This is yet another game that I doubt I would have ever owned had I not played a demo of it at Wal-Mart. I never played the original Star Fox for the Super NES (and to this day, I still haven't) so I had no expectations when I went into this game. Also, the controller for the demo was messed up when I played it. I couldn't keep the Arwing very high in the air for very long and I never finished the first level because I kept crashing. And yet, despite that, what little of the game I played at the Wal-Mart was enough to let me know that this was one I was going to play in-depth the first chance I got. What really sold me were the characters' distinct, likable personalities as well as the fact that there was much more dialogue in this game than I had ever heard in any game before. I just thought that was so cool. In any case, I rented the game many times from my local video store and finally owned it when I received it as a Christmas present in 1997. While there are some things about the game that irked me as a kid and still kind of get under skin now, I feel that, on the whole, this is one of the N64's most well put together and fun games.
The story of Star Fox 64, which you can hear on an opening crawl when you first activate single player mode, takes place in the Lylat System. On the fourth planet, Corneria, a brilliant scientist named Andross goes mad with power and nearly destroys the planet before being exiled to a distant planet called Venom. Five years later, when strange activity is reported at Venom, the mercenary Star Fox team is sent to investigate. One team member, Pigma, betrays the team, resulting in the other two members, Peppy Hare and the leader, James McCloud, to be captured by Andross. Peppy manages to escape but James is killed by Andross. A few years later, Andross declares war on the Lylat System and a new Star Fox team headed by James McCloud's son, Fox, is contacted by General Pepper of the Cornerian Army to defeat the power-mad scientist.
From my research, it seems that Star Fox 64 came into being when master game-creator Shigeru Miyamoto decided to shelve the proposed sequel of the original Star Fox in favor of using the more powerful capabilities of the Nintendo 64 to create a much more striking and advanced game. Star Fox 64 is a remake of the original game that also combines elements from the canceled sequel. Miyamoto himself said that 60% of the game is remade from the original while 30% is from the sequel and 10% is completely original. Looking at existing screenshots of Star Fox 2, you can definitely see that a lot of it was incorporated into Star Fox 64. While I've never played the original game, I've always found Star Fox 2 to be a fascinating curiosity piece. It was covered extensively in Nintendo Power and other gaming magazines (I didn't have a subscription to any gaming magazines at the time but I've learned about this after the fact) and there were many screenshots from it but it was never released. It's odd because the Japanese version of the game, at least, was finished (it's unknown whether the English version was ever completed). I don't see why they just didn't go ahead and eventually release it. Nowadays, I don't see why they couldn't put it on the Wii Virtual Console if it's at least playable. Just one of those mysteries of video games, I guess.
The gameplay is interesting. In each level, you control one of three vehicles being operated by Fox McCloud. Most of the time, you're flying a jet-like vehicle called an Arwing but there are a couple of levels where you pilot a tank called the Landmaster and in one level, you operate a submarine called the Blue Marine. Most of the levels are in a rail-shooter corridor mode where your vehicle goes down a fixed path and you can maneuver around to avoid obstacles and shoot at enemies. A few levels as well as certain sections of various levels are in All-Range mode, where you can move around freely to engage an enemy in combat (the Arwing is the only vehicle you can operate in All-Range mode). Nearly every level has a boss you face at the end of it. In fact, both levels on the planet Venom have a secondary boss that you face before moving onto the battle with Andross. Where the gameplay becomes atypical is in its non-linear series of levels. Depending on what path you take in a level or whether or not you succeed in achieving a certain objective, the path you take throughout the Lylat System in order to reach Venom tends to be different through each playthrough. The planets along each path vary in difficulty: the bottom row of planets is the easy path, the middle one is the medium, and the top one is the hard path. On top of that, you get a different game ending depending on which path you take to Venom. There's no save feature so you're intended to finish the game in each playthrough and if you don't or get a game over, you have to start from first mission on Corneria again. While I personally prefer the normal fixed series of levels in a game, I won't deny that this does enable the game to provide you with a different experience each time you play it.
The three vehicles share some aspects such as upgrades and weapons but are also different in what they can and can't do. The Arwing has the largest number of different maneuvers. It can brake and boost, perform a somersault so you can flip around behind a pursuing enemy, and in All-Range mode, it can perform a U-turn. There's a maneuver called the barrel-roll you can pull off by pressing the Z-button twice. This move deflects enemy fire. You can also pick up a maximum of nine smart bombs and fire them with the B-button in order to clear out huge clusters of enemies (you can wait for them to explode on their own or detonate them by pressing the B-button again). By holding the A-button, you can charge your laser as well as lock onto enemies and fire upon them. The Arwing starts out with a single laser blasters but you can acquire laser upgrades strewn throughout the levels. Flying into one enables you to fire two blasts and flying into a second upgrades your two blasters up in power. Your upgrades do carry over from level to level. However, if you get killed or lose one of your wings, you downgrade back to one. You can repair your wings by flying into another laser upgrade or a special wing repair item.
The Landmaster tank has many of the same capabilities as the Arwing: boost, brake, and barrel-roll (however, the barrel roll here is for avoiding enemy fire and doesn't deflect it). The Landmaster can also hover in order to get over obstacles. You can also lock on to enemies and fire smart bombs with the Landmaster but you can't upgrade your laser. The Landmaster tends to be my least favorite vehicle in the game because it's difficult to hit airborne enemies from the perspective you have while being stuck on the ground. The Blue Marine sub is basically the Arwing except underwater. In addition to boosting, braking, and barrel-rolling (which does deflect enemy fire here), the Blue Marine can also upgrade its lasers and lock on. In place of smart bombs, the sub has an unlimited supply of torpedoes which light up the darkness as well as destroying enemies (trust me, you'll be glad those torpedoes are unlimited because the level where you use the sub is choked with enemies). All the vehicles encounter the same items that enable you to regain health, which are these rings that you have to fly or drive through. Silver rings recover a little bit of damage but you usually encounter a lot of them to make up for it; there are some rare silver star-shaped rings that appear in the later levels that recover much more health than the normal ones; and finally, there are gold rings which recover the most amount of health. On top of that, if you get three gold rings, your life bar becomes longer and another three gold rings gets you an extra life.
