Star Fox Guard

Star Fox Guard is a detour from the classic action of Star Fox toward defensive strategy - the player doesn't control the Arwing fighter, but instead watches a network of cameras placed around a base and must defend a generator against waves of attacking robots. The game was created as a companion title to the action game Star Fox Zero and was released exclusively for Wii U, because the entire concept relies on the existence of the second display on the GamePad controller. Characters from the Star Fox universe function here more as a framing device and commentary on events than as playable units, which is an unusual step aside for a series known mainly for dogfights in space.

On the main television screen, the player watches a grid of twelve cameras at once and sees where enemies are attacking from, while on the GamePad they have a detailed view from one selected camera and can aim it and target approaching robots using the gyroscope. This combination of two screens is the core of the entire game - without the GamePad, the concept of "watch everything at once on one screen while aiming precisely on the other" simply wouldn't work, and that's the main reason the game never came out anywhere other than Wii U. The player has to handle switching the view between cameras smoothly, otherwise enemies will manage to damage the generator before the player even gets a shot aimed at them.

Between rounds, the player builds their own arrangement of turrets according to the type and direction of the incoming enemies, so the game combines thoughtful tower defense with fast reflex-based combat on one selected camera. The short rounds are also designed so they can be played in smaller chunks, which suits the character of a companion title alongside the more extensive Star Fox Zero, with which it shares the world and characters, but not the style of play.

Why play: Suitable for Wii U players who want to try out what the GamePad can do in the hands of a completely different genre than action shooters - it's a compact strategy game built exactly around its capabilities.