- “The Lylat system. This small group of planets enjoyed years of prosperity. The inhabitants lived in peace. That is, until Andross came into view.
Andross was born and raised on Corneria, fourth planet of the system, and grew to be a brilliant scientist.
Dr. Andross had been focusing all his time and energy researching bio-technology. But, since Corneria was a peaceful planet, this research went in vain. Over time, his mind became twisted and his morals became demented. Andross went mad.
One day, a a weapon, secretly developed by Andross, was unleashed on the residents of Corneria. Andross had turned his back on his homeward. Corneria's major cities were damaged. Luckily, Andross was captured by General Pepper, charged with treason and exiled to the planet Venom.
Five years later, reports from Corneria's observation station had confirmed disturbing activity from Venom. General Pepper sent three members of the Star Fox team, James McCloud, Pigma Dengar and Peppy Hare, to investigate.
When they arrived at Venom, Pigma betrayed his teammates and turned them over to his new master, Andross. Peppy barely managed to escape and returned home to his homeward to report McCloud's fate to his son, Fox.
Consumed with hatred, Andross declared war on the Lylat system. Slowly, Andross had taken control planet by planet. Now, Andross is advancing on Corneria.
General Pepper knows that Corneria's army alone cannot stop Andross. In his hour of need, he has turned to the new Star Fox team to save Corneria and free Lylat from Andross' evil clutches!” - —Star Fox 64 1997 Instruction Booklet
Star Fox 64 is a space rail-shooter game developed and published by Nintendo in 1997 for the Nintendo 64. It is the second officially released Star Fox game, as the originally planned second game in the series, Star Fox 2, was suddenly canceled for physical release on the Super NES due to the upcoming release of the Nintendo 64 (plus competition in the 32-bit era would render it obsolete), but some of its features were reused in Star Fox 64 such as charged laser shots, All-Range Mode, and the Star Wolf Team. It is the first game to introduce support for the N64 controller's Rumble Pak, and was initially packaged with one. This installment of the series is a reboot of the original Star Fox released in 1993 for the SNES, with a similar plot but improved gameplay.
The game received positive ratings from reviewers and critics who praised its smooth animation, detailed visuals, voice acting, and use of multiple gameplay paths. Star Fox 64 was listed as the forty-fifth-greatest game of all time by Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition in 2009, and has been called one of the greatest games of all time. It sold over 4 million copies worldwide and remains the most popular installment among the series' community. Star Fox 64 soon received a Player's Choice release.
In 2007, Star Fox 64 was re-released by Nintendo for download purchase on the Virtual Console available on the Nintendo Wii, later for the Wii U Virtual Console, and most recently for the Nintendo Switch Online library. The game also received a remake in 2011, Star Fox 64 3D, for the Nintendo 3DS, which itself received positive reviews. 15 years later, Nintendo announced a new HD remake of the game for the Nintendo Switch 2 titled Star Fox, slated for a June 25 2026 release, which will feature additional content. This makes Star Fox 64 the first and so far only title in the franchise to have more than one official remake (though the original game technically would have three if counting the similar gameplay).
Plot
Title screen
One day on Corneria, the fourth planet of the Lylat System, the evil scientist Andross is driven to madness and destroys the planet to near-extinction using biological weapons. General Pepper exiles him to the remote deserted planet Venom as punishment. Five years later, Pepper detects suspicious activity on Venom, and he hires the original Star Fox team — James McCloud, Peppy Hare, and Pigma Dengar — to investigate. Pigma suddenly betrays the team upon their arrival, and Andross captures James and apparently kills him; Peppy barely escapes from Venom alive and informs James's young son, Fox McCloud, about his father's fate.
Two years later, Andross launches another attack, this time across the entire Lylat System, declaring war. Defending Corneria, Pepper summons a new Star Fox team, now consisting of the new team leader Fox, Peppy, who is now his mentor, and his friends Falco Lombardi (the ace pilot) and Slippy Toad (the mechanic), the new members of the team. While traveling through several planets, the mercenary team battles with Andross' henchmen, including the rival mercenary team Star Wolf (which Pigma has joined). After the team finally arrives at Venom, Fox confronts Andross alone, with the encounter taking two different forms depending on how the player approaches the planet; If the player arrives from Bolse, Fox destroys a robotic version of Andross, leaving the actual Andross himself adrift in the Lylat System. If the player arrives from Area 6, Fox reveals Andross' true form as that of a floating brain, and finally kills him. Shortly before his death, Andross activates his base's self-destruct system in a last-ditch attempt to kill his archenemy. However, James himself appears and guides Fox out of the exploding base before disappearing again.
