VC Review: Starfox 64

There are only a few games from my childhood that I can remember vividly, and this is one of them. Starfox 64 for the Nintendo 64 was the true sequel to the first Starfox that debuted on the Super Nintendo just a few years before it. Even though it may be one of the most bland looking games out there, the sheer amount of fun that the gameplay provided made this game an instant classic for me.

Developer: Hal Laboratories
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Shooter
Rating: E for Everyone (which was Kids to adults in 1997)
Price: 1,000 Wii points ($10)
# of Players: 1-4
Release Date: July 1st, 1997
Console: Nintendo 64

For those of you who either do not know the story behind this game, or just have not played it in awhile, and you forgot what it was about, here is a refresher course for you. Andross, the evil ruler of the planet Venom, was once banished from the Lylat system into another dimension, he has now escaped, and is wrecking havoc all over again for the people of the Lylat system. It is up to you(Fox McCloud), and your teammates Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare, and Slippy toad(the most annoying of the bunch) to capture Andross, and save all of the planets from extinction. It is enough to keep you going, but not exactly epic in any way whatsoever.

When it comes to graphics, there is not much to say, as this game comes from a different time period. Everything, from the ships to the levels, are made up of blocky geometric shapes with no real depth to them. The level designs are varied enough, with a few changes like a molten lava planet, and an underwater planet to explore, but usually consist of one flat area of land, with minor details like trees, rocks, etc. The character models are ok, but you usually only see their heads anyways, so it really doesn’t matter.

The music and sound effects in this game were great. All of the characters voices sounded like they had some personality to them, but even still to this day, Slippy’s voice is still as annoying as ever. The background music for each level was great, each of the different compositions really set the tone for the area that you were in, and also set the tone for each of the boss fights you encountered. The boss fights had this fast paced drum beat, mixed with some trumpet sounds, that made it feel like I was fighting an epic battle every time.

My favorite music was from the Underwater level Aquas, it had that strange relaxing feel to it, even though I was still shooting enemies down listening to it, something about this composition just kept me relaxed the whole time. It was this flute sound, mixed with some great piano work that really made it sound like you were underwater on one of those discovery channel shows.

Every sound effect from the boost of your engine, to the firing of your laser, to the launching of a bomb, all packed quite a punch to them. The sad fact here is that this game did support the rumble pak feature, and since I am playing this with the GameCube controller, there was no rumble at all, which made all of these sound effects sound not so overwhelming to me.

For what Starfox 64 did not accomplish in the graphics side of things, it made up for in the gameplay aspect. This was a fun game for me today, just as much as it was back in 1997. The controls are simple, if you choose to play with the GameCube Controller, as the two joysticks on the classic controller just did not feel right to me at all. You control your ship with the left thumbstick, it will aim your target for you, shoot your laser with the A button, and launch a bomb with the B button. There were also different aerial moves you could do like a somersault (c button left, thumbstick down), barrel roll (tap the shoulder buttons twice), and a u-turn (c button down, thumbstick down). The controls work very well, and are actually quite easy to understand once you get the hang of it.

Starfox 64 was a fun game to play, because there was a surprise at every turn. Every boss fight was different, and required you to do something different to win. Sometimes you had to blow up more than one area to reveal weak spot, or you had to dodge enemies that the boss would throw at you, or obstacles that you would have to navigate through just to get to them. There was also some replay value as well. You could play up to 3 other friends in MP battles, earn medals in each of the missions to unlock secrets, accomplish missions to change paths, and add your single player score to a leaderboard to show off to your friends. That may not seem like much now, but back then, without online play, these features made the game just that much better.

There were also around a total of 18 planets or so, almost all with a warp path that would take you along a series of different levels, and culminating with two different final boss fights that give you different endings.

Starfox 64 was, and still is, one of my favorite games of all time. It is a fast-paced, fun, classic space shooter that anyone with a 1,000 Wii points, and a classic case of nostalgia should not hesitate to buy. (A)

- Matt H