Star Fox

The Star Fox series launched in 1993 on the SNES, where Nintendo partnered with British studio Argonaut Software to harness the special Super FX chip for rendering polygonal 3D graphics, something unheard of on the console at the time. Players lead a team of mercenary pilots headed by the fox Fox McCloud, flying the Arwing fighter through linear yet branching missions against the empire of the scientist Andross. Fox McCloud's team includes Peppy Hare, Falco Lombardi and Slippy Toad, a crew he inherited from his father James McCloud, betrayed by the mercenary Pigma Dengar. This mix became the series' defining trait: an on-rails shooter where forward flight is automatic and the player only steers aim and evasive maneuvers, with occasional stretches of freer flight. A direct sequel, Star Fox 2, was already finished for the SNES in 1995, but Nintendo shelved it as the PlayStation and Saturn arrived — players only got to play it twenty-two years later, bundled with the SNES Classic Edition in 2017.

For most players and critics the series' peak remains Star Fox 64 from 1997, both a remake and a sequel at once, which introduced voice acting for the cast (the line "Do a barrel roll!" is still widely quoted today), Rumble Pak vibration feedback, and a noticeably refined branching-route system tied to optional objectives. Cooperative multiplayer for several players gave the game lasting appeal well beyond its story campaign.

Later entries handled the legacy of the second game differently. Star Fox Adventures for GameCube (2002) grew out of an unfinished adventure game, Dinosaur Planet, by studio Rare, and pushed the series toward action-adventure with minimal flying, a shift that split fans. Star Fox Assault (2005, co-developed with Namco) returned to flight but added on-foot combat and ground vehicles. Star Fox Command for Nintendo DS (2006) leaned on stylus controls and a strategic map with several distinct endings depending on the player's choices.

After the remake Star Fox 64 3D (2011) came Star Fox Zero for Wii U (2016, co-developed with Platinum Games), which experimented with splitting control between the TV screen and the gamepad's gyroscope — a solution that reviewers and players alike received with mixed feelings. The TV showed the ship from outside while the gamepad screen doubled as a cockpit-view reticle, and the need to shift attention between the two displays became the game's most debated element. The companion tower-defense spin-off Star Fox Guard hinted at a possible side direction for the series, but the main line has been dormant ever since.