January 2020 Playthrough - Star Fox and Star Fox 64

[Disposed Hero]

I made a couple of attempts at playing Star Fox on the harder routes, but I wasn't having much luck and didn't feel like beating my head against it so I decided to put it down. Apparently only the Level 1 route has continues?

So I started up Star Fox 64, which is an old favorite from my childhood, and it holds up very well. I felt like I was having a lot of trouble with hit detection and/or depth perception with the original, but SF64 seems to have solved those issues, as well as added some new features and mechanics that are much appreciated. I liked the original well enough and can appreciate it as a product of its time, but Star Fox 64 really improved on the formula so much that it makes it kind of hard to go back to the original. I plan on doing another run and trying to hit most of the levels I didn't play the first time.

I still want to give Star Fox 2 a try as well, so I'm going to try to make that happen soon. I'm really curious to see how it differs from the others.

[wildbil52]

Played Star Fox 1 yesterday.  Couldn't make it past Asteroid.  Going to give it another go today.  I guess I didn't really play this too much back in the day because I had Zero recollection of the cockpit view segments. 

[bickman2k]

Played Star Fox 1 yesterday.  Couldn't make it past Asteroid.  Going to give it another go today.  I guess I didn't really play this too much back in the day because I had Zero recollection of the cockpit view segments. 

Did the same thing! I don't even think I ever rented it. I think I just played it as a demo at the store or something. It's a lot of fun though!

[EZ Racer]

Played Star Fox 1 yesterday.  Couldn't make it past Asteroid.  Going to give it another go today.  I guess I didn't really play this too much back in the day because I had Zero recollection of the cockpit view segments. 

If the cockpit view bothers you, you can change the view to the chase camera by pressing select, but in my experiences it throws me off because it's harder to judge the distance of the stray asteroids as you navigate the field.

I made a couple of attempts at playing Star Fox on the harder routes, but I wasn't having much luck and didn't feel like beating my head against it so I decided to put it down. Apparently only the Level 1 route has continues?

In the original Star Fox you have to earn your continues. You get your first continue after 10,000 points, and a 2nd after 30,000 points. Regardless of the Level, unless you hit 100% on the first stage you have to finish stage 2 before you'll hit the 10,000 points needed.

I played Star Fox a ton as a kid, and still occasionally now, and I've never beaten the Level 3 route. The later stages are crazy. Keep your head up, because once you get the feel for them most of the Level 2 stages aren't bad, and the Level 3 version of Corneria is one of my favorite stages in the game with the balance it strikes between action without over the top difficulty, as well as encouraging risk vs reward manuvers to reach some special items.

[Link41]

I'll be starting Star Fox 64 3D in a day or so.

[Mr_Stubbes]

I made it to Andross twice, but died both times on level one. After the second loss I looked up how to beat him and I think I’ll be set the next time I face him. If I have time I’ll try again tonight. I hoping to finish this soon so I can start up Star Fox 64.

[Razor Knuckles]

Well I gave Star Fox 2 a serious try for the first time recently and I got to say, It's just OK.

I had two playthroughs of this game and on the initial playthrough I had a pretty rough go. The controls just feel janky in the open world and I just had a tough time landing hits. I got a bit used to its clunkiness but never got it down pat. I do like how you can choose your characters with them having their own special ability's. This makes for a more unique playthrough compared to the first Star Fox. I like how you can switch characters before heading into a new battle. I really didn't care for the hub map where you must protect Corneria. It's a interesting change from the first Star Fox but I just like the standard paths from the first.

On my first playthrough I played on the normal difficulty. I had chosen Falco and Fox for my first run. I lost Falco halfway through but managed to keep going with Fox all the way near the end to Star Wolf where I was killed and got a game over.

On the second run I had chosen Falco and Peppy. I also played this on normal difficulty. On this run I managed to make it to the end to Andross and defeated him to complete the game. I was much more familiar with the game on this run. The final boss is similar to the first Star Fox but way easier. This game is very short on normal.

I'm really happy this game was released after all these years. Even if I don't love it. Kinda sucks from the developers view to finish a game and get it scrapped at the last minute. Apparently this was scrapped because the N64 was around the corner and they wanted a clean transition into the new gen console and the upcoming Star Fox 64.  

