Star Fox (video game)
Encyclopedia
, released as Starwing in Europe
and Australia
due to a game of the same name and subsequent trademark issues in those regions, is the first game in the Star Fox series of video games
. It was released in the spring of 1993
for the SFC/SNES
. It was the first three-dimensional
Nintendo game, and it included the Super FX
chip, a coprocessor
used to accelerate graphics display, which became Nintendo's first game to use 3D polygon graphics. The complex display of three-dimensional models with polygons
was still new and uncommon in console video games, and the game was much-hyped as a result. Star Fox featured kemono
character designs by Nintendo artist Takaya Imamura
, music composed by Hajime Hirasawa and obstacle course style gameplay. Star Fox was developed by Nintendo EAD
with assistance by Argonaut Software
, and was published by Nintendo
.
The storyline involves Fox McCloud
and the rest of the Star Fox team, who must defend their homeworld of Corneria against the attacking forces of Andross.
The game was very successful and started another one of Nintendo's major franchises, with an unreleased sequel, four sequels, and one remake released to this date.
perspective. The player must navigate Fox's spacecraft, an Arwing, through environments while various enemies (spaceships, robots, creatures, etc.) attack him. Along the way various power-up
s are placed in the stage to help the player. The player receives a score on each level based on how many enemies destroyed and how well the player has defended his/her teammates. At the end of each level
there is a boss
that the player must defeat before progressing to the next level.
Star Fox possesses certain unique elements that differentiate it from the standard scrolling shooter. Most scrolling shooters force the player forward at a constant speed. While this is also true for Star Fox, there are thrusters and retro-rockets on the Arwing that allow the player to temporarily speed up and slow down. These can be used to maneuver around enemy attacks and other obstacles.
The damage model is another difference. In the standard scrolling shooter, touching almost any object results in the immediate destruction of the player's craft. In Star Fox, the Arwing has a certain amount of shield energy that represents how much damage can be absorbed before the destruction of the craft. The game also has a small degree of locational damage detection: If the ship's wings clip against obstacles or the ground too much, they will break off, adversely affecting the craft's handling and the ability to upgrade weapons.
The difficulty in Star Fox is also set in a unique way. Most scrolling shooters, if they have selectable difficulty level
s, allow the player to set the difficulty by choosing an option (e.g. "Easy," "Normal," and "Hard") at the beginning of the game. This option usually affects variables such as the number of lives a player has, the number of enemies encountered in the game, the speed of enemies, and so on. In contrast, at the beginning of Star Fox, the player is given a choice of one of three routes to take through the Lylat system. Each of these routes corresponds with a certain level of difficulty, but each route has its own series of unique levels. This gives Star Fox somewhat more replay value
than other scrolling shooters that have a fixed series of levels each time the game is played. The three game paths all contain the planet Corneria (the first level) and Venom (the last level), but they each have different versions depending on the path taken.
In each level, the player is accompanied by three computer-controlled wingmen: Peppy Hare, Slippy Toad
, and Falco Lombardi
. At certain pre-scripted points, one will fly into the player's view, often either chasing an enemy or being chased and asking for assistance. Ignoring a wingman's pleas will result in him taking damage, or being shot down. They cannot be damaged by the player's own lasers (they will notice it nonetheless). Regardless of their survival, wingmen are not present during boss battles but rejoin the player before the next stage. A player may help his or her wingmen when they ask for assistance, as they will engage some of the enemies not destroyed by the player, and thereby make it easier to achieve maximum score in a given level. If a wingman gets shot down, he will not return for the rest of the game.
is the leader of the team, and he is accompanied by his teammates Falco Lombardi
, Peppy Hare, and Slippy Toad
.
worked closely with Nintendo during the early years of the NES and SNES. They developed a prototype on the NES, initially codenamed "NesGlider", which was inspired by their earlier 8-bit game Starglider
, and then ported this prototype to the SNES. Programmer Jez San
told Nintendo that this was as good as it could get unless they were allowed to design custom hardware to make the SNES better at 3D. Nintendo assented to this, and San hired chip designers to make the Super FX
chip, the first 3D graphics accelerator in a consumer product. The SuperFX was so much more powerful than the SNES's standard processor that they joked that the SNES was just a box to hold the chip.
By late 1992, the main game design was done by Shigeru Miyamoto
and Katsuya Eguchi
. Characters were designed by Takaya Imamura
, and music was composed by Hajime Hirasawa.
Argonaut brought the idea of using space ships, and Nintendo suggested the "arcade-style shooting" element of the game. Yoichi Yamada, a level designer for many Nintendo games, laid out and edited the Star Fox maps.
