Starfox 64 has been and likely always will be my all time favorite game. I've been in love with the Starfox series ever since I first played the N64 version at a friends house as a kid. Since then I've collected Starfox merchandise, played and beaten every game, and have played Starfox 64 on my N64 so many times I can quote the entire script from memory. So while this might make me a tad biased for doing a review (BUY IT ;3), I think it probably makes me the perfect person to also do a comparison. Starfox 64 3D is the reason why I bought a 3DS to begin with; if I hadn't have seen they were releasing it, I likely never would have picked up the system. While I have played it on both the original 3DS and the XL, I've used the XL far more often, and that's the point of view this review will be coming from!Packaging
Probably not super important to anyone else, but I felt it deserved to be mentioned, as this is one thing that tremendously irks me about Nintendo! Don't get me wrong, the art and box design for the game are fantastic. Bright colors, crisp and clear design, easily readable- the brightness of the colors on the logo and the pink lasers really catches the eye while the overall design suggests an action packed game. Here's what irks me:
The inside of the games cover is fantastic too! But only in Japan. So far as I've been able to find out, the printed interior on the box's slip cover is ONLY available in Japan. Everywhere else has a lousy plain white inside to their game. Why Nintendo would choose not to give everyone the same sweet art is beyond me, as in the United States at least, we have the same design to the plastic game cases, complete with the square cutouts. I was incredibly disappointed when I first opened my game- Shame on Nintendo for shorting the rest of the world!... Again! Anyway-Gameplay
Title screen, complete with gyroscope action!
For the most part, Star Fox 64 3D is a direct port of the original Nintendo 64 version, at least gameplay wise. The traditional control scheme is smooth and responsive, and the buttons that are assigned to the various commands such as boost, brake, and throwing bombs all feel really natural. I didn't ever forget which button does what, even though the 3DS lacks the 'C buttons' from the N64 controller. You pull down on the control stick and press X and you do a somersault. Pulling down on the control stick and pressing B will cause you to reverse directions when in all range mode. Y throws bombs, and A fires your lasers. The right and left triggers cause you to turn sideways in that direction when held for making sharp turns, and will trigger a barrel roll when either is double tapped. The only command that I felt was slightly awkward was tapping the touch screen to answer when you received an incoming message from Rob 64.
The gyroscope controls are interesting, but not something I would want to seriously play the game with. When you have gyroscope enabled, you can control the Arwing both by tilting and turning the 3DS itself, as well as with the control stick. While general flying about works okay with the gyroscope, I found it was far, far more difficult to make sharp turns, and when trying to simply move left or right, it was hard to not inadvertently go up or down at the same time. Any sort of complex maneuver required me to jump to using the more traditional control stick controls, and so far as I could tell, you cannot do somersaults or U-turns with buttons and gyroscope alone. Enabling gyroscope also puts small, but annoying, green brackets around the screen, I'm assuming to help with orienting the game system to how your moving. I pretty much never use the gyroscope.
When first starting the game you're required to complete the training mode at least once before you can tackle the main story- a minor annoyance, but a good opportunity to get used to the controls, and it only takes 2-3 minutes to complete. When you start the storyline, you're offered a choice between "Nintendo 3DS Mode" and "Nintendo 64 Mode". The 3DS mode is supposed to be better tuned for using gyroscope controls and the circle pad, while the N64 mode reproduces the original challenge- I personally did not notice much a difference between them, though I tend to play mostly in 3DS mode because it's the first option. You then choose whether to enable the gyroscope controls, and you're off!
Each level still opens with these little communiques...
All the levels are the same between the N64 and 3DS versions besides graphical differences. The worlds have the same layouts, names, and enemy placements, so if you're very familiar with the original game there won't be any sudden surprises. One bonus of the 3DS version is the ability to save in between worlds, so the game doesn't require you to play straight through the seven worlds of your chosen course at once. This is a fantastic feature, which lets you pick up and play whenever you want, rather then locking you into a 30-60 minute game session each time. Another improvement is being able to skip cut scenes once you have viewed them all once, including the end of the level cutscenes which were not skip-able in the N64 version.
Graphics
Shot of the Great Fox during the opening cut scene to Meteo...
The graphics are definitely the most noticeable upgrade to the 3DS remake. Everything is now gorgeous! Trees look like trees, meteors look like meteors, and everything is bright and vibrant. The more detailed particle effects for the nebulas and the starry space backgrounds really add depth to the game. Everything has waaaay more polygons to it, which is most noticable on the characters themselves.