[img width=375 height=335]https://i.imgur.com/2AHZdUS.jpg[/img]

I played Star Fox 2 on the SNES Classic. I'll be moving on to Star Fox 64 and be playing that on the 3DS next.

[GrayGhost81]

Great thoughts here, team! I grew up playing Star Fox and Star Fox 64 so this has been a fun one.

I ended up playing 64 on my Wii with a Gamecube controller (anything to not hook up an actual N64 LOL). I had started on the WiiU but was having trouble with the controls.

Star Fox 64 is one of my favorite games of all time, but I had some issues beating it this time. The train level with the tank was a major pain. I tried to hit all the switches like six times and always was missing one. Tried to beat the kite-robot boss and just couldn't put him away. Finally completed the level by flipping all the switches. Not gonna lie, I used save states and little bit of the dreaded rewind in Star Fox and Star Fox 2 but with 64 the only 'cheat' I used was a controller with auto-fire.

[Link41]

Beat Star Fox 64 3D early this morning. I must say that the 3DS version is easily the best version to play at this point.

[Mr_Stubbes]

I was able to beat Star Fox on level one the other morning. The Andross fight is fairly easy if you just hug the edges of the screen when going for the eyes and and avoiding the projectiles.

[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/1I2B0lE.jpg[/img]

[img width=700 height=525]https://i.imgur.com/Q00SDO8.jpg[/img]

I’ve only played a few levels of Star Fox 64. I’m hoping to sit down and really get into it in the next day or two. Once I beat that then I might give Star Fox 2 a shot.

[singlebanana]

This just in...... I REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY suck at Star Fox.

[Razor Knuckles]

This just in...... I REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY suck at Star Fox.

The only advice I can give to you and others for the fist Star Fox is never stay still, always keep moving your Arwing in a pattern if you can. And barrel roll ALL THE TIME. You'll hear a metallic dink noise when you deflect an enemy shot from barrel rolling. Also fire your blasters ALL THE TIME. It sounds annoying to do but you get into a rythm doing all this.

[EZ Racer]

Just got going on Star Fox 64. Was making good progress, then the "Solar" level ate all my lives.

[Razor Knuckles]

I gave Star Fox 64 a whirl on the 3DS and quite enjoyed it. I just kept this one simple and followed the easier routes for my playthrough. I used the 3DS control scheme with the gyro controls turned off. I remember not liking the gyro controls when I picked this game up years ago. Overall this port is an excellent version that really makes everything better. The graphics get a nice polish, controls get really smoothed out and the 3D effect is used very nicely.   

I might give this another go around on the harder difficulties in the future but for now this will suffice.

[img width=600 height=338]https://i.imgur.com/9l3oshA.jpg[/img]

[img width=600 height=432]https://i.imgur.com/NEPewhj.jpg[/img]
 

[Disposed Hero]

I made a couple of attempts at playing Star Fox on the harder routes, but I wasn't having much luck and didn't feel like beating my head against it so I decided to put it down. Apparently only the Level 1 route has continues?

In the original Star Fox you have to earn your continues. You get your first continue after 10,000 points, and a 2nd after 30,000 points. Regardless of the Level, unless you hit 100% on the first stage you have to finish stage 2 before you'll hit the 10,000 points needed.

Ah, that explains it. Thanks for clarifying.

I played through Star Fox 2 over the weekend, and I got the impression that it was very rushed, which I guess makes sense considering the circumstances of its release. I still felt like there were some pretty interesting mechanics here, even if the implementation was a bit flawed. I actually enjoyed using the walker/tank thing more than flying the Arwing which was surprising to me, considering that the tank level was probably my least favorite in Star Fox 64. Multiple events happening simultaneously on the map screen also provides a strategy element to the game which I thought was pretty cool.

I may go back and attempt a more difficult route in the original Star Fox and also do another run of Star Fox 64 to hit some of the levels I missed the first time, but we'll see if I actually get around to it. Having played SF64 a lot as a kid and a few times as an adult, I find it kind of tough to go back to the SNES titles, but I can appreciate them as a product of their time.