Starfox (SNES)
Starfox on Super Nintendo was a jump ahead at the time for gaming. It was the first game to begin using 3-D Polygonal shapes for combat instead of just 2-D textures pasted on a moving image, giving the image of actually moving into the levels and not just on top of them. While a common feature in gaming today, it wasn't back then, but it was the first step on the path for the modern appearance of 3-D in game worlds.
The X button gives you a speed boost, while the B button acts as your brake.
Lastly, the Y and A buttons are your firing buttons. Y shoots your regular cannon and A shoots your mega bombs which you have a limited amount of (this is represented above your ships health bar in the bottom right of the screen).
One great feature in this game is the fact that the above list is only the DEFAULT setting of controls for the game. Before you even select your mission route, you are brought to a screen with an image of the SNES controller, and you get to choose from one of four different schemes labeled A, B, C, and D. The differences between these are changing the firing buttons with the boost/brake buttons, or inverted flight controls (pressing up on D-pad goes down) or not-inverted (pressing up goes up).
After selecting your controls, you get to choose your path through the game. They all begin on Corneria and they all end on Venom, but there are three options, presented as Levels. Levels one and two each contain six courses, while Level three has seven. This makes Level three the "hard" difficulty of the game as it has one more stage, but it also has the stages require the most piloting skill. The other two don't have much of a difference between them.
So you've selected your controls, you've picked your path through the game, now it's time to fight. After a short cutscene showing your Arwing taking off through a little tunnel, you have control of it. Each stage, you also get Falco, Slippy and Peppy flying with you as well. Your heads up display shows you the status of your ship, your boost bar, the number of Nova Bombs you have, how many lives you have left and (once you get to the end) a health bar for the boss.
It gets presented as a rail-shooter so you only get the option of going forward fast, or going forward slow. Your enemies consist of other ships and different mech-types that will all be firing at you. Your Arwing has three "zones" on it that can take damage; the body and two wings. A plus is that if only one of your wings gets hit, you will only take half the damage that you would if the body of the ship had taken the hit.
The stages also come with an obstacle course feel to them as well. Elements of the stage will get in your way that you either have to blast out of the way, or just avoid flying into them. While most obstacles you get to choose between shooting or dodging, there are certain ones that can only be shot as they take up a good portion of the screen, or ones that can only be dodged as they are indestructible.
A handful of the stages have a more blatant obstacle course to them, where you will be flying through a tunnel of sorts having to stay off of the walls and blast open any doors that may be closed in your path. Luckily while in these parts, there really isn't much combat you have to deal with from other ships, so you can focus solely on getting through in one piece.
At the ends of the stages, your boss will fly into view. These require a bit more precision to them rather than just blowing as much ammo as you can into any part you can hit. There will be elements of the ship that become weakened when in use and you have to destroy them while they're being used; i.e., shooting off the blasting ports on a ship while it's shooting at you. Most of the time the weakened points are easy to figure out, but there are some moments where it's not very clear. This is why I like the feature of the enemy health bar, so you can try out different ideas and see what actually takes damage.
Once you defeat the boss, Fox flies off with his pals, you're brought to a status screen that tells you how much of the level you defeated (if you missed any enemies in a stage, it will take away from a 100% rating), and then you're off to the next, and the next, until you eventually get to the final boss on Venom who, any Smash Brother's fans will recognize immediately once they get there. (It's the big metal-looking face).
While in the game, you also get the option of flying the camera behind the ship in a 3rd person view, or flying 1st person from inside the cockpit. I feel like they both have their advantages that make it hard to choose which is better. The cockpit view gives you a shooting reticle that makes for more precise aiming, while the 3rd person view makes it much easier to dodge incoming shots. So it feels like each one's strength is the other's weakness.
Through the stages you're also given power-ups that will either heal up your ship's shield, or net you more Nova Bombs (you begin with 3 of these but can carry up to 5).
A great game, and the first in a great series, Starfox on SNES stands out for being the first to use the 3-D Polygonal graphics. While it makes everything look a little blocky in the stages, and it definitely isn't very appealing visually if you're jumping back after playing on the newer consoles, the fact that you can get the real-feel of going through the stage instead of over it is what makes this game great. The flying controls are perfect and easy to get used to, and the combat itself has it's challenges but not so much that it takes away from the game as a whole.
