Star Fox 64 (or Lylat Wars as I knew it as a kid, as it was called such in Europe) is a fast-paced on-rails shooter made by Nintendo. The gameplay is extremely solid. Fox’s Awring has lasers that you can charge up for a lock-on, along with limited bombs. Movement is fast and precise and you can perform loops and barrel rolls – the latter reflects bullets.

If you complete levels normally, you’ll go through a really fun route through the game. On top of the on-rails levels, you’ll also encounter “all range mode” where you can fly in 3D. These typically aren’t as “cinematic” as the on-rails levels, but still a lot of fun.

Slippy will get attacked by one of the bosses and will crash land on a planet, here you get to use the Landmaster, a tank that is also really fun to use. You can hover temporally and barrel rolls will now move you across most of the screen.

To get to the credits for the first time, Star Fox 64 is a very short game, but that’s because it’s made to be replayed for a high score, and because it’s so much fun, you don’t mind doing so, trying to get a higher score than last time – but that’s not all of it.

Most missions in the game has a secret objective, complete this and you’ll get “Mission Accomplished” and to a different mission, the “hard route” will take you across some more challenging missions, although personally this is my least favourite route of the games – while all missions but one of the missions in Star Fox 64 are good, I do think these are some of the weaker ones, plus the one bad mission is in this route.

The underwater level. It’s slow, plodding and is rather boring. The bombs are replaced with infinite torpedoes which also light up the way, because the level is also dark and dreary. This is easily the worst part of the game, but at least it’s just the one mission.

Some of my favourite missions are in the middle, including the best all-range mission as you fight an Independence Day-style UFO and the second Landmaster tank mission as you chase a train.

Once you’ve played all the levels, there are also gold medals to unlock, which are extremely difficult. A level select at this point would be nice so you wouldn’t have to work through previous levels, but it does provide something to work towards.

Star Fox 64 is a incredibly fun game, and one you can just have a quick blast through every now and then.

Fave

It’s action packed. It’s technically eye-boggling. It works on a number of levels, being easy enough to be fun but with taxing bits if you search for them. It’s got exciting music. It’s unpredictable. It’s imaginative. It’s got massive explosions. It builds up steadily to a spectacular ending. It’s got everything, in other words, that you look for in a good movie – but in a game. It’s brilliant.

Jonathan Davies, N64 Magazine #3. Review Score: 91%

Remake or Remaster?

A new console remaster would be great – have options to toggle between N64 and 3DS graphics, music and voices (using the higher quality original recordings for the N64 version), some level select options, (perhaps with separate leaderboards for doing induvial levels), widescreen and things like that.

Official ways to get the game

There is no way to buy a new copy of Star Fox 64, the only official way to play is to rent it via the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pak.

Other Versions

Star Fox 64 3D

The 3DS got a remake of Star Fox 64, with various enhancements. I personally think the graphic lack the charm of the original (especially the water on Corneria), and the new voice acting and music aren’t quite the same.

Re-releases

2003: iQue

2007: Wii Virtual Console

2016: Wii U Virtual Console

2011: Star Fox 64 3D (remake, 3DS)

2021: Nintendo Switch Online (subscription only)