Playing Star Fox (SNES)
This thread is for discussion of playing Star Fox (SNES), not its sequels or how "outdated" it is.
I played Star Fox again after not playing it for some time, got tons of other games to play you know. This is still a fantastic SNES game, Argonaut Software really put their all into it.
What's your favorite level? Mine currently is still Titania. Although it can be tough, the looping section allows you to buff up your Arwing so you can take on Sector Y and Venom easier.
The boss of Titania, Professor Hanger, is one of my favorites. Not so much for the challenge or innovativeness in the battle, but I LOVE the music and I LOVE the water effects and the tram rail in the center of the screen.
After all these years of playing Star Fox, sadly I don't think I've gotten much better at it. I do ok on Level 1, but Level 2 gets pretty brutal towards the end for me and Level 3 consistently kicks my ass as early as the Asteroid Field.
Anyone else want to share their thoughts on this SNES classic? Also I can't believe to this day, it's still not on the Wii / Wii U Virtual Console... What the hell Nintendo...?
I played Star Fox again after not playing it for some time, got tons of other games to play you know. This is still a fantastic SNES game, Argonaut Software really put their all into it.
What's your favorite level? Mine currently is still Titania. Although it can be tough, the looping section allows you to buff up your Arwing so you can take on Sector Y and Venom easier.
The boss of Titania, Professor Hanger, is one of my favorites. Not so much for the challenge or innovativeness in the battle, but I LOVE the music and I LOVE the water effects and the tram rail in the center of the screen.
After all these years of playing Star Fox, sadly I don't think I've gotten much better at it. I do ok on Level 1, but Level 2 gets pretty brutal towards the end for me and Level 3 consistently kicks my ass as early as the Asteroid Field.
Anyone else want to share their thoughts on this SNES classic? Also I can't believe to this day, it's still not on the Wii / Wii U Virtual Console... What the hell Nintendo...?
Comments
Originally posted by: Guntz
Also I can't believe to this day, it's still not on the Wii / Wii U Virtual Console... What the hell Nintendo...?
Are ANY SuperFX based game represented on virtual console?
Also I can't believe to this day, it's still not on the Wii / Wii U Virtual Console... What the hell Nintendo...?
Are ANY SuperFX based game represented on virtual console?
Yoshi's Island is only on there as the GBA port version.
Also I can't believe to this day, it's still not on the Wii / Wii U Virtual Console... What the hell Nintendo...?
Are ANY SuperFX based game represented on virtual console?
Yoshi's Island is only on there as the GBA port version.
Which given the screen resolution difference between the two systems, it is likely a ground-up rebuild of the game, right?
(i.e. it is a native GBA game, and has little to do with the use of SuperFX in the SNES game)
I love the SNES Starfox to this day. I still love Corneria, mainly because of it's setting and music. And oh man, them secrets!
Speaking of, there's people to this day that still don't know that there's an object viewer in-game. When you get to the continue screen (One with Fox is standing there), just use the 2nd controller and you can cycle through all the 3D objects in the game such as enemies and other vehicles.
Also I can't believe to this day, it's still not on the Wii / Wii U Virtual Console... What the hell Nintendo...?
Are ANY SuperFX based game represented on virtual console?
Yoshi's Island is only on there as the GBA port version.
Which given the screen resolution difference between the two systems, it is likely a ground-up rebuild of the game, right?
(i.e. it is a native GBA game, and has little to do with the use of SuperFX in the SNES game)
Correct, I can only assume that it has nothing to do with the SuperFX chip which is most likely why they did that version instead which validates your earlier assumption.
There is lots of assuming going on here.
Also I can't believe to this day, it's still not on the Wii / Wii U Virtual Console... What the hell Nintendo...?
Are ANY SuperFX based game represented on virtual console?
Yoshi's Island is only on there as the GBA port version.
Which given the screen resolution difference between the two systems, it is likely a ground-up rebuild of the game, right?
(i.e. it is a native GBA game, and has little to do with the use of SuperFX in the SNES game)
Correct, I can only assume that it has nothing to do with the SuperFX chip which is most likely why they did that version instead which validates your earlier assumption.
There is lots of assuming going on here.
you know what happens when you assume..
Speaking of, there's people to this day that still don't know that there's an object viewer in-game. When you get to the continue screen (One with Fox is standing there), just use the 2nd controller and you can cycle through all the 3D objects in the game such as enemies and other vehicles.
