Retronomicon 10.21.09: Star Fox

Posted by Lee Price on 10.21.2009

This week the Retronomicon drops the silenced pistols and takes to the skies once again. Only this time the helicopter is left behind in favor of something a little bit more nippy. Join 411's Lee Price as he takes a ride in a jet fighter with Star Fox.

Hey guys this is your favorite retro head that nobody sends questions too, Lee Price. I'm back to give you yet another dose of retro goodness to give you that little nostalgia kick. Last week I looked at Goldeneye 007, possibly the greatest first person shooter ever made, so I've stuck with Nintendo consoles (and strangely enough a title that would later fall under the Rare mantle as well), for this week's entry. In my little world, I'm still soldiering through Persona 4. I'm pretty sure I'm near to the end right now but I have this strange habit when I get near the end of a game that I enjoy in that I stop playing it as much. Perhaps I just don't want the game to end, or perhaps its a sign of poor pacing that I don't think it should end just yet. Then again I could be wrong completely so who knows right? As for my other gaming exploits, I've been having fun with Madballs in... Babo: Invasion, the review for which you can catch right here. Its a fun little game, especially for a little downloadable title. I've also been playing Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story so expect a review of that soon. But enough about me, because I know you're only here for one thing, so let's get to the...





Comments

OK looks like Goldeneye is popular (who knew?) so there's a fairly healthy looking comment section to deal with first.

It looks like McWaylon is back with an all too familiar comment;

BEST BOND GAME EVER!!!!! If you disagree you are a communist!!!!( On a side note, not the best bond movie ever, but that's another debate.)

Is there some irony here in that Bond actually gets help from former Communist Valentin during the course of the game. I dunno perhaps I'm searching too hard. For the record I did enjoy Goldeneye, though I must confess to never being a massive fan of James Bond movies in general.

Next up we have Brad;

Best shooting game ever by some length.

Oddjob use = Cheater
RP-690 = Sex in a gun
Klobb = Cost me 4 controllers

I'd say there are a couple more claims to that particular crown, though Goldeneye is obviously right up there. I am curious as to why the Klobb managed to cost you an astonishing 4 controllers though. It wasn't that bad a gun was it?

A little Goldeneye vs Perfect Dark debate came up next from amusing comments;

Yea, this game was great, but Perfect Dark took everything great about it and added on to it. Thus PD>G007

For me, though a great game and all, Perfect Dark always lacked a certain charm that Goldeneye possessed. I still love the game and actually played through it again not too long ago, but for me Goldeneye will always come out on top of that particular battle.

Armando Rodriguez is back again. My streak of covering games he loves is still alive and well;

I have played hundreds of games in my life, but none had such an impact as this game. When it came out, Sundays became Bond-days. I had a dozen friends at home taking turns at killing each other, with much trash-talking going on. This went on for months, as no matter what other games I got, Bond-days became a tradition. You forgot to mention the cheats you could unlock, like paintball mode and the one that made you invisible. Awesome stuff.

There was nothing like multi-player Goldeneye when the game was in its prime. I too have very fond memories of entire days being wasted just playing deathmatch in the Facility level. And you're right, I shouldn't have forgotten about the cheats. Paintball mode and DK mode were amongst my favorites there and the best thing about them was not all of them were made simply to make the game easier. Some were used for shits and giggles. Its something that is becoming rarer in today's games.

Next up are just a couple examples of what made Goldeneye so much fun;

G.S. - Man with the Golden Gun in COMPLEXX! GREAT TIMES!

massdestraction - Proximity Mines in the basement!

Just some examples of the fun to be had in the wonderful world of Goldeneye. Deathmatch mode was versatile enough that you could make up your own rules if the desire took you.

And finally a quick comment about the films from Guest#1615;

Poor releases before GoldenEye, my ass... The Living Daylights and Licence To Kill were 37503150913709513 times better... Still a great movie, though...

I'm not sure, but there may just be a touch of hyperbole in that thar comment. To each his own my friend, personally I'm not a massive fan of either film and wouldn't put them on the same level as Goldeneye.

OK enough of all this responding to people and stuff, lets get this show on the road. So strap on those rose-tinted specs as this week the Retronomicon takes a look at Star Fox.



The Background

The year was 1993 and Nintendo were causing a storm with their recently released SNES. The console was graced with much superior power than the Genesis, a point which Nintendo were keen to point out at every opportunity in an attempt to get one up on SEGA in the company's bitter console war. However Nintendo were lacking a game that truly showed off the capabilities of their new machine.

Super Mario World had shown a little of what the SNES was capable of with its rotating sprites and multi-layered backgrounds topping anything the Genesis had to offer at the time. However to the casual eye the graphics just looked a mite better and perhaps weren't a factor when somebody was choosing which of the big two consoles to get.

Nintendo changed all that with the release of Star Fox, which was the first fully 3D game to be released by Nintendo on the SNES and was also the first game to really show what the console was capable of, with a little help from the Super FX chip of course. The Super FX chip was a co-processor that was installed in the Star Fox cartridge to accelerate the graphics and boy did it show with Star Fox. The game was a revelation for its time.



