Classic Review: Star Fox 64
I was never really a fan of Star Fox back when it originally released. The very first version I played was on the Super Nintendo. For such limited hardware, the developers did the absolute best they could do. But when the Nintendo 64 came around, it felt like Nintendo finally said, “Great, now we can actually do what we wanted to do.”
I remember watching my brother and his friend play it on the N64. I believe they beat it because I distinctly remember seeing the final boss—Andross, that giant floating monkey head. I just don’t remember what the actual ending was because my memory escapes me.
An Adult Retrospective: Getting My Butt Kicked
Since I didn’t remember too much from my childhood, I decided to play it again recently as an adult. But I’m completely getting my butt kicked, even though I’m trying really hard!
It isn’t a bad game by any means. I was actually enjoying myself, and it’s kind of fun. However, it does feel like it gets repetitive. Repetition isn’t always a bad thing—there are plenty of games that I love that give the repeat feeling. But for a repetitive game to work for me, it has to be incredibly entertaining. If it’s just mediocre and the music makes me feel drowsy then I’m going to get bored and tired of it quickly.
Star Fox falls right in that borderline range for me. Funnily enough, I didn’t stop playing this time because I got bored. I stopped because I straight-up couldn’t hack it. Even with my adult gaming skills, I’m just like, “Man, I can’t do it. I can’t get far.” It is too tough!
I died at the boss just a few stages in. I tried a few times, but I kept failing. Hopefully, next time I give it a try I’ll be in better spirits and do much better.
I’d love to play it co-op with someone else to help me out, because I suck at it! I would also absolutely love to play it on the Nintendo Switch with completely modernized graphics.
That “Other” Star Fox Game
I was also curious about that other entry in the series—the one that plays more like an action-adventure game. I had to look it up, and it’s called Star Fox Adventures.
Originally released for the Nintendo GameCube, it takes a completely different direction. You still fly around in your Arwing for certain segments, but you actually land on “Dinosaur Planet”. Once you land, you explore on foot, complete missions, solve puzzles, and use a staff for combat. It looks really interesting to me because having a little bit of both worlds going on is awesome.
Ultimately, I really like the characters in this universe. It’s so funny how they are all just different animals from completely different planets. And, of course, it gave us the most famous gaming quote of all time: “Do a barrel roll!”
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