Whoa! I never knew about this and have been playing Star Fox yearly for decades. That's awesome!!!
My favorite path is the second path, and I think it's because my favorite stage is Venom (Path 2). I love the way the high speed corridor looks.
Also I can't believe to this day, it's still not on the Wii / Wii U Virtual Console... What the hell Nintendo...?
Are ANY SuperFX based game represented on virtual console?
Yoshi's Island is only on there as the GBA port version.
Which given the screen resolution difference between the two systems, it is likely a ground-up rebuild of the game, right?
(i.e. it is a native GBA game, and has little to do with the use of SuperFX in the SNES game)
Correct, I can only assume that it has nothing to do with the SuperFX chip which is most likely why they did that version instead which validates your earlier assumption.
There is lots of assuming going on here.
you know what happens when you assume..
Of course you get a hat filled with cottage cheese on top of a hippopotamus.
Everyone knows that.
Space Armada is the coolest stage, the one where you enter other ships and blow them up.
That's the one I always remember. I used to physically duck around while your ship weaves toward the core.
Speaking of, there's people to this day that still don't know that there's an object viewer in-game. When you get to the continue screen (One with Fox is standing there), just use the 2nd controller and you can cycle through all the 3D objects in the game such as enemies and other vehicles.
Whoa! I never knew about this and have been playing Star Fox yearly for decades. That's awesome!!!
My favorite path is the second path, and I think it's because my favorite stage is Venom (Path 2). I love the way the high speed corridor looks.
Here are the continue screen controls if you want to try it out:
Controller 2:
Start, select, Y, B, or the Dpad changes objects
Controller 1:
Left/Right: rotates object horizontally
Up/Down: rotates object vertically
X: Stops rotation
L: Zoom in
R: Zoom out
Hold A + move Dpad: Object trail
Originally posted by: arch_8ngel
Are ANY SuperFX based game represented on virtual console?
Not that I know of, unfortunately. That may very well be the reason, I have yet to see an unofficial emulator do the SuperFX any justice. What I don't get is with a console as powerful as the Wii U, how hard can it be to whip up a SNES SuperFX emulator? Maybe Nintendo doesn't want people to find out how much better Star Fox 1 (and 2) is compared to Zero. One of these days I WILL play through Zero, I even have the Fox Amiibo so I can use the "Retro Arwing", but I'm enjoying the original right now...
One time I did see a Stunt Race FX Wii VC Euro file, but I think it was an injected WAD file.
Originally posted by: BouncekDeLemos
Sweet, a thread I can get behind!
I love the SNES Starfox to this day. I still love Corneria, mainly because of it's setting and music. And oh man, them secrets!
Speaking of, there's people to this day that still don't know that there's an object viewer in-game. When you get to the continue screen (One with Fox is standing there), just use the 2nd controller and you can cycle through all the 3D objects in the game such as enemies and other vehicles.
Really? I never knew about that. That's like in Mario Paint, you can unlock a right click function using a Player 2 controller. I've got to try that object viewer, thanks!
One of my favorite parts of Star Fox 1 is all the secrets in it, Argonaut Software really did put their all into it. Black Hole is cool, a neat nod to things like the Warp Zone in SMB. Out of this Dimension is just plain trippy, I love watching the SNES do the warping background like that.
Originally posted by: ginoscope
For me my favorite stage is Corneria. That intro that rotates the camera and then the ships are out in the battle field just blew my mind in 1993. Star Fox was the first game I got with my brand new part time job so I am and always will be very fond of the game. This game and Donkey Kong Country just blew my mind at what the snes was able to do.
Highly agreed, Argonaut knew exactly how to pull off that next gen pizzazz. Star Fox felt way more like a future 32-bit game than DKC1 ever did for me.
Originally posted by: mbd39
Space Armada is the coolest stage, the one where you enter other ships and blow them up.
Agreed, it's always worth going through Route 1 just to play through Space Armada. You should try out Star Fox 2 sometime, it took the idea of Space Armada and improved on it.
I would buy Star Fox 1 and 2 instantly if they were put on the Wii U VC. Take my money Nintendo!
Originally posted by: Guntz
Originally posted by: arch_8ngel
Are ANY SuperFX based game represented on virtual console?