Miyamoto stated that he wanted the Star Fox series to star animal characters since he was not interested in making a series with conventional science fiction stories with robots, monsters, and superheroes. In addition Miyamoto himself had been drawing animal characters for a long period, so he asked Takaya Imamura
to make a game series with animal characters. Miyamoto decided to use a fox as a main characters since it reminded him of Fushimi Inari Taisha, about a fifteen minute walk from the Nintendo
corporate headquarters. Miyamoto explained that he had always planned to use the English word "fox" instead of the Japanese
word .
Imamura used Japanese folklore
as an inspiration to add a pheasant and a hare as two other protagonists. Imamura populated the Cornerian army with dogs and the enemy army with monkeys, and made Pepper a dog and Andross a monkey, since there is a Japanese expression about fighting like dogs and monkeys. Imamura added a toad; the inspiration came from a staff member of EADS
who used a toad as his personal mascot. Miyamoto created several puppets and photographed them to use as artwork for the cover of the Star Fox game; Miyamoto was a fan of English puppet dramas, such as Thunderbirds
, so he wanted the game cover to feature puppets.
, which take the player to secret levels. One such level, "The Awesome Black Hole", can be accessed from the Asteroid Field on Course 1. The Black Hole, which General Pepper states is the place where Fox's father disappeared, consists of a "warped space" that loops over and over again. A spinning ring also appears periodically, allowing the player to escape. The player is then taken to a level (depending on which ring they fly through), and continues from that level's path.
The other Easter egg (found in the Asteroid Field on Course 3) takes the player "Out of This Dimension". The player flies through a surreal area of space and shoots down paper plane
s for a time. The "boss" of this level is a large slot machine with no life meter, and the boss's theme music includes excerpts from the Japanese folk song "Yuki
", the chorus from "When the Saints Go Marching In
", and "Lightly Row
". Shooting parts of the machine (including its arm) cause its rollers to spin and then stop in various configurations. Configurations including an image of Andross cause it to flip over and launch a series of missiles and plasma-balls at the player, and one configuration launches large coins at the player instead (each one acts as a shield recharge).
Getting the winning configuration (three "7"s) "defeats" the slot machine, causing it to explode. The game's ending credits then appear on the screen, followed by the words "THE END" appearing with each letter turned or flipped in a random direction. Shooting a letter causes it to fly away momentarily and then come back in a different direction. The letter turns yellow when it is correctly aligned. If a letter is correct, an enemy may fly towards the letters, changing their position, thus reseting the sequence. When all letters are aligned correctly, the music changes briefly and then goes back to the slot-machine boss music, and the letters re-jumble themselves. Typically, it is easier just to reset the game console or lose all of one's lives and start over from the start. If the player allows their ship to be destroyed, they start over at the beginning of the level and repeat the whole sequence.
Although not an easter egg, the real voices (as opposed to the captioned language) of the Star Fox team can be heard at the end, and when a boss enemy enters the level (near the end).
In some space levels, destroying an enemy ship will sometimes display an enemy pilot ejecting. If the player intercepts the ejected pilot with their ship it earns them a continue.
In the United States, the Super Star Fox Weekend was played by tens of thousands of competitors in malls across the country. Stores such as KB Toys
and Suncoast Video
(usually any store that carried Super Nintendo games participated) hosted the event. After the competition, a limited number of the Super Weekend cartridges were sold through the Nintendo Power magazine.
In the United Kingdom
, the competition was known as the Star Wing Challenge and was held in gaming shops across the country on May 29, 1993.
Nintendo Netherlands also held the Starwing competition at various game selling stores in early 1993. The winner of each day won a large Starwing poster. Starwing competition was also used during the Dutch Nintendo Championship in October 1993-1996.
At the time of the game's release, the use of filled, three-dimensional
polygons
in a console game was very unusual, beyond a handful of earlier titles, including Sega Genesis ports of Atari
's arcade driving game, Hard Drivin'
, and their helicopter shooter, Steel Talons
.
Star Fox was awarded Best Shooter of 1993 by Electronic Gaming Monthly
. The game took the #115 spot on EGM' s "The Greatest 200 Videogames of Their Time", and 82nd best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power
s Top 200 Games list. It also received a 34 out of 40 from Famitsu
magazine, and a 4.125 out of 5 from Nintendo Power
Magazine. Next Gen Magazine pointed out Star Fox as helping pioneer the use of 3-D video game graphics. The game has been used as an example of how, even with a fully polygon design, the game was still very similar to older games in that there was a set path to travel through each level.
was in the works for the Super Nintendo, but it was never released, although according to programmer Dylan Cuthbert, the game was actually completely finished. Although Star Fox 2 was never released, some of the ideas and gameplay were salvaged for 1997
's Star Fox 64
(released throughout Europe under the title Lylat Wars) for Nintendo 64
. Eventually, a handful of ROM dumps of Star Fox 2 at various stages of its development were leaked onto the internet, and a fan-made translation of Star Fox 2 from Japanese to English was released in the form of a patch that could be applied to one of the ROM dumps.