After defeating Andross in either encounter, Fox returns with his team to Corneria for a victory celebration. General Pepper offers the team the opportunity to join the Cornerian Army, but Fox declines and the team departs, seemingly for another secret mission. Following the game's credits sequence, the player's final score is presented as a bill Pepper receives from Star Fox for their services (the points is rounded up by 64), which will result different reactions depending how well the player performed (if the bill is below $70,000 which is 1093 kills or less, he will say "This is one steep bill, but it's worth it.", but if above 1094 kills, he will react in astonishment saying "What?!"). If the player gets a rather low amount of overall points, however, Pepper will remain silent.
Gameplay
Gameplay screenshot, of the Fichina level with Slippy in desperate need of help from Fox
Much like the original Star Fox, which its gameplay is generally the same, the main objective of Star Fox 64 is to take charge of the Star Fox Team as Fox McCloud and uncover the game's fifteen missions that link together in a number of possible paths to the final objective: a showdown on Venom, the home planet of the interplanetary tyrant, Andross. Throughout the variable adventures, players will have to accomplish challenging objectives in order to reach and conquer every mission. There are two different mission modes in the game; the primary 3D on-rails mode where the vehicle is sent down a fixed route with variable pathways towards the mission objective, and an all-range introduced in this game from the originally unreleased Star Fox 2. On-rail missions thrusts players forward into the conflict, and requires intense, split-second reactions while taking down enough targets and keeping all three teammates onboard to try and earn a Mission Medal. Multiple paths are possible through these scrolling missions, depending on the choices taken or gaming performance. All-range mode missions enable the Arwing to maneuver in full 360-degrees within a confined 3D arena, and to put the Arwing through radical combat maneuvers like loop-the-loops and high energy turns.
Not only does the Rumble Pak provide force-feedback in response to the game action, the controller's analog Control Stick gives the player total, precise control of the specific vehicle dimensions and performances, be it a sleek Arwing starfighter, an armored Landmaster tank, or the deep-diving Blue-Marine submersible.
Main Game aside, up to four players can participate in three different Versus Mode matches:
- Point Match, where the first player to reach a set total wins.
- Battle Royal, where the last player standing wins.
- Time Trial, where the aim is to score as many points as possible in the set time.
The first two options have Corneria and Sector Z as the possible stages, while the time trial has Katina and Sector Z. At first, only the Arwing is available, but the Landmaster is available after winning a medal on Venom, and an interesting Pilot mode is available after gaining a medal on all missions in Expert Mode (which is considered a challenging task).
Controls
- Arwing - The Arwing space/air fighter is used for thirteen of the sixteen levels in the game, and much of the rest of the series. In 3D Corridor Missions, the Arwing will be automatically start flying down a fixed route where it can be flown in any direction to reach the end of the flight path to face the mission objective. It can fire unlimited laser bullets and charged homing shots to damage and destroy targets, and store and fire up to nine Smart Bombs, and its lasers can be upgraded to twin and hyper. It can also perform special piloting maneuvers such as somersaults, half-loops and the famous barrel roll. The booster and brakes can help the Arwing speed up or slow down when required, however, the Arwing cannot fully stop moving or turn around. The three Star Fox team members will try to help make missions easier with their respective skills, but they will have to be on the battlefield in order to help or they will be forced to retreat when chased by tailing enemies for too long.
The Arwing is also the primary vehicle in Versus Mode. When the other two vehicle types are unlocked, the Arwing is selected at the player's spawn point with (A).
- Landmaster - Introduced in Star Fox 64, Fox uses the Landmaster tank to save Slippy on the Titania mission, and to take out the enemy supply base on the Macbeth mission. Being made from the same engineering parts as the Arwing, the Landmaster can shoot single laser blasts or charged shots from the front cannon, fire bombs, but its lasers cannot be upgraded in the Main Game. The tank can speed up or slow down and hover very briefly with the booster/brake meter. Also, it cannot barrel roll, but instead, rolls out of the way of attacks, despite Peppy's advice spoken on Titania.
When Expert Mode is unlocked, the Landmaster can be selected for use in Versus Mode by pressing (B) on the player's spawn screen.
- Blue Marine - Unique to the mission on planet Aquas, since the Arwings cannot go underwater, the experimental Blue-Marine is equipped with unlimited lock-on torpedoes in place of Smart Bombs, its lasers can be upgraded to twin and hyper, and it is barrel roll capable, making the Blue Marine the most powerful of the three crafts. However, its controls are slightly sluggish due to being underwater.
- On Foot (Fox, Peppy, Slippy or Falco) - The Player can use them only in multiplayer ground-based stages, and only after unlocking them by earning a Medal in each mission of the Main Game and also a medal on either side of Venom in Expert Mode. The controls consist of using the Control Stick to look around, holding R to run, pressing Z to jump, A for lasers, and B for bombs. Unlike the other two modes, Pilots cannot charge up shots.
