Star Fox 64
Encyclopedia
, 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.
It was also the first Nintendo 64 game to include support for the Rumble Pak
, with which it initially came bundled. The game received positive ratings from reviewers and critics who praised its smooth animation, detailed visuals, voice acting, and use of multiple gameplay paths.
was a fan of English puppet dramas, such as Thunderbirds
. Consequently, when developing the animation sequences for Star Fox 64, the staff had the characters' mouths pop open and closed like mouths of puppets. This reduced the amount of animation work put into the series.
, usually an Arwing. Most of the game takes place in "Corridor Mode," which forces Fox's vehicle down a fixed path straight forward through the environment. The player can maneuver somewhat around the path and slow their vehicle temporarily, but cannot truly stop or change direction.
Some stages of the game, including many bosses, take place in "All-Range Mode" by comparison (as does Multi-Player Mode). In this variant the player can move freely within the confines of a large arena to engage in combat.
In Corridor Mode, the player's vehicle can be maneuvered around the screen to dodge obstacles and shoot incoming enemies with laser
cannons, 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" (actually an aileron roll
in real life aviation terms). The Arwing and Landmaster
can also charge up their laser cannons to unleash a powerful lock-on laser. The Arwing can also perform one new maneuver in All-Range Mode: an Immelmann
up-and-over to change direction. In-game, this is called a U-turn.
Power-ups found in-game include supply and shield rings to refill your vehicle's health bar, ultra-rare 1-Ups (extra lives) and weapons. The Arwing and Landmaster can hold up to 9 Smart Bombs at a time. But only the Arwing can use laser upgrades to improve its base firepower up to three times. If the player dies or loses a wing, the player loses the laser upgrades as well. Another laser upgrade or a separate item, the wing repair, will give them their wings back and enable the player to collect laser upgrades again. All power-ups carry over to the next level of 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 forcing that wingman to retreat to the team's mothership, the Great Fox, for repairs. That wingman will remain unavailable on the Great Fox throughout the next level as well before finally returning. When flying alongside Fox, each wingman provides a different form of support. Slippy will scan the boss characters and display their life bar on-screen. Peppy will provide gameplay advice, and Falco Lombardi
will help open up routes to harder levels. At some points in the game, other minor characters, such as Fox's old friend Bill or Falco's friend Katt, appear to help the team in different situations.
Among Star Fox 64' s features is the in-game sampled voice speech that replaced the gibberish-like 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. This game relies much more heavily on dialogue than the original, and together with the cinematic sequences, they drive the story forward.
Instead of the fixed series of levels of the original (determined by the difficulty level
chosen), many of the levels branch out to two and on one occasion three different levels, with the upper branch requiring the player to accomplish a certain task like destroy a certain boss. 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. There are a total of 25 different routes the player can take through the game. Each path eventually brings the Star Fox team into contact with Star Wolf.
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. 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 single direct collision with solid obstacles will destroy one of the Arwing's wings and rid the player of any laser upgrades), and Fox wears sunglasses
similar to those of his father, James McCloud. Acquiring all medals on Expert Mode unlocks a new title screen for the game; a medal on Venom in Expert Mode allows players to use the Star Fox team as foot soldiers in multiplayer mode.
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 not shot down wins, and a time trial to destroy enemy fighters.
A tank
-like vehicle called the Landmaster is used for two levels in the game, Macbeth and Titania. Like the Arwing, the Landmaster can boost and brake but it cannot somersault. It can perform a barrel roll, but since it lacks an Arwing's force field, the Landmaster's barrel roll does not reflect enemy fire. Instead, the barrel roll is used to quickly move across the screen. The Landmaster can also hover a short while.
