Star Fox 64

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Star Fox 64
Developer(s)	Nintendo EAD
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Shigeru Miyamoto Takao Shimizu
Release date(s)	Nintendo 64 JPN April 27, 1997 NA July 1, 1997 EU October 20, 1997 CHN November 21, 2003 (iQue) Virtual Console NA April 2, 2007
Genre(s)	Scrolling shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: K-A (Kids to Adults) ESRB: E (Everyone) (Wii)[1]
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64, iQue, Virtual Console
Media	96-Mb cartridge

Star Fox 64 (スターフォックス 64, Sutā Fokkusu Rokujūyon^?), known in Australia and Europe as Lylat Wars due to trademark issues, is a scrolling shooter video game for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It was released on April 27, 1997 in Japan, on July 1, 1997 in North America and on October 20, 1997 in Europe and Australia. It was later ported to the China-only iQue on November 21, 2003. Additionally, it is the second game in Nintendo's Star Fox video game series, and the first to be released on the Nintendo 64. It was made available for download on the Wii's Virtual Console on April 2, 2007 in North America.

The planned second game in the series for the SNES, Star Fox 2, was canceled due to the upcoming release of the Nintendo 64, but some of its features were used in Star Fox 64, such as all range mode. It was the first game to introduce support for the Rumble Pak.^[2] The game received positive ratings from reviewers and critics who praised its smooth animation, detailed visuals, and use of multiple gameplay paths.^[3]

The music in Star Fox 64 was composed by Koji Kondo and Hajime Wakai. Some of this music was used in the later games of the series.

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Multiplayer 1.2 Vehicles 2 Story 3 Reception 4 Cultural references 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Gameplay

In Star Fox 64, the player controls one of the vehicles piloted by Fox McCloud, usually an Arwing, as it travels on a fixed-rail that generally moves straight forward. The player's vehicle can be maneuvered around the screen to dodge obstacles and shoot incoming enemies with laser cannons.^[4] All vehicles can also charge up their laser cannons to unleash a powerful lock-on laser.

As well as the forced progression of the main game, some levels and bosses take place in "all-range mode" (available only with the Arwing during single-player), where the player can move freely around a rectangular arena and engage in combat with various enemies.^[4] The Arwing has one new maneuver it can perform in all-range mode; it can Immelmann up-and-over to change direction (called a U-turn in the game).

Returning from the original Star Fox game are wingmen that fly beside the player in Arwings and are sometimes pursued into the player's field of view by enemies. The longer it takes the player to save the wingmen the more damage they will take, eventually leading to that wingman retreating to the Great Fox for repairs.^[4] If one of the wingmen has returned to the Great Fox, that wingman cannot help the player in the next mission, but returns after that. For example, if Slippy is on the Great Fox, he will not be able to scan the boss and reveal its life bar.^[4]

Among Star Fox 64's features is the vastly hyped in-game sampled voice speech that replaced the chatter from the original game. However, the original chatter, referred to as "Lylat" in the language option-screen, can be enabled in the PAL version, though the feature is not in the Japanese and American NTSC versions. The game relies much more heavily on dialogue than the original, and together with the cinematic sequences, they drive the story forward. This dialogue has also become the target of parody in recent years, especially the repetitive phrases of Peppy Hare, particularly the phrase "Do a barrel roll!"

Instead of the fixed series of levels of the original (determined by the difficulty level chosen), many of the levels branch out to two different levels, with the "upper" branch requiring the player to accomplish a certain task.^[4] If the task is completed, the end of the level will read "Mission Accomplished." However, if this task is not achieved, the ending will read "Mission Complete", and the player must take the "downward" route. The levels correspond loosely to the difficulty levels of the original Star Fox, with routes color coded blue, yellow, and red to represent the easy, normal, and hard levels of difficulty respectively. Many of the forced paths bring the Star Fox team into contact with the Star Wolf team, a nemesis squadron originally slated to appear in the unreleased Star Fox 2.

Finally, to add replay challenge, the game features awardable "medals," which are earned by accomplishing a mission with all wingmen intact and having achieved a certain hit total.^[4] These totals are often a high percentage of the total enemies on the stage, leaving little room for error. Obtaining medals results in unlocking bonus features, such as a sound test and the ability to use the Landmaster tank and fight on foot in multiplayer mode. Acquiring all medals unlocks a new "Expert" mode in which there are more enemies per level, the player's Arwing takes more damage (a direct collision with solid obstacles will destroy any of the Arwing's wings in one hit), and Fox wears sunglasses similar to his father's. Acquiring all medals on Expert mode unlocks a new title screen for the game.

[edit] Multiplayer

Star Fox 64 features multiplayer support for up to four players simultaneously.^[4] At first users can only choose to play using the Arwing spaceship, but by earning the proper amount of medals in Story Mode, players can choose the Landmaster tank, or the ability to play as the pilot on foot. Unlike the main game, players cannot upgrade to hyper lasers, although players can upgrade to twin lasers, and can only carry a maximum of one nova bomb at a time.