In 2002
Star Fox made the jump to the Nintendo GameCube
, with Rare's Star Fox Adventures
. Adventures was the first Star Fox game to incorporate an action RPG element, where the player took control of Fox McCloud
on the world of Sauria which was also known as Dinosaur Planet. In 2005
Star Fox: Assault
was released for the GameCube, this time developed by Namco
. It incorporates a third-person shooter
aspect into the game, but also makes a return to its roots as a shooter that made the first two games of the series so popular. Star Fox Command
, released for the Nintendo DS
in 2006
, marks the franchise's first game on a portable system, as well as its first foray into online gaming. It used many features from the unreleased Star Fox 2
.
Although not a sequel, there is a Star Fox micro-game in WarioWare: Smooth Moves
for the Wii complete with three stages where the player pilots the Arwing with his or her Wii Remote
through Corneria, Sector X, and Titania. At the end of each level, the player fights R.O.B.
, who is armed with a large NES Zapper
. In addition, the game's sound test features full versions of the stage themes as well as the boss theme.
During the game's release, Nintendo teamed up with Kellogg's
and Nelsonic to develop and release a promotional Star Fox LCD
game watch to those who bought a box of Corn Flakes
and sent the order form to Kellogg's to receive the Star Fox game watch for free. In the game watch, there are four levels and the object is to fly towards the Attack Carrier and destroy it while dodging plasma balls and falling structures. The game watch also included a pair of earphones and a headphone jack for listening to the game without disturbing anyone nearby due to the game watch missing a volume control. Nelsonic later released it in stores in a different watch appearance.
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
due to a game of the same name and subsequent trademark issues in those regions, is the first game in the Star Fox series of video games
Console game
A console game is a form of interactive multimedia used for entertainment. The game consists of manipulable images generated by a video game console, and displayed on a television or similar audio-video system. The game itself is usually controlled and manipulated using a handheld device connected...
. It was released in the spring of 1993
1993 in video gaming
-Events:*March — In Sweden, the Swedish video game magazine Super PLAY starts. The original name is Super Power.*Midway Games embroiled in controversy for its game Mortal Kombat from 1992 when the game is launched for video game consoles in 1993....
for the SFC/SNES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
. It was the first three-dimensional
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
Nintendo game, and it included the Super FX
Super FX
The Super FX is a coprocessor chip used in select Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game cartridges. This custom-made RISC processor was typically programmed to act like a graphics accelerator chip that would draw polygons to a frame buffer in the RAM that sat adjacent to it...
chip, a coprocessor
Coprocessor
A coprocessor is a computer processor used to supplement the functions of the primary processor . Operations performed by the coprocessor may be floating point arithmetic, graphics, signal processing, string processing, or encryption. By offloading processor-intensive tasks from the main processor,...
used to accelerate graphics display, which became Nintendo's first game to use 3D polygon graphics. The complex display of three-dimensional models with polygons
Polygon (computer graphics)
Polygons are used in computer graphics to compose images that are three-dimensional in appearance. Usually triangular, polygons arise when an object's surface is modeled, vertices are selected, and the object is rendered in a wire frame model. This is quicker to display than a shaded model; thus...
was still new and uncommon in console video games, and the game was much-hyped as a result. Star Fox featured kemono
Kemono
is a genre of Japanese art and character design that prominently features anthropomorphic animal characters. It is used widely in visual arts, especially drawing and painting, and can be found in manga, anime, and video game works...
character designs by Nintendo artist Takaya Imamura
Takaya Imamura
is a Japanese artwork designer for Nintendo. He designed the characters from the F-Zero and Star Fox series of video games. He is credited for creating many of the characters, universe, and overall concept of those franchises. He is the original designer of Captain Falcon and Fox McCloud in Super...
, music composed by Hajime Hirasawa and obstacle course style gameplay. Star Fox was developed by Nintendo EAD
Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development
, commonly abbreviated as EAD, is the largest division inside Nintendo. It was preceded by the , a team of designers with an art background responsible for many different tasks, which Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka originally belonged to...
with assistance by Argonaut Software
Argonaut Games
Argonaut Games plc was a British video game developer. Founded as Argonaut Software by teenager Jez San in 1982 the company name is a play on his name and the movie title Jason and the Argonauts. It had its head offices in Edgware, London....
, and was published by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
.
