Did you like or not like Star Fox Zero?

[Swamp Sensei]

Sounds good.

Really interested in seeing the moral grays in General Pepper's and Andross' relationship.

That could be really cool.

 

[IanTheGamer]

Good to see, Nintendo doing more character development, which was always a problem, Krystal wasn't the only character that was a flat stereotype, Fox was, Falco was

 

[N3ON]

Anybody see the new interview? http://time.com/4245215/starfox-wii-u/

Lot's of good stuff in there, like the easier and harder modes and what's new about the story. Namely about the changed tone, he's implying it's less silly one-liners and more about explaining the relationship between the characters present, like what caused General Pepper to give Andross the boot and why he's so intent on taking over Lylat.

I like the silly one-liners.

 

[LancerStaff]

I like the silly one-liners.

Obviously they're still there if they're signing off every trailer with "Do a barrel roll!" Just subdued.

Prediction time: Any major plot revelations are going to come up in the hidden routes while the "easy route" is mostly going to be SF64 lines. Just kind of a gut instinct.

 

[IanTheGamer]

Obviously they're still there if they're signing off every trailer with "Do a barrel roll!" Just subdued.

Prediction time: Any major plot revelations are going to come up in the hidden routes while the "easy route" is mostly going to be SF64 lines. Just kind of a gut instinct.

Wouldn't surpise me one bit

 

[TryrushDeppy]

Beating Andross once shouldn't take long but playing every level, including the true Andross, requires multiple playthroughs. I could be mistaken but I think there's more branching paths then 64 had, and in 64 you had to play through the game three times at least to see every level. Without a guide I'd say you'd have to play through 64 at least seven times to figure it out yourself. This one might be more.

Plus, SF64 has to be the most endlessly replayable single-player action game of all time. I've probably cleared it on different routes over fifty times by now. All the quotes and setpieces just never get old, and score attacking for medals extends its appeal even further.

I don't expect SFZ to replicate this, especially with the control scheme, but I'm sure it'll have a longer shelf life than the time it takes to finish it.

 

[LancerStaff]

Gamexplain's put up a bunch of gameplay clips and a preview. From what they've shown us it looks like there's a ton of levels and they're a good deal longer then 64's too. Even if it doesn't have a proper hard mode I wouldn't be surprised if it takes longer to complete then 64.

Though it seems that the arcade mode is gone... The world map you see is basically just a level select. Finding new routes seems a bit less organic then before, though much easier. Mostly it's things like unlocking the walker then replaying the first stage and pressing the button, or beating Star Wolf and then finding and chasing them down in other, older levels.

The medals you find also seem important for unlocking things, though they can't say anything until the 20th. There's five in every stage, though one unlocked by getting enough kills, and in the Gyrowing stages one for collecting the ten platinum coins too. Decent chance the "missing" expert mode and arcade mode are unlockables, though, and I wouldn't be surprised if the amiibo ships are unlockables too.

 

[IanTheGamer]

Gamexplain's put up a bunch of gameplay clips and a preview. From what they've shown us it looks like there's a ton of levels and they're a good deal longer then 64's too. Even if it doesn't have a proper hard mode I wouldn't be surprised if it takes longer to complete then 64.

Though it seems that the arcade mode is gone... The world map you see is basically just a level select. Finding new routes seems a bit less organic then before, though much easier. Mostly it's things like unlocking the walker then replaying the first stage and pressing the button, or beating Star Wolf and then finding and chasing them down in other, older levels.

The medals you find also seem important for unlocking things, though they can't say anything until the 20th. There's five in every stage, though one unlocked by getting enough kills, and in the Gyrowing stages one for collecting the ten platinum coins too. Decent chance the "missing" expert mode and arcade mode are unlockables, though, and I wouldn't be surprised if the amiibo ships are unlockables too.

Interesting twists actually,

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Spoiler: Actual Spoilers

This game is not Star Fox 64.

This is amazing stuff.

 

[ILOVESMASH]

Loving what I see so far. The gameplay seems to be a mix of Star fox 64 and Star Fox 2. The player mostly plays linear level with multiple paths (SF64), but can also go back to them later to accomplish new task depending on the situation (the corneria level seems to be a good example) (SF2). The presentation and atmoshpere also seems top notch, despite the graphics being subpar. Levels such as Sector Beta show this perfectly in my opinion. Voice acting also seems p. good, which is a relief as I was not a fan of the voice acting in some of the more recent Star Fox titles.

 

[IanTheGamer]

I was wrong, it is not Star Fox 64HD, but at the same time, it kinda is, maybe that was intentional, if the game sells, we will see characters like Panther and Krystal return in the sequel, Though I believe Platinum should be the ones to do the sequel,

 

[LancerStaff]

Gamexplain has their review up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbW99DyAAm4

Main issue with the game is that adapting to the controls takes a ton of time, and by the time you've mastered them there's not a lot left. He words it funny in the review because the embargo is still up, but buried in the comments he says there's some sort of unlockable arcade mode too, though it doesn't seem to unlock anything itself. Myself I've always liked time/score attack modes so I'm probably going to get my money's worth.

