PixlBit

Number 12

I owe alot to Super Smash Bros. Like I've mentioned before, Mario and Pokemon was all I mostly played as a kid. It wasn't till SSB that I was introduced to other Nintendo franchises, though it wasn't till a few years later that I got to try them. I'm not sure if it was a year later or 2 that I got to try Smash, that I was introduced to Starfox 64 courtesy of my cousin.

I remember going to his house, back then he lived in the house next to mine so we would hang out alot. I went over to his house to play some games. Then I saw a cartridge with a name and ship I recognized. The game was Starfox 64. Starfox 64 was a new game for me, I told my cousin if we could play it, and he said sure. We took turns playing it, if I lost a life, I handed him the controller and vice-versa. My cousin always told me that he could never get past the first 2 levels for some reason.

I was not that good at it at first, but I got the hang of it and further into the game as I played. My cousin eventually got bored and said he would just watch me play it. I got past the first level and I was happy, though my cousin wasn't impressed. I was in awe when I first made it to the asteroid field for the first time. I wondered how I was going to make it through all those floating rocks. I eventually made it past that stage and I was going to tell my cousin, but he fell asleep on the floor. I made it to the next planet and I fought against Star Wolf for the first time. I remember losing the remainder of my lives here. I was going to ask my cousin if I could take the game home and borrow it, problem was that he was asleep. My cousin's oldest brother  came in the room to grab something but he tripped and fell because my cousin was on the ground. That woke him and I asked, he said sure in exchange for him to borrow a game of mine.

I got further and further into the game for the days I had it. I gave it back a few days later and I knew I had to have my own copy. I couldn't find a new copy, so I had to make due and got a used copy of the game. I learned all the ins and outs of it, and my brother even got into it. I liked this game and thought that it couldn't get any better.

              

However in 2011, Nintendo announced that it was remaking Starfox 64 for the 3DS. I was excited for that but decided to pass on it till christmas. I got it on christmas and I was pretty stunned and how great the game looked and felt. Nintendo was true to their word and everything was remade. The graphics were remade, the music was remade, the controls, and even the characters voice actors reprised their respective roles for the game and they sound much more better. I never used the 3D effect that much but I thought it was neat.

They kept everything intact. But let's talk about the game, but we'll be looking at the 3DS version of the game. Like in the original version of the game, you take control of Starfox leader Fox McCloud and pilot your ship called an Arwing through planets or areas of space to take down bad guys working for the evil Andross.

Game play in Starfox 64 works like this: You travel from planet to planet or areas in space called secetors in some missions on a fixed path, yeah this game is an on-rails shooter and you take down enenmies along the way. Your main primary source of attack is the lasers on your Arwing. You fire a single laser from the front of the ship, but you can find power-ups in the game to upgrade from Single Lasers to Twin Lasers that fires 2 lasers per button press, and you can upgrade them to the even more stronger Hyper Lasers. However, you have to be careful with collisions, because if your Arwing losses a wing, you will lose your laser upgrades. You can also hold the button you use to shoot the laser to charge up a charged shot, it then can be used a a homing attack that will follow an enemy. However, if you target an enemy that's within a group, all those enemies in that group will get destroyed resulting in a bigger score multiplyer.

You get points for every enemy you take down, and you can get more points if you used charge shots to take out groups of enemies. You also have a secondary weapon called the B-Bomb and it's a bomb that travels on a fixed path and it can take out groups of enemies. However, you can make it home in on enemies if you use the chrages laser trick, but instead of firing a laser, fire the bomb instead. Bombs are limited but you can find bombs throught some levels. Any upgrades gained in one level are also carried over to the next one.

Like I said, you travel on a fixed path but you can move your Arwing freely on screen in any dirction while you're moving forwards. The Arwing can also perform some aerodynamic moves while flying like the Barrel Roll with reflects enemy attacks, the Somersault which is useful if an enemy is tailing you, and the U-Turn which is only used on certain levels and boss fights. Not only do you have access to an Arwing, but on some missions you can use a tank called the Landmaster and a submarine called the Blue Marine in one mission.