The storyline involves Fox McCloud
Fox McCloud
is an anthropomorphic video game character and the main protagonist of the Star Fox series. He was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and designed by Takaya Imamura. As his name implies, he is a red fox and the main player character of the series....
and the rest of the Star Fox team, who must defend their homeworld of Corneria against the attacking forces of Andross.
The game was very successful and started another one of Nintendo's major franchises, with an unreleased sequel, four sequels, and one remake released to this date.
Gameplay
Star Fox is a rail shooter in a third-person and first-person 3D3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
perspective. The player must navigate Fox's spacecraft, an Arwing, through environments while various enemies (spaceships, robots, creatures, etc.) attack him. Along the way various power-up
Power-up
In computer and video games, power-ups are objects that instantly benefit or add extra abilities to the game character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a benefit and can be used at a time chosen by the player...
s are placed in the stage to help the player. The player receives a score on each level based on how many enemies destroyed and how well the player has defended his/her teammates. At the end of each level
Level (computer and video games)
A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...
there is a boss
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
that the player must defeat before progressing to the next level.
Star Fox possesses certain unique elements that differentiate it from the standard scrolling shooter. Most scrolling shooters force the player forward at a constant speed. While this is also true for Star Fox, there are thrusters and retro-rockets on the Arwing that allow the player to temporarily speed up and slow down. These can be used to maneuver around enemy attacks and other obstacles.
The damage model is another difference. In the standard scrolling shooter, touching almost any object results in the immediate destruction of the player's craft. In Star Fox, the Arwing has a certain amount of shield energy that represents how much damage can be absorbed before the destruction of the craft. The game also has a small degree of locational damage detection: If the ship's wings clip against obstacles or the ground too much, they will break off, adversely affecting the craft's handling and the ability to upgrade weapons.
The difficulty in Star Fox is also set in a unique way. Most scrolling shooters, if they have selectable difficulty level
Difficulty level
In general usage, difficulty level refers to the relative difficulty of completing a task or objective.In computer and video games, the term specifically delineates the ease or difficulty with which an average user may complete a game or a part of a game. Arcade games as well as many early console...
s, allow the player to set the difficulty by choosing an option (e.g. "Easy," "Normal," and "Hard") at the beginning of the game. This option usually affects variables such as the number of lives a player has, the number of enemies encountered in the game, the speed of enemies, and so on. In contrast, at the beginning of Star Fox, the player is given a choice of one of three routes to take through the Lylat system. Each of these routes corresponds with a certain level of difficulty, but each route has its own series of unique levels. This gives Star Fox somewhat more replay value
Replay value
Replay value or replayability is a term found in combination with video games, but it may be also used to describe other kinds of games, movies, music, or theater plays. In video games, the term replay value is used to describe the entertainment value of playing a game more than once...
than other scrolling shooters that have a fixed series of levels each time the game is played. The three game paths all contain the planet Corneria (the first level) and Venom (the last level), but they each have different versions depending on the path taken.
In each level, the player is accompanied by three computer-controlled wingmen: Peppy Hare, Slippy Toad
Slippy Toad
is a player character in the Star Fox series of video games published by Nintendo, debuting in the 1993 game Star Fox.-Design and characteristics:...
, and Falco Lombardi
Falco Lombardi
Falco Lombardi, known as in Japan, is an anthropomorphic falcon or pheasant character from the Star Fox series of video games. He was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and designed by Takaya Imamura. Falco acts as the wingman and friend of title character Fox McCloud for the majority of the...
. At certain pre-scripted points, one will fly into the player's view, often either chasing an enemy or being chased and asking for assistance. Ignoring a wingman's pleas will result in him taking damage, or being shot down. They cannot be damaged by the player's own lasers (they will notice it nonetheless). Regardless of their survival, wingmen are not present during boss battles but rejoin the player before the next stage. A player may help his or her wingmen when they ask for assistance, as they will engage some of the enemies not destroyed by the player, and thereby make it easier to achieve maximum score in a given level. If a wingman gets shot down, he will not return for the rest of the game.
Setting and characters
This game takes place in the Lylat system, a stellar system in the fictional Star Fox universe that is inhabited by anthropomorphic animal races (i.e. foxes, frogs, dogs, birds, rabbits, apes, etc.). It contains the planets Corneria and Venom, representing good and evil, respectively. One can visit many other planets, asteroid belts, space stations, etc. while going through the course of the game. Which path the player chooses affects what places they will encounter.Storyline
A mad scientist named Doctor Andross, now known as Emperor Andross, has fled to Planet Venom after being banished from Planet Corneria, and has now declared war on Corneria and unleashed an enormous army to wreak havoc on the Lylat system. General Pepper, the commanding officer of Corneria's defense force, has decided to dispatch a prototype high-performance combat ship called "Arwing." However, lacking in time to train pilots for the new crafts, he summons the elite mercenary unit Star Fox to defeat Andross. Fox McCloudFox McCloud
is an anthropomorphic video game character and the main protagonist of the Star Fox series. He was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and designed by Takaya Imamura. As his name implies, he is a red fox and the main player character of the series....
is the leader of the team, and he is accompanied by his teammates Falco Lombardi
Falco Lombardi
Falco Lombardi, known as in Japan, is an anthropomorphic falcon or pheasant character from the Star Fox series of video games. He was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and designed by Takaya Imamura. Falco acts as the wingman and friend of title character Fox McCloud for the majority of the...