As I said, what really struck me about Star Fox 64 were the characters and the actual use of voice-acting. It seems that in the original game, the characters spoke in gibberish that was supposed to be the actual language of the Lylat System (also, it seems like the PAL version of this game has a feature where you can enable that Lylat language among the dialogue). Here, though, the characters talk and act like real people. The dialogue may not be exactly Oscar-worthy, mind you, but at the time, this was quite impressive for a game. During each level, there is a lot of com-chatter between the characters as they relay to you gameplay advice, technical information on the strength of the bosses you come across, alert you to hidden paths in some levels, or just bust each other's chops, as you would expect members of a mercenary team who've known each for a long time to do (like the members of Dutch's rescue team in Predator). While I do enjoy the characters most of the time, they do tend to grate on my nerves in all-range mode levels where they're constantly getting chased by enemies and always call on you to help them. Even after you help, they tend to get in trouble again (especially Slippy Toad). It's like they can't do anything for themselves in those situations. Also, if their life-bar is drained completely during a mission, they're forced to retreat and have to sit out the next mission while their ship is being repaired. That makes you really paranoid when you're flying through a huge cluster of enemies and shooting constantly because your team members have a bad tendency of flying right into the line of fire and if you accidentally shoot them, they will admonish you for it. That can get old really fast. In All-Range mode, if you're not careful, you can fly into them but even though you can lose a wing, I do like hearing them complain: Peppy Hare yells, "Watch where you're flying!" and Falco Lombardi goes, "Get out of my way!" I also like hearing them complain when you shoot down an enemy that they're pursuing. Bottom line, I do think it's a very cool feature but there are times where the characters can get on my nerves.
Let's get this out of way: my least favorite character by far is Slippy Toad. I could just shoot down this little pissant myself if I could. And I know I'm not alone in my thinking. Now, I will give Slippy credit that you need him around when you're battling a boss because he brings up its lifebar but that's about all he's good for. He sucks as a pilot and he can't shoot for crap. The most annoying thing about him is that he's constantly getting pursued by enemies and always whining, "Fox, get this guy off me!" (in fact, he does this within a few seconds of the first mission of the game!) He'll keep whining, yelling, "Oh no!" and "Slippy's hit!" until you help him but even if you do, he'll more than likely get into trouble again and you have to bail him out a second time. That makes his cockiness in one level where he's being followed by enemies even more annoying. He says, "You want a piece of me?" and when you destroy those those enemies, he says, "Take that!" Oh, shut up, Slippy, you stupid, annoying wart-hive! Lyssa Browne's voice acting is irritating as hell too. You have to wonder about his gender because he's supposed to be a guy but there's a woman doing his voice. While women usually do voices for children, including you male children, Slippy isn't supposed to be a child. In any case, the voice, and the character, is just really grating.
The other two characters are much more tolerable, even if you have to bail them out of danger as well from time to time but not nearly as often as Slippy. I like Peppy Hare's role as the oldest, most experienced member of the team who gives you gameplay advice throughout the levels. My favorite voice actor for him is Isaac Marshall who did him in this game because the voice does sound middle-aged but it doesn't sound like somebody who's about to keel over at any moment, as Peppy tends to sound in later games. I just like the personality that comes through the voice: gun-ho but knows he has to rely on his friends and acts primarily as a mentor to Fox, perhaps feeling like a surrogate father to him in light of what happened to James McCloud. On top of that, he utters the popular line, "Do a barrel-roll!" which has become an internet meme in recent years. My favorite team member is Falco Lombardi, the hotshot bird pilot of the team. Granted, he is like the Raphael of the group in that he's a hot-headed smart ass and constantly gives you crap, even when you save his hide from enemies (though, to be fair, he almost never actually asks for help) but he's the most skilled fighter of the group and really tends to help you when you're confronted with a lot of enemies. Plus, I like Bill Johns' voice acting, with all the sarcastic remarks that he throws in. I know some find his attitude to be really annoying but I just love this character. As for Fox McCloud himself, I thought Mike West's acting fit the character well: a confident, young leader who begins to become like his father. Nothing else I can say about that since Fox is the character that you control. Finally, even though he's technically not a member of the team, there's ROB 64 (voiced by David Frederick White), the robot pilot of the team's mothership, Great Fox. Although he stays out of the action for most of the game and mainly gives you technical data, he often calls you and when you respond, he'll send you an item (if you're not missing a wing or you have all the laser upgrades, it's a smart bomb). He does, however, join the action during a very tough mission where he has Great Fox fire its lasers in order to destroy big, Star Destroyer-like crafts that you come across in that level.
