Star Fox (1993 video game)
Star Fox | ||
---|---|---|
Composer(s) Hajime Hirasawa | | |
Series | Star Fox | |
Platform(s) | Super Nintendo Entertainment System | |
Release | ||
Genre(s) | Rail shooter | |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Star Fox, known as Starwing in
Star Fox was the second 3D Nintendo game after X for the Game Boy in 1992, and the first Nintendo game to use polygonal graphics, achieved with the Super FX graphics chip included in the cartridge. The complex display of three-dimensional models with polygons was uncommon in console games.
Star Fox received critical acclaim and is often considered one of the greatest video games of all time. It sold more than 4 million copies and established the Star Fox series as a flagship Nintendo franchise. A sequel, Star Fox 2, was developed, but was withheld from release until 2017, as a title for the Super NES Classic Edition. The next-released game in the series, Star Fox 64, was a 1997 reboot for the Nintendo 64.
Nintendo re-released Star Fox worldwide for the first time in September 2017 as part of the Super NES Classic Edition.[4] In September 2019, Star Fox was made available on the Nintendo Switch for subscribers of the Nintendo Switch Online service.[5]
Gameplay
Star Fox is a
Control of the Arwing includes thrusters and retro-rockets on the Arwing allowing the player to temporarily speed up or slow down. These can be used to maneuver around enemy attacks and other obstacles. Damage is incurred incrementally via loss of shield energy before the destruction of the craft. The game also has a small degree of locational damage detection: if the ship's wings clip against obstacles or the ground too much, they will break off, adversely affecting the craft's handling and removing the ability to upgrade weapons.
The difficulty in Star Fox is also set in a unique way. Most scrolling shooters, if they have selectable
In each level, the player is accompanied by three computer-controlled wingmen:
Plot
This game takes place in a fictional planetary system called the Lylat system, which is inhabited by
Development and release
Nintendo worked closely with Argonaut Software during the early years of the NES and Super NES.[7] They developed a prototype on the NES, initially codenamed "NESGlider", which was inspired by their earlier 8-bit game Starglider, and ported this prototype to the Super NES (the polygonal style used ended up having a strong resemblance to Starglider 2). Programmer Jez San told Nintendo that this was as good as it could get unless they were allowed to design custom hardware to make the Super NES better at processing 3D. Nintendo assented to this, and San hired chip designers to make the Super FX chip, the first 3D graphics accelerator in a consumer product.[8] The Super FX was so much more powerful than the Super NES's standard processor that the development team joked that the Super NES was just a box to hold the chip.[9] Argonaut did much of the base programming for the game's engine, while the character designs and artwork were mainly done in-house by Nintendo.[10] The main game design was done by Shigeru Miyamoto and Katsuya Eguchi. Characters were designed by Takaya Imamura, and music was composed by Hajime Hirasawa.[3] Nintendo suggested the "arcade-style shooting" element of the game and Argonaut brought the idea of using spaceships.[11]
Miyamoto cited the X-Wings from
In documentary named High Score, Dylan Cuthbert and Giles Goddard discussed how when they moved to Kyoto to work in the Nintendo office, they were put in a room remotely located from the rest of Nintendo because due to the two of them not being full-time Nintendo employees, Nintendo did not want them to have access to confidential and secret projects they were working on at the time. They also discussed how Miyamoto would come visit them frequently, providing advice and feedback in between puffs of a cigarette, as Miyamoto was a notorious chain smoker at the time.[15]
The game debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held at Las Vegas in January 1993.[16]
On the weekend of April 30 to May 2, 1993, the "Super Star Fox Weekend Competition" took place at approximately 2,000 retail locations within the United States. Competitors received a limited edition Star Fox pin, and those who accumulated a particularly high score received Star Fox T-shirts as prizes. The competitors who achieved the highest score at their respective locations were entered into a randomized grand prize drawing for a choice between an all-expenses-paid trip for four to a choice of London, Paris, Sydney, or Tokyo, or a lump sum of $15,000.[17] The grand prize was won by Trevor Petersma of Garland, Texas, who opted for the cash prize.[18] In the United Kingdom, the competition was known as the Starwing Challenge and was held in gaming shops across the country on May 29. Nintendo Netherlands held the Starwing competition at various game-selling stores in early 1993; the winner of each day won a large Starwing poster. Annual Starwing competitions were held during the Dutch Nintendo Championships, held in October, from 1993 to 1996. After the original competition, a limited number of the game cartridges created and used for the competition were sold through the Nintendo Power magazine, listed in the Spring 1994 "Super Power Supplies" catalogue that was mailed to subscribers, with an original list price of $45. The cartridges feature a time-limited single-player mode on modified stages, as well as an exclusive bonus level. The altered start-up screen displays "Official Competition Cartridge".[19]