, Peppy Hare, and Slippy Toad
Slippy Toad
is a player character in the Star Fox series of video games published by Nintendo, debuting in the 1993 game Star Fox.-Design and characteristics:...
.
Development
The game company ArgonautArgonaut Games
Argonaut Games plc was a British video game developer. Founded as Argonaut Software by teenager Jez San in 1982 the company name is a play on his name and the movie title Jason and the Argonauts. It had its head offices in Edgware, London....
worked closely with Nintendo during the early years of the NES and SNES. They developed a prototype on the NES, initially codenamed "NesGlider", which was inspired by their earlier 8-bit game Starglider
Starglider
Starglider is a 3D video game released in 1986 by Rainbird. It was developed by Argonaut Software, led by programmer Jez San. The game was inspired by Jez San's love of the 1983 Atari coin-op Star Wars, It was a fast-moving, first-person combat flight simulator, rendered with colourful wireframe...
, and then ported this prototype to the SNES. Programmer Jez San
Jez San
Jeremy 'Jez' San OBE is an English game programmer and entrepreneur who founded Argonaut Software as a teenager in the 1980s. He is also a writer and helped design the Super FX chip for the Super NES.-Biography:...
told Nintendo that this was as good as it could get unless they were allowed to design custom hardware to make the SNES better at 3D. Nintendo assented to this, and San hired chip designers to make the Super FX
Super FX
The Super FX is a coprocessor chip used in select Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game cartridges. This custom-made RISC processor was typically programmed to act like a graphics accelerator chip that would draw polygons to a frame buffer in the RAM that sat adjacent to it...
chip, the first 3D graphics accelerator in a consumer product. The SuperFX was so much more powerful than the SNES's standard processor that they joked that the SNES was just a box to hold the chip.
By late 1992, the main game design was done by Shigeru Miyamoto
Shigeru Miyamoto
is a Japanese video game designer and producer. Miyamoto was born and raised in Kyoto Prefecture; the natural surroundings of Kyoto inspired much of Miyamoto's later work....
and Katsuya Eguchi
Katsuya Eguchi
is a game designer and manager at Nintendo EAD. He was born in 1965 in Tokyo, Japan and grew up in the Chiba Prefecture. He began work at Nintendo in 1986 and spent some time doing promotional artwork before starting as a designer on Super Mario Bros. 3. He first served as director for Star Fox in...
. Characters were designed by Takaya Imamura
Takaya Imamura
is a Japanese artwork designer for Nintendo. He designed the characters from the F-Zero and Star Fox series of video games. He is credited for creating many of the characters, universe, and overall concept of those franchises. He is the original designer of Captain Falcon and Fox McCloud in Super...
, and music was composed by Hajime Hirasawa.
Argonaut brought the idea of using space ships, and Nintendo suggested the "arcade-style shooting" element of the game. Yoichi Yamada, a level designer for many Nintendo games, laid out and edited the Star Fox maps.
Miyamoto stated that he wanted the Star Fox series to star animal characters since he was not interested in making a series with conventional science fiction stories with robots, monsters, and superheroes. In addition Miyamoto himself had been drawing animal characters for a long period, so he asked Takaya Imamura
Takaya Imamura
is a Japanese artwork designer for Nintendo. He designed the characters from the F-Zero and Star Fox series of video games. He is credited for creating many of the characters, universe, and overall concept of those franchises. He is the original designer of Captain Falcon and Fox McCloud in Super...
to make a game series with animal characters. Miyamoto decided to use a fox as a main characters since it reminded him of Fushimi Inari Taisha, about a fifteen minute walk from the Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
corporate headquarters. Miyamoto explained that he had always planned to use the English word "fox" instead of the Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
word .
