Star Fox 64
known as Lylat Wars in the PAL regions, is a 1997 rail shooter game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the second installment in the Star Fox series and a reboot of the original Star Fox for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.
Star Fox 64 was the first Nintendo 64 game to feature support for the system's Rumble Pak peripheral, which initially came bundled with retail copies of the game. Since its release in 1997, the game has sold over 4 million copies, making it the best-selling game in the series and the ninth best-selling game on the system. The game received critical acclaim for its precise controls, voice acting, multiplayer modes, and replay value through the use of branching gameplay paths. Like the SNES Star Fox game before it, Star Fox 64 has been deemed one of the greatest video games of all time. A stereoscopic 3D remake for the Nintendo 3DS, Star Fox 64 3D, was released in 2011, and a reimagining for the Wii U, Star Fox Zero, was released in 2016. The game was also re-released on the Nintendo Classics service on October 25, 2021.
Gameplay
Star Fox 64 is a 3D rail shooter game in which the player controls one of the vehicles piloted by Fox McCloud, usually an Arwing. Most of the game takes place in "Corridor Mode", which forces Fox's vehicle down an on-rails path straight forward through the environment. In Corridor Mode, the player's vehicle can be maneuvered around the screen to dodge obstacles and can also perform a somersault to get behind enemies or dodge projectiles. The Arwing is also capable of deflecting enemy fire while performing a spinning maneuver called a "barrel roll". The Arwing and Landmaster can charge up their laser cannons to unleash a powerful lock-on laser.In addition to Corridor Mode, some stages of the game, including multiplayer and most boss fights, take place in "All-Range Mode". In this variant, the player can move freely in a three-dimensional space within the confines of a large arena. The Arwing can also perform one new maneuver in All-Range Mode: a U-Turn to change direction.
Throughout the game, the player can fly or drive through power-ups to collect them. These include silver and gold rings that refill the vehicle's shields, weapon upgrades, wing repairs, extra lives, and Nova bombs.
Returning from the original Star Fox are wingmen that fly with the player in their own Arwings. Fox's wingmen periodically attack enemies or are pursued into the player's field of view, requiring the player to shoot down the pursuers before the wingman has to retreat to the Great Fox mothership for repairs. Each wingman provides a different form of assistance to the player: Slippy Toad scans bosses and displays their shields on the player's screen, Peppy Hare provides gameplay advice, and Falco Lombardi occasionally locates alternate routes through stages. Some stages also feature special appearances from supporting characters Katt Monroe or Bill Grey, who assist the team.
The game features a branching level system, in which more difficult paths are unlocked by completing certain objectives. Players can also change paths once the current mission is accomplished. All of the game's possible routes start at Corneria, eventually putting the player in contact with the Star Wolf Team, and end at Venom in a confrontation with Andross.
To add replay challenge, the game also features awardable medals, which are earned by accomplishing a mission with all wingmen intact and having achieved a certain hit total. Obtaining medals unlocks bonus features, such as new multiplayer vehicles, cosmetic changes to Fox in single player, and additional game settings such as "Expert Mode".
Vehicles
The Arwing is the primary fighter craft used by the Star Fox team. The player can use the fighter's boost meter to perform special techniques to avoid collisions, change direction, and gain tactical advantages in combat. Certain levels also put the player in a tank-like vehicle called the Landmaster, as well as a submarine named the Blue Marine on the planet Aquas. Each vehicle shares some tactical characteristics with the Arwing while providing its own unique gameplay elements.Multiplayer
Star Fox 64 features split-screen multiplayer support for up to four players simultaneously. At first, users can only play using the Arwing fighter, but by earning certain medals in the main campaign, players can unlock the Landmaster tank and fight on foot as one of the four members of Star Fox equipped with a bazooka. Multiplayer is the only place where players can use a Landmaster with upgraded lasers.There are three modes of multiplayer play: a "point match" in which the player must shoot down an opponent a certain number of times, a "battle royal" in which the last player left wins, and a "time trial" to destroy enemy fighters.
Plot
Characters
The Star Fox team is a group of mercenaries who are enlisted by General Pepper to defend the Lylat system. The team consists of:- Fox McCloud: A red fox who took over leadership of the team after his father, James, was captured and killed by Andross in a prior assault. Fox is the game's protagonist and only playable character in Story Mode.
- Falco Lombardi: A falcon who is an excellent fighter, but is also quite cocky and self-assured. He looks for alternate routes and shortcuts.
- Peppy Hare: A rabbit who was part of the original Star Fox team. He survived and escaped when Pigma betrayed the team, which led to James's capture. He serves on the current Star Fox team as a mentor to Fox during missions.
- Slippy Toad: A frog who is the team's mechanical expert. He is cheerful and energetic, but also prone to getting himself in trouble. He provides the player with valuable information about certain enemies and bosses.