The Blue Marine, a submarine
designed by Slippy Toad
, is available solely on the water planet Aquas. The Blue Marine can upgrade its twin lasers, but it cannot make use of Smart Bombs. It makes up for this with an unlimited supply of torpedo
es which not only damage enemies but also produce bright burst of light, allowing the player to see in the ocean depths. The torpedoes can also lock-on to enemies just as the charged up lasers can in the other vehicles. The submersible also has a shot-deflecting barrel roll in addition to boost and brake capabilities.
, a red fox
and leader of the Star Fox team, who must save the Lylat System after his father, James, did years before the start of the game. The main antagonist of the game is Andross, a scientist from Corneria who was exiled to Venom after he nearly destroyed the planet. The Star Fox team are a group of mercenaries and they consists of Peppy Hare, a rabbit and member of the original Star Fox team; Slippy Toad, a frog and the mechanical and energetic expert of the team; and Falco Lombardi, a falcon and former gang member. Helping the Star Fox team on their quest to defeat Andross are General Pepper, a dog and leader of a militia force in Corneria; Bill Grey, a bulldog friend of Fox and commander of the Bulldog and Husky units; Katt, friend of Falco and former gang member of the same gang as Falco; and ROB 64 (known as NUS64 in the Japanese language version), a robot piloting the Great Fox, Star Fox's headquarters, who gives them support along their quest. Andross' henchmen includes the Star Wolf mercenary team, consisting of Wolf O'Donnell, Leon Powalski, Pigma Dengar (member of the original starfox with James McCloud) and Andrew Oikonny, Andross's nephew.
A few years following James' demise, Andross launches an attack across the Lylat System. Realizing that his army cannot stop Andross, Pepper summons the Star Fox team, now consisting of Fox, Peppy, Falco Lombardi
and Slippy Toad
. While traveling through several planets, including the Lylat System's star, Solar, and the asteroid field Meteo, the team battles with several of Andross' henchmen, including the rival mercenaries, Star Wolf.
The team eventually invades Venom, where Fox defeats Andross, only to find that it is a false, robotic version of himself. He destroys it and returns to Corneria, leaving Andross in Venom. Fox eventually decides to confront Andross one more time, along with Star Wolf. Fox defeats Andross, who reveals his true form, a floating brain with two floating eyes. After defeating the brain, James appears and shows Fox the way out. When he narrowly escapes, they return to Corneria for a victory celebration. When offered membership into the Cornerian Army, Fox declines on behalf of his team; saying they prefer to do things their own way. The game ends with the Great Fox and the Star Fox team flying off in their Arwings into the skies while doing barrel rolls.
After the credits, General Pepper receives a bill from Star Fox which presents the number of enemies killed and multiplies it by 64, resulting in the amount of money due. If the price is below $70,000 (1093 or fewer enemies killed) he will say, "This is one steep bill....but it's worth it." If the price is over $70,000, he says, in a rather shocked tone, "What?!" At this point, the player presses a button to stamp the bill, thus bringing the player back to the main menu.
was developed for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
. It came very close to completion and was even featured in Nintendo Power (among other gaming magazines), but ultimately series creator Shigeru Miyamoto wanted to move the title to the much more powerful Nintendo 64 system. Realizing quickly how much of an improvement he could make over the two Super NES games, Miyamoto cancelled Star Fox 2 in favor of a remake combining elements of the previous games. In Miyamoto's own words: "All-Range Mode, Multi-Player Mode and the Star Wolf scenario all came from Star Fox 2. I'd say 60% of Star Fox 64 comes from the original game, 30% from SF 2, and 10% is entirely new."
subscribers received a promotional video prior to Star Fox 64s release (the same tactic was used to promote Donkey Kong Country
as well as Diddy Kong Racing
, Banjo-Kazooie
, and Hey You, Pikachu!
for the N64) 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.
. 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
. Sales were considerably less in Japan, where it sold 75,595 copies during the first week of sale. The game also took the #73 spot in Nintendo Power
's "Top 200 Nintendo Games Ever" GameSpot declared Star Fox 64 "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. 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.