Imamura used Japanese folklore
Japanese folklore
The folklore of Japan is heavily influenced by both Shinto and Buddhism, the two primary religions in the country. It often involves humorous or bizarre characters and situations and also includes an assortment of supernatural beings, such as bodhisattva, kami , yōkai , yūrei ,...
as an inspiration to add a pheasant and a hare as two other protagonists. Imamura populated the Cornerian army with dogs and the enemy army with monkeys, and made Pepper a dog and Andross a monkey, since there is a Japanese expression about fighting like dogs and monkeys. Imamura added a toad; the inspiration came from a staff member of EADS
EADS
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company N.V. is a global pan-European aerospace and defence corporation and a leading defence and military contractor worldwide...
who used a toad as his personal mascot. Miyamoto created several puppets and photographed them to use as artwork for the cover of the Star Fox game; Miyamoto was a fan of English puppet dramas, such as Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds (TV series)
Thunderbirds is a British mid-1960s science fiction television show devised by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and made by AP Films using a form of marionette puppetry dubbed "Supermarionation"...
, so he wanted the game cover to feature puppets.
Variant names
While the game was released in Japan and North America as Star Fox, in Europe the title was changed to "Starwing".Easter eggs
The game features two well-known Easter eggsEaster egg (media)
Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
, which take the player to secret levels. One such level, "The Awesome Black Hole", can be accessed from the Asteroid Field on Course 1. The Black Hole, which General Pepper states is the place where Fox's father disappeared, consists of a "warped space" that loops over and over again. A spinning ring also appears periodically, allowing the player to escape. The player is then taken to a level (depending on which ring they fly through), and continues from that level's path.
The other Easter egg (found in the Asteroid Field on Course 3) takes the player "Out of This Dimension". The player flies through a surreal area of space and shoots down paper plane
Paper plane
A paper plane, paper aeroplane , paper airplane , paper glider, paper dart or dart is a toy aircraft, usually a glider made out of paper or paperboard; the practice of constructing paper planes is sometimes referred to as aerogami , after origami, the Japanese art of paper folding.-History:The...
s for a time. The "boss" of this level is a large slot machine with no life meter, and the boss's theme music includes excerpts from the Japanese folk song "Yuki
Yuki
Yuki, Yuuki, Yuhki or Yūki are romanizations of various Japanese given names or words...
", the chorus from "When the Saints Go Marching In
When the Saints Go Marching In
"When the Saints Go Marching In", often referred to as "The Saints", is an American gospel hymn that has taken on certain aspects of folk music. The precise origins of the song are not known. Though it originated as a spiritual, today people are more likely to hear it played by a jazz band...
", and "Lightly Row
American folk music
American folk music is a musical term that encompasses numerous genres, many of which are known as traditional music or roots music. Roots music is a broad category of music including bluegrass, country music, gospel, old time music, jug bands, Appalachian folk, blues, Cajun and Native American...
". Shooting parts of the machine (including its arm) cause its rollers to spin and then stop in various configurations. Configurations including an image of Andross cause it to flip over and launch a series of missiles and plasma-balls at the player, and one configuration launches large coins at the player instead (each one acts as a shield recharge).
Getting the winning configuration (three "7"s) "defeats" the slot machine, causing it to explode. The game's ending credits then appear on the screen, followed by the words "THE END" appearing with each letter turned or flipped in a random direction. Shooting a letter causes it to fly away momentarily and then come back in a different direction. The letter turns yellow when it is correctly aligned. If a letter is correct, an enemy may fly towards the letters, changing their position, thus reseting the sequence. When all letters are aligned correctly, the music changes briefly and then goes back to the slot-machine boss music, and the letters re-jumble themselves. Typically, it is easier just to reset the game console or lose all of one's lives and start over from the start. If the player allows their ship to be destroyed, they start over at the beginning of the level and repeat the whole sequence.
Although not an easter egg, the real voices (as opposed to the captioned language) of the Star Fox team can be heard at the end, and when a boss enemy enters the level (near the end).
In some space levels, destroying an enemy ship will sometimes display an enemy pilot ejecting. If the player intercepts the ejected pilot with their ship it earns them a continue.
Competition version
A promotional cartridge, Super Star Fox Weekend (Official Competition) (titled Star Wing: Official Competition (Official Competition) in Europe), was released as part of the game's marketing campaign in Europe and the US. It featured time-limited single player mode on modified stages, as well as an exclusive bonus level. According to IGN, "The altered start-up screen displays 'Official Competition Cartridge'. Depending on the points scored, players could win a t-shirt, a jacket, or even trips to international destinations. An estimated 2000 cartridges were made."In the United States, the Super Star Fox Weekend was played by tens of thousands of competitors in malls across the country. Stores such as KB Toys
KB Toys
K·B Toys was a chain of mall-based retail toy stores in the United States. It was founded in 1922 by the Kaufman brothers. K·B operated 605 stores in 44 U.S. states, Puerto Rico as well as Guam. It was privately held in Pittsfield, Massachusetts...
and Suncoast Video
Suncoast Motion Picture Company
Suncoast Motion Picture Company is an American chain of retail stores specializing in recorded videos, particularly movies but also carried television series. The stores have sold them in the VHS, Laser Disk, DVD, HD, and Blu-ray formats. The stores also carry various other items, including...