So, let's get more into the game now.
Bosses step up the challenge a bit. Most are giant enemy ships that, once you reach the end of a stage, they will fly in from behind you and begin to fly directly in front of you, swinging the ship as needed to attack you either by shooting at you, or directly with an extension of the ship. Combat in the boss fights is focused on you shooting areas of the ship that become vulnerable (usually some sort of port/wing extension being opened vs closed), and dodging the incoming shots or moving out of the way when the ship tries to make contact with you. The latter is easily done because the ships telegraph where they're going to go before they do. They will move to the extreme top/bottom/sides of the screen and you just have to avoid that side.
So, while the combat isn't very overwhelming, it is still a challenge, even moreso depending on if you're flying from the cockpit or behind the ship. What I said before comes into play here. Flying from the cockpit makes aiming much easier and destroying the other ships a little quicker, but you are unable to see exactly where you are in relation to their shots. And if you're flying from behind, it's much easier to dodge, but you don't have the benefit of knowing exactly where your guns are aimed. So if you feel like you're a very fast shot, go with the cockpit. But, if you feel like you need the extra few precious moments to get your aim right, then go from behind the ship because while it might take you a little bit to get the shot at the exact right angle you desire, your ammo is unlimited (as far as your normal cannons go) so you don't have to worry about running out.
- The training stage is very helpful here, especially factoring in that at the time of it's release, Starfox was the only game with the 3-D graphics. So with it being a brand new approach, it was a nice touch from the studio to give you a chance to get used to the new surroundings.
- Since it's presented as an on-rail shooter, it was definitely necessary to add in a secondary element so you're not only shooting at things. The obstacle course feel is a great secondary element to this type of game, and on top of that, it's very well balanced with the shooting. You don't really find yourself under fire from ships AND swinging between buildings all at the same time.
- In each mission, you get Falco, Peppy, and Slippy helping you out, which is great. What isn't great is they aren't very well represented on the screen when they're in front of you. No flashing indicators or nametags floating above the ship. The only clue you get is after you've already shot them by accident, and a text pops up of whoever you hit yelling at you for shooting them. And yes, they take damage from friendly fire.
UPCOMING
I've been keeping this going with a review each week so far, but this week coming up I may have to skip as I will be on a vacation for my anniversary for part of it. In the meantime, I will be working on a couple of bigger and more recent games. Uncharted : Golden Abyss on the PS Vita, and Alan Wake on Xbox 360. So if you don't see a new review a week from today, I will be back in two weeks!
The Story
Set in the fictitious Lylat star system (which is inhabited by many humanlike animal races), a scientist flees your home planet of Corneria after being banned, to a planet called Venom, and declares war on the entire system, releasing an army throughout. The General on your homeworld, decides to fight back with a squad of new prototype Arwing ships. But, lacking the time to properly train pilots on the new ships, General Pepper insteads hires out a group of mercenaries to lead the fight instead. Enter your gang : Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare, and Slippy Toad. Your fight takes you from your homeworld, through the entire system eventually bringing you to Venom to face the games antagonist, Andross.The Controls
Starfox features inverted flight controls which are all handled by the D-Pad. The L and R triggers will trigger a roll to the respective side by double tapping it, or holding it simply adjusts you to flying perpendicular to the ground.The X button gives you a speed boost, while the B button acts as your brake.
Lastly, the Y and A buttons are your firing buttons. Y shoots your regular cannon and A shoots your mega bombs which you have a limited amount of (this is represented above your ships health bar in the bottom right of the screen).
One great feature in this game is the fact that the above list is only the DEFAULT setting of controls for the game. Before you even select your mission route, you are brought to a screen with an image of the SNES controller, and you get to choose from one of four different schemes labeled A, B, C, and D. The differences between these are changing the firing buttons with the boost/brake buttons, or inverted flight controls (pressing up on D-pad goes down) or not-inverted (pressing up goes up).
