Harry Jackson (Contributor) “Corneria, fourth planet of the Lylat System…” Star Fox 64 (“SF64”) is a game that I did not even own until the Nintendo 64 was a distant memory in the rearview mirror of motion controls, touch screens, and HD graphics (or as close as Nintendo could approximate). Released in 1997, I could not wait to get my hands on SF 64 at every opportunity and it captured my imagination at a time when I was still learning about X-Wings and TIE Fighters while falling in love with the Star Wars trilogy for the first time (Special Edition, unfortunately). SF 64 served as a reboot to the original Super Nintendo masterpiece Star Fox – expanding story elements, characters, and the Star Fox universe. Players could complete the game in under an hour, but the genius of SF 64 lies in its branching paths, rewarding more difficult missions for expert play. In an era when game guides on the Internet were still in their infancy, I had to rely on schoolyard whispers and trial and error to achieve the “Mission Accomplished” paths, and achieve the game’s “good” ending.
This game is infamous for its cheesy voice acting, but I remember being thrilled to actually hear Fox speaking in English, and not the gibberish from the SNES game. One of the rewards for beating the original Star Fox was getting to hear Fox actually say “Come in Corneria” – one of the few spoken words of dialogue. Voice-acting is a feature that to this day, Nintendo is reluctant to incorporate into its major franchises, so the first time you heard it in SF 64, it was truly something special. Sure, it may have worn out its welcome halfway through the first mission, but I find that the cheesy dialogue grants a personality to the Star Fox characters that we seldom see in other Nintendo franchises.
But my greatest memory of SF 64 (besides Koji Kondo’s soundtrack, which is excellent) is the ship and enemy boss designs and the effects that they had on me. I spent so many nights trying to recreate the Star Fox team’s signature Arwings out of Legos that I thought they should have hired me instead of ROB 64 as the team mechanic. I wanted to drive an Arwing so badly that I seriously considered joining the U.S. Air Force. My life ultimately took a different branching path, but on a clear day, when I look up at the blue sky, I can still picture myself activating “all-range mode” on my fighter plane, saluting my helpless wingmen, and, yes, even doing a barrel roll – which is why SF 64 is my favorite Nintendo memory.