(usually any store that carried Super Nintendo games participated) hosted the event. After the competition, a limited number of the Super Weekend cartridges were sold through the Nintendo Power magazine.
In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the competition was known as the Star Wing Challenge and was held in gaming shops across the country on May 29, 1993.
Nintendo Netherlands also held the Starwing competition at various game selling stores in early 1993. The winner of each day won a large Starwing poster. Starwing competition was also used during the Dutch Nintendo Championship in October 1993-1996.
Reception and legacy
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Allgame Allgame Allgame is a commercial database of information about arcade games, video games and console manufacturers.Allgame is owned by All Media Guide, along with Allmusic and Allmovie.... |
|
| EGM Electronic Gaming Monthly Electronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis... |
8.75 of 10 |
| Famitsu Famitsu is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD... |
34 of 40 |
| Nintendo Power Nintendo Power Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was... |
4.125 of 5 |
| Compilations of multiple reviews | |
| Game Rankings Game Rankings GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive... |
86 of 100 (based on 5 reviews) |
At the time of the game's release, the use of filled, three-dimensional
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
polygons
Polygon (computer graphics)
Polygons are used in computer graphics to compose images that are three-dimensional in appearance. Usually triangular, polygons arise when an object's surface is modeled, vertices are selected, and the object is rendered in a wire frame model. This is quicker to display than a shaded model; thus...
in a console game was very unusual, beyond a handful of earlier titles, including Sega Genesis ports of Atari
Atari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
's arcade driving game, Hard Drivin'
Hard Drivin'
Hard Drivin is an arcade game that invites players to test drive a high-powered sports car on stunt and speed courses. The game featured the first 3D polygon driving environment via a simulator cabinet, rendered with a custom architecture...
, and their helicopter shooter, Steel Talons
Steel Talons
Steel Talons was originally an arcade video game by Atari Games, and was released for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, the Atari Lynx handheld, Atari ST, Atari Falcon and SNES...
.
Star Fox was awarded Best Shooter of 1993 by Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...
. The game took the #115 spot on EGM
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
s Top 200 Games list. It also received a 34 out of 40 from Famitsu
Famitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
magazine, and a 4.125 out of 5 from Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
Magazine. Next Gen Magazine pointed out Star Fox as helping pioneer the use of 3-D video game graphics. The game has been used as an example of how, even with a fully polygon design, the game was still very similar to older games in that there was a set path to travel through each level.
Other games in the series
Due to its success, Star Fox has become a Nintendo franchise, with five more games and numerous appearances by its characters in other Nintendo games such as Super Smash Bros. series. Originally, a sequel titled Star Fox 2Star Fox 2
was an unreleased video game for the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It was to be the second of the Star Fox series and the direct sequel to Star Fox. Both Argonaut Games and Nintendo developed the game, with Nintendo planning to publish it. The Japanese version was completely...
was in the works for the Super Nintendo, but it was never released, although according to programmer Dylan Cuthbert, the game was actually completely finished. Although Star Fox 2 was never released, some of the ideas and gameplay were salvaged for 1997
1997 in video gaming
-Events:*October 4 — Gunpei Yokoi dies after a double car accident.*November – Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association launched.*3rd annual E3...
's Star Fox 64
Star Fox 64
, known in Australia and Europe as Lylat Wars, is a scrolling shooter video game for the Nintendo 64 video game console. It is a reboot of the original Star Fox, and the only game in the Star Fox series to be released on the Nintendo 64....
(released throughout Europe under the title Lylat Wars) for Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...
. Eventually, a handful of ROM dumps of Star Fox 2 at various stages of its development were leaked onto the internet, and a fan-made translation of Star Fox 2 from Japanese to English was released in the form of a patch that could be applied to one of the ROM dumps.
In 2002
2002 in video gaming
The year 2002 in video gaming saw the release of many games to sixth-generation video game consoles, predominately, the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.-Events:...
Star Fox made the jump to the Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
, with Rare's Star Fox Adventures
Star Fox Adventures
Star Fox Adventures is an action-adventure video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube as part of the Star Fox series. It was released in North America on 23 September 2002, Japan on 27 September 2002, Australia on 15 November 2002 and Europe on 22 November 2002...
