Million seller game's cover artwork.
Greetings, I am the Son of Andross (not really). In the rundown to Star Fox Zero, we administrators will write own own unbiased reviews on the Star Fox main games. This review will concentrate on my personal thoughts on: Star Fox 64 (but we in the PAL reigion call it Lylat Wars).
Story[]
Andross, the evil mad scientist declares war and practically conquers the Lylat System. General Pepper summons Star Fox to save Corneria and free Lylat from the evil empire of Venom. Fox McCloud is the leader and protagonist who leads his team into battle, to save the galaxy and get justice from the evil emperor who doomed his father. Brash and bold Falco Lombardi is the ace pilot who gripes and complains but never lets his team down. Wise old Peppy Hare is Fox's father's best friend and knows the ways of flying well and knowledgeable about Andross's ways after he barely escaped from their clutches. The kind and caring Slippy Toad has built and brought in the essential vehicles and weaponry needed to win the war, but his clumsiness may get he better of him if not for Fox's timely interventions. Guided by the mothership Great Fox's pilot ROB64, Star Fox is open for business and war.
Together, Fox must lead the space squadron on an expedition through the galaxy, recapturing lost bases, decommissioning Venom's terrible armies and monsters, encountering old friends and fiends before a showdown with Andross himself and returning home in one piece to collect the much needed paycheck.
Gameplay[]
Like the original game, you are required to fly/drive/sail through 3D scrolling environments, shooting down targets and reaching the destination to face the boss in one piece. Most of the time your vehicle is forced down a sorted route called Corridor Mode, which if your know your level well, you will memorise where to take opposing / evasive action against hostiles and obstacles. Sometimes All-range mode is used at certain moments, which allows explorations through a restricted 3D oriented battlefield to bring down particular bosses. All-range mode is used in every VS Mode level, separating the four players into four screens.
The familiar Arwing is the main vehicle in the Main Game and VS Mode, but the Landmaster Tank is used on Macbeth and Titania and can eventually be unlocked for VS Mode, and the Blue-Marine is only used on Aquas. After your earn Medals in every Expert Mode's missions, you can also unlock Pilots with rocket launchers to use in VS Mode.
In the Main Game and Expert Mode, you will play as Fox, and it will be your job to steer your ship well into battle and take care of your wing mates and they'll return the favour. Falco will find secret passages and knock enemies out of the sky, Peppy will give tips on piloting and how to beat Andross's lieutenants, and Slippy will give you a bossometer for helping find the boss weaknesses.
Your goal is to seek out and take down Andross's Empire; be they minor spacecraft, powerful and intelligent lieutenants, the Star Wolf team of space pirates, dangerous bioweaponised monsters, all before a hand to hand battle with Andross, the fine boss. Most enemies and obstacles aren't much of a fight, but others will test your skills. Every HIT made counts as 1 Venomian unit, which gets rounded up to sp$64, to form your overall score. Below sp$70,000 is nothing to write home about, yet over will get General Pepper astonished at your flying.
Another key priority is to achieve a particular Mission's high score make sure your three wing mates haven't retreated from the field of battle, in order to be granted a Medal of valour. Getting Medals in every Mission will open up a greater challenge, and unlock features in VS Mode and the Main Menu.
A red Nintendo 64 controller and how the Rumble Pak is inserted and rumble function.
If you're playing the original N64 game and equip a Rumble Pak, you'll get a fourth wall feeling rumble with each damage. This is one of the game's crowning achievements and the game usually came boxed with one.
Missions[]
15 war zone locations in the Lylat System are divided up into: Easy, Medium and Hard paths. You can only visit 7 locations in one play through, but Medals are awarded for each location, creating replay value, which I enjoy. Every game beings at Corneria and eventually reaches Venom, either by facing Andross who reveals a robotic decoy or the bioweapon enchanted emperor.
Corneria: Always the first mission. Oceans, grasslands and the capital Corneria city must be cleared of the imperial army. The actions taken here determine the route of the rest of the game. Falco's place must be kept if the Sector Y battle zone is desired, or the route will divert to the asteroid field.
Easy path[]
Meteo: An asteroid field which hides enemies and blocks the pathway to the next destination. If the blue warp rings are flown through, a warp zone will open to take the fight to help the Cornerian air force at Katina, or missing the rings will task the player with facing the asteroid destroying warship and then head for the old army base on Fichina.
Fichina (Fortuna): A winter world which restricts the Arwing to All-range mode. The Star Wolf team of space pirates must be beaten before time runs out and then Solar's airspace is open to attack, or failure will result in the army base getting blown up and the route will divert to Sector X.
Sector X: A nebula battle zone. Navigating through the debris of an abandoned space base will create a two way point. Taking the left point will lead to a hidden wormhole that leads to the Sector Z graveyard. Missing the gates or heading right will introduce the malfunctioning AI which blocks the path to the manufacturing factory on Macbeth. But Slippy's clumsiness may result in diverting to rescuing him on the desert world of Titania.
Titania: A desert world that needs the Landmaster to stay on the ground and avoid the air fleet hiding in the magnetic storm and bring down the ground forces in the search for Slippy. Rescuing Slippy from the vicious bioweapon will let you resume the path to the Venom satellite.
Bolse: The defensive satellite with a powerful forcefield protecting the sensitive core. The core must be exposed by downing the energy towers and destroying the cores. Star Wolf may show up and hinder you or add more HITS to the counter. Only Venom's flatlands and the lost temple stand in the way of the final battle afterwards.
Venom: The barren wasteland and homeward of Andross is always the final destination. The many canyons are barricaded by traps and ambushing fleets. A temple awaits on the other side of the plains, guarded by a lost tribal relic, just ahead of the tunnels that lead to the battle with Andross (unfortunately it's a robotic decoy).