Not that I know of, unfortunately. That may very well be the reason, I have yet to see an unofficial emulator do the SuperFX any justice. What I don't get is with a console as powerful as the Wii U, how hard can it be to whip up a SNES SuperFX emulator? Maybe Nintendo doesn't want people to find out how much better Star Fox 1 (and 2) is compared to Zero. One of these days I WILL play through Zero, I even have the Fox Amiibo so I can use the "Retro Arwing", but I'm enjoying the original right now...
If you've never seen emulator developers do it well on PCs that are dramatically more powerful than the Wii U, I'm guessing it's hard enough that it's not worth Nintendo's time for the relatively few copies of the relatively few SuperFX games that they would sell.
Nintendo even has DS games on the Wii U VC. I don't see how it'd be that hard to whip up some in-house magic and get SuperFX games on the Wii U VC too.
Remember that for nearly a decade and a half, the SNES never had good PC emulators. Popular ones like ZSNES / SNES9X couldn't even get the SPC700 emulated properly. In recent time, BSNES / Higan does SuperFX emulation pretty well, but it requires an obscenely powerful PC.
Nintendo even has DS games on the Wii U VC. I don't see how it'd be that hard to whip up some in-house magic and get SuperFX games on the Wii U VC too.
I guess I don't understand why you think it should be easy.
It sounds like there is some fundamental to what SuperFX is, and how it functioned, that makes it a pain-in-the-ass to make work correctly via emulation.
Remember that for nearly a decade and a half, the SNES never had good PC emulators. Popular ones like ZSNES / SNES9X couldn't even get the SPC700 emulated properly. In recent time, BSNES / Higan does SuperFX emulation pretty well, but it requires an obscenely powerful PC.
Nintendo even has DS games on the Wii U VC. I don't see how it'd be that hard to whip up some in-house magic and get SuperFX games on the Wii U VC too.
You think it's more of a legal issue and Nintendo does not want to pay royalties to the creator of the SuperFx chip? I could be wrong but I was not sure if they had to pay Argonaut Games or they outright owned the rights to that chip.
Remember that for nearly a decade and a half, the SNES never had good PC emulators. Popular ones like ZSNES / SNES9X couldn't even get the SPC700 emulated properly. In recent time, BSNES / Higan does SuperFX emulation pretty well, but it requires an obscenely powerful PC.
Nintendo even has DS games on the Wii U VC. I don't see how it'd be that hard to whip up some in-house magic and get SuperFX games on the Wii U VC too.
The investment required to get a working Super FX emulator for the Wii U for 1 or 2 games is just not worth it for Nintendo from a ROI standpoint. It's way more work than people realize, and most of the games using it are awful anyway. Not worth it.
Originally posted by: ginoscope
You think it's more of a legal issue and Nintendo does not want to pay royalties to the creator of the SuperFx chip? I could be wrong but I was not sure if they had to pay Argonaut Games or they outright owned the rights to that chip.
Given the lack of Argonaut Software's name on the SuperFX chip, Star Fox 1 and Star Fox 2, I think it's safe to say it was all done as contract work for Nintendo, as in they own it all and paid Argonaut for their work.
If you don't believe that, consider Vortex. It was developed by Argonaut Software and published by Culture Brain. It is essentially a 100% 3rd party game, unlike Star Fox 1 and 2.
Also, Argonaut Software folded in 2004.
Originally posted by: pegboy
The investment required to get a working Super FX emulator for the Wii U for 1 or 2 games is just not worth it for Nintendo from a ROI standpoint. It's way more work than people realize, and most of the games using it are awful anyway. Not worth it.
Yoshi's Island is awful? I disagree. Star Fox 1, 2, Vortex, Stunt Race FX and Yoshi's Island are all fantastic games.
As far as snes, I would have a favorite stage if you could tell where you are even aiming
Speaking of, there's people to this day that still don't know that there's an object viewer in-game. When you get to the continue screen (One with Fox is standing there), just use the 2nd controller and you can cycle through all the 3D objects in the game such as enemies and other vehicles.
Whoa! I never knew about this and have been playing Star Fox yearly for decades. That's awesome!!!
My favorite path is the second path, and I think it's because my favorite stage is Venom (Path 2). I love the way the high speed corridor looks.
You summed up my thoughts perfectly. I love the Path 2 Venom for the exact same reason!
The Sector Y boss is still kicking my butt, ugh.
For the record, Yoshi's Island rules and has aged well IMHO.
Haha, just kidding.
I don't really have a favourite level, but I love the game.