The game also has a nice supporting cast. General Pepper, the leader of the Cornerian army, is the guy who informs you of each mission at the beginning of the levels (although, in some instances, he tries to dissuade the team from going if he feels it's too dangerous). Not much say to about him though you have to wonder, though, why he doesn't send his armed forces to help you in the most difficult missions. I do prefer the voice given to him by Rick May in this game to the others (the one in Star Fox Adventures sounded a little too bombastic to me). There are two supporting characters who actually do join you in one specific mission for each of them and appear in another one afterward. Bill Grey, an old friend of Fox's, first appears when you have to help his squadron stave off an attack on a planet called Katina. Whether or not you manage to stop the attack, Bill appears briefly in your very next mission to assist you. Another character is Katt Monroe (voiced by Lyssa Browne), a pink cat with a crush on Falco who appears out of nowhere in one mission and also assists you briefly in the very next mission just like Bill. While I do think Bill is a cool character, I feel that both he and Katt aren't all that useful in the subsequent missions they appear in, especially Katt. But, at least Bill's first appearance is tied into that level's actual mission. Katt just comes out of nowhere. But whatever. I also can't be certain if James McCloud is really dead or not because after the real battle with Andross you engage in on Venom, James appears to guide you out of the rapidly exploding base. Once you escape, he disappears without a trace so you're not sure whether he was a ghost, an illusion, or if that really was him. In any case, he's given a deep, commanding voice by Mike West that is quite striking when you first hear it, especially when you consider that it's the same guy who does Fox's voice.
The look of Andross has always kind of perplexed me. Each time you encounter him, not only in this game but in Star Fox Adventures as well, he's always a gigantic floating head and hands. I'm sure that's not his real form and he just became that in order to battle you but it just never looked aesthetically useful in the long run. How could he have become such a great scientist and created a huge empire if he's just a floating head and hands? In any case, in this game, Rick May gives him a booming voice that sounds almost mechanical, kind of like Darth Vader. By the way, Wikipedia noted that he kind of looks like Dr. Zaius from Planet of the Apes and now that I think about it, he does. Other than Andross, the main antagonists that you come across at least once during every playthrough of the entire game are members of the Star Wolf team. They're basically an evil counterpart to the Star Fox team in that they're a mercenary team that Andross has hired. The leader of the team, Wolf O'Donnell (voiced by Rick May), has a cultured, sophisticated voice (in this game, anyway) but nonetheless, is an evil character who thinks he's a better pilot than Fox. Pigma Dengar (voiced by David Frederick White) is the member of the original Star Fox team who betrayed James McCloud and Peppy. His main character trait is that he's a greedy, sadistic pig who only cares about getting a huge paycheck from Andross. Leon Powalski (voiced by Rick May) is a chameleon-like character with a calm, classy, and sinister voice who seems to be a bit arrogant since he sometimes refers to himself as, "the Great Leon!" Finally, there's Andrew Oikonny (voiced by Bill Johns), the young nephew of Andross. He's like Slippy in that he's the youngest member of the team and is the most inexperienced at piloting. He's also not very smart. Every time you encounter the Star Wolf team, the various members will each target a specific member of your team: Wolf targets you, Pigma goes after Peppy, Leon tries to shoot down Falco, and Andrew chases Slippy. Worse, if any of your teammates gets so damaged that they're forced to retreat, whoever was chasing them will join Wolf in pursuing you. You can't avoid the Star Wolf team in this game because no matter what path you take, you'll eventually run into them.
Here's an interesting story concerning myself and the voices in the game. As I said, the voices was something that astonished my ten-year old mind at the time and was what attracted me to the game. However, I kind of grew to hate the game's voices because of the annoyance they unintentionally caused me in my personal life. There was this kid at my elementary school who found out that I really liked the game and once he found that out, he would aggravate me mercilessly during recess, asking what I said when this character said this or when this character said that. What really tore it, though, was when the guy somehow found out my phone number and started calling me and asking those idiotic questions at home. I got so annoyed that eventually, there was a time where he called and my mom picked up the phone but when she called me, I refused to talk to the guy. She was immensely embarrassed and kept yelling at me to talk to him but I was like, "You can threaten me all you want, Mom, I am not talking to that idiot." That kid had been a thorn in my side all throughout elementary school, always annoying me to end. I guess maybe he sincerely wanted to be friends with me at this point but he went about it the completely wrong way. He refused to leave me alone, even when I told him he was driving me crazy. I eventually went to a different school so it didn't matter but I was kind of resentful towards Star Fox 64 for a while afterward. Anyway, that has nothing to do with the game itself but I just some people would be interested in that.
The game is very well designed. Granted, the character designs do have that polygonal look to them that was common with games around that time but the environments with the planets and the enemies especially are quite imaginative in their designs. The enemies don't consist of just typical spaceships, although those do look good. There are big rolling robots, robotic fire birds that drop exploding eggs on you, bizarre-looking crafts called tripods that hover right in front of you while firing, long eel-like creatures that slither through space, bee-shaped enemies that fire swirling multi-colored blasts at you, and a whole lot of others. The most interesting living creatures that you encounter are on the planets Aquas and Zoness, which I will elaborate on when I discuss the actual levels. The bosses are also interesting creations. The first couple of bosses are standard robots and ships but as you progress through the game, they become more complex and imaginative in how they look, as well as much tougher to beat because you often have to hit them in a certain way in order to make them vulnerable and finish the job.
To make the game's replay value even more interesting, there's an Expert mode that you can activate by receiving a medal on each level. You get a medal when you destroy a certain number of enemies as well as if all of your teammates being with you at the end of the level. As you can guess, Expert mode is a much harder version of the typical single player campaign. There are more enemies in each level and your vehicle is much more vulnerable (your Arwing will lose wing if you run into anything). Interesting thing to note about Expert mode is that Fox wears dark sunglasses much like his father, James. In fact, a strategy guide for the game (not the one published by Nintendo Power, mind you) described it as being able to play as James McCloud but that's a big lie. Apparently, if you obtain all the medals on Expert mode, you get a new title screen for the game. Big whoop. (Fun thing you can do with the title screen, though, is that you can move around the 64 in the title and the four characters will actually watch it in curiosity and amazement.) Other stuff you acquire from getting medals include a sound test where you can listen to the game's soundtrack and activate new vehicles to use in multiplayer mode.
