore the goofy tone that the dialogue has and it makes Star Fox 64 one of the most quotable games ever made, but I also think the writing is genuinely effective at selling the game's stakes.
Beyond just basic improvements, Star Fox 64 is also noteworthy for its increase in variety compared to the previous games this time. As I mentioned, there's now a mix of rail-shooting and all-range battles. The majority of 64 still leans towards the rail-shooting, but you'll still have to do some all-range segments in any given run. The stages themselves also offer more variety, from the stealth focused Zoness, to dealing with your health draining in Solar, to the alternate vehicles like the Landmaster. I actually love the Landmaster, by the way, it's so versatile and Titania and Macbeth are just really fun stages. The boss fights are also pretty fantastic, offering super dynamic attack patterns, multiple phases, and memorable designs. Picking a favorite between Spyborg, Golemech, and the Gorgon is hard enough. Beyond just the stages themselves, the way progression works is drastically changed from the previous two games. Instead of just picking a difficulty and committing to it, many stages have branching paths that allow you to essentially hop between difficulties depending on how you do. This is a neat system because it gives Star Fox 64 more replay value as you constantly discover new routes and secrets, but I also appreciate how generous it is. If you unlock a harder alternate path, you can still choose to take the easier route if you want to so it never feel like I'm forced into doing the harder route. And if you fail an objective, you can always choose to retry the mission at the cost of a life which I think is a fair compromise.
However, with variety comes inconsistency, and this is where Star Fox 64 ended up being a bit of a grower. The decision to give every single planet its own unique gimmick or mechanic means that not every planet is going to vibe with every player. Aquas is the most notable instance of this, being a sluggish and generally unfun water level that just so happens to be the only way to play one of the game's best stages, Zoness. But there's also the several timed all-range missions like Fichina and Sector Z, and I've even seen some hate go towards the Landmaster stages. For me, though, the thing that always gave me a tough time was the Star Wolf fights. As I said in Star Fox 2, I always had a harder time with all-range combat and it meant fighting Star Wolf would also be a brutal difficulty spike for me. For a while, I just straight-up didn't want to play Star Fox 64 because I didn't want to fight Star Wolf. Thankfully, I've gotten much better at that but I still don't find those fights especially enjoyable. And that's ultimately the issue I've always had with SF64, it has some of the highest highs in the series, but it also has some pretty frustrating lows.
The other thing that I'm a bit split on with Star Fox 64 is the visuals. Being an early Nintendo 64 game, it's only natural that SF64 is going to look a bit sparse in places and that's totally fine. I'd say most of the planets like Corneria and Solar look pretty good, and the dark shading can often heighten the game's atmosphere, particularly in some of the more solemn levels like Zoness or Sector Z. The credits scene of Star Fox running off with the sunset behind them looks pretty damn memorable too. However, Star Fox 64 can also feel too dark and muddy at times, with the most notable instance of this being in Aquas where it's just straight-up too dark to see. The 3DS port does improve on this, with much brighter visuals and bolder coloring helping the game pop a lot more, but it comes at the cost of redone voice acting so it feels like more of a side-step overall. On the other hand, though, I actually really like Star Fox 64's soundtrack. I know many find it to be a step-down from the first game's more high-octane music, but the more dynamic, moody, and tense feel of 64's score really elevates the game's atmosphere for me.
So overall, Star Fox 64 is a game that I would probably rank right next to Star Fox for SNES. Whether or not I like it more or less depends on the day, though. Star Fox 64 isn't quite as consistent as its predecessor, but the more memorable setpieces, smoother controls, far superior story, more replayable sense of progression, great atmosphere, and outstanding boss encounters still make for a top-tier rail-shooter that stands out as one of the Nintendo 64's better early games.
4.5/5 Stars