StarFox

I remember first laying eyes on StarFox at a game store display, and pretty much freaking out. I believe I would have killed a man on the spot if it would have resulted in me walking away with the game. The idea of a space shooter was, of course, not particularly unique. The idea of a space shooter with 3D polygon ships and architecture was. It was especially unheard of for a console. This was made possible by the Super FX coprocessor chip, which StarFox acted as a flagship title for. As Argonaut Games designed both the chip and the game, this should come as no surprise. What is a surprise is that the game is far more than a simple tech demo, and completely worth every single bit of freak-out I had.

StarFox follows an elite crew of anthropomorphic animals, led by “Star” Fox McCloud, as they protect their homeworld from the fleet of an angry mad scientist gorilla. Fox and company’s Arwing fighters offer them great maneuverability, upgradeable weapons, the ability to fly from the cockpit in certain levels, and look pretty stylish for being made out of enough polygons to count on two hands. The crew fights across multiple levels on three different difficulty paths, with unique levels on each path. All roads leading to the enemy homeworld of Venom, a very strange but cool-looking boss fight, and an escape cutscene right out of Return of the Jedi.

I usually don’t talk about graphics this early in the reviews, because they rarely make the game. Here, they absolutely do. The Super FX chip works exactly as advertised, creating fast, sharp enemies and a suitable illusion of 3D. Explosions and smoke are still sprites – either in a large graphic or in smaller dots simulating microscopic, fiery debris – but everything else is constructed of 3D polys moving realistically inside a 3D space.

You’ll note the ground never actually moves, and motion is merely simulated by a rolling carpet of dots or stars. This isn’t a complete 3D “world” as in modern games. Still, this is only an issue if you’re looking to critique it. Buildings will fly past you at impressive speeds, enemies zip around in vertical shooter flight patterns, and lasers exist as actual objects that must be artfully dodged.

Likewise, the entire game is built using only handfuls of flat, monochrome polygons, but the ship designs make the most of the limited resources. It also allows for specific parts of ships to shear off and tumble away; something that wasn’t common in earlier shooters. Bosses can have missile pods or launch bays shot off, smaller fighters break apart into shards and sparks when destroyed, and your craft can lose wings on either side if they take enough damage to that location. The broken wing is visually apparent and noticeably limits your handling.

The gameplay is best described as an invisible corridor – a term I believe that even the manual itself coins. The camera sits in a static position behind the ship. The ship is free to move around the edges of the screen while always flying forward at a constant speed. It’s similar to video backdrop games like Microcosm, except there are no twists and turns here. Enemies and objects come at you from further down the “corridor,” forcing you to dodge them within it or blow them away before they can reach you.

The game is split pretty evenly between space and planet levels. Each function identically – the need to dodge asteroids and buildings both draw from the same basic skill. The space levels allow you to move camera into the cockpit and fly in first-person. This is always optional, and again, exclusive to space levels (technical reasons, I imagine). The fighter controls don’t change, but you now get accurate crosshairs. This makes aiming a snap, while you usually have to adjust your stream of lasers onto your target in third person. The tradeoff is that you can’t see the clearance between space objects and your fragile wings.

You also have the ability to briefly control your speed with a boost and brake function. These are useful for environmental hazards that pop up throughout the levels, like boosting out of the way of falling pillars, or braking to give a door time to open. You will rarely need to use them in combat, or to pursue your enemies. Both speed functions are limited by a generic engine meter that depletes when either one is used, but recharges in a few seconds.

Controlling the ship is fairly easy as well. Standard controls are obvious and responsive, following a flight sim standard of pressing up to dive and down to climb. Brake and boost have individual buttons, as does your laser and a bomb pickup useful for clearing the screen of foes. The final ability makes perfect use of the SNES pad’s shoulder buttons, rolling the fighter 90-degrees to the pressed side. This helps turns, keeps your wings clear of a passing obstruction, or lets you fit through narrow slats in the level (like between buildings). Double-tapping either shoulder button causes the ship to roll, which deflects lasers if you time it just right.

It also makes for a completely pointless victory celebration after defeating a boss – usually after boosting to fly through the resultant gigantor explosion. Don’t look at me. It’s how you’re supposed to play the game.

Music is catchy, upbeat, and generally recognizable. There’s a few digitized voices, usually announcing a pickup, wing damage, or an approaching boss. The actual characters do not talk. Instead, they make unique “wah-wah” noises like the adults in Peanuts. It gives each some personality within the limitations of the time. Their comm chatter displays as subtitles at the bottom, most of which is totally superfluous. You mostly want to watch for anyone calling out for help – they’ll zip by with enemies on their tail, taking continuing damage if you don’t shoot them off.

Your three wingmen do actually kill an enemy or two from time to time, so they are worth having around, but mostly this will affect your end-of-level score. If a wingman’s shields drop to zero, they will pull out of that level and you’ll take a fairly substantial point hit. Otherwise, they serve no direct purpose – though it is amusing to have one say “This one’s mine!” in a reverse of the above situation. You can then steal the kill they’re stalking and listen to some angry “waah woobonoo wanah!” curses.

The only real complaint is that the game can be rather short, and it can be rather difficult as well. Still, the three different difficulty paths, which take you through three different sets of locations, help to offset the shortness. The difficulty, I suppose, is up to you, but the entire game is certainly playable.

Before this game, my favorite space fighter was Wing Commander. It absolutely had much more depth, but the multi-angled sprites for ships didn’t always cut it. StarFox brought forth something much faster, much more 3D, and did an amazing job at replicating all those classic action scenes like space dogfights and outrunning explosions. It probably influenced every 3D fighter sim after it, and somehow managed to create personality, recognizability, and sentiment out of endless frames of a starship’s ass made out of only six or seven triangles. I look at the starship ass shots on this page, and I want to go play more StarFox.

 

The Good

Super FX chip makes an impressive debut in a very fun arcade shooter.

 

The Bad

Short, tough, but still plenty replayable.