StarFox #14 Introducing Fox McCloud and the Star Fox team

Description

In the distant Lylat star system, imagine yourself at the controls of a futuristic, heavily armed, space fighter - Arwing. Lead the counter-attack on an invasion force of hundreds of alien tanks, fighter ships, laser gun emplacements and super battleships. Maneuver at warp speed through fog-enshrouded canyons, dense asteroid belts and waves of the enemy's best defense. You must use skill and cunning to fight to the enemy's home planet Venom and smash the Core Brain for victory!

Introduction

Introducing Fox McCloud and the Star Fox team on a mission to save the Lylat system from the evil clutches of Andross.

The objective of the game is to go through one route (Level 1 for beginners, Level 2 for more skilled players and Level 3 for seasoned veterans of the game) that begins at Corneria and eventually reaches Venom, the planet where Andross has holed himself up. Along each route, there are six stages apiece, all different.

Not counting the Black Hole or Out of This Dimension, there are three route orders in the game. All paths begin at Corneria, where the player faces either the Attack Carrier on the easier routes or the Destructor on the hardest route. In the easy path: The Star Fox team then heads to the Asteroid Belt where they destroy the Rock Crusher, attack the Andross Space Armada and destroy the flagship's Atomic Base, destroy the Dancing Insector of the Battle Base Meteor, and fight Phantron at Venom. In the medium route, they go to Sector X and destroy the Rock Crusher, recapture the weather control base and destroy the corrupted Professor Hanger at Titania, save the undersea lifeforms of Sector Y by eliminating the Plasma Hydra, tangle with the Metal Smasher at Venom airspace, and race the Galactic Rider at the base. On the hard route, they will destroy the Blade Barrier of the Asteroid Belt, destroy Andross's mutated Monarch Dodora at Fortuna, take out the Atomic Base II at Sector Z, destroy the Spinning Core at Macbeth to stop the construction of a base, and defeat the Great Commander of Venom. All routes end with the final boss, Andross.

This deviates the game from the normal space/flight sim mold in which the difficulty level is set by the player at an options screen, as each route corresponds to a difficulty level. This increases the game's replay value significantly by offering the chance to see and experience new areas on the higher difficulty routes instead of merely experiencing the same stages with more enemies, lower health, less time, etc.

Information

Star Fox was an important milestone in video game history, for it was the first Super NES game to use polygons en masse or real 3-D scaling. To accomplish this, a special kind of math coprocessor that was relatively cheap to construct and mass-produce was installed inside the cart. This chip was named the "Super FX chip." (It had better be cheap - you have to install a new copy of the chip in every cartridge that requires it, rather than just counting on the standard SNES hardware!) It helped a lot that the game was likeable and good.

So what is a polygon? Geometrically, it is just a shape with some number of sides. Virtually all the games being developed now use polygons, but now it is commonplace to see tens of millions of polygons being used at once on your screen. The characters in Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, and Gears of War are all rendered with polygons - that is, thousands and even millions of computable, movable geometric shapes. Newer systems use so many so well that sports games look like live TV, and RPGs now look like animated movies - even outside of FMV cutscenes (where all the vector rendering is done by far more powerful computers and the result is saved as a raster animation).

Older games did not use 3-D polygons much, because the processing power just was not there. Take an old game like Super Mario Bros., for instance. That particular game uses only bitmaps, so all of Mario's moves are part of an animation. For a game that only utilizes one or few points of view, though, polygons would be less useful anyway.

Part of the idea behind polygons is that you want the computer to be able to reconstruct the image you should be seeing no matter where you stand. Imagine how slow and how much of a disk hog Gears of War would be if a new static background has to be called up every time you move.

You can do 3-D without scaling or polygons, though. Take Super Star Wars, for instance. Actually, it is fake 3-D - something called Mode 7 where the bitmap of the ground is flattened out and you can zip over it in any direction. You also see Mode 7 in games like Final Fantasy VI. Back to SSW, though, if you play the game you'll notice that all the things coming at you look flat, and when they approach and retreat, it doesn't happen very smoothly. that is because the game has to call up a new or resized image for all the different distances away the object is supposed to be. (Super Empire Strikes Back improved on this method and accomplished convincing 3-D scaling without the use of the Super FX chip.)

Meanwhile, Star Fox uses the polygons (albeit hundreds and not millions, plus the shapes that are used are pretty basic - remember, this is the Super Nintendo) and the limits are suddenly gone. The scaling becomes nearly perfect. Objects can now rotate freely. it is a 3-D world.

There is a long stretch of innovations that line the road between Star Fox and, say, Modern Warfare. Star Fox, did, though, help inspire Super Mario 64. Suppose you have to count Star Fox 64 as well. We also did not get Star Fox 2, and that is still a pretty big disappointment, though you can seek out ROMs and patches for the latter online. For legal reasons, you have to be on your own for that, but you could give it a shot.