Medium path[]
Katina: An army base surrounded by flatlands and an endless army. The powerful enemy mothership will destroy the army base and force the route to Sector X unless you can stop it and allow a route to Solar. Fox's old classmate Bill Grey will return the favour at whatever destination follows.
Solar: A blazing planet plagued with volcanic activity that slowly eats up the shields. Staying above the terribly hot surface and destroying the bioweapons will open the way to the mining world of Macbeth.
Macbeth: An industrialised planet with vast railways leading to the main manufacturing plant, fuel bunker and supply depot. The Landmaster will need to stay on the train's tail and derail it to allow an attack run on the Venom air defence zone at Area 6, or the train's hidden cargo will delay you at force the path toward the Bolse satellite.
Hard path[]
Sector Y: A nebula battle zone. Navigating through the melee and bringing down 100 Venomian units will make way to the oceans of Aquas. If 100 Hits aren't reached, the forces in Katina will require assistance.
Aquas: Using the Blue-Marine is the only way to travel into the underwater ruins and trenches to clear out the bio-tech drones and monsters in order to stop the pollution. The only way to go next is to Zoness to stop Andross's oil refineries.
Zoness: A paradise turned into toxic wasteland by pollution. Navigating to stop the pollution by taking down the lieutenant is only half the challenge, thanks to the many buoy searchlights that force passage to the industrial torn planet of Macbeth. Getting through with triggering any searchlights will allow you to meet with Great Fox in Sector Z. Falco's old wing mate Katt Monroe will show up here to help out and track you to the next destination afterward, just to get Falco's attention.
Sector Z: A nebula battle zone ravaged with debris. Great Fox is under attack from advanced fighters and six powerful missiles. Great Fox's support is easier for an attack run on Venom's defence zone, but if even one missile gets in touch with the mothership, the chance of reaching Venom's defences are lost and result in Bolse being the only safe way. This is the hardest Medal challenge in the game.
Area 6: A long slow space flight to Venom, guarded by vast impressive fleets, weaponry and a powerful space station, clearing the way will enable the final battle against Andross.
Venom II: Bypassing the planetary defences, the Star Wolf team show up in their new improved aircraft for a skill over strength dogfight. Within the palace tunnel corridors lurks Andross's familiar face, hiding a powerful bioweaponised mastermind in an all-out battle for survival. Even if the battle is won, Andross will go Predator on you and give you reason to leg it before the self destruct take you down with him, follow a vaguely familiar guide out the palace and return home to claim your pay check.
There are 25 possible rotues in the game.
- The ending most likely achieved is the "Easy" path ending by reaching Venom from the Bolse satellite and defeating the Andross who is revealed to be a robotic skull and viewing Andross laughing after the credits roll.
- The more satisfying "Hard" ending involves reaching the Area 6 sector, dogfighting the Star Wolf team in their Wolfen II and defeating the Andross who was revealed to be a bioweapon, who goes Predator on you and forces you to flee out of the palace, viewing the credits without Andross appearing at the end.
I assume all routes to be canon outside of gameplay, but the ending is made to believe that the Hard Path is the true ending considering that Andross was believed to have been dead in games that followed.
VS Mode[]
You and three friends can play a Battle Royal, Time Trail or Point Match using an Arwing at first. You'll eventually unlock the Landmaster tank and Pilots to use at your choice. I think it's not entirely perfect, something Star Fox: Assault got a better handle of years later.
Extra content[]
Training Mode[]
If you're new to the game or don't want to do a full replay, you can hone your Arwing basic and advanced skills with the flight simulator Training Mode, both in Corridor and All-Range mode. You can't use any vehicle other than the Arwing which seems like a missed opportunity but oh well. ROB64 guides you first but then a bizarre tanuki takes you the rest of the way; he doesn't speak in english and keeps it for the Lylat Language format, and he has no name outside of being called Yaru de Pon on the Japanese Star Fox 64 site.
Expert Mode[]
Earning every Medal in the Main Game opens the Expert Mode, where your Arwing will take more damage and lose a wing(s) more easily and baddies are more prominent and aggressive. Tilting the (C) Stick on the title screen will more the 64 (Star Fox logo in Lylat Wars) and the team will watch it go. The hidden Sound Test will allow you to listen to the dramatic incidental music pieces that have become staple leitmotifs in the series.
Voice acting[]
Unusual for a Nintendo game, Star Fox 64 has fully voiced dialogue that has become recognised outside of the gaming industry, some voices and quotes are favoured more than others. In the Lylat Wars edition, there is an option to hear Lylat Language similar to the original SNES game and reused in Star Fox Command; some characters are pretty funny like Granga's voice and the Meteo Crusher pilot's voice. The same voice cast didn't return in any games after until Star Fox 64 3D and Zero, showing how popular they are.
3DS release[]
I welcome the new Mission score attack mode replay and newly added flight trial in Training Mode and the trainer having a real voice, even if it does sound stage for him. It's nice to see the updated graphics even if there was nothing wrong with the original, but there's some subtle changes like the Cornerian Army logo from Assault appearing at the end. The gyro controls are terrible, I never use them, Command did better at touch controls.
Gamescore[]
Gamescore: 90%
Team Star Fox play a multiplayer game.
I love this game, its one of the key N64 games ever made, possibly the best Star Fox outing ever. I've played this game several times and can beat it with my eyes shut. The game probably most important to the series, which others mostly tried to follow afterwards. The VS Mode isn't that spectacular but trial and error. Get it on the VC or 3DS now and enjoy!
My favourite route[]
Corneria > Sector Y > Aquas > Zoness > Macbeth > Area 6 > Venom II.