20 replies to this topic

[Austin]

Star Fox was my first experience with 3D polygons in a game, and I was blown away by it as a kid. I spent a lot of time with it when I was young, but in reality it has been ages since I last played it. I decided to bring it back out last night to see how well it holds up.

The first thing I noticed after playing it again is the inconsistent framerate. Fortunately it has its smooth points, but it's very choppy at times, sometimes just a couple of frames per second. Time has definitely not been kind to this game in that regard.

After about ten minutes I was able to adjust to it and plow through the center game path without dying ("Level 1" as they call what I assume to be the "Normal" mode). I had a blast with it, and that's when I realized something: This game has near-perfect balance in the gameplay and design department, like many Nintendo-produced titles of the time. The stages are interesting, the enemy patterns are constantly changing and lack a repetitive nature, the bosses can be challenging but not frustratingly so, and there is a feel to the game that just, well, feels very nice, and natural. All of this is expanded upon when playing through the more difficult paths afterward, and all in all, the game has a lot of variety for what it is.

The sound still holds up well too, surprisingly!

After revisiting this, my modern-day verdict is that this game is still great, even in 2011/2012, nearly twenty years after it was released! My question to you is, what are your thoughts on it? When was the last time you revisited it? Do you have any memories of it when it was new as well?

[save2600]

It's probably been 15 years since I played it, but I remember thinking it was a great game visually and a great SuperNES game to be sure. Was always disappointed Nintendo did not exploit that FX hardware and incorporate it into many other titles. Never cared for Sunt RaceFX either - seemed to slow and I didn't like how the screen was divided up.

Edited by save2600, Tue Dec 27, 2011 4:40 PM.

[NE146]

Austin, on Tue Dec 27, 2011 4:11 PM, said:

The sound still holds up well too, surprisingly!

I personally think the soundtrack to SNES Starfox is the best.. Lots of epic grandeur and "space adventure"-ish sound to it. On the other hand, the soundtrack to Starfox 64 was entirely forgettable. They should have at least kept some of the signature tunes in there as they did in Super Smash Bros.

Anyway, yeah SNES Starfox is still one of my all-time favorite video games. It's still fun to play even today despite the dated graphics & framerate.

[Rex Dart]

I remember it being one of about a dozen games available in a demo kiosk at the local Hastings store.
I thought it was interesting, but not terribly impressive. Crappy, in fact. My loss, I'm sure, but I'd rather play one of the kickass 2d shooters on the system.

[MagitekAngel]

Hmm, yeah, I found the original Star Fox a couple years back for ten bucks and jumped on it. A very impressive technical achievement on the SNES. The jumpy framerate doesn't bother me in the least, because the game balance is designed with it in mind. I think I like it just a bit more than Star Fox 64, a classic in its own right.

[Austin]

save2600, on Tue Dec 27, 2011 4:19 PM, said:

Was always disappointed Nintendo did not exploit that FX hardware and incorporate it into further titles. The Stunt RaceFX seemed slow to me though, right off the bat. Never did care for that particular racer.

Same here. There were several other FX games between the FX and FX2 chips (some not even polygonal games, like in Yoshis Island), but the majority of them were lackluster as far as I can tell. Stunt Race was slow (framerate-wise), and Argonaut's own Vortex wasn't great, either. Lots of potential, but lots of poor design choices on that one, anyway. I have to give DOOM a pass just for the fact that it was such an ambitious project, and I never did play the motocross one (What was it, Dirt Track FX or something?).

There is a Winter Sports Super FX2 game that was only released in the UK (as far as I know), dubbed "Winter Gold". I found out about it not too long ago, and it's actually pretty damn impressive! It was too little too late though, as it came out in '96 or so.

NE146, on Tue Dec 27, 2011 4:30 PM, said:

I personally think the soundtrack to SNES Starfox is the best.. Lots of epic grandeur and "space adventure"-ish sound to it. On the other hand, the soundtrack to Starfox 64 was entirely forgettable. They should have at least kept some of the signature tunes in there as they did in Super Smash Bros.