Because an unrelated Atari 2600 game of the same name was trademarked in Europe, Star Fox was released as 'Star Wing' in PAL countries. Star Fox 64 became 'Lylat Wars.' Then Nintendo got the rights cleared up and it was all 'Star Fox' going forward.

Characters

Fox McCloud

Fox McCloud is an anthropomorphic red fox and the main protagonist of the Star Fox series. He is sometimes referred to by the name of Star Fox, especially by his many enemies. He is additionally a pilot, combatant, adventurer, and the leader of the Star Fox team. Fox is the son of James McCloud, who edified him throughout his childhood to never give up. Fox McCloud was a cadet at the Cornerian Defense Army Academy when he heard the news that his father, James McCloud, had met a violent end at the hands of the twisted genius, Andross. The senior McCloud had been betrayed by his own wingman, Pigma Dengar, and delivered into a deadly trap from which there was seemingly no escape. Only James's wingman, Peppy Hare, managed to limp home in his badly damaged starfighter. As the only survivor of the original Star Fox Team, Peppy insisted that the young Fox take on the leadership of the group and form a new team of pilots. Thrust into the leadership role that he was not prepared for, Fox recruited the hot-tempered Falco Lombardi and the mechanical genius Slippy Toad to make up the new Star Fox Team. For a price, this crack group will fight against any threat to the Cornerian star system. Although it may appear that the Star Fox Team is motivated only by financial gain, it will only accept missions that serve to uphold justice.

Falco Lombardi

Falco Lombardi is a member of an avian race and ace pilot of the Star Fox team. He is also a good friend and friendly rival to Fox McCloud. Falco has appeared alongside his wingmates in every Star Fox game to date, and usually retains his brash, cool, and collected behavior. Although he's an ace pilot, Falco is sometimes caught in situations in which he cannot escape, and must rely on Fox for assistance, often to his chagrin. Since Star Fox 64, Falco has starred in his own manga, which centers on events happening between Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Adventures.

Peppy Hare

Peppy Hare is a retired member of the legendary Star Fox team. He served with previous leader James McCloud and wingmate Pigma Dengar. After the former's death and the latter's betrayal of the team, Peppy joined the new Star Fox team, consisting of Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, and Slippy Toad. An experienced pilot, he has learned many tricks in his years of flying, and is also very knowledgeable about Andross's forces, since he once had to escape captivity at their hands. Even though Peppy is older than all the other Star Fox team members, he declined the leadership role and insisted that the younger Fox McCloud take over the team after James was slain by Andross. After Pigma's betrayal and James' capture, Peppy narrowly escaped to return to Corneria to inform Fox of his father's fate. Ever since then, Peppy serves as Fox's mentor and father figure and frequently gives Fox instructions and advice throughout the course of the games.

Slippy Toad

Slippy Toad is a childhood friend of Fox, and has been flying alongside him for several years. He serves as the inventor and mechanic of the team. His inventions, from the Arwing, Landmaster, and Blue-Marine to the Reflector and Blaster, have helped the Star Fox Team prevail over the enemy, making Slippy a major contribution to the Star Fox team's success. Slippy's main role on the battlefield is providing a Shield Gauge to determinate the health of a boss, but only if he is present to do so. Due to Falco Lombardi only making a small appearance in Star Fox Adventures and Peppy's retirement from active duty in Star Fox: Assault, Slippy can be said to be the second most prominent character in the series, after Fox McCloud himself. The excitable amphibian member of the Star Fox Team, Slippy may seem like a hyper-doofus, but he has excellent mechanical know-how. Slippy specialized in engineering at the Cornerian Academy, and learned a lot from his father, Beltino Toad, who is Director of Engineering at Space Dynamics Co. Ltd. As a member of the Star Fox Team, Slippy has invented a wide variety of gadgets and vehicles.

General Pepper

“We need your help, Star Fox! Andross has declared war! He hass invaded the Lylat System and is trying to take over Corneria! Our army alone cannot do the job! Hurry Star Fox!” —General Pepper

General Pepper is the general of the Cornerian Army and thus commander of all of Corneria's forces in the Lylat System. He has offered Fox McCloud an official commission in the end of Star Fox 64, but Fox refused it, stating that they prefer to do things their way. General Pepper grew progressively ill in recent games, and has been surpassed by Peppy Hare, who assumes the role of general after the events of Star Fox: Assault.

Andross

Andross, sometimes known as Emperor Andross or Dr. Andross, is the main antagonist in the Star Fox series, and is the arch-nemesis of Fox McCloud. He is an evil mad scientist who is highly skilled in building technology, supernatural powers, and battle tactics. His forces have tried to take over the Lylat system many times. Exiled to the distant penal planet of Venom for his destructive and dangerous experiments with bio-technology, the mad scientist Andross has recently resurfaced as the supreme commander of a seemingly unstoppable military force. Striking without warning, his invasion fleets have overrun the minimal defenses outposts of the many planets in the Lylat system, and are even now attacking the most populous world in the system, Corneria. As a scientist on Corneria, Andross specialized in bio-technology and space warps. It is theorized that exposure to his own deadly experiments may have driven him mad. In the time since his exile, who knows how his continued experimental work may have affected him?