The GameSpot review of the Wii Virtual Console version of the game paints a similar picture. It earns a (8.3/10), praising for simple, enjoyable shooting gameplay, lots of voice-acting, nice to look at despite its graphic age and the added replay value in finding hidden paths, but found the lack of rumble support "alarming", especially since it was the first game to support the 64's Rumble Pak.
Star Fox 64 is listed as the 45th greatest game of all time by Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition
in 2009.
, entitled Star Fox 64 3D. There was a demo tested the same day at Nintendo E3 2010. The demonstration had controls and character dialogue displayed on the touch screen. Nintendo added a new kind of control that will make use of Nintendo 3DS's gyroscope to control Arwing in the space. It will support multiplayer up to four players via 3DS Download Play; however, the game does not have an online multiplayer mode. In the multiplayer mode, you fly an arwing.
The players will be able to use the inner camera to capture the expression of the player during multiplayer mode, just like the functionality used in Ridge Racer 3D
. It was released on July 14, 2011 in Japan, September 9, 2011 in both Europe and North America, and September 15, 2011 in Australia.
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...
video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
. It is a reboot of the original Star Fox
Star Fox (video game)
, 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...
, and the only game in the Star Fox series to be released on the Nintendo 64.
It was also the first Nintendo 64 game to include support for the Rumble Pak
Rumble Pak
The is a removable device from Nintendo which provides force feedback while playing video games. Games that support the Rumble Pak cause it to vibrate in select situations, such as when firing a weapon or receiving damage, to immerse the player in the game. Versions of the Rumble Pak are available...
, with which it initially came bundled. The game received positive ratings from reviewers and critics who praised its smooth animation, detailed visuals, voice acting, and use of multiple gameplay paths.
Development
Shigeru MiyamotoShigeru 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....
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"...
. Consequently, when developing the animation sequences for Star Fox 64, the staff had the characters' mouths pop open and closed like mouths of puppets. This reduced the amount of animation work put into the series.
Gameplay
In Star Fox 64, the player controls one of the vehicles piloted by 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....
, usually an Arwing. Most of the game takes place in "Corridor Mode," which forces Fox's vehicle down a fixed path straight forward through the environment. The player can maneuver somewhat around the path and slow their vehicle temporarily, but cannot truly stop or change direction.
Some stages of the game, including many bosses, take place in "All-Range Mode" by comparison (as does Multi-Player Mode). In this variant the player can move freely within the confines of a large arena to engage in combat.
In Corridor Mode, the player's vehicle can be maneuvered around the screen to dodge obstacles and shoot incoming enemies with laser
Directed-energy weapon
A directed-energy weapon emits energy in an aimed direction without the means of a projectile. It transfers energy to a target for a desired effect. Intended effects may be non-lethal or lethal...
cannons, 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" (actually an aileron roll
Aileron roll
The Aileron Roll is an aerobatic maneuver in which the aircraft does a full 360° revolution about its longitudinal axis. When executed properly, there is no appreciable change in altitude and the aircraft exits the maneuver on the same heading as it entered...
in real life aviation terms). The Arwing and Landmaster
Landmaster
The Landmaster is a unique 12-wheeled amphibious articulated vehicle constructed by Dean Jeffries at Jeffries Automotive in Universal City, California for the 1977 science fiction film Damnation Alley. Despite the appearance of two Landmasters in the film , only one was built at a cost of $350,000...
can also charge up their laser cannons to unleash a powerful lock-on laser. The Arwing can also perform one new maneuver in All-Range Mode: an Immelmann
Immelmann turn
The Immelmann turn refers to two different aircraft maneuvers.-In aerobatics:In modern aerobatical parlance, an Immelmann turn is an aerobatic maneuver of little practical use in aerial combat, and is a different maneuver altogether from the original dogfighting tactic of World War I from which it...
up-and-over to change direction. In-game, this is called a U-turn.
