Star Fox 64

STAR FOX 64

Next up, we have Star Fox 64, generally considered to be the gold standard of the series and best game by a wide margin. It is more or less a story remake of the first, just with a few more things fleshed out. For instance, we now have a backstory involving Fox's father James leading a team of Peppy and Pigma Dengar against Andross, only for Pigma to betray them and get James killed. We also have the introduction of Star Wolf to the series, who would go on to be major recurring antagonists/anti-heroes.

You play as Fox leading Team Star Fox once again, with Falco, Slippy, and Peppy all on board as usual. They are mainly inside their ships just like before, with lasers, charge shots, bombs, boosters and brakes, and the ability to barrel roll, somersault, and half-loop. You also have the Landmaster Tank, which can do many of the same attacks, and hover in the air for a short time. You also have the Blue Marine submarine for water levels, and even on-foot missions playing as the four pilots who can all run, jump, fire lasers, and drop bombs.

General Pepper returns as commander of the Cornerian forces. During certain battles, you also get help from Bill Grey, a dog and friend of Fox, or Katt Monroe, a cat with a thing for Falco. Finally, we have a new member of the team, ROB 64, a robot who mans the Great Fox and provides the team with cover fire from the Fox's cannon and smart bombs, while also delivering them supplies as needed. James McCloud's presence is felt throughout the story, and he appears as a disembodied voice in the last battle.

Andross is once again our main villain, this time upgrading his final battle to a giant version of his own head and hands, punching and clapping at the fighters and inhaling them. At a certain point, this head will be shattered to reveal either the old polygonal face from the previous game or a giant brain with eyeballs.

Star Wolf are a band of mercenaries hired by Andross to deal with Star Fox. They include Wolf O'Donnell, a wolf; Leon Powalski, a chameleon; Pigma Dengar, a pig and the person who betrayed Fox's father; and Andrew Oikonny, a monkey and the nephew of Andross. They fly in Wolfens and each will target different members of the Star Fox team: Wolf to Fox, Leon to Falco, Pigma to Peppy, and Andrew to Slippy. There's not much that differentiates them here, so let's move on.

As for enemy types, they all generally just boil down to different types of ships that fly against the team. Some focus more on bombs, some more on defense or speed, but at the end of the day, there's not much point really going into it all. There are a few places, like the Aquas water missions where different types of wildlife (fish and squids and stuff) will also cause trouble.

The bosses include a mech piloted by a general named Granga, an Attack Carrier, the Meteo Crusher, another mech called Shogun, a carrier called Saruzin, a flying saucer called Saucerer, a giant clam called Bacoon, a malfunctioning robot called Spyborg, a lava monster with scythe arms called Vulcain, a marine base called Sarumarine, a giant prehistoric monster called Goras, a defense weapon called Mechbeth, the Copperhead missile, the planet Bolse's core, a war machine called Gorgon, and a running stone statue called Golemech.

As for your stages, once again you have a branching mission setup with multiple possible ways to complete your mission, always starting on Corneria and ending on Venom. Then you can head to either the asteroid field Meteo or Sector Y. Then you'll go to Fichina (formerly Fortuna), a jungle planet; Katina, a planet similar to Corneria; or Aquas, an underwater planet. Then you can go to Sector X, Solar (literally the sun), or Zoness, a toxic waste planet. The next stop is either desert planet Titania, factory planet Macbeth, or Sector Z. Finally, you either attack the Bolse Defense Satellite or the defense station in Sector 6 before reaching Venom.

I think I've got it all. Here's what we've got so far:

Characters:

Fox/Falco/Slippy/Peppy: run, jump, lasers, bombs

ROB: bombs, cannon, supplies

Arwing?: lasers, bombs, barrel roll, rockets, thrusters, shield, charge shot, somersault, half-loop

Landmaster?: lasers, bombs, charge shots, roll, hover

James/Katt/Bill status?

Wolf/Leon/Pigma/Andrew: Wolfen capabilities

Andross: tiles, inhale, lasers, punch, clap, brain

Stages:

Corneria

Venom

Asteroid

Space Armada

Meteor

Sector X

Titania

Sector Y

Fichina

Sector Z

Macbeth

Katina

Aquas

Solar

Zoness

Bolse

Sector 6

Thanks for reading! Next up, let's go on a "Rare" adventure!