Topic: Star Fox 64

So I've never tried out a lot of Nintendo franchises before and the only ones I've tried out were Mario, Zelda, Kirby, Donkey kong and Pokemon and one of the reasons is that well I was into Mario a lot and that I'm not sure I would like shoot em up games so much. So I decided to get into other franchises as well such as Metroid, Fire Emblem and Star Fox and I can say that I love all of em. So this is the second Star Fox game I've played the first being the unfinished Star fox 2 and I thought I shouldn't have gotten it seeing that the game is short and all. But oh man! I was wrong! This game is amazing by a ton! So Awesome that I want to keep playing it whenever I feel like it.

I should point out that I played the 3DS remake but since its nearly identical, I might as well post it here.

So when I played this, the first thing that made me smile was the voice acting. Some say that its cheesy and to be honest, I kinda like it like that especially with some characters it fits well. Then I was impressed by this games unique functions like doing a somersault when enemies are behind or doing a boost or break when the objects come close to you. The most impressive thing ever is the barrel roll though I rarely use it but its still awesome regardless.

At first I didn't get the idea of how the game works. The game starts out with the star fox crew and that you basically shoot out bogeys and bosses. But then I realized that what makes this game different from other games is its uniqueness. Your crew flies with you and each one has its own ability which are very handy especially Slippy's. Then there was this all range mode which makes the game even more fun and better as you have to shoot the boss and you can't keep moving until the boss is defeated. Once that's done you then go to the next world.

But this is where it gets very interesting for you see depending on the mission, there's another route which leads you to a different level. This helps as in form of replay value where you get to different paths and get the best score as much as possible.

Speaking of replay value, this game beats the hell out of all shoot em ups in terms of replayability. Once you finish the main game, you then can get medals based on how many bogeys you beat and when you get all, you get an expert mode though I have only gotten one medal and still need to get all the other places as well but its still fun. Then there's two endings and while I admit that Star Fox 64 story isn't much, its still fine for what it is, nothing cliche and special as well.

This game kept me so addicted that I don't even know how long I've played in one sitting. The only issues I have with this one is that while I appreciate the replay value, it could've been better like have more storylines as such (I'm sure Star Fox Command implements this). And also, unless you get used to it, this game is difficult and that you would have to do the whole thing in one sitting but still nothing huge and all but still...could've been better done(I'm criticizing the n64 version since the 3ds and n64 versions are nearly identical.)

Would I recommend this game? Absolutely! I think this game has lots of fun even though in content wise, it isn't much. There's a lot to do like getting medals, getting the best score and hell even getting through all the levels. So now I begin to understand why a lot of gamers want this series so much!
And I can easily say that if I want a shooter game, I'd go Star Fox 64! One of my favorites!

Star Fox 64 is as close to perfect as a video game can ever come. Its the template of how all other 3D SHUMPS should aspire to be but very few ever actually reach.

Its a game of perfect length and of perfect replayability. Its got the action, the adventure, the secrets, the humor, and the serious subtext. Also perfect controls.

As for Star Fox 2. I think that game gets a bad wrap. Mostly from being unfinished (though its pretty darn 'finished' really). Its game structure is a lot different then Star Fox or Star Fox 64. And I can see how that's a turn off. But it retains the repeated replayability of the other two games. Every time you finish a round, you want to go back and do it again. Only at a harder difficulty, or trying to beat your best time.

Its also got one of the best 'thematic gameplay' of any game I've ever played. Where the game is designed around having a frantic and desperate early game (the surprise of Andross's invasion of the Lylat system) followed by the pressure starting to ease off when you start to make progress taking back planets and taking out carriers, until finally you and the rest of team Star Fox have reversed the tide and take the fight back to Andross. Its bloody great in pure game theming.

Unfortunately the game is heavily let down by uninspired planetary missions and claustrophobic interior sequences. Also Star Wolf battles are kind of annoying.

Graphically Star Fox is probably the peek of SNES capabilities (to the point where the framerate really suffers).