Power-ups found in-game include supply and shield rings to refill your vehicle's health bar, ultra-rare 1-Ups (extra lives) and weapons. The Arwing and Landmaster can hold up to 9 Smart Bombs at a time. But only the Arwing can use laser upgrades to improve its base firepower up to three times. If the player dies or loses a wing, the player loses the laser upgrades as well. Another laser upgrade or a separate item, the wing repair, will give them their wings back and enable the player to collect laser upgrades again. All power-ups carry over to the next level of the game.
Returning from the original Star Fox
Star Fox (video game)
, 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...
game are wingmen
Wingman
A wingman is a pilot who supports another in a potentially dangerous flying environment. Wingman was originally a term referring to the plane flying beside and slightly behind the lead plane in an aircraft formation....
that fly beside the player in Arwings and are sometimes pursued into the player's field of view
Field of view
The field of view is the extent of the observable world that is seen at any given moment....
by enemies. The longer it takes the player to save the wingmen the more damage they will take, eventually forcing that wingman to retreat to the team's mothership, the Great Fox, for repairs. That wingman will remain unavailable on the Great Fox throughout the next level as well before finally returning. When flying alongside Fox, each wingman provides a different form of support. Slippy will scan the boss characters and display their life bar on-screen. Peppy will provide gameplay advice, 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...
will help open up routes to harder levels. At some points in the game, other minor characters, such as Fox's old friend Bill or Falco's friend Katt, appear to help the team in different situations.
Among Star Fox 64
PAL region
The PAL region is a television publication territory which covers most of Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Western Europe...
version, though the feature is not in the Japanese and American NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
versions. This game relies much more heavily on dialogue than the original, and together with the cinematic sequences, they drive the story forward.
Instead of the fixed series of levels of the original (determined by the 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...
chosen), many of the levels branch out to two and on one occasion three different levels, with the upper branch requiring the player to accomplish a certain task like destroy a certain boss. 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. There are a total of 25 different routes the player can take through the game. Each path eventually brings the Star Fox team into contact with Star Wolf.
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. 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
Multiplayer game
A multiplayer video game is one which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time. Unlike most other games, computer and video games are often single-player activities that put the player against preprogrammed challenges and/or AI-controlled opponents, which often...
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 single direct collision with solid obstacles will destroy one of the Arwing's wings and rid the player of any laser upgrades), and Fox wears sunglasses
Sunglasses
Sunglasses or sun glasses are a form of protective eyewear designed primarily to prevent bright sunlight and high-energy visible light from damaging or discomforting the eyes. They can sometimes also function as a visual aid, as variously termed spectacles or glasses exist, featuring lenses that...
similar to those of his father, James McCloud. Acquiring all medals on Expert Mode unlocks a new title screen for the game; a medal on Venom in Expert Mode allows players to use the Star Fox team as foot soldiers in multiplayer mode.
Multiplayer
Star Fox 64 features multiplayer support for up to four players simultaneously. At first users can only play using the Arwing spaceship, but by earning certain medals in Story Mode, players can unlock the Landmaster tank, as well as the option to 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 not shot down wins, and a time trial to destroy enemy fighters.
Vehicles
The Arwing is the primary craft used by the Star Fox team. The Arwing can use its boost meter to perform four special moves to avoid collisions and get the drop on pursuers: boost, brake, the U-turn, and the aforementioned somersault.A tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
-like vehicle called the Landmaster is used for two levels in the game, Macbeth and Titania. Like the Arwing, the Landmaster can boost and brake but it cannot somersault. It can perform a barrel roll, but since it lacks an Arwing's force field, the Landmaster's barrel roll does not reflect enemy fire. Instead, the barrel roll is used to quickly move across the screen. The Landmaster can also hover a short while.
The Blue Marine, a submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
designed by 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:...