Agreed! I thought Star Fox 64 was (and still is) a fantastic game, but that soundtrack was forgettable. The original Star Fox had some rockin' tunes, it had the epic spacey tunes, and more. There was just a lot more variety. Not to mention I prefer the garbled voices of the original versus the vocal personalities they gave the characters in the 64 version.

[Eltigro]

Star Fox is a really popular game. Much celebrated.

But I never really liked it much. My brother in law had a SNES and we rented Star Fox. It was okay. We had fun. But I just didn't like it as much as the 2D shooters. The textureless shaded polygons looked terrible to me. 3D flying games didn't get awesome for me until the Playstation and Warhawk. Loved that game although it's really not THAT much different than Star Fox (although perhaps better looking and with a bit more freedom of movement.)

[Sonic R]

I've always enjoyed Star Fox on the SNES… it's quite fun and I feel holds up well today gameplay wise and looks decent too... I played through it about a few months ago (back in July) while revisiting the SNES with a few friends… it's probably my nostalgia and rose colored glasses, but I prefer the SNES Star Fox over Star Fox 64!

now… what I'm really looking for, is Star Fox for the 2600 (I'm seriously looking for this game! no luck finding one locally)

[Animan]

Star Fox is a pure classic, and one the holds up surprisingly well I think. With the exception of Yoshi's Island, I never cared for any of the other Super FX games. Stunt Race FX was meh, and Vortex was just plain crappy. I've had yet to try Star Fox 2, but judging from the videos it looks very impressive even for a Super FX game.

[thegoldenband]

NE146, on Tue Dec 27, 2011 4:30 PM, said:

Austin, on Tue Dec 27, 2011 4:11 PM, said:

The sound still holds up well too, surprisingly!

I personally think the soundtrack to SNES Starfox is the best.. Lots of epic grandeur and "space adventure"-ish sound to it.

Definitely. I haven't played the game much in years, but I've got most of its music practically memorized, and that says a lot. There are games I've beaten within the last month, but I can't call a single note of their soundtracks to mind!

Anyway, I agree that Star Fox is one of the best games for the console, and is an absolute classic. As others have said, it plays really well, and the design is terrific and beautifully balanced. The low framerate never bothered me, and I much prefer the abstract voices and simplified plot over the proto-furry stylings of the later games.

[SEgamer]

This game is definitely in my top 5 on the SNES, probably top 3 right behind FF III and SoM. I love the soundtrack for the game, especially Corneria's theme which pumps you up at the beginning.

This was also the first 3D I game I ever saw and remember looking at the box trying to figure out exactly what it was about. I guess the puppets/figures on the front as well the thought of being a fox flying through space got me intrigued enough to buy it as a kid. I wonder what ever happened to those figures that they used for the box and posters. It'd be cool if they popped up somewhere at a garage sale.

The only other game I can think of that used the Super FX well was Vortex, but it's been awhile since I've played it and can't remember if the framerate is an issue.

[Emehr]

Yeah, Star Fox is pretty great. I actually like filled polygons. They leave a lot to the imagination and give games a surreal, otherworldly feel. The music is fantastic (very John Williams-inspired) and the gameplay is just about perfect. I've never had an issue with frame-rate. As long as the control can keep up, and it does, then it's usually not a problem for me. I also love the garbled voices. They gave the game a unique character that was lost in Star Fox 64, which I'm not a huge fan of. That game was mostly forgettable for me. I played through it once and couldn't describe any stand-out moments from it.

Vortex. I gave it a couple tries but the game feels like a complete mess. It feels like a prototype for the SuperFX chip. It's as if this is what they presented to Nintendo at the beginning, Nintendo got a feel for the abilities of the chip, and went off to design the excellent Star Fox. Vortex is like, not to be too gross, the afterbirth. There are no redeeming qualities about it. The ship transforms, which would be cool if it didn't look so horribly generic. The control is terrible and non-intuitive. I'm not even sure if it had music. The game had some potential but it lacked focus and good design.

Stunt Race FX leaves a lot to be desired. The control feels sloppy to me and that makes the game unplayable.