Andross is the game's primary antagonist who resembles a monkey or ape. He is an evil mad scientist who is intent on capturing and controlling the Lylat system. To stop Star Fox's progress, Andross recruits the Star Wolf team, a rival band of mercenaries consisting of the team leader Wolf O'Donnell, a wolf and Fox's long-time rival; Leon Powalski, a sinister chameleon who targets Falco; Andrew Oikonny, Andross's nephew, who goes after Slippy; and Pigma Dengar, a pig and traitor to the original Star Fox team who chases his former teammate Peppy.
Story
On Corneria, the fourth planet of the Lylat system, the scientist Andross is driven to madness and nearly destroys the planet using biological weapons. General Pepper exiles Andross to the remote planet Venom. Five years later, Pepper detects suspicious activity on Venom. Pepper hires the Star Fox team —James McCloud, Peppy Hare, and Pigma Dengar—to investigate. After Pigma betrays the team, Andross captures James and kills him; Peppy escapes from Venom alive and informs James's son, Fox, about his father's fate.Two years later, Andross launches an attack across the Lylat system. Defending Corneria, Pepper summons the new Star Fox team, now consisting of the new team leader Fox, Peppy, who is now his mentor, and his friends Falco Lombardi and Slippy Toad, the new members of the team. While traveling through several planets, the team battles with Andross' henchmen, including the rival mercenary team Star Wolf. After the team arrives at Venom, Fox confronts Andross alone, with the encounter taking two different forms depending on how the player approaches the planet. If the player arrives from Bolse, Fox destroys a robotic version of Andross, leaving Andross himself adrift in the Lylat system. If the player arrives from Area 6, Fox reveals Andross' true form as that of a floating brain, and finally kills him. Shortly before his death, Andross activates his base's self-destruct system in a last-ditch attempt to kill Fox. However, James' spirit appears and guides Fox out of the exploding base before disappearing again.
After defeating Andross in either encounter, Fox returns with his team to Corneria for a victory celebration. Pepper offers the team the opportunity to join the Cornerian Army, but Fox declines and the team departs. Following the game's credits sequence, the player's final score is presented as a bill Pepper receives from Star Fox for their services.
Development
Following the release of Star Fox in 1993, series creator Shigeru Miyamoto began working on Star Fox 2 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. By 1995, Miyamoto and team had largely finished development of Star Fox 2 before realizing that its release would require the upgraded Super FX 2 chip, which would increase the cost of the game. Furthermore, newly launched competitor consoles, namely the Sega Saturn and the Sony PlayStation, possessed processing power and graphics capabilities that dwarfed those of the SNES, making Star Fox 2 appear obsolete. Recognizing this and that the Nintendo 64 would launch the following year with significantly increased processing power and graphical capabilities, Miyamoto made the decision to cancel Star Fox 2, though the game would eventually see an official release on the Super NES Classic Edition and the Nintendo Classics service.Around this time, Star Fox 64
While Imamura was credited solely as Star Fox 64
One new aspect of gameplay was the addition of levels that used the Landmaster tank and the Blue-Marine submarine, which were conceived of by members of the development team in response to Miyamoto's suggestion that the game include a "human-type craft", which the team generally did not approve of. The team originally intended for the game to contain multiple underwater levels but ultimately scaled back as they found that the underwater levels slowed down the pacing of the game. The team also wanted to include another variation of the Venom stage, where Fox would step out of the Arwing and battle Andross on-foot with a bazooka, but this was discarded for time, and its remnants were repurposed for the game's battle mode.
With the underlying gameplay largely complete early in development, Miyamoto and the team focused the majority of their efforts on graphics, audio and dialogue, and enemy AI, seeking to harness the Nintendo 64's processing power. For example, inspired by Miyamoto being a fan of the British puppet-based show Thunderbirds, the development team animated the game's characters opening and closing their mouths in a puppet-like fashion while speaking, which reduced the overall amount of animation work required for the game. The team also realized that adding dynamic audio would enhance the 3D gameplay experience as the player's allies could audibly signal when the player was being pursued by an offscreen enemy. In writing dialogue for the game's characters, the developers sought to invoke traditional historical dramas, adding more conventional lines such as "I've been waiting for you, Star Fox" and "You're becoming more like your father". Edgier dialogue such as "I guess it's your turn to be thankful" was written for the character Falco Lombardi, while more supportive dialogue such as "Never give up. Trust your instincts!" came from the character Peppy Hare. Originally, the development team themselves actually tried to provide the voice lines for the characters, with Imamura in particular providing the voice for Fox and programmer Nobuhiro Sumiyoshi providing the voice for Leon; this was met with negative reception internally and thus it was decided to switch over to using professional voice actors. This developer's dub would eventually be uncovered several years later via the Nintendo data leak of 2020.
Star Fox 64 was also the first title to make use of the Rumble Pak peripheral, which came bundled with the game in some instances. Miyamoto stated that the development team struggled to utilize the Rumble Pak in a way that players understood, noting that during development, players were often confused as to why their controller was vibrating.