Lylat Wars (as Star Fox 64 was known in Australia) was a pioneering game, and people who bought into the Nintendo 64 early on probably ended up buying a copy of it. It helped that it came with a Rumble Pack, though. Remember the days when rumble was a really exciting haptic experience, and you really felt it, rather than something that we’re all so used to now that it barely registers that our controller is vibrating? Lylat Wars was one of the first games to sell that experience, as big and bulky as the Rumble Pack was.
So like most other early adopters of the N64, I did end up with a copy of Lylat Wars. The thing is, though… I didn’t really care for it. I respected it, and I know it has a fearsome reputation, but I’m terrible at SHMUPs, Rail Shooters, and all related genres, and that puts a dampener on my experience with them. I never actually finished Lylat Wars, and that wasn’t for lack of trying. I remember once getting through the game on its easiest path only for the end boss to brutalise me, and at that point I realised I was never going to see what happens to Fox McCloud when he saves the universe.
What really undercut the game’s playability was the multiplayer, though. It was functional as a four-player split-screen game, but also felt very limited in comparison to some of the other titles on the console, and the N64 had such a deep library of multiplayer-first games. The likes of Lylat Wars, Jet Force Gemini, and Donkey Kong 64 were all very worthwhile, but were nowhere near my most played N64 games because most of my time with that console was playing with family and friends, and we had such a large rotation that these second-tier multiplayer options were rarely touched.
I say all of this to intro Star Fox, a total top-to-bottom remake of Lylat Wars, because Star Fox’s multiplayer is an absolute blast. The four-per-side skirmishes offer all the modern trappings, across some really gorgeous arenas that glisten where Lylat Wars’ combat was encased in the dense, infamous N64 fog. On top of that, you can bring pals in to play with you via the GameShare feature, meaning that you can get a session going off just the one copy of the game. I’m sure I’ve said this somewhere before, but any Switch 2 multiplayer game that doesn’t allow for GameShare is being cheap and lazy on the part of the developers. Just let people enjoy their games with their pals, publishers.
There’s even a co-operative mode, though it is a little underwhelming by comparison. You will play through the single player mode with a buddy, but you’ll still be in control of one ship, with one person handling movement and the other controlling the firing. In theory this probably should make things easier as it allows each player to focus on one task. In practice, it’s very difficult to co-ordinate the efforts of two people in a fast-paced action game, so this mode is more novelty than a way to help action dunces like myself get through the game.
I am still terrible at Star Fox. If anything, the gorgeously detailed backgrounds and vibrant colours make it a touch more difficult because it’s much easier to get lost in the much more cinematic action now. It’s also widescreen rather than the N64’s native 4:3, meaning that there’s more to take in.
It does feel better and more responsive than ever, thanks to the better and more consistent framerate. I went back to Lylat Wars on the N64 Online app for comparison, and the feel is superior, especially in the bigger action sequences. While the enemy layouts remain the same, as far as I can tell, Lylat Wars feels more methodical, like the point is to play and replay levels before memorising the perfect path through them. This Star Fox feels more reactive. It probably is still best practice to memorise the levels, but I felt more capable of quickly responding to what was happening on the screen this time. It’s a subtle change, but it will make the N64 title all the more difficult to replay going forward.
In terms of other differences, there are more cutscenes and story beats in the remake. I won’t say they’re necessary since very few played Lylat Wars for the plot, but I’m sure the broadening of the setting and characters will go down well with the diehards.
There’s also the option to play with mouse controls in first person mode. This comes across as a gimmick. It IS playable, and actually shows off nicely that the mouse controls are viable and precise enough for fast action games (most of the best mouse control releases so far have been from slower genres like strategy). Some people might even end up preferring it, but I found the perspective too restrictive and coordination with the more advanced manoeuvres just that little more cumbersome. But then I’m also so familiar with the traditional Star Fox controls, and newer players might find settling in easier.
Ultimately, Star Fox’s single player mode IS a remake of a 30-year-old game, and that means that it’s more limited and short than modern players tend to expect. The difficulty helps the replay value, but it would be like remaking a fighting game from an era where a roster was just 10 or so characters.
Where Star Fox stamps its value is in the new part of the game. The multiplayer is exceptional and will have some real lasting power, especially given that space dogfighting games with multiplayer modes are almost shockingly uncommon. With any luck, this release is an example of Nintendo testing the waters for what’s next, and we get even more Star Fox with even more of this multiplayer in the years ahead.