The Gameplay
The game starts with you choosing one of the control schemes. General Pepper recommends you choose A or B, and I agree with this as they have the best feeling controls of them all (especially with the proper inverted flight controls). After you select your controls, you have the option of doing a training mission (not required at all) which, in my opinion, is a lot more difficult than a training mission should be. You don't have to "beat" any of the sections of it, but still it's a little ridiculous. At one point you are supposed to fly in a formation with Falco, Slippy, and Peppy, and the game puts in a wire frame model of your ship for where you're supposed to be, but it's insanely hard to even stay with it.After selecting your controls, you get to choose your path through the game. They all begin on Corneria and they all end on Venom, but there are three options, presented as Levels. Levels one and two each contain six courses, while Level three has seven. This makes Level three the "hard" difficulty of the game as it has one more stage, but it also has the stages require the most piloting skill. The other two don't have much of a difference between them.
So you've selected your controls, you've picked your path through the game, now it's time to fight. After a short cutscene showing your Arwing taking off through a little tunnel, you have control of it. Each stage, you also get Falco, Slippy and Peppy flying with you as well. Your heads up display shows you the status of your ship, your boost bar, the number of Nova Bombs you have, how many lives you have left and (once you get to the end) a health bar for the boss.
It gets presented as a rail-shooter so you only get the option of going forward fast, or going forward slow. Your enemies consist of other ships and different mech-types that will all be firing at you. Your Arwing has three "zones" on it that can take damage; the body and two wings. A plus is that if only one of your wings gets hit, you will only take half the damage that you would if the body of the ship had taken the hit.
The stages also come with an obstacle course feel to them as well. Elements of the stage will get in your way that you either have to blast out of the way, or just avoid flying into them. While most obstacles you get to choose between shooting or dodging, there are certain ones that can only be shot as they take up a good portion of the screen, or ones that can only be dodged as they are indestructible.
A handful of the stages have a more blatant obstacle course to them, where you will be flying through a tunnel of sorts having to stay off of the walls and blast open any doors that may be closed in your path. Luckily while in these parts, there really isn't much combat you have to deal with from other ships, so you can focus solely on getting through in one piece.
At the ends of the stages, your boss will fly into view. These require a bit more precision to them rather than just blowing as much ammo as you can into any part you can hit. There will be elements of the ship that become weakened when in use and you have to destroy them while they're being used; i.e., shooting off the blasting ports on a ship while it's shooting at you. Most of the time the weakened points are easy to figure out, but there are some moments where it's not very clear. This is why I like the feature of the enemy health bar, so you can try out different ideas and see what actually takes damage.
Once you defeat the boss, Fox flies off with his pals, you're brought to a status screen that tells you how much of the level you defeated (if you missed any enemies in a stage, it will take away from a 100% rating), and then you're off to the next, and the next, until you eventually get to the final boss on Venom who, any Smash Brother's fans will recognize immediately once they get there. (It's the big metal-looking face).
While in the game, you also get the option of flying the camera behind the ship in a 3rd person view, or flying 1st person from inside the cockpit. I feel like they both have their advantages that make it hard to choose which is better. The cockpit view gives you a shooting reticle that makes for more precise aiming, while the 3rd person view makes it much easier to dodge incoming shots. So it feels like each one's strength is the other's weakness.
Through the stages you're also given power-ups that will either heal up your ship's shield, or net you more Nova Bombs (you begin with 3 of these but can carry up to 5).
A great game, and the first in a great series, Starfox on SNES stands out for being the first to use the 3-D Polygonal graphics. While it makes everything look a little blocky in the stages, and it definitely isn't very appealing visually if you're jumping back after playing on the newer consoles, the fact that you can get the real-feel of going through the stage instead of over it is what makes this game great. The flying controls are perfect and easy to get used to, and the combat itself has it's challenges but not so much that it takes away from the game as a whole.
So, let's get more into the game now.
The Challenge (or lack thereof?)