As I've said before, being an only child I hardly ever bothered with the multiplayer sections of any games as a kid unless I had friends over. While my friends and I did play the multiplayer of Star Fox 64 every now and then, it wasn't nearly as much as the multiplayer modes of games like Goldeneye or Mario Kart 64. As with most N64 titles, this game's multiplayer can support up to four players and there are three modes of play: Point Match, where the winner is the player who shoots down the other player the largest number of times; Battle Royal, where the winner is the last player who isn't shot down; and Time Trial, where you have to destroy a large number of enemies in a certain amount of time. You start with the Arwing being the only available vehicle but after earning medals in Story Mode, you can use the Landmaster (which can upgrade its lasers here) or have your character walk around on foot with a bazooka. There were only three arenas to play in, though. To be honest, I barely remember anything about the multiplayer on this game. I don't remember it being awful, I just don't remember much of it since we hardly ever played it but that, in and of itself, should say something. I wonder why they didn't have it to where you and your friends could play in Story mode and the team members who weren't being controlled could be handled by the computer? Just saying.
This game was also the first N64 title to make use of the Rumble Pack, which it came packaged with. The Rumble Pack, for those who don't know, was this large peripheral that you would attach to the back of your controller and every time you get hit by something or when there was a gigantic explosion in the game, the controller would vibrate. It was an attempt by Nintendo to make you feel like you were part of the action, like you really were flying along in a huge space battle. Personally, though, I almost never used the Rumble Pack. It was an interesting idea but when I'm in the heat of a huge battle or an intense race (I'm personally referring to Diddy Kong Racing, which also made use of the Rumble Pack), I find the vibration to be more of a distraction than anything else. Unfortunately, games for next generation consoles are now almost guaranteed to have a rumble feature and the controllers for said consoles had the actual mechanism built into them. Some games are good enough to give you the option of turning the rumble off but some don't (I find that to be true mainly with games for the Wii) so you're stuck with it. Didn't mean to go off on a tangent there and if you enjoy the rumble feature in this or any other game, Rumble Pack or not, that's fine but it just bugs me.
The music, composed by Koji Kondo and Hajime Wakai, is pretty good. The main title has become the recognized Star Fox theme and it has a nice, grandiose sound to it (I'm not sure if that theme was in the original game). Some other bits of music that I like include the eerie theme in the Sector X level, the music that plays during the Landmaster levels, the Katina music, the Bolse Defense Outpost music, the Zoness theme, the Sector Z music, the music during the Easy route level on Venom, and the triumphant music that plays after you defeat Andross. It may not be one of the best scores ever created for a video game (to me, at least) but I think it's pretty good and serves its purpose well.
Now for my usual overview of the levels.
Corneria: The first level is a cinch. You must rescue Corneria City from an attack by Andross' forces. Like I said earlier, shows how much of a pest he is going to be throughout the game because he needs you to bail him out of trouble just a few seconds into the first mission. The enemies here include big Garuda robots that throw big steel beams at you as well as push buildings over, sometimes on top of useful items if you don't destroy them quickly; a lot of standard fighter crafts; the aforementioned firebird robots that drop egg bombs on you; mole missiles that shoot up from the ground and head right for you; small tank-like crafts that you'll encounter constantly throughout the game; and ski bots on the water which don't attack you but can get in the way if you try to fly underneath these rock arches. There are two paths you can take to finish this level. The first is to keep following the direction the corridor mode is pointing you in. Completing the level on that path will lead you to the Meteo asteroid field. The other is a bit more of a challenge. There's a point in the city where Falco is pursued by three fighters and his shield malfunctions so you have to help him by taking them down (you'll have to boost in order to get close enough to shoot them). After saving Falco, fly under the series of stone arches on the second patch of ocean and Falco will point towards a different path. This path will take you to Sector Y. Both paths lead you to a different boss you must fight but they're both ridiculously easy. The boss on route 1 is a giant robot who is one of the most vulnerable enemies in the entire game. All you have to do to destroy him is shoot the green panels on his back. You can shoot one of his legs off to make him completely defenseless but that's not even necessary to defeat him. (You get an extra life if you fly between the robot's legs and do somersault without bumping into him.) The boss on route 2 is a huge aircraft carrier that is also very easy. All you have to do is shoot the insides of its three launch bays when they open. After you destroyed them, the actual craft will vulnerable to attack.
Meteo: This level's pretty straightforward. You have to destroy 200 targets to get a medal here but the enormous amount of asteroids (which do give you points when you destroy them) and enemies make it an easy task. Some types of asteroids you can blow up, while others you can't. At one point, you come across these huge, planet-like asteroids and you better follow Peppy's advice on what to do to keep from getting crushed. There are also a couple of long, hollow asteroids that you must fly through. The enormous amount of enemies consist of wedge-shaped spaceships, lasers attached to certain asteroids, a type of robot that hops up and down while firing at you, long, eel-like creatures that shoot fireballs at you, robots that are only vulnerable when their orange backsides are facing you, butterfly-like fighters that cluster together in formations, robots that create webs that you can run into if you're not careful, and the bee enemies that fire swirling blasts at you (you can't lock onto them). As with most, there are two ways to exit this level. The first is to fly through the asteroid field to the end where you battle a huge ship. This ship has several glowing yellow sections that are obviously where you shoot it. The ship does have a shield that absorbs your laser blasts and fires them back at you, an attack that shoots electrical bolts at you, and two laser blasts that are shaped like a series of rings but again, it's so obvious where you need to shoot that it's not that hard. Beating this boss sends you to Fortuna. However, if you fly through the seven warp rings in the area before you reach the boss (which is difficult to do because your ship starts spinning crazily after you go through a good number of them and it's hard to maneuver), you'll enter into a strange dimension with a number bizarre enemies and whole lot of items that will eventually lead you to Katina.