[edit] Vehicles

• Arwing — The primary craft used by the Star Fox team in the game, the Arwing is a spacecraft armed with one standard laser (which can be upgraded to twin or hyper lasers) and is capable of firing Nova Bombs which help clear the area of enemy craft.^[4] As with all of the Star Fox series, barrel rolling is an integral part of gameplay because the ship deflects lasers while performing a barrel roll. The Arwing can also use its boost meter to perform three special moves to avoid collisions and get the drop on pursuers: boost, brake, and loop. In all-range mode, a U-turn option is available.
• Landmaster — A tank-like vehicle, the Landmaster is only used on two levels in the entire game. The Landmaster has one standard laser, which can only be upgraded to twin lasers in multiplayer mode. Like the Arwing, the Landmaster can perform a barrel roll and fire Nova Bombs. The barrel roll performed by the Landmaster, however, is used only as an evasionary tactic because it doesn't deflect lasers. The Landmaster can hover a short while in addition to being able to perform a boost.^[4]
• Blue Marine — This submarine, designed by Slippy Toad, can only be used on Aquas, which houses a primarily aquatic environment. The Blue Marine has one standard laser which can be upgraded to twin or hyper lasers, and also has an unlimited supply of torpedoes which not only damage enemies but also allow the player to see when there is limited light.

[edit] Story

Strange activity is spotted on the planet Venom, part of the Lylat system, where the evil scientist Andross has been exiled.^[5] The governing planet, Corneria, sends the Star Fox team to investigate. The Star Fox team consists of pilots James McCloud, Peppy Hare, and Pigma Dengar. Upon their arrival at Venom, Pigma betrays the team, causing James and Peppy to be captured by Andross. Peppy escapes Venom, but James does not return.^[6]

Some time later, strange activity is noticed again and a new Star Fox team, consisting of Fox McCloud (the player), Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare, and Slippy Toad, is sent to investigate.^[7] After battling their way through various stages, including planets and asteroid fields, as well as battling the rival team Star Wolf (Wolf O'Donnell, Pigma Dengar, Leon Powalski, and Andrew Oikonny) Star Fox reaches Venom and defeats Andross. Afterwards, General Pepper asks the members of the Star Fox team to become members of the Cornerian army, but they decline the offer.^[8][9]

If Venom is approached from Area 6, Andross will be fought as would normally occur if Venom was approached from Bolse, but then he transforms into a brain with eyes. After truly defeating him, James McCloud, Fox's father, shows Fox the way out. When they make it out, they return to Corneria, and the ending is different, but only slightly, and Andross' face is not in the sky.

[edit] Reception

Reviews and awards

Publication	Score
All Game Guide	4.5 of 5[10]
IGN.com	8.7 of 10[11]
GameSpot	8.3 of 10[3]
Edge	9 of 10[12]
Famitsu	36 of 40
Compilations of multiple reviews
Game Rankings	90 of 100 (based on 13 reviews)[13]
Metacritic	88 of 100 (based on 16 reviews)[14]

Acclaimed by many reviewers, Star Fox 64 was one of the top-selling games of 1997, second only to Mario Kart 64.^[15] In the first five days of the game's U.S. launch, over 300,000 copies were sold, surpassing the record previously held by Mario Kart 64 and Super Mario 64.^[16] Sales were considerably less in Japan, where it sold 75,595 copies during the first week of sale.^[17] The game also took the #73 spot in Nintendo Power's "Top 200 Nintendo Games Ever".

GameSpot noted that Star Fox 64 is "an instant classic" and was impressed by the voice acting. Glenn Rubenstein, the reviewer, noted that the game is "a pleasure to look at" and liked the cinematic quality of the storyline.^[3] Although other reviewers such as IGN said that the game is "extremely repetitive" and that the music quality was not as good as the original Star Fox, they still praised the branching system and "intelligently designed levels" which compensate for those points.^[11]

Star Fox 64 toys were included with Taco Bell kids meals alongside four other Nintendo themed toys in 1997.^[18] Nintendo Power subscribers received a promotional video prior to Star Fox 64's release (the same tactic was used to promote Donkey Kong Country for the SNES) that advertised the game's cinematic presentation, as well as new features like the Rumble Pak and voice acting. It revolves around two agents of Sega and Sony (who, at the time, were Nintendo's biggest competitors) kidnapping Nintendo employees and forcing them to reveal information about the upcoming Star Fox title by "torturing" a Mario doll.^[19]

[edit] Cultural references

Star Fox 64 contains a few allusions to other works, mainly in the science-fiction genre.

• The Katina level, featuring swarms of friendly and enemy aircraft dogfighting beneath a saucer-shaped mothership, appears to be a homage to the movie Independence Day.
• The Sector X level boss, Spyborg, alludes to several sources. When the player fights the large robot boss, Spyborg, it occasionally says, "Where is the creator?" and, "I must be complete." This is a reference to the character V'Ger from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, a machine who was seeking its creator so it could join with him and become complete.^[20] The Spyborg also has a similar appearance to R.O.B. and his name in the Japanese version, HVC-09, is similar to the model number of R.O.B., being HVC-12 (HVC standing for "Home Videogame Console.") It continuously calls out for its "creator," leading some to believe that this enemy was probably based on a prototype version of the robot. Finally, the close-up image displayed when the boss speaks resembles the red glowing eye of the insane computer HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The boss's Japanese name and implied madness may also allude to HAL.
• The Sector Y level, featuring humanoid robots that wield guns and shields and are launched from the decks of spaceships, may be a homage to Gundam, a Japanese anime series.
• Peppy's infamous line, "Do a Barrel Roll!", has become a hugely popular Internet meme.
• The planet Macbeth is a reference to Shakespeare's famous play of the same name. The official strategy guide takes this one step further by claiming that Birnam Wood was removed to make room for the fuel bunker, a reference to a forest featured in the story.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website (archive)
• IGN review

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