While Starfox does present a challenge, it isn't a consistent one throughout the entire game. The combat parts of the stages are evenly paced, bringing a fair share of ships at you, but spacing them out enough to give you breathing room between fights. The obstacle portions can be a bit of a nuisance at times, but it's only due to the depth of field capabilites of the console at the time. The issue comes out in one stage in particular, where there is a small field of columns that you have to avoid flying into. The game is only able to render one row of these at a time, so as soon as you pass the first row, you have to cross your fingers that you're lined up with the gap in the upcoming row, and so on until you get through it all. The narrow corridors aren't so bad either. Your challenge here is in either adjusting the angle of your ship, or shooting your blasters at a door to open them, and you are provided with more than enough time to do it.Bosses step up the challenge a bit. Most are giant enemy ships that, once you reach the end of a stage, they will fly in from behind you and begin to fly directly in front of you, swinging the ship as needed to attack you either by shooting at you, or directly with an extension of the ship. Combat in the boss fights is focused on you shooting areas of the ship that become vulnerable (usually some sort of port/wing extension being opened vs closed), and dodging the incoming shots or moving out of the way when the ship tries to make contact with you. The latter is easily done because the ships telegraph where they're going to go before they do. They will move to the extreme top/bottom/sides of the screen and you just have to avoid that side.
So, while the combat isn't very overwhelming, it is still a challenge, even moreso depending on if you're flying from the cockpit or behind the ship. What I said before comes into play here. Flying from the cockpit makes aiming much easier and destroying the other ships a little quicker, but you are unable to see exactly where you are in relation to their shots. And if you're flying from behind, it's much easier to dodge, but you don't have the benefit of knowing exactly where your guns are aimed. So if you feel like you're a very fast shot, go with the cockpit. But, if you feel like you need the extra few precious moments to get your aim right, then go from behind the ship because while it might take you a little bit to get the shot at the exact right angle you desire, your ammo is unlimited (as far as your normal cannons go) so you don't have to worry about running out.
PROS
- Music on every stage, and every menu, so you're not stuck listening to the same track each level because they're each different. An extra plus on this one for me is that the soundtrack perfectly balanced. I've never been a fan of games where the music is so overpowering that it distracts from the game, or just the opposite where it's so bland you have to focus everything else out just to hear it.- The training stage is very helpful here, especially factoring in that at the time of it's release, Starfox was the only game with the 3-D graphics. So with it being a brand new approach, it was a nice touch from the studio to give you a chance to get used to the new surroundings.
- Since it's presented as an on-rail shooter, it was definitely necessary to add in a secondary element so you're not only shooting at things. The obstacle course feel is a great secondary element to this type of game, and on top of that, it's very well balanced with the shooting. You don't really find yourself under fire from ships AND swinging between buildings all at the same time.
CONS
- While I'm understanding of the restriction of the technology at the time in rendering depth of field, I feel it could've been done slightly better. Such as the earlier mentioned situation where you're dodging between rows of towers, the fact that they don't appear until you're practically on top of them is a little unfair. There's not even an attempt of starting the columns farther away as much smaller shapes and having them grow. They're just not there and then poof they are.- In each mission, you get Falco, Peppy, and Slippy helping you out, which is great. What isn't great is they aren't very well represented on the screen when they're in front of you. No flashing indicators or nametags floating above the ship. The only clue you get is after you've already shot them by accident, and a text pops up of whoever you hit yelling at you for shooting them. And yes, they take damage from friendly fire.
Final Verdict
Starfox on SNES spawned a memorable and key series on the Nintendo family of consoles. Clearly, the formula worked as the series is still growing now. While all the power that went into rendering the 3-D polygons might have taken away from slightly better visuals, all is not lost. The game is constantly moving, and more than a blast to play. And with three different paths to take, you can play it differently each time, so it adds to the replay value of the game. Despite the characters not having actual voices (they sound a lot like the bob-bombs in Super Mario 64), they are still fun and memorable. This game is definitely deserving of a spot on your game shelf, whether you're a collector or a player.UPCOMING
I've been keeping this going with a review each week so far, but this week coming up I may have to skip as I will be on a vacation for my anniversary for part of it. In the meantime, I will be working on a couple of bigger and more recent games. Uncharted : Golden Abyss on the PS Vita, and Alan Wake on Xbox 360. So if you don't see a new review a week from today, I will be back in two weeks!