. Adventures was the first Star Fox game to incorporate an action RPG element, where the player took control of Fox McCloud
Fox McCloud
is an anthropomorphic video game character and the main protagonist of the Star Fox series. He was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and designed by Takaya Imamura. As his name implies, he is a red fox and the main player character of the series....
on the world of Sauria which was also known as Dinosaur Planet. In 2005
2005 in video gaming
-Events:*March 6 — The television show 60 Minutes tackles issues within video game controversy. This segment of 60 Minutes has been criticized by video game players for encouraging video game censorship....
Star Fox: Assault
Star Fox: Assault
Star Fox: Assault is a third-person shooter video game for the Nintendo GameCube developed by Namco and published by Nintendo. It is the fourth released title in the Star Fox series. It was released on February 14, 2005 in North America, on February 24, 2005 in Japan, on April 29, 2005 in Europe,...
was released for the GameCube, this time developed by Namco
Namco
is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...
. It incorporates a third-person shooter
Third-person shooter
Third-person shooter is a genre of 3D action games in which the player character is visible on-screen, and the gameplay consists primarily of shooting.-Definition:...
aspect into the game, but also makes a return to its roots as a shooter that made the first two games of the series so popular. Star Fox Command
Star Fox Command
is the fifth game in Nintendo's Star Fox series which was published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS in 2006 and 2007. Released in Japan on August 3, 2006 and in North America on August 28, 2006, it was first announced at the E3 2005 conference, under the name Star Fox DS...
, released for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
in 2006
2006 in video gaming
-Events:* January 26, 2006 -- Nintendo announces its newly redesigned handheld, the Nintendo DS Lite. The new model is lighter, smaller, has configurable brightness and features an improved user interface.* January 26, 2006 -- Konami Corp...
, marks the franchise's first game on a portable system, as well as its first foray into online gaming. It used many features from the unreleased Star Fox 2
Star Fox 2
was an unreleased video game for the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It was to be the second of the Star Fox series and the direct sequel to Star Fox. Both Argonaut Games and Nintendo developed the game, with Nintendo planning to publish it. The Japanese version was completely...
.
Although not a sequel, there is a Star Fox micro-game in WarioWare: Smooth Moves
WarioWare: Smooth Moves
WarioWare: Smooth Moves, known in Japan as , is a party video game developed by Nintendo SPD and Intelligent Systems. The game was published by Nintendo for its Wii video game system in Japan in December 2006, and in Europe, North America, and Australia in January 2007...
for the Wii complete with three stages where the player pilots the Arwing with his or her Wii Remote
Wii Remote
The , also known as the Wiimote, is the primary controller for Nintendo's Wii console. A main feature of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing through the use of accelerometer and...
through Corneria, Sector X, and Titania. At the end of each level, the player fights R.O.B.
R.O.B.
R.O.B. , released in Japan as the , is an accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in July 1985 in Japan and later that year in North America. It had a short product lifespan, with support for only two games which comprised the "Robot Series"; Gyromite and Stack-Up. R.O.B...
, who is armed with a large NES Zapper
NES Zapper
The NES Zapper, also known as the Beam Gun in Japan, is an electronic light gun accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Japanese Famicom. It was released in Japan for the Famicom on and alongside the launch of the NES in North America in October 1985...
. In addition, the game's sound test features full versions of the stage themes as well as the boss theme.
During the game's release, Nintendo teamed up with Kellogg's
Kellogg Company
Kellogg Company , is a producer of cereal and convenience foods, including cookies, crackers, toaster pastries, cereal bars, fruit-flavored snacks, frozen waffles, and vegetarian foods...
and Nelsonic to develop and release a promotional Star Fox LCD
Liquid crystal display
A liquid crystal display is a flat panel display, electronic visual display, or video display that uses the light modulating properties of liquid crystals . LCs do not emit light directly....
game watch to those who bought a box of Corn Flakes
Corn flakes
Corn flakes are a popular breakfast cereal originally manufactured by Kellogg's through the treatment of maize. A patent for the product was filed on May 31, 1895, and issued on April 14, 1896.-History:...
and sent the order form to Kellogg's to receive the Star Fox game watch for free. In the game watch, there are four levels and the object is to fly towards the Attack Carrier and destroy it while dodging plasma balls and falling structures. The game watch also included a pair of earphones and a headphone jack for listening to the game without disturbing anyone nearby due to the game watch missing a volume control. Nelsonic later released it in stores in a different watch appearance.
External links
- Official Nintendo Japan Star Fox site
- Star Fox SNES review from Mean Machines ArchiveMean MachinesMean Machines was a market-leading multi-format gaming magazine released between 1990 and 1992 in the United Kingdom. Its style was popular with gamers of the time for its irreverent humor, anarchic editorial tone and style, and its sometimes outrageously outspoken reviews.- Origins :In the late...