Fortuna: This is the first completely All-Range mode level of the game. Your mission is to recover the base from the enemies that have taken it over. (By the way, doesn't this level remind you of the ice planet Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back? Heck, even the situation is kind of similar.) When you first start the level, you may think it'll be easy since all you have to deal with are these very vulnerable saucers but ROB 64 will eventually inform you that a time bomb has been planted at the base. And that's when the Star Wolf team attacks. Now you have a time limit to where you must take out the Star Wolf team so you can diffuse the bomb. The problem is that the evil mercenaries' ships are fast and hard to hit. You can lock onto them but they often manage to outrun the charged up laser blast. You can flip around to tag the one chasing you but he'll often take evasive action and it's hard to keep him in your sights. You often have to bank really hard to do so. This is one of those levels where I tend to get annoyed at my other teammates. They're all calling for your help but you've got your own problems with Star Wolf himself baring down on you. Your best bet is to target each member of the team one at a time and shoot them enough to where your teammate can turn the tables on his pursuer. Unfortunately, Slippy usually gets in trouble again even after you help him (of course). You shouldn't be scrapped for health, though, because there are radar beacons that give up silver rings when you destroy them. Where you go next depends on the outcome of the situation. If the Star Wolf team evades you and the base is destroyed, you'll proceed on to Sector X. If you manage to shoot the members of the team down, Fox will fly into the base, diffuse the bomb, and proceed to Solar.
Sector X: This is an interesting level in that you're sent to investigate a rumored secret weapon that Andross has been working on but when you reach the base, you discover that it's been destroyed (if you know anything about science fiction, you can probably guess what the cause is going to be revealed as). Even though it's now a big floating field of debris, the place is still crawling with enemies. There are canine robotic fighters that attack you when you get close, robot fighters that tend to link up in groups of three, more of those killer bee robots, floating space mines that explode automatically when you get too close, and automated lasers on the floating remnants of the base. There are also these floating spy satellites which don't attack you and in fact, are quite useful because they contain items. Besides the enemies, you also have to avoid big floating pieces of debris and there are spots where you have to maneuver your Arwing carefully to fly through openings in the really big pieces of the base. There are three possible ways to complete this stage. Eventually, you'll come to a fork in the path and if you go left, you come across four gateways that you can open by shooting them repeatedly until they turn red. If you fly through all four (which is a bit tricky since they tend to disconnect from the pieces of debris they're attached to), you'll enter a warp zone similar to the one in Meteo and you'll travel to Sector Z. If you fail to open the gates or you take the right path instead, you'll eventually face the boss which, predictably, is the secret weapon which has gone haywire. It's a large, floating robot torso and there are two phases to the battle. First, you have to shoot at its head when its glowing eyes are visible while avoiding laser blasts from its head and its hands which it shoots at you like missiles. When you keep shooting it and blow its head off, you'll think you've beaten it but the robot comes back to life for another round (the thing even wags its finger at you). This time, it has a head that's much smaller and harder to hit and at the same time, you have to dodge faster laser blasts, the robot throwing big pieces of the base at you, and it spinning around while flailing its huge arms. If you manage to destroy the robot quickly, you'll move on to the planet of Macbeth. However, Slippy will charge at the robot early in the second phase and if he gets hit by the robot's hand, he'll tumble towards the planet of Titania and you'll have to go there to rescue him next.
Titania: This is basically the Lylat System's version of the planet Mars with the red sky and red sand everywhere. It's actually an interesting level in design because of the ancient architecture which hints at a long lost civilization as well as strewn about skeletons of some species of large creature. This is one of the two levels where you use the Landmaster tank and while its useful in attacking all the ground-based enemies, it's hard to hit all the enemy fighters in the sky (even when you're in the Landmaster, you still have to occasionally save your comrades, who are in their Arwings, from pursuing enemies). There are plenty of enemies and hazards here. There are gigantic crawling robots that aren't that hard to destroy but you will take damage if you drive into them, robots on hills that throw boulders at you, enemy tanks which aren't hard to destroy but they often travel in groups, and crafts that dump land mines on you. Speaking of which, there are land mines everywhere in this level and they're hard to get a lock with the Landmaster's turret. There are also big explosives that detonate when you get close but if you shoot them, they'll jump away and explode in the air. There are tall, sentry towers that shoot long lasers at you and it's tough to avoid two or three in a row because they criss-cross each other. On top of all that, there are sections where you have to avoid giant pillars which tumble down towards you. There's a valley right before the boss where all of the hazards come out of the woodwork at you and it can get frustrating, especially on Expert mode. The boss here is a bizarre, four-armed, skeletal creature that has Slippy in one of its hands. To free Slippy, you must destroy the other three arms and when you destroy the fourth one, its beating heart behind its rib-cage will exposed. The boss' attacks are laser blasts from its upper arms while it tries to smash you with its lower ones and a Godzilla-like energy blast that it shoots from its mouth. This boss can be tricky but if you keep a cool head, you'll eventually take it down.
Bolse: This space station is the easy route's entry into Venom. This is an all-range mode mission and the first part is simple. You have to destroy the six shield reactors so you can attack the energy core (the enemy fighters flying around the station are shielded as well). You have to fight the station's gravitational pull during this section and the energy rays emitting from the reactors can damage your ship but it's not too difficult. Once the shield is down, a swarm of fighters will come out of the center of the base. There are laser cannons spread along the surface of the station. Worst of all, if the path you took through the Lylat System didn't lead you to Fortuna or if it did and any members of the Star Wolf team escaped that mission, you'll have to deal with them here. The good news, though, is that there's no time limit here and since the station has stopped rotating, flying is much easier. During the dogfight, the energy core will eventually reveal itself. To destroy it, you have to blast the eight yellow panels on the towering center of the core. This task is made complicated by the core's constant turning as well as the fact that destroyed panels start spraying laser blasts. I never found this to be too difficult a level, though.