Controls

Type A

D-Pad (Left, Right)

Left, Right

D-Pad (Up, Down)

Dive and Climb

L

Roll Left

R

Roll Right

A

Fire a Smart Bomb

B

Retro-Rocket

X

Speed Boost

Y

Laser Blaster

Gameplay

The game is played by controlling Fox's Arwing through a fixed flight path (known as Corridor Mode in later games) while avoiding obstacles and shooting down enemies and hazards, protecting teammates against tailing enemies, before finally reaching and taking down the stage boss before proceeding to the next level. The mission performance or taken route though the level will determinate the next level.

The objective of the game is to start at Corneria and then go through one route (Route 1 for beginners, Route 2 for more skilled players and Route 3 for seasoned veterans of the game) and to eventually reach the planet Venom where Andross has holed himself up at. Along each route, there are six levels apiece, all different.

Not counting the Black Hole or Dimension levels, there are three route orders in the game. In the easy path: The Star Fox team then head to the Asteroid Belt where they destroy the Rock Crusher, attack the Andross Space Armada and destroy the flagship's Atomic Base, and destroy the Dancing Insector of the Battle Base Meteor. In the medium route, they go to Sector X and destroy the Rock Crusher, recapture the weather control base and destroy the corrupted Professor Hanger at Titania, and save the "undersea" lifeforms of Sector Y by eliminating the Plasma Hydra. On the hard route, they will destroy the Blade Barrier of the Asteroid Field, destroy Andross's mutated Monarch Dodora at Fortuna, take out the Atomic Base II at Sector Z, and finally destroy the Spinning Core at Macbeth and stop the Venomian Army from building a base.

This deviates the game from the normal space/flight sim mold in which the difficulty level is set by the player at an options screen, as each route corresponds to a difficulty level. This increases the game's replay value significantly by offering the chance to see and experience a new level on the higher difficulty routes instead of merely experiencing the same levels with more enemies, lower health, less time, etc.

Objective

The goal for every mission is to destroy the enemy leader that waits at the end of the stage. The Arwing is taken on a direct path to the main boss of each area, keeping the player locked in a fixed path and forcing them to navigate through a series of obstacles and enemies. If the player ventures too far towards the edge of the flight path, arrows will guide them back to the main course.

Levels

• Level 1
  • 1. Corneria
  • 2. Asteroid Belt
  • 3. The Andross Space Armada
  • 4. The Battle Base Meteor
  • 5. Venom (space over Venom)
  • 6. Venom
• Level 2
  • 1. Corneria
  • 2. Sector X
  • 3. Titania
  • 4. Sector Y
  • 5. Venom (space over Venom)
  • 6. Venom (aerial passage)
• Level 3
  • 1. Corneria
  • 2. Asteroid Belt
  • 3. Fortuna
  • 4. Sector Z
  • 5. Macbeth
  • 6. Venom (airspace)
  • 7. Venom (surface)
• Secret Levels
  • 1. Black Hole
  • 2. Out of This Dimension

The map of the Lylat system.

Cheats

Star Fox Easter Eggs

Polygon View Mode

At the continue screen after you lose your last ship, you can play with the polygons on the screen. Here are the controls.

Controller 1

• Left and Right-Rotate object horizontally
• Up and Down-Rotate object vertically
• L button-Zoom in
• R button-Zoom out
• X button-Stop rotation
• A button-Hold it down while rotating to draw with the object. Release the button to clear the screen.

Controller 2

Up,Down,Left,Right,SELECT,START,Y, or B-Changes to a different object

Star Fox Secrets

Black Hole

To enter the black hole, a secret area on the map with no apparent way in, you must enter Level 1-2 (Asteroid Belt) and keep going until you find a spinning asteroid bar. Hit the center of the asteroid bar just before you hit it. Do it with the next 2. If you hit all 3 bars right before you hit them (fly through where the breakable asteroid was....) A Laughing asteroid will appear. Shoot it repeatedly to open the gateway to the Black Hole.

There are three level warps in the Black Hole. Fly through and look around this Lost ship graveyard.

Enter another dimension

Choose level three, then go to the asteroid belt and keep shooting the second big asteroid until it is destroyed. A bird-like object will fly out. Do not shoot it. Ram into it to travel ''out of this dimension''. Shoot the paper-like objects. The boss does not have a life meter, just icons (until they display three 7s) Shoot ''THE END'' letters until they are in the right position. The letters will be orange when they are correct.