According to Peter Main, Nintendo's vice president of marketing at the time, Star Fox had a marketing budget of $15 million.[20]
Reception
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
Nintendo Life | [28] |
Nintendo Power | 4.1/5[29] |
Official Nintendo Magazine | 96%[30] |
Super Play | 93%[31] |
VideoGames & Computer Entertainment | 8/10[32] |
Cubed3 | 9/10[33] |
Electronic Games | 95%[34] |
Star Fox was a critical success and commercial success upon release. It topped the Japanese Famitsu sales charts from February to March 1993,[35] selling 325,000 units in Japan by December 1993.[36] Nintendo sold more than 1.7 million units in Japan and the United States by the end of March 1993, becoming the fastest-selling video game launch in North America up until then.[37] It also topped the UK sales chart in June 1993.[38] It went on to sell over four million copies worldwide by 1998.[39]
Star Fox received generally positive reviews. It holds an aggregate score of 88% at GameRankings, based on an average of seven reviews.[21] The gameplay was generally praised, with many reviewers comparing it favourably to Space Harrier (1985) and After Burner (1987). It also received a 34 out of 40 from Famitsu magazine,[25] and a 4.125 out of 5 from Nintendo Power Magazine. The game's groundbreaking use of 3D polygon graphics were universally lauded. Next Gen Magazine pointed out Star Fox as helping pioneer the use of 3D video game graphics.[40] The game has been used as an example of how, even with a fully polygon design, the game was still very similar to older games in that there was a set path to travel through each level.[41]
Entertainment Weekly gave the game an A and wrote that "the first game to incorporate Nintendo's 'Super FX' computer chip, this pseudo-3D space shooter moves so fast that it practically qualifies as virtual reality. Unlike most games of this genre, though, Star Fox (Nintendo of America, for Super NES) shows some heart behind the hardware — rarely have such powerful spacecrafts been piloted by so adorable an array of frogs, birds, and bunnies".[42]
Accolades
Star Fox was awarded Best Shooter of 1993 by Electronic Gaming Monthly.[43] The game took the No. 115 spot on EGM's "The Greatest 200 Videogames of Their Time", and 82nd best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list.[44][45] In 1995, Total! rated Star Fox 10th on their Top 100 SNES Games and wrote that because of the Super FX Chip the game's graphics and gameplay are unlike any other SNES shooter.[46] In 2009, Official Nintendo Magazine ranked the game 28th on a list of greatest Nintendo games.[47] In 2018, Complex ranked Star Fox 24th in their "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time".[48]
Legacy
Star Fox has become an established Nintendo franchise, with six more installments and numerous appearances by its characters in other media such as the
In 2002, Rare's Star Fox Adventures was released for GameCube. It was the first Star Fox game with action-adventure elements. The player acts as Fox McCloud on the world of Sauria, also known as Dinosaur Planet. In 2005, Star Fox: Assault was released for the GameCube, this time developed by Namco and specifically the same core team that handled the Ace Combat series. It incorporates third-person shooter elements into the game with grounded combat. Star Fox Command, developed by Q-Games released for the Nintendo DS in 2006, is the first game in the series on a portable system and the first to feature online multiplayer. It uses many features from the unreleased Star Fox 2, chiefly the real-time map and mission layout.[50] Star Fox Zero, co-developed by Nintendo and PlatinumGames, was released in 2016 and returns to the storyline of the original game and Star Fox 64, while incorporating new elements such as the scrapped Walker transformation from Star Fox 2 and a new Gyrowing vehicle.
During the game's release, Nintendo teamed up with
References
- Citations
- ^ "From Mario With Love". The San Bernardino County Sun. March 19, 1993. p. 22.
Mario, the mascot of Nintendo of America, shows off robot delivery machines loaded with the company's newest video game, Star Fox. One million games will be shipped Monday from Nintendo's North Bend, Wash., warehouse -- the largest shipment ever on a single day -- and will be in stores Tuesday.
- ^ "Out-fox your friends and win Starwing". Daily Mirror. June 5, 1993. p. 24.
Nintendo's Starwing game, which was released on Saturday, has advance orders worth £7.5 million.
- ^ a b "Interview with Shigeru Miyamoto". Nintendo Power. January 1997. Archived from the original on 21 December 2008. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
- Nintendo of America, Inc. 29 September 2017. Archived from the originalon 28 September 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
- ^ "Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online". Nintendo UK. 6 September 2019.
- ^ Nintendo 1993, p. 2.
- All Media Network. Archived from the originalon 6 December 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
- ^ "SIGGRAPH Computer Graphics Newsletter - 3D Graphics Hardware". Retrieved 10 December 2015.
- ^ "Interview with Jez San". arwinglanding.net. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 4 September 2007.
- Future Publishing.
- ^ "Interview with Dylan Cuthbert". emulatorium.com. Archived from the original on 11 January 2009. Retrieved 4 September 2007.
- ^ "Level Up". High Score. Series 1. Episode 6. August 19, 2020. Netflix.
- ^ a b "Fushimi Inari Taisha and Fox". Nintendo. Retrieved on 17 August 2011.