Medals and Expert Mode
In addition to the main goal to complete the stage, every stage also has a secondary goal in the form of a target number of kills. Once the player has gotten enough kills, as long as all his allies are still alive, his score will turn orange and he will be awarded a medal for that planet upon completion of the mission. If the player earns medals on every mission, he will have the option to play the main game in "Expert Mode". In this unlockable difficulty designed for seasoned players, the game becomes more difficult by each level containing more enemies, Fox wearing sunglasses like his father James McCloud, the player's Arwing takes increased damage alongside wings immediately breaking off upon crashing into any obstacle, and the score required to obtain Medals is higher (collecting them all in this mode will unlock a Music Test and an alternate title screen).
Releases and re-releases
Star Fox 64 3D, the Nintendo 3DS remake of Star Fox 64
- Star Fox 64 was initally released in a special, larger box with a Rumble Pak included in every copy. The game sold enough copies to make it into the "Player's Choice" range.
- Star Fox 64 was released on the Wii's Virtual Console on 2nd April 2007 in Japan, 17th April 2007 in North America and 20th April 2007 in Europe.
- Star Fox 64 3D is a remake of Star Fox 64 that was released for the Nintendo 3DS. This game was released in Japan on July 14, 2011 and on September 9, 2011 in North America and Europe on September 15, 2011. This game is the sixth Star Fox game officially announced, and the second handheld title.
- The original game was once more re-released for the Nintendo Switch's Online feature in 2021.
- A second remake, simply titled Star Fox, is set to release on the Nintendo Switch 2 on June 25, 2026.
Comic Adaptation
- Nintendo of Europe released a comic adaptation in 1997, based on the events within the game.
Trivia
- In the Japanese version, if Fox dies during gameplay, one of the active wingmen at random will react to his death and scream his name in despair, much like in Star Fox Assault. The same happens in the international versions of the game, but they instead scream "No!!!!".
- If he were to die when facing Andross or escaping his archenemy's stronghold with James McCloud or with no active teammates during a mission, Fox himself will instead let out his death scream from right after Andross self-destructs himself in the true ending path in an attempt to kill him.
- Completing the game with routes that included Katina or Zoness will cause Bill Grey's Cornerian Fighter or Katt Monroe's Catspaw to appear in the staff credits. As they accompany Star Fox back to Corneria, Bill will fly above Fox and Peppy and Katt will fly above Falco and Slippy. It is not possible to make both appear at once.
- The game's voice acting is widely seen as among the most iconic in Nintendo's history, given the diverse accents and effort by the developers. The "Do a Barrel Roll!" quote by Peppy Hare and "Can't let you do that, Star Fox!" by Wolf O' Donnel are also a popular internet meme.
- Official sources, including the timeline in Lylat Database, state that Pigma's betrayal, which led to James McCloud's disappearance, happened two years before the beginning of the Lylat Wars. However, in both Star Fox Zero and the 2026 remake, the time gap was changed from two years to five years.
- According to the developers, 30% of Star Fox 64's gameplay came from the original Star Fox, while roughly 60% came from Star Fox 2, and the remaining 10% was original work done.
- In the PAL release, there is an unlockable "Lylat" language, which makes the characters speak in a gibberish manner similar to the Super NES titles. It is unknown why it is not included in the Japanese or North American versions.
- Rick May, the voice actor of Peppy Hare and Andross in this title, died on April 8th, 2020 from the COVID-19 disease after suffering a stroke, at the age of 79.
- In addition, Jock Blaney, who is the voice of Wolf O' Donnel, Bill Grey and Granga, also passed away on March 19, 2026, at the age of 76.
The service bill by the Star Fox Team to General Pepper after the credits. In this case, he must pay $65,344.
- In addition, Jock Blaney, who is the voice of Wolf O' Donnel, Bill Grey and Granga, also passed away on March 19, 2026, at the age of 76.
- As this installment was released in 1997, if General Pepper's $70,000+ bill for the Star Fox Team's services from high scores at the end of the game is inflated to today's currency, it would be the equivalent of over $142,523 as of 2026.
- Though extremely difficult under normal circumstances, if the player manages to obtain the highest possible legitimate scores (up to 3000 kills), the bill can reach as much as $192,000, which, if adjusted for inflation, will be an astonishing $390,920.37.
Names in Other Languages
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| Japanese | (スターフォックス 64 Sutā Fokkusu Rokujūyon) |
References
- NINTENDO POWER: Official Nintendo Player's Guide. Redmond, WA, Nintendo of America. 1997.
- .com
- 1997 Instruction Booklet; PAL
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