It’s been possible for quite a while to increase the framerate of SNES Star Fox. Even during the SNES’ hardware release period, an updated version of the SuperFX chip that made it’s then-amazing 3D visuals possible was used that doubled its performance, and was used in other games like Yoshi’s Island. And now overclocking and emulation can increase SuperFX performance by much more.
But there’s a problem with speeding up Star Fox this way. The game wasn’t designed that the frame rate can be separated from the gameplay or animations. If you speed up the chip, you’ll speed up everything else in the game too, rapidly making it unplayable.
Some progress has been made recently towards improving the framerate without making it a twitchy stuttery mess. Tyler Loch made a video of his efforts (3½ minutes), and to people used playing Star Fox’s at its original 15fps it’s a wonder to behold:
Because the code has to be adjusted in many different places, there are parts of the game that are obviously incorrect. Falling pillars, you’ll notice, tilt over much faster, bosses move and fire much more rapidly and are more dangerous as a result, and the engine of the player’s Arwing spaceship flashes at a rate that some people may not appreciate. And the video shows off only the first level, because the full game isn’t finishable yet. But much progress has been made! Let us hope Tyler’s momentum holds up through the rest of the project.
This post contains spoilers for the various endings of Star Fox Command.
Old… man? (Images in this post come from vgmuseum)
The always-excellent Hardcore Gaming 101 is currently working through the Star Fox series, due to the well-received remake of (the remake of) Star Fox 64, still generally regarded as the high-point of the series.
Star Fox has gone through a lot of variation through its life. Rail shooters, strategy dogfighting, whatever Assault was, and even Zelda-style adventure. The strategy dogfighting is interesting as it plays out completely differently from the original game, becoming a kind of RTS. It’s a really interesting style, and one that I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere else. I’m a little upset that it’s not as popular as the rail shooter Star Foxes, because it’s really interesting from a design standpoint.
The original of this type, Star Fox 2 back on the SNES, was long known as an infamous unreleased game, shelved due to the immanent release of the impending release of the Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation, and the flat polygons and low framerate of SuperFX Star Fox would have looked insufficient in comparison to soon-to-come 3D titles like Panzer Dragoon and Tomb Raider.
While it didn’t get released until the SNES Mini in 2017, it did get a sequel, before the original had been seen by anyone who didn’t either work at Nintendo or played one of two leaked prototypes. Star Fox Command for the Nintendo DS featured the return of series co-creator Dylan Cuthbert, and elaborated upon the gameplay in its nearly forgotten predecessor.
Star Fox Command served as a conclusion to the story thread began in Star Fox 64, and perhaps realizing that whatever became of Star Fox after that would involve rebooting the series, it takes some pretty major liberties with the story. In Star Fox Command, it’s revealed that Andross actually had valid reasons for leaving Corneria, and that General Pepper forced him into exile for political reasons. By the end (spoilers!) former team member Peppy takes over command of the Cornerian military. Kurt Kalata of HG102 expresses some displeasure about this revisionist take on the story, and I have to agree, but oh well, they’re just games, and it’s not like Pepper served much of a role before, other than to deliver mission briefings, or reacting in hilarious dismay if you sent him a huge bill by getting a high score in SF64.
But even weirder than that….
Star Fox Command has nine endings, depending on which two characters you play the game with, and each of them serving as its own conclusion to the Star Fox 64 saga. It’s kind of a choose-your-own-future setup. Depending on your selection, Pepper’s heel turn isn’t the only reversal in the offing.
The nine different conclusions are all shown off on vgmuseum.com, and as Kurt notes, some of them are insane. Some of the story outcomes are a bit odd, but at least they’re interesting! In one, you take Falco on a side mission, resulting in Fox and company saving the day in your absense, causing him to leave Star Fox in disgrace, team up with Kitt, and start his own team. In another, Star Wolf saves Corneria, gets their fugitive status lifted, and become the toast of Corneria.
Krystal, the rescuee from Star Fox Adventures, is the focus of many of the endings. At the start of the story she’s left the team due to strife with Fox. In a couple of endings she and Fox get back together; in a couple more she joins up with Wolf! In one she leaves the team, and the galaxy all together, goes all emo and changes her name to “Kursed,” and becomes a bounty hunter.
She also started wearing black and listening to My Chemical Romance.
Probably the greatest ending is the one where Fox and Falco give up being space fighters and get into high-speed hovercraft racing called “G-Zero.” I remind you that one of the drivers in F-Zero X and GX is James McCloud, the name of Fox’s father, as a human but piloting a vehicle that looks an awful lot like an Arwing. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie isn’t the only one of their properties to cross into Nintendo’s Furry Universal Century.
Sundry Sunday is our weekly feature of fun gaming culture finds and videos, from across the years and even decades.
We haven’t covered anything of the exquisitely-made Youtube animation series A Fox In Space yet. Probably someday. But as it was just released and it’s really timely, here is Wolf O’Donnell reacting to Fox and crew’s costumes. CW: bleeped profanity.