Original N64 (top) and the 3DS (bottom) charater designs.
In addition to everything being nice and rounded, all the textures are far more detailed and bright. When I played the original N64 version the other day, I was shocked by how dark and muddy the graphics were. Not so on the 3DS. Just improving the textures of the world itself would have made all the difference, but everything seems to have received a polygon increase.
Buildings are more detailed, trees appear to have more depth... It's a serious improvement over the original. For how good the graphics on the 3DS version are, I would love to see an HD version of the game done for the Wii U. It would be beautiful!
One last shot of the original N64's low resolution textures... *shivers*
There are also some general flavor enhancements as well. It now rains on Zoness, and snows on Fichina. The great Fox's tail fin design is now the same as Star Fox: Assaults. Bolse Station was redesigned to look more like an actual satellite. Some things on the minimap have had colors altered. It's little details like this that really make the 3DS version stand out when compared to the original.
Sound Design
All of your favorite lines are still here!
Everything was polished up for the 3DS release, music, dialogue, sound effects. All of it was rerecorded with some good and 'meh' results. Overall I like the majority of the music, although I feel like a few songs aren't balanced well for how loud the sound effects and dialogue are. They finally got away from the midi sounding audio and have more orchestral sounding versions of the music.http://youtu.be/SR2hJ9B9_Yg
The N64 Corneria music...
http://youtu.be/btL9yauabJg
The 3DS Corneria music...
Overall the music sounds great! The voices however left me feeling a bit unimpressed. All of the dialogue was completely rerecorded, and while in and of itself it sounds good, after having played the original N64 game for so many years, a lot of it sounds off. The voice actors do a good job of trying to sound as close as possible to the original audio, both in voice and inflection. Some characters however sound flat, particularly Fox McCloud. The character voices is one instance I'd have rather them have run the original audio through a filter or something and suffered a bit on the quality.In addition to rerecording the audio, some small bits of dialogue have been changed, or added too. When shooting Falco his original phrase of "Hey, Einstein, I'm on YOUR side!" has had 'Einstein' replaced with 'genius'. The Attack Carrier pilot on Corneria now just yells "Charge!" rather then "Deploy all units! CHARGE!" When performing a somersault while fighting Wolf, he now says "Seriously?" and "Oh, dang it!" in addition to "What the heck?!" In general the characters also tend to sound less serious, harried and concerned in the 3DS version, which does kill a bit of the tension of an intense space battle. In general, All of these changes in the audio are likely only noticeable by someone who's played the original as compulsively as me!
Unlockables and Battle Mode
Starfox 3DS has all the same unlockables as the original game. Completing the game gets you a sound test mode, in addition to the new Score Attack mode. Score Attack allows you replay single levels to beat your high scores on them, rather then having to play through the main game. The kill counts required for getting medals remains the same as the N64 version, and getting a gold medal on every level unlocks expert mode. Getting a gold medal on Expert mode, unlocks playing on foot in the Battle Mode. So on and so forth.The Battle Mode itself I personally haven't had much experience with. You can play either against 3 others locally, or against the computer. It's a shame Nintendo did not include online multiplayer. They did, however, add more power-ups to the battle mode, instead of being limited only to whats available in the main game. Cloaks, forcefields, homing missiles and more definitely make battling far more interesting!
Overall Opinion
The original Starfox 64 was a fantastic game, and 3DS port only improves on the original. While some of the character voices are a tiny bit flat at times, for the most part the 3DS version improves on the original game in every way. A single playthrough of the game itself is short, but it does take quite a bit of time to unlock everything, get medals on every course, discover and go through every path, and see everything Starfox 64 3D has to offer. It's best played in short bursts, and with the ability to save in between any course and come back later, this really facilitates that!Starfox 64 3D is a fun and flashy shooter, with bright and vibrant graphics, solid gameplay, a quirky cast of characters, and an interesting story, on top of it being essentially the only game of this type on the 3DS. While it may be a remake, the quality and amount of work put into it basically makes it a whole new game, and as it released back in 2011, you can likely get it for around half the cost of a newer release. I cannot recommend it highly enough, and if you haven't already picked it up, you should!
http://youtu.be/JEGI-qnTNn8
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