Every Star Fox fan owes it to themselves give Star Fox 2 a whirl at least once.

DAMM IS THIS GAME ADDICTING!!!!!!!!

Hey Artwark, I'm going to ask that reviews not be published to our forums, please. It's a long-standing request from the site directors that we not have users using our forums for reader reviews. That said, we haven't had a thread about this game in a while, so I'm changing the title so that it's just a general thread. Please don't do this again, though. Thanks in advance!

@theblackdragon oh sorry about that. So does that mean that even impressions count as well?

impressions are okay, talk about games all you like! it's formal five-to-seven paragraph 'this is my review' stuff that's not cool. :3

I'm actually tempted to replay this game. I mean, I've had the N64 set up for months now, I might as well...

i think if i set up my N64 to play it now, i'd probably cry because my all-medals save file would be gone. ;___;

Hmm it would be easier to just play the 3DS version but I kinda want to whip out my N64 now.

I have the SF64 cartridge and the voice acting is one reason this game is so classic. I've been thinking about getting this 3D remake for quite some time now and ...... my question is - Is the voice acting completely new? Or is it the exact same voices as the original? I just always assumed they were the same tracks.

I'd never really thought about it before but now I'm curious......

i see those same words together a lot
ive got an extra sega genesis anytime you need it

I love to play this game every once in a while, one of the few N64 games that never get boring!

Starfox 2 really gave us a lot of what went into Starfox 64, but as noted it did get a bad wrap. What's sad about it (other than finished and not released) is that the lame start menu causes added confusion. A lot are not so aware but the game is drastically different from normal (should be training or easy) to hard. On easy there you have just 2 worlds, 2 battle ships, starwolf and clowns, and a few random ai drones along with a boss fight and venom. Hard mode though really ups it (medium is in the middle.) THe battleships double, all planets to be done, star wolf again, more bosses, agressive ai drones/missiles, and the key hellish item - viruses. If those computer bugs hit your defense platform it'll unleash hell on you and your home planet and the only way to stop is to be Fox McAcfee Antivirus and go in there and vaccinate the platform and fast, and they can generate again on the map for more infection possibility fun if you don't intercept it. The game from easy to hard is night and day and hard (even medium) gives a very different picture of a complete title.

While Starfox64 doesn't have the platform and viruses, what it does have is the best properties of SF1 and SF2 with the multi-paths, the talk walker, the sub, indoor areas (other than just tunnels like SF1), star wolf, big bosses, and so on. I'd suggest to anyone to play both games.

@bezerker99

I don't own the n64 version so I'm not exactly sure if the voice acting is different due to the fact that the dialog might have been compressed to a cart size for the n64. But I can say that some of the dialogues have changed compared to the original.

@tanookisuit: did i miss a joke or something? what's up with the virus talk?

I am not sure I am a fan of how convoluted some of the alternative routes are to do (Just looking back at what they were and even though I have played it quite a lot I think there is at least 2 or 3 levels I have never played).

@theblackdragon He's talking about the canceled (but mostly finished) SNES game Star Fox 2.

I checked out some comparison videos on YouTube and it appears that the original actors are reprisin' their voice acting roles - but they rerecorded everything as it sounds a bit different. This is pretty cool, I must say.

EDIT: According to IMDB - some actors from the original are back in the remake and some aren't. The remake has some new voice actors.....such as the person who does Peppy. Oh well, still cool.

In Starfox 2 on the harder difficulty the "virus talk" is that Nintendo added a virus into the game itself as a character that infests Cornerias space defense platform if you dont intercept it before it arrives, and if you dont you have to fly back there to kill it off to get control again or your own platform vaporizes the planet.

Years ago (like decade) I was in the game media and did a special story on starfox focusing on this lost gem and I've held onto a copy of it since, in the last couple years on a real cart. it's a true lost gem tha gets understated as overly short and easy garbage as most play it on normal which is anything but normal.