Your team consists of Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare, Slippy Toad, and R.O.B. 64. Falco helps you find alternate paths in stages which at the end can lead to to new stages. Peppy Hare gives you advice like the ever popular Barrel Roll. Slippy is annoying, he's always getting in danger but at least he can show you the healthbar of a boss enemy. ROB sends you supplies on missions from the Greatfox mothership. You also have to be careful because your team mates have a healthbar, and if it depletes all the way they are forced to retire back to the Greatfox. They will also be absent from the next mission till their Arwing is repaired so be careful.

         

Stages follow a linear path since it's an on-rails game and during these stages you have to take down as many enemies as you can. The stages take place in planets and areas of the Lylat System which is a system of planets like the Solar System. Paths you take are divided into easy, at the bottom, medium at the middle, and hard on the top. The stages also come packed with secrets like an alternate path. Like you might be taking the easy stages, ut a secret path may lead you to a medium or hard stage. One of the stges that blew me away was Solar, which is like the Sun of the Lylat System. You are basically flying near the surface of the sun, and you have to be careful not to fly too close to the surface because your Arwings shields are constantly draining through the whole stage. If you fly too close to the surface, your shields will drain faster. There are also secret warp zones in the game too that telelport you to other stages through some sort of hyperspace warp thing and you can even fly during the hyperspace segements too. They are pretty trippy but really neat. You can also earn medals in all the stages by achieving a stages top score. You don't know what the points you need, however if you're on a mission and if your points on that stage start flashing red, then you've achieved that score. You can unlock the expert mode if you get them all. Another neat feature they added is that you can quit and rsume the game later on. I'm not sure if you can do this on the N64 since I always wanted to go through it in one sitting. However you can earn a special medal if you beat the game if you don't save and quit.

In the 3DS version, there are 3 modes, 3DS Mode, N64 Mode, and Expert Mode. The 3DS mode is the same as the original game, but it uses the features of the 3DS like the gyroscope for moving the Arwing but you can still use analog control. I remember playing it in this mode and I always wondered why it moved in a certain direction by itself sometimes. I thought my 3DS was broken but I learned that it uses the gyroscope, so a bit of warning if you don't want to use motion controls. N64 mode is the original mode as you remembered with no gimmicks, but you can still use the 3D Effect. Expert Mode is the same as the the original expert mode on the N64. The game gets harder and you lose your wings faster on collisions.

It also features a multiplayer mode for 4 people. In the N64 version, it was pretty simple, you could go head to head with 2-4 people in Arwings, Landmasters, or on Foot, or you can take down waves of enemies and see who gets a highers score. I haven't dabbled in the mp for the 3DS version so can't comment on it. I will say that this game would of benefitted from an online multiplayer mode.

Final thoughts on the game, it's a great remake of an already great game. Everything you loved about Starfox 64 is right here on the 3DS remake. They redid the graphics on everything in the game so everything looks much better and less polygon-y, the music is redone which sounds great, it controls the same, I haven't played the N64 version in years so don't know if it controls better but I had no trouble on the 3DS version, except my goof up with the 3DS mode, the characters voices are redone, but it still doesn't change the fact that Slippy is still annoying, and it makes a neat use of the 3D Effect.

It is one of the best on-rail shooters out there, I've played light gun games on arcades before but this one is crealy my favorite. I don't know if there have been better on-rail shooter games since so I can't really say it's the best out there, but it is one of the best ones out there. It was a great game on the N64, made better on the 3DS. The only flaw I can think of is that people might not like it on a portable aince they might be used to playing it on a bigger screen. I don't mind because I can take this game anywhere and it's a pretty short game so that's a plus for me. I think this version might be out of print according to Amazon prices but I think it might be on the eShop.

                         

So, did you ever play StarFox 64 3D or its original version? How about any of the Starfox games/ Thanks for reading and later.