The Game

Star Fox started life as little more than a tech demo produced by Argonaut Software to show off the capabilities of the Super FX chip. Nintendo were impressed by what they saw and eventually Star Fox the game bloomed from that small technical demo to become one of the most popular games released on the SNES.

The game itself takes place in the Lylat Galaxy, a name which would be used in the UK release of Star Fox 64 years later which became Lylat Wars for all my UK brethren. Said galaxy contains the planets Corneria and Venom, which are the physical representation of good and bad, yin and yang etc that Nintendo seemed rather keen on during this era, and indeed later on too as demonstrated by games like Twilight Princess.

So as you can guess the story is a pretty cut and dry, good vs evil tale. Andross, the game's main antagonist, has launched an attack from his base on Venom against all the planets in the Lylat Galaxy, specifically Corneria. However unfortunately for him the attack on Corneria just happens to be the trigger for Star Fox, a mercenary unit under the command of General Pepper, to get involved.

You play as Fox McCloud, top gun out of all of the Star Fox mercenaries, and it is your job to battle your way from Corneria through a number of star systems until you reach your eventual goal of Venom and the final battle with the evil Andross. Along the way you are aided by the rest of the members of your team, Falco, Peppy and Slippy, who offer advice and occasionally act as a nuisance to be saved by Fox.

So its not that much of a story, but then outside of RPG's few games in that era really stood out story wise as the game was always the primary concern. And what a game Star Fox was. The game is essentially a rail shooter when push comes to shove, though it does offer a little more control of your craft then that term implies. Your path through the various levels is pretty much pre-set, with the player's job being to navigate past any obstacles that get in the way as well as blast anything that is trying to blast you.

Your craft's speed can also be controlled, thanks to various thrusters and the like, and this increased control can often be important when trying to weave your way through the level at hand. This is particularly important in the more built up sections of the game where finding your way through gaps in buildings takes precision control and is vastly aided with the ability to cool the engines a bit and slow down as you come to a narrow gap.

The craft itself is a revelation when compared to other shooters of the time. The use of 3D graphics aided immensely in applying a touch of locational damage to the ship. If your wing happened to clip a building or structure it would occasionally fall off, leaving the player to compensate for the uneven weight distribution of the craft. This again shows the importance of being able to control the pace of your craft as the player can't really blame the loss of a wing on an unfair game speed if they are able to control the craft themselves.

The game also instituted a bit of a Fire Emblem type system with the wing-men mentioned before in that if one of them was shot down, they were gone for the rest of the game. At various points through the level one of your team mates will often appear in a dog fight with another craft and its up to you to aid them in getting the victory. Doing so does subject you to more of their annoying banter, but it also allows you to call up your wing-men to aid you when you need it, thus helping the player attain a higher score on the level. So they do have their uses, even if they help spawn gaming memes ("DO A BARREL ROLL").

The game itself takes massive inspiration from the Star Wars series of films too. This is obvious in the whole space ship setting, but the general feel, and especially sounds, of the game further this impression. Hell the destruction of the Atomic Core boss is right out of the Star Wars films and it could be argued that Star Fox was a better Star Wars flying game than any actual Star Wars licensed game, at least until the release of Rogue Squadron.



Star Fox also has tons of replay value, with three routes through the Lylat Galaxy to be explored. These routes essentially act as the game's difficulty setting too, as each route is harder than the last, but the fact that the game provides different levels for different difficulties is a great way to get the player to play the game more and become more adept, just so they can experience the harder levels of the game. Not many games of the era had that sort of replay value, nor did they provide the motivation to get better, as usually you could see all of a game's content on the easiest difficulty setting if you wanted to.

Of course the main selling point of Star Fox was the graphics. As mentioned before, the game utilized the Super FX chip to great effect en route to becoming to first fully 3D title to be released by Nintendo. Hell the chip was developed solely to accelerate Star Fox's graphics after Argonaut Software got permission to develop it by Nintendo when it became apparent that the SNES on its own couldn't handle the graphics that the company wanted. As is often the case with 3D graphics, the aging process has not been too kind on Star Fox. These days everything looks too blocky, hell the buildings are pretty much just blocks, and even the ships look like a mess of polygons.

Of course to compare the game's graphics to those that came after does Star Fox a massive disservice as, in 1993, pretty much nothing like this had ever been seen before on a home console. While not offering full exploration due to the on rails format, the graphics provided a flying sensation that you just didn't get in your regular scrolling shooter, or even in 2D games with a similar perspective, such as Afterburn.

The game, and specifically the dog fights, were made all the more exciting because of this. When you performed a barrel roll it felt like it actually had a disorientating effect and the various little flight tricks took some getting used to for those accustomed to the 2D visuals offered by other games. Star Fox heralded the arrival of a brand new directional plane, and while 3D would not become a serious force until the release of the next generation of consoles, Star Fox showed what could be possible with just a little bit more work.