Katina: This is the first of the three medium levels. To get here, you'll either have to use the warp in Meteo or be redirected from Sector Y (I'll elaborate on that later). In any case, this level is straight out of Independence Day (which makes sense seeing as how it was the biggest movie of the year before this game's release). It's an all-range mode level where you join the squadron led by Fox's old friend Bill Grey in staving off an attack on the planet's base. When you first enter the stage, you may find it difficult to differentiate the enemy ships from those in Bill's unit. The difference is that the enemy fighters are saucer-shaped whereas the friendly ones look like jets. Even with that difference in mind, though, you more than likely will accidentally destroy some friendly crafts. While your targeting computer will only lock onto enemies, the charged up blasts will destroy any friendly crafts that are too close. It's best not to use smart bombs as well. Eventually, an enormous mothership will enter the battle and position itself above the base. It first will spew out more fighters from its four hatches. You must destroy all four of the hatches, which can get tricky because they're constantly opening and closing (Bill will tell you when they're opening). After they're destroyed, the saucer will expose its powerful laser core. You have one minute to destroy it before it charges up sufficiently to vaporize the base. Much like the Fortuna mission, where you go next depends on whether you save the base or not. If the base is destroyed (again, that cinematic comes straight out of Independence Day), you'll be redirected to Sector X. If you succeed in defeating the saucer, you'll proceed on to Solar (Bill will briefly join in both missions when you arrive at them from here).
Solar: This level is basically the Lylat System's sun. Your biggest enemy here is the heat. You have to stay as high as you can because the closer you get to the molten surface, the faster you'll take damage. To complicate that, there are sections where there are huge swells in the lava which you absolutely must keep from touching. There are also large swarms of birds made of lava, some of which will chase your teammates, and gigantic fireballs that spring up across the surface. Fortunately, items are all over the place here, revealed when you blast apart rocks that spring out of the lava. If you come here from Katina, Bill Grey will appear briefly and if you follow him, he'll drop some items for you. This is one of the few levels where there are no hidden paths or outcomes. Your next destination is always the same. The boss here is a gigantic, mantis-like bioweapon that's made entirely of magma. It's not too difficult to beat though. You first have to destroy its arms and after that, just shoot its mouth until its dead. It will create tidal waves of lava with its arms and once you've destroyed them, it will sling its sizzling hot magma bodily fluid at you as well as splash into the lave to create a huge swell. It also spits rocks at you from its mouth but those rocks are filled with items so it's unknowingly helping you on that score.
Macbeth: This is the other Landmaster level. The planet serves as the location of the factories and plants that create Andross' weapons. Your main target here is a supply train that's heading for the main weapons factory. The thing is that the train is not defenseless in the slightest. It dumps enormous boulders in your path as well as sends them hurtling towards at several points and it also has a car with a tower that fires missiles at you or at a nearby hill to put more boulders in your path. The engineer will also activate security bars that you have to hover over and, of course, the sky is full of fighters that your comrades are trying their best to take down (you will have to rescue them a couple of times). The train's cars take a number of hits to destroy but the good thing is that they're big and slow, which makes them easy to hit. Destroying some cars will cause chain reactions that blow up a good number of cars ahead of them (though you'll have to blast the cars' charred remains out of your way). Your next destination depends on whether you manage to take out the main weapons factory or not. You'll come across eight switches along the track that will change the train's direction and send it crashing into the weapons factory if you manage to flip them all by shooting them. If you manage that, you'll head to Area 6 next. If you're unable to flip the switches, you'll have to take out a hovering robot that the train deploys (this thing appears while you're trying to flip the switches and if you manage to flip them all, you don't have to worry about fighting it). This robot has a number of fierce attacks including iron bars that it shoots along your path that you must take out, wide beams of energy that it shoots from its wings, and its tail that it uses you scoop you up. You have to target its head and tail (both of which are kind of tricky to hit, especially the head since it's so small) and once they're destroyed, you must shoot the glowing power panel on the train. That will cripple the robot for a few seconds and it will be vulnerable to laser fire. After taking out the robot, you'll head to Bolse. (I must note that I absolutely love the dialogue by the train engineer in this stage, especially when you defeat him. When you change the train's direction, he yells, "No! Hit the brakes! I can't STOP IT!" When you destroy the robot, it'll come crashing towards him and he'll yell, "No! Get away!" Really funny stuff.)
Sector Y: The first of the hard levels, this has you flying into a sector of space to save a fleet of Cornerian ships from Andross' forces. This level is a war of attrition as you fly through in corridor mode and do battle with enormous, heavily armed battleships (you can destroy them but you can disarm some of them by blasting the turrets on their sides), homing missiles, and a ton of flying, robot warriors with shields and large laser blasters. Your next destination is determined before you enter the boss battle. If you destroy less than a hundred enemies, you'll be sent to Katina. If you manage to destroy over a hundred enemies, you'll head onward to Aquas. In order to get the hundred hits, it's best to take the upper path when this one battleship forces you to either go above or below it. The first part of the boss battle consists of you battling two large robot warriors. These guys are quick, agile, and they constantly charge you and shoot at you with their huge laser pistols. They're annoying but I never found them to be that hard to defeat. After you destroy them, though, the big boy, an even larger, silver robot warrior, comes out to play. Despite its size, it's still very agile, is well protected by its large shield, and a direct hit from its laser gun can really damage your Arwing. You can destroy its shield but it takes an ungodly number of hits. After that, just keep sweeping and blasting it until it explodes (with its pilot screaming in rage and defeat right before it does).