, is available solely on the water planet Aquas. The Blue Marine can upgrade its twin lasers, but it cannot make use of Smart Bombs. It makes up for this with an unlimited supply of torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
es which not only damage enemies but also produce bright burst of light, allowing the player to see in the ocean depths. The torpedoes can also lock-on to enemies just as the charged up lasers can in the other vehicles. The submersible also has a shot-deflecting barrel roll in addition to boost and brake capabilities.
Characters
The protagonist of the story and the player character is 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....
, a red fox
Red Fox
The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...
and leader of the Star Fox team, who must save the Lylat System after his father, James, did years before the start of the game. The main antagonist of the game is Andross, a scientist from Corneria who was exiled to Venom after he nearly destroyed the planet. The Star Fox team are a group of mercenaries and they consists of Peppy Hare, a rabbit and member of the original Star Fox team; Slippy Toad, a frog and the mechanical and energetic expert of the team; and Falco Lombardi, a falcon and former gang member. Helping the Star Fox team on their quest to defeat Andross are General Pepper, a dog and leader of a militia force in Corneria; Bill Grey, a bulldog friend of Fox and commander of the Bulldog and Husky units; Katt, friend of Falco and former gang member of the same gang as Falco; and ROB 64 (known as NUS64 in the Japanese language version), a robot piloting the Great Fox, Star Fox's headquarters, who gives them support along their quest. Andross' henchmen includes the Star Wolf mercenary team, consisting of Wolf O'Donnell, Leon Powalski, Pigma Dengar (member of the original starfox with James McCloud) and Andrew Oikonny, Andross's nephew.
Story
Star Fox 64 is set on a group of planets in the Lylat System. Ingenious scientist Andross, a native of the fourth planet Corneria, is driven to madness and nearly destroys the planet using biological weapons. For Andross' treason, General Pepper exiles the scientist to the remote planet Venom. Five years after Andross' exile, Pepper discovers an unknown activity in Venom. Pepper hires the Star Fox team (consisting of James McCloud, Peppy Hare, and Pigma Dengar) to investigate. After arriving at Venom, Pigma betrays the team and causes James and Peppy to be captured by Andross. James eventually sacrifices himself, allowing Peppy to escape and tell James' son, Fox McCloud about his father's fate.A few years following James' demise, Andross launches an attack across the Lylat System. Realizing that his army cannot stop Andross, Pepper summons the Star Fox team, now consisting of Fox, Peppy, 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...
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:...
. While traveling through several planets, including the Lylat System's star, Solar, and the asteroid field Meteo, the team battles with several of Andross' henchmen, including the rival mercenaries, Star Wolf.
The team eventually invades Venom, where Fox defeats Andross, only to find that it is a false, robotic version of himself. He destroys it and returns to Corneria, leaving Andross in Venom. Fox eventually decides to confront Andross one more time, along with Star Wolf. Fox defeats Andross, who reveals his true form, a floating brain with two floating eyes. After defeating the brain, James appears and shows Fox the way out. When he narrowly escapes, they return to Corneria for a victory celebration. When offered membership into the Cornerian Army, Fox declines on behalf of his team; saying they prefer to do things their own way. The game ends with the Great Fox and the Star Fox team flying off in their Arwings into the skies while doing barrel rolls.
After the credits, General Pepper receives a bill from Star Fox which presents the number of enemies killed and multiplies it by 64, resulting in the amount of money due. If the price is below $70,000 (1093 or fewer enemies killed) he will say, "This is one steep bill....but it's worth it." If the price is over $70,000, he says, in a rather shocked tone, "What?!" At this point, the player presses a button to stamp the bill, thus bringing the player back to the main menu.
Star Fox 2
The original second game in the Star Fox seriesStar 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 developed for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
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 came very close to completion and was even featured in Nintendo Power (among other gaming magazines), but ultimately series creator Shigeru Miyamoto wanted to move the title to the much more powerful Nintendo 64 system. Realizing quickly how much of an improvement he could make over the two Super NES games, Miyamoto cancelled Star Fox 2 in favor of a remake combining elements of the previous games. In Miyamoto's own words: "All-Range Mode, Multi-Player Mode and the Star Wolf scenario all came from Star Fox 2. I'd say 60% of Star Fox 64 comes from the original game, 30% from SF 2, and 10% is entirely new."
