This is the first three-dimensional Nintendo game, and it included a Super FX chip, a coprocessor to accelerate graphics display. This is one of the best games ever made in the days of the Super Nintendo, I remember begging my parents to get that game for me when I was six.
Plot. In the Lylat System, the mad scientist Andross was banished to the barren deserted planet Venom by General Pepper of the Cornerian Army. During his time in Venom, he has created an army and became known as Emperor Andross. Now, Andross has declared war on Corneria, and begins a campaign to invade the entire Lylat System. General Pepper, has decided to dispatch a prototype high-performance combat ship called "Arwing". However, lacking in time to train pilots for the new crafts, he summons the elite mercenary force "Star Fox", headed by Fox McCloud. Their mission is to save Corneria, and free the Lylat System once again.
The difficulty of the game is set in a unique way. There are three difficulty settings, depending on what path players choose. Everytime at the end of the stage, players will encounter a boss in which they have to defeat to progress through the next level. Fox is assisted by three wingmen: Peppy Hare, Falco Lombardi, and Slippy Toad. At certain points they will either shoot an enemy down, or ask for assistance when being attacked. If players don't help them, they will be either damaged or shot down. When their partners are shot down, they will never come back for the rest of the game.
Concept. The purpose of the game is to guide Fox and his wingmen throughout various missions, depending on the difficulty they choose. They fight against a variety of enemies and bosses until they confront Andross himself. The power-ups of the Arwings can give players an advantage.
Design. This game is the first three-dimensional game on the Nintendo. This is one of the very first video games that featured voice acting as well, in the game characters say some gibberish, in which some of them are understandable, like Falco saying constantly, "Do a wing damage!". That is just hilarious. The game's Super FX chip accelerates the graphics display of the game. This game also has interesting sound effects as well.
Development. The game company Argonaut Software worked closely with Nintendo during the early years and days of the NES and SNES. They developed a prototype on the NES, initially codenamed "NESGlider", which was inspired by their early 8-bit game "Starglider", and then ported this prototype to the SNES. Jez San told Nintendo that this was as good as it could get unless they were allowed to design a custom hardware that could make the SNES better at 3D. And so, they created the first graphics accelerator chip, the Super FX. Argonaut brought the idea of using space ships, and Nintendo suggested the "arcade-style shooting" element of the game.
Secret Stages. There are two secret stages of the game: "The Awesome Black Hole" and "Out of This Dimension". The Black Hole (Accessed from Asteroid Belt, Course 1), which General Pepper states is the place where Fox's father disappeared, consists of a "warped space" that loops over and over again. A spinning ring also appears periodically, allowing the player to escape. The player is then taken to a level (depending on which ring they fly through), and continues from that level's path. In Out of This Dimension (accessed from Asteroid Belt, Course 3), the player flies through a surreal area of space and shoots down paper planes for a time.
Rantings. Now, what I do not like of this game is the Asteroid Belt of the third course because, the smiling asteroids were always giving me headaches when I was a little kid. The MacBeth stage was really challenging because of it's volcanic environments. My most hated boss in the game has to be The Great Commander in Course 3, at Venom's Orbit. He was very difficult to defeat. Great Commander got me to the break of almost breaking my SNES controller.
Good Aspects. The storyline and designs of the game made this game unique. Choosing one of the three paths made this game have a high replay value, and it was awesome. Also, I happened to be a fan of Star Fox at that time, and I really loved playing the game when I was a kid.
Overall. Though it is not downloadable on the Wii, it is a memorable game to remember. Most old school players would download the game on emulators and play it when downloading the ROM. This game is one of the best games of the old SNES, and my final score is an 8 out of 10