When my family first got a Nintendo 64, I was excited to try the new generation of games from the Big N, most of whose mainline titles leaped to three dimensions. While mainstream video game critics would hail many of its titles such as Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time to be among the “greatest” games of all time, I would discover years that far better titles existed on future and rival systems such as Sony’s PlayStation consoles, and Nintendo’s retainment of the cartridge medium restricted how much freedom they could take in development. Star Fox 64 was another game I played on the system, later ported to the Nintendo 3DS as Star Fox 64 3D. Does it hold up today?
The rerelease occurs in the Lylat system, where on Corneria, the fourth planet, the primate Andross (never clearly identified as an ape or monkey) unleashes biological weapons, with General Pepper exiling him to Venom and sending James McCloud the fox, the porcine Pigma Dengar, and Peppy Hare after him. However, Pigma betrays the group, James disappears, and only Peppy returns, joining James’s son Fox, Slippy Toad, and the avian Falco Lombardi to form the eponymous mercenary group Star Fox to put an end to Andross’s ambitions, fighting his minions along the way, among them being rival team Star Wolf. The game tells its story well (despite some irritating dialogue), with mission paths having different cutscenes; two endings also exist. The translation is legible, although the localization team could have chosen more original names for a few planets (like Macbeth); some redundant in-mission dialogue also abounds.
Star Fox 64 is a space shooter, with players controlling Fox’s Arwing (sometimes other vehicles) through different missions throughout the Lylat system and on its planets (and sun). Fox can fire lasers at enemies, shoot bombs to detonate them and take out larger enemy groups, fly around to avoid various environmental obstacles with techniques such as barrel rolls to deflect adversarial fire, speed up, slow down, and angle his ship vertically to pass through narrow gaps. Fox can take damage when running into obstacles and receiving fire from enemies, and losing all his vessel’s health costs him one life, necessitating the player restart from the beginning of the mission or midlevel checkpoint. Each stage ends with a boss the player must defeat.
Fox’s comrades also participate in their respective Arwings during the missions, each having their health; however, enemies can disable them and make them sit out on the subsequent mission while their ships are in repair, in which case Fox can destroy the vessels seeking to down them to keep them in action. Most stages have linear paths with occasional branches, albeit with some free-range areas, alongside killer moves such as a U-turn to change direction; at these moments, a radar tracks the action. A learning curve exists, and friendly fire is possible; however, players can select the N64 version’s difficulty or the rerelease’s more merciful setting when starting a new game. Plenty of room for error exists throughout missions, accounting for satisfying gameplay.
Control also serves the game well, with clear narrative direction and a linear structure that allows for branching paths yet never necessitates the internet. Despite their learning curve, the controls aren’t too bad to pick up on. While players can use gyro controls on their 3DS systems, this is mercifully optional. Most cutscenes are further skippable, and the gameplay action is pausable. The only major issue is the absence of a mid-mission suspend save feature.
Most of the game’s music is good, each mission with a unique theme; however, the voicework is almost universally poor. Thus, I welcomed the absence of characters like Peppy and Slippy when enemies knocked out their ships. Falco and maybe Fox are the only remotely passable performances.
The visuals have some positive aspects, including using the system’s 3-D capabilities, a few touchups, and most character designs. However, some holdovers from the N64 version remain, including frequent environmental pop-ups during stage navigation, some blurry and pixilated textures, and the use of only two rapidly alternating frames for the talking animation of the characters for most of the game, which looks incredibly asinine.
A straightforward playthrough can take under three hours; however, plenty of lasting appeal exists in the selectable difficulty, different mission paths, and two different endings. One strike against replayability is the lack of in-game achievements, typical of most 3DS titles.
Ultimately, Star Fox 64 3D is a good rerelease that hits most of the right notes, with updates like its different difficulty settings that made it accessible to a new generation of gamers upon its original release, along with the fluid adaptation to the 3DS’s two screens. The gameplay is fair and frequently fun, rarely feeling cheap, the control is tight, the story is well-paced, the soundtrack is enjoyable, and significant lasting appeal exists. However, the voice acting is still poor, sometimes painful to listen to, and many aspects of the visuals haven’t aged well. Regardless, it’s worth a look from Nintendo fans and other gamers. While the 3DS eShop has long closed, it’s luckily available physically at fair prices online.
This review is based on a playthrough of a digital copy downloaded to the reviewer's New Nintendo 3DS.
Score Breakdown | |
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The Good | The Bad |
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The Bottom Line | |
An enjoyable remaster of a classic. | |
Platform | Nintendo 3DS |
Game Mechanics | 9.0/10 |
Control | 8.0/10 |
Story | 8.0/10 |
Localization | 5.5/10 |
Aurals | 8.5/10 |
Visuals | 5.5/10 |
Lasting Appeal | 8.0/10 |
Difficulty | Adjustable |
Playtime | ~3 Hours |
Overall: 7.5/10 |