Yoshi's Island is about the only other SuperFX chip game I think is great. This is another one that excels on the SuperNES but has a sequel that goes limp on the N64.

[Csonicgo]

Star FOX space levels were great since you felt helpless in a huge fight in first person mode. on the N64 they really turned this up a notch. I really recommend playing this on a big stereo too, the stereo effects are great!

[Punisher5.0]

I still have to relive the Starfox days. I remember being blown away by it as a kid. I also need to pick up a StarFox 2 cart one of these days.

Austin, on Tue Dec 27, 2011 4:11 PM, said:

The first thing I noticed after playing it again is the inconsistent framerate. Fortunately it has its smooth points, but it's very choppy at times, sometimes just a couple of frames per second. Time has definitely not been kind to this game in that regard.

Believe it or not there is a fix for this. I know of a couple of people who have overclocked the game itself. Makes it run smoother and faster.

[thegoldenband]

The jury's still out on the effects of overclocking Star Fox. Some sources suggest it doesn't increase the number of frames that get rendered, but merely plays them back faster. Others disagree, and others say it's a combination of the two -- the game plays back too fast and renders more frames. It's been frustratingly difficult to get any empirical information about this; it seems like everyone's just kinda eyeballing it.

Vortex, OTOH, was confirmed as rendering more frames (smoother) without inappropriately increasing gameplay speed. Again, though, I don't know if that's been empirically measured.

[Austin]

Punisher5.0, on Thu Dec 29, 2011 11:11 AM, said:

I also need to pick up a StarFox 2 cart one of these days.

Have repros been made of this? If so, I will have to see about getting one, too! Was the game actually completed, or is it in a mostly-finished state? or worse? Admittedly I never did do much research on this game.

[Csonicgo]

Austin, on Thu Dec 29, 2011 3:17 PM, said:

Punisher5.0, on Thu Dec 29, 2011 11:11 AM, said:

I also need to pick up a StarFox 2 cart one of these days.

Have repros been made of this? If so, I will have to see about getting one, too! Was the game actually completed, or is it in a mostly-finished state? or worse? Admittedly I never did do much research on this game.

I've heard that it was ACTUALLY FINISHED, but since SNES was dying in Japan, it was never really put to production, and left to stay dead on the shelf until someone found it, dumped it, and sneakily leaked it onto the internet. Whoever that was, I thank them, it's great and the translation really is good that's out there now.

[Emehr]

Re: Star Fox 2. Why Nintendo doesn't release this for the Virtual Console just boggles my mind. To most people who are into the VC but not aware of its existence, it would be like a new game for an old system. They could even market it as such on their website ("Never before released! Star Fox 2!"). They own the IP. The cost would be negligible.

[Csonicgo]

Emehr, on Thu Dec 29, 2011 4:26 PM, said:

Re: Star Fox 2. Why Nintendo doesn't release this for the Virtual Console just boggles my mind. To most people who are into the VC but not aware of its existence, it would be like a new game for an old system. They could even market it as such on their website ("Never before released! Star Fox 2!"). They own the IP. The cost would be negligible.

I really wish I could get into the mind of a Japanese videogame company and its suits, but I just can't. It's funny how I can predict what American/European companies will do with a hot piece of IP like Star Fox is But with Nintendo they seem to not get it.

[Punisher5.0]

Austin, on Thu Dec 29, 2011 3:17 PM, said:

Punisher5.0, on Thu Dec 29, 2011 11:11 AM, said:

I also need to pick up a StarFox 2 cart one of these days.

Have repros been made of this? If so, I will have to see about getting one, too! Was the game actually completed, or is it in a mostly-finished state? or worse? Admittedly I never did do much research on this game.

Yep. I think they put them inside SuperFX2 carts. I know there was one repro site making them but they stopped earlier this year (literally the day before I was going to buy it!).

[Austin]

Punisher5.0, on Thu Dec 29, 2011 8:14 PM, said:

Yep. I think they put them inside SuperFX2 carts. I know there was one repro site making them but they stopped earlier this year (literally the day before I was going to buy it!).

Ah, ok, that's what I thought.