Promotion
Nintendo PowerNintendo 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...
subscribers received a promotional video prior to Star Fox 64s release (the same tactic was used to promote Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Country is a side-scrolling platformer video game developed by Rare, featuring the character Donkey Kong. It was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994. Following an intense marketing campaign, the original SNES version sold over 8 million copies worldwide, making...
as well as Diddy Kong Racing
Diddy Kong Racing
Diddy Kong Racing is a 1997 racing game for the Nintendo 64 developed by Rareware. 800,000 copies were ordered in the two weeks before Christmas 1997, making it the fastest selling video game at the time, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. It is the first game to spin off from the...
, Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Kazooie is a platform and action-adventure video game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998...
, and Hey You, Pikachu!
Hey You, Pikachu!
Hey You, Pikachu!, known in Japan as , is a Nintendo 64 video game developed by Ambrella and published by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 1998, and in North America on November 6, 2000....
for the N64) 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
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
and Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
(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
Mario
is a fictional character in his video game series, created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation...
doll.
Reception
Star Fox 64 received critical acclaim and was one of the top-selling games of 1997, second only to Mario Kart 64Mario Kart 64
is a racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the second installment in the Mario Kart series. It was released in 1996 in Japan and in 1997 in North America and Europe. In January 2007, Mario Kart 64 was released on Nintendo's Virtual Console service for the Wii...
. 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
Super Mario 64
is a platform game, published by Nintendo and developed by its EAD division, for the Nintendo 64. Along with Pilotwings 64, it was one of the launch titles for the console. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, and later in North America, Europe, and Australia. Super Mario 64 has sold over...
. Sales were considerably less in Japan, where it sold 75,595 copies during the first week of sale. The game also took the #73 spot in 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...
's "Top 200 Nintendo Games Ever" GameSpot declared Star Fox 64 "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. 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.
The GameSpot review of the Wii Virtual Console version of the game paints a similar picture. It earns a (8.3/10), praising for simple, enjoyable shooting gameplay, lots of voice-acting, nice to look at despite its graphic age and the added replay value in finding hidden paths, but found the lack of rumble support "alarming", especially since it was the first game to support the 64's Rumble Pak.
Star Fox 64 is listed as the 45th greatest game of all time by Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition
Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition
Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition is a Guinness World Records book dedicated to video games. The first edition was released in February 2008 in association with the video games world records' tracking organization Twin Galaxies. The second edition was released in 2009...
in 2009.
3DS remake
At the 2010 E3 conference, Nintendo announced a remake of Star Fox 64 for the Nintendo 3DSNintendo 3DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo. The autostereoscopic device is able to project stereoscopic 3D effects without the use of 3D glasses or any additional accessories. The Nintendo 3DS features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS series software, including Nintendo DSi software...
, entitled Star Fox 64 3D. There was a demo tested the same day at Nintendo E3 2010. The demonstration had controls and character dialogue displayed on the touch screen. Nintendo added a new kind of control that will make use of Nintendo 3DS's gyroscope to control Arwing in the space. It will support multiplayer up to four players via 3DS Download Play; however, the game does not have an online multiplayer mode. In the multiplayer mode, you fly an arwing.
The players will be able to use the inner camera to capture the expression of the player during multiplayer mode, just like the functionality used in Ridge Racer 3D
Ridge Racer 3D
is a racing video game for the Nintendo 3DS which is developed by Namco Bandai Games. First images of the game were leaked in early November 2010, and Namco confirmed that the video game was going to be released later on in 2011...
. It was released on July 14, 2011 in Japan, September 9, 2011 in both Europe and North America, and September 15, 2011 in Australia.