All aircraft report! Let's Play Star Fox!

Big Geometric Face
-ANDROSS-

Okay, okay, I made that first part up, but still.



A major part of Andross's strategy is to... inhale a bunch of blocks then spit them back out again. Silly, but dangerous - navigating those blocks is a pain, I tell you what.

Even Andross isn't without his weaknesses, however. His eyes make for easy targets, and shooting them is key to taking him down.



Once the eyes are gone, Andross's cubicle core is revealed, and a Nova-Bomb followed by blaster fire is enough to do him in once and for all.

And that's all she wrote. Let's watch the ending, gang!

97%, eh? Not bad, if I may say so.



Dan Owsen, localization pioneer, has a few lines here...

Fox: Come in, Corneria.

Pepper: This is Corneria, Pepper speaking. Congratulations on a job well done.

Fox: Roger, I'm heading back to Corneria.

The game profiles the bosses we fought over the course of the game here, just for you to bask in the glory of victory.

And that's it! Thanks for playing!

Next Time: But what if we had taken a different route...?

Also: Maybe something else as well alongside?

CONGLATURATIONS! ...on route one.

I'll be impressed if you can one-life the other two, though.

I'm having a strange problem in that I remember things from "Starfox"... but I can't remember if it's from the SNES or N64 game. I'm looking forward to seeing route three, since I rarely braved it.

SPOILERS: I one-life route 2 and make it to the second half of the second Great Commander battle on route 3 before dying. So close, and yet so far.

Protip: You can tell which is the real Phantoon because of the three only one will fire directly at you, the other two fire straight ahead.

After years of having on playing this game I dont think I ever once beat Route 3.

Huh. I can't say I ever noticed that before - good eye.

Route 3's honestly not too bad, once you have a general idea how it runs. The big challenges lie in avoiding the obstacles in the Asteroid Belt and Sector Z, as well as figuring out the first Great Commander fight - once you have those parts down, the rest pretty much falls into place.

Sector Z and the fire planet are really tough. Sector Z has a ton of blocks you have fly around in space that seem to come into view really fast and an annoying core boss, and the fire place has a ton of boulders and crap flying around.

Woo, route 2 next! I remember I would always do route 2 just because the dinosaur planet(Fortuna) and its boss were so rad. Not that I probably ever beat it!

So the Giant, Super Phantron is the exact same size and dimensions as the regular, tiny Phantron?

Huh, something I only just noticed is that my copy of the game spelled it "Team Mates" instead of "Teammates."

Space Armada: Greatest music or best music in a Star Fox game? Discuss! I was thrilled when they remixed it for Smash Bros Brawl.

Discussion!
Either the armada music or Sector X/Z. I love them both dearly, and I like a lot of the music even if the asteroid belt and sector music are very very similar.

I love the little musical sting when Phantron REVEALS HIS TROO FORM. It's a silent but equally effective way of saying, "Yeah, you're fucked this time."


Fun fact: In Star Fox 2, Venom is one of the potential stages you can visit, and it's actually beginning to heal since Andross's empire fell.

I realize I've arrived late to this thread, but isn't the joke of "Corneria" that it appeared in the corner of the screen on the map?

Woohoo! I love the Starfox endgame. Ever notice, during the assault on Venom, that the Arwings steadily descend into the atmosphere? You start off in outer space, with only a sliver of white at the bottom of the screen, but by the time you've beaten the boss(es) Venom takes up a large chunk of the background. It's a subtle touch that gives a bit more depth to the on-rails flying.

Hmm.

1. Meteor Base
2. Macbeth (although I'll always wonder why it riffs on "Moliendo Café")
3. Titania
4. Fortuna
5. Sector Y

The last level also works just right with the music cues.

I... wow, I totally didn't notice the atmosphere thing until now. That's very subtle; the amount of creativity and attention to detail in this game is staggering to this day, even if the graphics don't hold up too well.

This is how I'd arrange it, personally. If we're including the other themes as well, then the [Professor Hanger] boss battle music would be right at the top where it belongs. Lost In Space (the theme that plays on the map when you're on an off-route stage) would probably be on there as well.

But what if we had taken a different route?



The focus of the second route is much different than that of the first, as while the previous route dealt with smashing Andross's main fleet, route 2 focuses on opening up Corneria's line of supply. Titania and Sector Y, after all, are extremely resource-rich areas that would be valuable in a major conflict - why else would Andross seek to cut Corneria off by building a base in Sector X?



In any case, we still have to focus on freeing everything at home so it's back to Corneria air raids once more.



The stage opens with more of a bang on this route, as if to accent the higher difficulty. The real challenge here is in trying to save Slippy before he takes a hit - trying to navigate the arches while shooting down the ship chasing him can get a bit hectic.



But it all pays off when Fox grabs his first blaster upgrade. Hoo-hah!

With the Twin Blasters, the stage is Fox's oyster at this point. Slippy's considerate enough to help us with our large-scale slaughter by leading a ship right in front of us.




There's a lot more maneuvering in this route, what with the falling columns and the closed spaces. The extra nova bomb is nice, however.



And, of course, it's time we squared off with an old foe...

Advance Scout Mother Ship
-ATTACK CARRIER-



It's pretty much the same dealy-o as the last time we fought him, er, it - shoot at the compartments when they open and watch them go up in flames.



After a quick (and I mean really quick) fight, the Attack Carrier goes down once more - hopefully for the last time.

Huh, 100%? Normally I tend to make mistakes on Corneria, since I'm just getting warmed up, but I'll take any positive score if I can. Now it's off to Sector X to smash Andross's base!

Next Time: Sector X and the Return of the Rock Crusher!

They do something similar in Star Fox 64 too. At the beginning of Area 6, Venom is far away but by the time you get to the boss, Venom takes up roughly 3/4 of the screen. Bolse is obviously different since it's an all-range level, but if I remember correctly they do something similar with Fortuna in the Asteroid Field.

I remember turning off the voice acting and sound effects in Star Fox 64 and marvelling at how much better the music sounded.

Does not compute.

I've been playing Starfox 64 on VC lately and the voice acting is a lot worse than I remembered, so I may try that. It was a cool feature back when the game came out but it gets tiresome.

Also, it occurred to me when I was playing it that Nintendo's mistake with this series is in thinking the animal guys are the main characters when the vehicle they ride in is really the star of the game.

The animals have charm, though. Falco's attitude, Slippy's ditzy-ness, and Peppy...well, Peppy sucks. But when they tried to replace him with Krystal, the series started to take a turn for the worst. But that's not the worst thing they've done.

Nintendo has made four bigger mistakes re: Star Fox. I would get into it, but then I'd have nothing to talk about during my Star Fox 64 LP. So...yeah.

Area 6, the boss music, the credits music, and the Star Wolf theme are all pretty great...but I can't really remember anything else that stands out. I was/still really am upset that they didn't keep the main theme from Star Fox in Star Fox 64 and subsequent games. The music in Star Fox 64 had the whole "early N64 game"-thing going. It doesn't really stand up too well, I think.

This.

Does anyone else remember the Nintendo Power promos leading up to this game? Who else put together the paper Arwing model that came with one issue? That was awesome. And more importantly, it was all about the ship, not the characters. We didn't get a Fox paper doll, we got a freaking bad-ass star-ship.

I just tried this, it's true!

Oh Katina, I forgot how awesome your music is. And how awesome the associated level is.

But you kind of need the voices to get the real atmosphere of that level. You're in the middle of a huge, complex dogfight; the voices help give the impression that it isn't just you against the world, even though it kinda is.