The sound for the game was straight out of Star Wars. The various lasers and flashing lights were all accompanied by familiar sounding "pew" noises, and the whole feel of the game was lent a certain quality because of that. Hajime Hirasawa did a great job of capturing the feel of an intergalactic dog fight, if you could even imagine what that would be like, and the little touches, such as the version of "When The Saints Go Marching In" that is played during the slot machine secret boss, all add to the game in their own way. There are even little snippets of speech from your team mates and Andross himself.

One interesting little post script for the title was the name Star Fox. As mentioned previously the UK N64 release of Star Fox 64 suffered a name change to Lylat Wars, and the same was true of its predecessor. Star Fox became Starwing in the UK. There are a number of theories about why this happened, most credible among them being that Nintendo were wary of lawsuits, either from the developers of the Atari 2600 game Starfox, the C64 game Starfox or from a European company called Star Vox. It has never been revealed which, if any of these, was the reason for the name change, though it seems in recent years that whatever confusion existed has since been cleared up as Star Fox games are now Star Fox games in the UK too.

All in all though, Star Fox stands first and foremost as a remarkable technical achievement on a console that could boast a lot of them. The cutting edge graphics, as well as the development of the co-processing chip that enabled them, helped in the creation of a classic game that spawned a series and cast of characters that are still popular to this day. However this would be nothing without a great game to back it up, and with Nintendo at the helm you just know that you're going to get a great game. The level design is perfect and the high octane feeling that game provided was unrivaled by anything else during that era.



The Aftermath

Star Fox was released to general critical acclaim. Most publications of the time heralded its use of 3D graphics as ground breaking and the start of something that would balloon in later years. While some pointed out that the game still followed a linear path despite its polygon count, this was generally disregarded due to Star Fox's immense technical achievements. The game still appears fairly regularly on "Greatest Games of All-Time Lists" and achieved healthy sales.

As the the series itself, Star Fox went from strength to stumbles. Star Fox 64 was created for the release of the N64 and was just as good, if not superior, to its SNES predecessor. The game was also the last Star Fox game to be developed in-house, having originally been conceived as a SNES sequel to Star Fox before the imminent arrival of the N64 forced a switch over to that console.

The development reins were then handed over to Rare, who developed a Zelda clone in many respects. Star Fox Adventures was fun, and graphically astonishing, but there was nothing that really shone out in the title, especially as the series trademark space fights were put to the back burner for the Action-RPG elements. The same can be said for Star Fox: Assault, this time developed by Namco. While putting the focus back onto shooting, the game lacked the sparkle of Star Fox and Star Fox 64. Finally there was Star Fox Command on the DS, which was fun but still nothing too special.

Fox himself has also gone on to make appearances in other games, most notably the Smash Bros series, where he is one of the main characters and even has his own stage dedicated to the Star Fox universe. Unfortunately for the time being this seems to be the best that Fox can hope for because until Nintendo take back the development reins to the series its seems unlikely that it will ever regain the sparkle of the original Star Fox. Shigeru Miyamoto has shown interest in developing a Wii version of Star Fox, but nothing concrete has been announced yet.

The Final Word

Star Fox is a revolutionary title that should be in any SNES gamer's collection. Despite the obvious aging issues that come along with older 3D titles, Star Fox still looks good enough to be playable, and the game itself is great fun from top to bottom. It even has a fair bit of depth as well as a providing a good challenge for more seasoned gamers.

The Price is Right

Yet another small price guide this week. I'm liking the lack of Star Fox conversions. It means less research. As usual pay more for better quality.

UK

SNES - £5 – 8 (Unless you want a competition version, in which case look to be spending anywhere between £100 – 200)

US

SNES - $5 – 10 (The competition cart might set you back up to $300)

Spreading the Word

Another day another Retronomicon, but don't stop reading here. There's till plenty at 411 Games to take up your time.

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Check out the 411 Games Twitter right here

And here's some more good reading at 411 Games.

Rod Oracheski checks out Left For Dead 2's achievement list in Achievement Unlocked
Derek Robbins reels off his favorite Sonic games in The 10th Hour
Chris Lansdell looks at what could have been improved in Prototype in Game Improvements
And Trace Aber presents issue 43 of Living LIVE

There are also the multi-staff efforts;

The staff look at their favorite PS1 games in the 411 Games Top 5
Rod Oracheski hosts a new edition of Four Player Co-Op
And Sean Garmer takes on Todd Vote in this weeks Fact or Fiction

The Guy Who Can do it Better Than You

This week we have a video for the unreleased Star Fox 2. You can be the judge of whether or not it would have lived up to the standard set by Star Fox, but it looked pretty promising to me.

ASK 411 GAMES!!!

OK that is perhaps a little dramatic, but I'm still trying to get this column off the ground. So once again if you have any gaming questions you'd like to wing my way email me at [e-mail] or click here

Hell you could even leave a question in the comments section here if you can't be arsed to click the link.

Ta-Ta for now.