A game dev lesson you can learn from Star Fox 64
An oft forgotten history – Rail games were essentially non-existent by 1997. Rail games were big in arcades, but once home consoles shifted to free roaming games players were given control over all movement. Releasing a on rail game that gave players limited agency (i.e. shoot, charge shot, etc.) went against every game design tenet of the late 90’s.
Star Fox 64 completely shattered that mindset with elegant simplicity. Rather than resist the confines of being an on rail experience Star Fox 64 leaned into it, and because of the limitations of the format produced something liberating.
I study history for a living. I know the greatest things aren’t always about trying to do everything. Great things are made by doing one thing and doing it perfectly.
You are ONLY Fox McCloud piloting the Arwing
You’re Fox McCloud and you pilot a fighter jet. You and your dog friends Falco, Slippy, and Peppy will fly through predetermined routes to battle enemy aircraft, bosses, and environmental hazards. Star Fox 64 doesn’t pretend you have freedom of movement. They don’t shame you for being on rails. Star Fox 64 creates player agency within the targeting and accuracy of those rails.
There are multiple paths you can take throughout each level. The better score you earn in a stage the better that path becomes. Destroy enough enemies and you may even unlock secret pathways. The game doesn’t branch off into a massive amount of freedom – you won’t be presented with completely different levels based on performance. What it does do though is give enough branching pathways that you see value in replaying levels. Want to take a shortcut? Lose on one path and you are presented with the opportunity to take an alternate route. Star Fox 64 rewards replay ability.
The infamous Rumble Pak integration was purely a marketing tactic, but what an impactful one it had on the gaming experience as a whole. When your controller vibrates you know you’ve been hit. Explosions actually felt like they had weight to them. It wasn’t gun handed sensory overload – Star Fox 64 was providing you information through game design. Fast forward to modern games that use the rumble feature in your controllers and you’ll notice they understand the significance of what Nintendo was doing with the Star Fox 64 rumble pak. In 1997 it was revolutionary.
The Branching Structure Worked
Star Fox 64 understood linear like no other and is a masterpiece of on rail shooters. Yes your route is predetermined but inside of that route there are countless decisions being made. Where should I target? When should I use my charged shot? Should I pursue this objective or this objective? Which power ups should I go for? Position yourself to create maximum scoring output.
The versus mode is simple yet fantastic. Two ships battling each other in real time. Shooting at each other. Positioning yourself to outplay the opponent and grab power ups to best your opponent. This was mind blowing back in 1997 for the N64. Real time multiplayer was rare on a console system.
Even the difficulty settings are perfect. Easy teaches you game mechanics. Normal actually requires skill. Hard? That requires greatness. And complete hard? You unlocked Very Hard. Just enough levels of difficulty that you strive to become better.
Bosses Were Meaningful Tests of Precision
At the end of every level there will be a boss that will challenge everything you learned during that previous segment of the game. Whether it be Andross in his many phases. Battling other player controlled Arwings. Dodging through environmental hazards that require pixel perfect precision. The game teaches you patterns, but executing those patterns in a perfect manner requires skill. You won’t face a boss that just takes 100s of hits to defeat – you have to smart to find a strategy that will work and execute it.
What sticks out to me about Star Fox 64 boss design is how well each boss tells you how they attack. Normally, within 2 or 3 tries you understand how to damage a boss. The challenge is now avoiding their offense while you execute your offense. Simple arcade gameplay – Learn the enemy tells, execute perfectly, and go to the next zone.
The fight against Andross at the end of the game is epic. Each phase ramps up both the scope and your need to perfect your strategy.
Arcade Game Design Mentality
I’m a teacher of history so I love the timeline of when Star Fox 64 released. Right as gaming was going full throttle into movies as games and storytelling Nintendo took us back with Star Fox 64 and said “Hey arcade games are great”, and proved it by mastering the style.
It respects your time as a player. You can beat the entire game in around 30 minutes. There is no grinding, no stuffing filler in to make you play more. You fly through levels blasting enemies, defeat bosses, unlock new paths, and then replay the same stages for hours trying to get better scores. It’s a gaming philosophy straight out of arcade cabinets translated perfectly into console gaming.
That stupid voice acting they made fun of back then actually makes sense with the arcade feel. When Peppy tells you advice (“Do a barrel roll!”) it feels cheesy, but actually tells you gameplay options. When Slippy yells at you because his ship got destroyed it’s not over exaggerating his voice for no reason – it’s actually portraying a human being who is anxious that his ship is dying. Fox provides this stoic vibe of a veteran pilot who is accustomed to the perpetual threat of your friends and comrades dying. They all bought into the fact this was an arcade game and didn’t try to make these characters feel like they belonged in a movie.
The Rumble Pak That Changed Gaming Forever
There has not been a game since then that hasn’t taken advantage of the rumble pak. The rumble pack that shipped with some copies of Star Fox 64 changed gaming. Vibrations are an information tool that the game uses to inform you. Getting hit hurts. You can feel explosions when they occur. Power-
When developers use the rumble feature in controllers today they are essentially taking what Star Fox 64 did and expanding on it. Force feedback technology has been in controllers since Star Fox 64. The developers who truly understand what Nintendo stumbled on in 1997 understand that vibration is a method of information. It’s not just for kicks.
Should You Play Star Fox 64 in 2018?
You should 100% play Star Fox 64. Sure the graphics will look dated but the charm is still here. The arcade style is timeless. Controls are tight. Bosses feel creative. Branching paths encourage you to replay. Multiplayer is still fun as heck. Star Fox 64 is perfect because it commits to being a great game and nothing more.
Frame rates are solid. Sprite-scaling Mode 7 that looked amazing back in 1997 look silly by today’s standards but they don’t hinder your play in any way. Negative? Slippy annoys me. Difficulty jump from normal to hard is insane. Both of these are likely intentional.
Conclusion
Star Fox 64 is the definition of what an on rail shooter should be. Not by beating the confines of what being a on rail shooter, but by knowing every limitation of what being on rails could give them and shining inside of that box. Controls are tight. Bosses are innovative. Levels branch enough to make you want to replay. Multiplayer is a blast. It’s Arcade game design is timeless.
Star Fox 64 took a limitation many believed game design had and turned it into something amazing. Constraints are not always bad – they can create. Learn how to create player agency inside of constraints. Study how Star Fox 64 perfected their on rail formula.
Rating: 10/10 – An arcade rail shooter done right
See what other games made our N64 top 10 here
Joe’s a history teacher who treats the console wars like actual history. A lifelong Sega devotee from Phoenix, he writes with passion, humor, and lingering heartbreak over the Dreamcast. Expect strong opinions, bad puns, and plenty of “blast processing.”
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