Star Fox 64 is a video game published by Nintendo in 1997 for the Nintendo 64 home game console. It, like most Nintendo games, was released first in Japan and then shortly after published in English for the U.S.A. The game was later published in PAL regions (a kind of television line mostly used in Europe) under the name of Lylat Wars.

Star Fox 64 is essentially a reboot of the previous title, Star Fox, (also known as Star Wing in PAL regions) with a lot of story alterations and a huge step forward in tech. That tech being… The Nintendo 64!

64 was amazing; it could render 3D, display textures well, and also compete with the Playstation 64. Despite all of the new things, Star Fox 64 was still heavily inspired by its predecessor, or rather predecessors. Star Fox 2 was a scrapped sequel that was released in 2017, which deserves its own article; it was very revolutionary for the Super Nintendo.  Star Fox 2 inspired a chunk of the content in Star Fox 64, including charged shots, all range mode, and even the Star Wolf mercenaries.

Star Fox 64 has many features that help add flavor to the gameplay.  Star Fox 64 has a map screen, and actual levels. On the map, there are planets and other locations which are the levels. You can go to different stages by achieving different goals within the level. The goals include:  a large quantity of hits, secret warps, shooting switches, and a handful more. Most levels have two separate routes, although some levels only have one set route. 

Now here’s the meat. The gameplay is debatably some of the best of all rail shooter games. A rail shooter is like a flight game except you have a set path, just like a train. Trains ride on rails, hence the name “rail shooter.” You have to quickly shoot down enemies which will never be on screen for more than four to five seconds. Destroying enemies rewards hit points, which is like a score system that functions as the central point after seeing the main story aspects. When you first play, you are generally learning the mechanics and seeing how the story and dialogue plays out. After that, (at least I did) you are mostly innovating your scoring methods to rack up as many hits points as possible. 

Venom is the final stretch of any playthrough before finishing the game. The thing is, Venom tricks first time players (Huge Spoiler alert!) by giving you two paths: The easy and hard routes. The easy route challenges you with swarms with fighters, forking paths, and sneak attacks. The second more difficult route gives you a rematch with the Star Wolf crew (If you haven’t already defeated them), in which they have better spaceships, can deflect charged shots, and will try to annihilate any team members you have left. Andross is the final boss of the game, and is replaced by a fake clone in the easy route. Furthermore, he yells at you, “If I’m going down, you’re coming with me!” Then you follow Fox’s dead father, Fox Mccloud out of the twisted burning wreckage of the Venom Base (Roll Credits).

The replay value of Star Fox 64 is immense, and it is worth playing at the very least twice. From the levels to the story, the game is very well rounded. Every time you play, it feels like you’ve gotten better. You keep beating your old scores over and over again. And you can take all kinds of routes and warps. I have a lot of fun playing Star Fox 64, and I think you should play it too!

Images: Arwingpedia, Imdb, Reddit, Me.