- ^ "Want to Know The Real Reason Star Fox Was Renamed in Europe?". Nintendo Life. 5 September 2012. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
- ^ Doolan, Liam (12 August 2020). "Shigeru Miyamoto Used To Smoke In The Star Fox Office". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
- ^ Z. Wright, Andy Crane (14 January 1993). "Report: The CES in Las Vegas". Bad Influence!. Series 1. Episode 10. Event occurs at 6:54. ITV. CITV. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
- ^ "Super Star Fox Weekend Competition advertisement". Nintendo Power. Vol. 47. Redmond, Washington: Nintendo of America. April 1993. p. 4.
- ^ "Player's Pulse". Nintendo Power. Vol. 53. Redmond, Washington: Nintendo of America. October 1993. p. 7.
- ^ "IGN: Star Fox: Super Weekend (Official Competition Cartridge)". IGN. Retrieved 8 August 2006.
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- ^ CBS Interactive. Archived from the originalon 2014-10-17. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- ^ Rand, Keen & Sumpter 1993, p. 17.
- The Electric Playground. Archived from the originalon August 7, 1997. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
- ^ Harris 1993, p. 24.
- ^ a b "スターフォックス まとめ [スーパーファミコン] (Star Fox summary [Super Famicom])" (in Japanese). Famitsu. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
- ^ Young 1993, p. 60.
- ^ "Test du jeu StarWing sur SNES". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). 20 October 2010. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
- Nintendo Life. Archived from the originalon September 24, 2009. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
- ^ Pelland 1993, p. 102.
- ^ Boone 1993, p. 25.
- ^ Brookes 1993, p. 39.
- ^ Eddy 1993, p. 39.
- ^ Mason, Mike (3 September 2006). "Starwing (Super Nintendo) review". Cubed3. Cubed3 Limited. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- ^ Funk 1993, p. 66.
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- Dengeki Oh (in Japanese). MediaWorks. Archived from the originalon 19 September 2001. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
- ^ "Nintendo sells 100-millionth 'Mario' game". United Press International (UPI). June 2, 1993. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
- ^ "News". Computer and Video Games. No. 141 (August 1993). 15 July 1993. pp. 8–9.
- ^ Wells, Jeremy (November 1998). "Step outside, Quake, here comes Kanaan". PC Zone (69): 62, 63.
- ^ Eric-Jon Rossel Waugh (27 June 2006). "The Ten Greatest Years In Gaming". Next Gen Magazine. Archived from the original on 19 April 2008. Retrieved 4 September 2006.
- ^ Andre Segers (9 May 2006). "2D to 3D: A Tale of Two Dimensions". IGN. Archived from the original on 4 April 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2006.
- ^ Strauss, Bob (2 April 1993). "Star Fox". EW.com.
- ^ "Electronic Gaming Monthly's Buyer's Guide". 1994.
{{cite journal}}
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(help) - ^ "The Greatest 200 Videogames of Their Time from Electronic Gaming Monthly". EGM. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2006.
- ^ Nintendo Power staff 2006, p. 57.
- ^ "Top 100 SNES Games". Total! (43): 40. July 1995.
- ^ East, Tom (February 24, 2009). "100 Best Nintendo Games: Part 4". Official Nintendo Magazine. Future plc. Archived from the original on February 26, 2009. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
- ^ Knight, Rich (April 30, 2018). "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time". Complex. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
- ^ "Born slippy: the making of Star Fox". Eurogamer. 22 June 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
- ^ Craig Harris (6 September 2006). "Nintendo DS Game of the Month: August 2006". IGN.com. Retrieved 17 September 2006.
- ^ "F.J. McCloud's Star Fox Page - The Star Fox LCD game watch". F.J. McCloud's Star Fox Page. Retrieved 27 February 2009.
- ^ "Handheld Museum - Nelsonic Star Fox". Handheld Museum. Retrieved 27 February 2009.
- Bibliography
- Boone, Fred (March 1993). "Star Fox review". Nintendo Magazine System (6). Bath: Future plc: 18–25.
- Brookes, Jason (May 1993). "Star Fox review". Super Play (7). Bath: Future plc: 34–39. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
- Eddy, Andy (May 1993). "Star Fox". Video Games & Computer Entertainment (52). United States: Larry Flynt Publications: 38–39. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
- Funk, Joe (1993). "Video Game Gallery: Star Fox". Electronic Games. 1 (9). New York: Reese Publishing Company, Inc.: 66. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- Harris, Steve (June 1993). "Reviews crew: Star Fox". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 47. Lombard: EGM Media. p. 24.
- Nintendo (1993). Star Fox instruction manual. Nintendo. pp. 2–27.
- Nintendo Power staff (February 2006). "Nintendo Power's Top 200". Nintendo Power. Vol. 200. Bath: Future plc. pp. 58–66.
- Pelland, Scott (April 1993). "Now Playing: Star Fox". Nintendo Power. No. 47. Bath: Future plc. pp. 8–19, 102.
- Rand, Paul; Keen, Steve; Sumpter, Garth (April 1993). "Star Fox". Computer and Video Games. London: Future plc: 14–17. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
- Young, Jeffrey (April 1993). "Super NES Pro Review: Special Feature - Star Fox". IDG Entertainment. pp. 58–62.
External links
- Official website (Japanese)
- Star Fox at MobyGames