Aquas: The sole level where you use the Blue Marine sub, this can be a very tough stage. There are enemies galore here and it can become really congested. You have to constantly fire your lasers and torpedoes just to clear the way as well as destroy incoming threats. Early in the stage, there are little, normal-sized fish that don't harm you but are attracted by your torpedoes and tend to block them from hitting their intended targets. Fortunately, they disappear when you get further into the level. The design of the enemy sea creatures you encounter is quite inspired, I must say but on the same token, they're all very tough and can take a lot of punishment. You have these enormous, long fish that swim across your path, blocking your way; oversized angler fish that take a lot of hits to destroy, even with torpedoes; these weird creatures that look like floating shells at first but open themselves up to reveal humanoid proportions and you can only damage them by shooting their vulnerable insides; big starfish that explode like mines; clams that fire laser blasts at you; jellyfish creatures that link up in threes to create electrical charges (you can't destroy them at all); enormous squids that don't actually attack you but can get in your way; and these scallop-like things that are armored on one side and are best taken down with torpedoes. You also have to admire the Atlantis-like ruins you come across throughout the level, suggesting that there was a civilization on this planet but it eventually sunk into the sea. The boss is an enormous clam monster that isn't difficult so much as it's just annoying. The thing shoots eels out of the pods on top of its shell (you can destroy the pods), and enormous pearls out of the pods inside its mouth (you can only temporarily put them out of commission rather than destroy them). You first have to shoot the two stalks inside the mouth that are holding up the top of the shell until they turn white and then blast them with torpedoes. Once they're both gone, you have to target the clam's eye. It puts a shield in front its eye that you have to shoot until the eye is exposed and then target it with torpedoes. The more you damage the creature, the more pearls it'll shoot to block your torpedo shots so the last two or three hits can be tricky to score.
Zoness: This is another ocean planet like Aquas only this time, you fly above the water in your Arwing. Also like Aquas, this level is choked with unique and challenging enemies, particularly those that travel in big groups. There are two types of bird-like creatures: one type that drops bombs on you and bigger types that tend to chase your comrades; big water skimmers that can only be taken out with charged up lasers and bombs; clam-like things that leap out of the water and shoot energy blasts at you; squadrons of patrol boats; and, worst of all, enormous heavily armored sea serpents that don't attack you but can damage your Arwing if you run into them. You can't hurt those big serpents at all and they pop up very unexpectedly so you must keep your guard up. Fortunately, there are lots of enemy supply boats that yield items when you destroy the containers on their decks and this is where Falco's would-be girlfriend Katt drops in to help and, like Bill Grey, she'll join you on whatever your next mission is. There are also searchlights strewn throughout the level. If you manage to destroy them all (which can be tricky because some are behind these gates whose rudders you have to shoot quickly in order to open them), you'll move on to Sector Z next. If even one spots you, though, and you just have to fly by one without shooting it for it to detect you, you'll be forced to head to Macbeth next. Either way, you'll have to battle the boss, which is a heavily armored battleship operated by an ape who talks like a stereotypical pirate. At first, it's completely invincible to laser fire and you'll have to use smart bombs (fortunately, it shoots plenty of slow moving iron balls that turn into smart bombs when you blast them). First, you have to destroy the twin funnels on the front and while you're trying to do so, the ship will submerge down into the water and fire a big, spiked ball on a chain at you. Once the funnels are destroyed, you have to blow up one of the launching pads on either side of the ship and once you do, the ship will turn around and try to use its backside crane to recover the lost part of the ship. Destroy that crane and the ship will be completely defenseless (you can now use your lasers on it as well as bombs to finish it off).
Sector Z: This All-Range mode level is fairly straightforward at first. The first part of it has you scramble out of Great Fox to take on a number of enemy fighters. These crafts are fast and more heavily armored than most enemy crafts you've encountered before and there will be instances where you'll have to save your buddies from them. There's also a lot of floating space junk so if you're not careful, you could lose a wing. However, if you get too badly damaged, you can fly into the docking bay on Great Fox's backside, you'll come out good as new (you'll have to reclaim your laser upgrades if you lost a wing yourself, though). Where things get dire is when the enemy fires six big missiles at Great Fox. The missiles approach in ever escalating numbers: the first approaches by itself, the next two approach together, and the last three come at Great Fox all at once. ROB 64 will warn you when they are approaching and how far they are from their target. If you don't have the highest laser upgrade, your best bet is to use charged lasers and smart bombs. The missiles move very slowly so you will have a lot of time but the problem is that you have to wait until they enter your radar area to launch a full-scale attack on them; otherwise, your Arwing will automatically do a U-turn. Your friends, including Katt, will help you take them out (if they're not being pursued by enemy fighters, that is) and if you fire rapidly enough, you will destroy them. If Great Fox is hit by any of the missiles, you'll be redirected to Bolse. If you manage to destroy the missiles, you will proceed on to Area 6.
Area 6: As the last level before you reach Venom, this level is a war of attrition in every sense of the term. It's an absolute endurance with thousands of enemy fighters, more of those bee robots, lots of umbrella-shaped space stations that turn and fire multiple laser blasts at you, octopus-like missiles that drift toward that you must take as quickly as possible because the concussions from the explosion can still damage your Arwing even if the missiles themselves don't hit you, and two types of battleships: ones with skulls on the side that can be taken down with a few shots and Star Destroyer-like ones that can only be taken down by destroying the bridge. All three of your teammates will need your help at one point or another and at one point, Andross himself will come on the communication line and taunt you (that is, if you answer the call). The good news is that ROB 64 will have Great Fox fire upon some of the battleships if you answer his call. (Weirdly enough, the two characters in charge of operations here are reptiles instead of apes.) The boss is a large saucer-shaped satellite that has metal tentacles with claws on the ends, a warp mechanism, an unlimited supply of missiles and fighters that it can deploy, and worst of all, a powerful laser that it shoots out of its core like the freaking Death Star. You have to shoot the tentacles to make the satellite open up to reveal its core and then you must shoot the three energy balls rotating around the core (the latter segment is hard because the screen keeps shifting, making it easy to miss). Repeat this process twice and the core will become vulnerable. You have to keep shooting the core and the tentacles until the thing blows up.
