Star Fox

aka: NesGlider, StarWing
Moby ID: 6629
SNES Specs
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Description official description

This is the first SNES title using the Super FX chip; you are flying ace Fox McCloud, who with his trusted wingmen and his powerful Arwing starfighter, must rid the Lylat System of the evil that surrounds it. Wave after wave of enemies will fly towards you, and with the advice of your wingmen, you must guide your way through each level and take down as many as you can.

Spellings

  • StarFox - Alternate spelling
  • スター フォックス - Japanese spelling

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Credits (SNES version)

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Reviews

Critics

Average score: 86% (based on 28 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 109 ratings with 2 reviews)

Addictive arcade like game

The Good
The game is simple to play but quite challenging to reach the end goal. Playing all three levels is rewarding and if you play the right order your skills and pattern recognition improves to be ready for the next level. The 3 levels contain the same world at the start and end, but they are in fact different. Enjoyed it!

The Bad
Can be tedious sometimes to repeat the segment time and again to find the pattern of flying that make you win. Graphics take a bit getting used to, at first you are not sure what is coming towards you, but this is getting used to (it's a 1993 game, so understandable. I played it on mini SNES, so that includes save games, without it I would go crazy (having to play it from the start time and again)

The Bottom Line
Fun arcade space shooter, diverse and addictive.

SNES · by Leon Tiggelman (23) · 2020

SuperFX and awesome gamedesign!

The Good
I was skeptical when I first saw this game. Shoot'em ups weren't really my taste back then but all the 3D-stuff made me interested and I tried it out - and loved it ever since.

The whole story is very Nintendo-like as you are playing a fox that (together with three other animal-pilots) fights the evil gorilla "Andros". I like animals...

There are 3 routes you can choose during the game, each more difficult than the other with different planets and enemy bases for you to destroy. The levels are quite linear: You can only fly forward within an invisible "corridor" but with dozens of enemy ships on the screen at all times you're busy enough with what's in front of you anyway.

During the game you can collect all sorts of power-ups, most of which are dropped by enemy ships. They provide you with additional firepower, shields or even a new wing as you can loose one or two of your ship's wings during battle which lowers your steering abilities! You always fly in a formation with three other pilots who sometimes help you, but much more often you are the one who has to shoot down an enemy ship which is chasing one of your mates... at least they reward you with cool sayings.

StarFox is a good example for how to use (for todays eyes) limited resources to create a maximum of atmosphere. The game features true 3D graphics but no textures and not much more than 12 polygons per object. Amazingly, you don't miss anything. The shape of your ship's wings looks just so incredibly cool and stylish that you don't waste a second thinking about the fact that the ship only consists of a few grey and blue triangles. Together with the perfect sounds and background music the game even creates a sense of flying through space in a much more convincing way than the over-colored N64-version of this game did.

The controls work just fine too and there is a short training mission included that explains all the necessary maneuvers. I don't remember how long I've been playing this game but it must have been quite some time as I could finish it with a 100% score...

The Bad
Except for being a bit too difficult sometimes I couldn't find any flaws.

The Bottom Line
One of the best console "shooter" games out there. Highly addictive and well designed. A Nintendo masterpiece.

SNES · by Lumpi (189) · 2004

Trivia

Shelved sequel

Argonaut Software and Nintendo had almost finished the first sequel of the game, Star Fox 2 for the SNES, when the project was shelved due to the imminent release of the N64. Years later, several ROM images of the game made it to the emulation scene, and eventually patches were created, which deleted the developer tools and translated the game to English. The game was officially released in 2017 as part of the SNES Classic Edition.

Development

Star Fox started out as merely a technical demo for the SuperFX chip programmed by Argonaut Software, but Nintendo liked the demo so much that they made a full game out of it. It took approximately 37,440 hours to program the game. (Sources: Nintendo, World Features Syndicate)

Inspiration

It's quite obvious that much of the look, feel, and sound of Star Fox was inspired by Star Wars. Also, the way you blow up the Atomic Core bosses is straight out of the Death Star battle in Return of the Jedi.

Intro

The launch sequence shown when entering the first level features the voice of Dan Owsen (also heard during the Super Metroid introduction).

The sound effects and music played during this sequence make it difficult to hear the dialog, and inaccurate emulation of the game's FX chip results in a significant portion being chopped off (the scene progresses too fast). This has been the case since the advent of FX chip emulation and it has led to misinterpretation and inaccuracies.

The full, correct, dialog is: "Emergency! Emergency! [first pause] Emergency! Emergency! [second pause] Incoming enemy fighters. Prepare for launch."

Title

In Europe, the original name Star Fox was changed to Star Wing due to legal reasons. This is often attributed to the Atari 2600 game Star Fox, but it is more likely that the home computer game Starfox from 1987 (called The Rubicon Alliance in the US) was the problem. Both the SNES and Atari 2600 Star Fox were released in the USA with no reported issues.

Awards

  • GamePro
    • Vol.6, Iss.2 - Shoot-em-up Game of the Year 1993
  • Electronic Gaming Monthly
    • June 1993 (Issue #47) - Game of the Month
    • February 2006 (Issue #200) - #115 out of 200 of the "Greatest Games of Their Time"
  • Power Play
    • Issue 02/1994 - Best Super NES Game of 1993

Information also contributed by Big John WV, Echidna Boy, Terok Nor, Julian Turner, Neville and Tiago Jaques

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Star Fox Assault
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Star Fox 2
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kartanym.

Nintendo Switch added by Kam1Kaz3NL77.

Additional contributors: Terok Nor, Satoshi Kunsai, chirinea, Alaka, Echidna Boy, Patrick Bregger, Thomas Thompson, CrankyStorming, A.J. Maciejewski.

Game added June 14, 2002. Last modified December 20, 2023.