Venom: There are two different stages on Venom, depending on which route you took to reach it. If you approach it from Bolse, you'll enter a corridor-mode level where you have to battle swarms of fighters, robots, and small tank-like crafts, enormous pillars that jut out of the ground, and big blocks that will either come flying towards you or form a hazardous forest that you have to navigate through carefully (that latter situation depends on which of the many different routes you take). By the way, this level is nearly impossible on Expert mode. You will die so many times there because there's always something that you'll run into and therefore, lose one or both of your wings. After flying through over such a hazardous planet surface, you'll enter a temple where you face one last boss before the battle with Andross: a running statue that is actually a robot. You have to destroy the rock armor on every part of his body until his head starts rotating and then blast it until it blows apart. After that, the robot's mechanical innards will be completely exposed and you can destroy him with just a few more shots. During the chase, the robot will strike the walls and send long bars in your path (after a while, there will so many that they'll be hard to avoid) and there are also falling pillars and big statues with swinging arms along the path.
After destroying that robot, you head down a long corridor to Andross (fortunately, the game is good enough to give you plenty of items to make up for any damage you received during the level beforehand). This form of Andross with the big floating head and hands isn't that hard to defeat, actually. He tries to smack you with either of his hands and then tries to smash you by clapping his hands together. He also shoots a lightning bolt from one hand and his most damaging attack is when he tries to inhale you into his mouth. When he does that, fire a smart bomb into his mouth or if you don't have any, somersault like crazy to avoid being sucked in. If he does manage to suck you in, he'll spit you back out, causing a lot of damage, destroying one or both of your wings, and disorienting your ship for a few seconds. He also spits out a ton of rocks but fortunately, those tend to have items inside them. His hands are quite vulnerable and so are his eyes. If you shoot him in the eyes, he'll pause momentarily and that will give you ample time to target his hands. Once you've destroyed both of his hands, the brow between his eyes will become vulnerable but only at certain key points, namely after you shoot a bomb into his mouth or when he spits out all those rocks. All you have to do is blast away at those moments until his head explodes. When you've come from Bolse, his head will explode to reveal that, in actuality, you've been fighting a robotic double of Andross. You have to get rid of it quickly because there's no way to dodge it when it charges at you. After you destroy it, you'll get the ending credits but afterward, Andross' head will appear in the sky, revealing that you haven't really defeated him yet.
The real final battle begins when you enter Venom from Area 6. Before you battle Andross, you'll have to battle the Star Wolf team one last time. As if that wasn't bad enough, they're now flying new and improved ships. I've been able to take down their original ships quite easily since I got used to them but the ones they fly here are quite a challenge. They're faster and much more agile than before, with stronger twin lasers (instead of the single ones their original ships fired), the ability to do a barrel roll and create a stronger shield than your Arwing, so much so that even direct hits from smart bombs don't do as much damage. During this fight, your teammates' cries for help are even more annoying than before (Slippy's especially) and I tend to lose most of them, especially if they took a lot of damage from Area 6. Believe me, you don't want to have to face two or more of these improved ships by yourself if you can help it. Even after you manage to turn the tables in your friends' favor, you still have to deal with Wolf himself and a ship that's nearly impossible to get good shots at. This fight will take a long time and you'll lose a lot of lives the first time you try it. My only advice is just to stay patient and keep trying.
After dealing with the Star Wolf team, you'll head to the real final battle with Andross. Getting to him is not very straightforward this time. You have to navigate a maze of corridors until you find him and you have to be careful of the sharp turns or you'll lose a wing. When you get to Andross, the first part of the fight will be the same as the battle with mechanical doppelganger. When you destroy Andross' head, that's when the real battle begins. Andross' oversized brain and eyes will be all that's left. This is a very tricky battle, which is in all-range mode this time. Andross launches his eyes at you on long energy strands that can damage your ship if you touch them and the eyes themselves shoot lasers at you. Those eyes can be difficult to get in your sights because they're on the edge of the field and always seem to get right behind. Your best bet is to keep somersaulting until they're in your sights and blast them away quickly. After you destroy the eyes, it's time to attack the brain itself but this is harder than it sounds. You must shoot the medulla, which is the small section on the back of the brain that's a different color from the main section. The brain moves around quite fast and getting behind it can be tricky because the tentacles underneath it can severely damage your ship and destroy your wings if they get you. To make matters worse, if you accidentally shoot the main section of the brain, it'll teleport right behind you. Tight turns and barrel rolls are your best bets to getting the medulla in your sights.
Even after you destroy Andross, you're still not done. Andross decides to try to take you with him by causing a huge explosion but at the last possible moment, James McCloud suddenly shows up to show you the way out. This last part can be challenging because you can't let James get too far ahead of you and you have to be ready to turn. If you lose James and take the wrong path, you'll fly right into a fiery dead end and be destroyed instantly. Once you make it, you can celebrate because the endurance test is finally over.
Man, that review took a while but it was worth it because Star Fox 64 is one of my favorite Nintendo 64 games by far. It has good characters, groundbreaking use of real voice acting, enjoyable and challenging gameplay, well designed levels and enemies, good music, and a non-linear way of playing that makes for a lot of replay value. If you've never played it before and have a Nintendo 64, I'd say give it a try. Also, if you feel that this isn't your kind of game, remember that I knew nothing about it before I actually played it. In other words, you might just be surprised.
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