Oh yeah, and some of the medals are pretty hard to find. One he mentions is at the end of the first stage, off in some nook. The problem is not that the place wasn't hard to find, but that you actually had to take the walker in for the medal to appear. Kind of a dumb mechanic but it shouldn't be too bad if you're aware of it.

Going to go get it on launch night myself. Probably going to beat the whole thing over the weekend since I have Friday off, hehe.

 

[finalark]

Games Radar's review is in, and it's sitting at 72 on Metacritic. Not terrible, but it sounds like it's a bit of a hit-and-miss kind of deal.

 

[LancerStaff]

The division on this game over the controls really isn't surprising after KIU and W101. Even though you had some decent ways to play without the stylus in KIU and you were better off ignoring the touch screen in W101.

I'm still kinda surprised they didn't come up with some kind of easy mode where the Arwing mostly flies itself or something. The game is quite a lot to take in for most people... Letting people focus on aiming and managing two screens for a while before giving them full control would've been much less overwhelming.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Honestly, I still excited.

It has more positve reviews than negative.

Just ignore Polygon....

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

The main problems with Star Fox Zero are the time it takes to get used to the controls, and having only 20 missions is quite lackluster for a Wii U title when you look at past Wii U titles like "New Super Mario Bros. U", "Super Mario 3D World", "Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze", and "Yoshi's Woolly World".

Being able to redo missions at any time is an improvement, as it means that you're not forced to have to redo everything all over again if you ever get a game over.

 

[ILOVESMASH]

The main problems with Star Fox Zero are the time it takes to get used to the controls, and having only 20 missions is quite lackluster for a Wii U title when you look at past Wii U titles like "New Super Mario Bros. U", "Super Mario 3D World", "Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze", and "Yoshi's Woolly World".

Being able to redo missions at any time is an improvement, as it means that you're not forced to have to redo everything all over again if you ever get a game over.

I wouldn't say its comparable to those games since the missions in Star fox zero are much longer.

Anyways, aside from the horrible controls, this game seems like it will be much more fun than Star fox 64. I just hope the developers build around a much more traditional control scheme in the game's sequel.

 

[IanTheGamer]

Yeah it is a bit on the short side, And it really does look just like SF64 with HD graphics, Which I am mixed on, the motion controls take some getting used to, but it does incorporate some of the better ideas from SF2, so it gets an "OK" from me, Not exactly worth scrambling to get it day one, but a game that I will consider buying at a later date .

 

[Deleted member]

I'm getting it tomorrow, have it preordered. There's one thing in the animated short that shocked me though.

Spoiler: Listen to what Slippy says.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA2-0nTxaGg#t=2m42s

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

The mentioning of Sauria in the short was one of the few references that were present.

 

[Deleted member]

The mentioning of Sauria in the short was one of the few references that were present.

And these 2 remind me of Krystal and Randorn

 

[_Sheik]

Most of Nintendo's Star Fox-related posts on Twitter lately truly prove that they acknowledge everything - including Command, which, years ago, was said not to be considered canon by the development team itself if I recall correctly.

So this all feels like a Zelda timelines kind of thing, but not separating at a given point; there are just three parallel branches. Starwing is its own thing, Lylat Wars has its whole timeline starting from it and going till Command (which may not be canon but is obviously a sequel to Assault), and now we have Star Fox Zero as the starting point of a third verse involving the SF crew.

My thoughts on the GameXPlain video related to the final boss & ending:

Spoiler

Shigeru promised a somewhat deeper story and character emphasis, and Shigeru did not disappoint.

My two complaints are, for one, not a flaw at all but more of a personal disdain for everything multidimensional that isn't Dragon Ball Multiverse; secundo, I hate how in every area only accessible thanks to the teleporters, only Fox is there to beat the baddies while the other teammates are left behind. And it's also true for this Final Boss battle. To my mind it feels as irritating as Luffy having to defeat the toughest boss of every One Piece arc all by himself (in the videogames I mean. It's actually okay in the manga, and the manga matters more than anything else so it's not an issue either, but I am trying to demonstrate my point with a similar example).

I reminisced about the ever-sexy Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker and Bayonetta 2 when looking at those shiny graphics.

The Andross battle is awesome overall. Almost flawless. During the first minute of the fight I thought that it was pretty clever to increase Andross's size as well as to remove the pattern that he set up for several Nintendo games (floating head, floating hands). But then Fox engages Andross in a real fight and POOF! Two wild hands appear! Screw you Miyamoto! Nah, I'm not mad, actually. I've always liked that pattern.

And DAMN, SON. All of those ending shots displaying the Great Fox in all of its glory... not only are they pretty, but they also reminded me of when I was 6 years old and played Melee for the first time(s) and everything looked so bright and shiny in that game's opening movie, stages, trophies and whatnot. We all remember how the ship concurred with Samus's Gunship and the Blue Falcon beneath a delicious sunset. Nostalgia.

RIP Iwata.

 

[Deleted member]

Most of Nintendo's Star Fox-related posts on Twitter lately truly prove that they acknowledge everything - including Command, which, years ago, was said not to be considered canon by the development team itself if I recall correctly.

So this all feels like a Zelda timelines kind of thing, but not separating at a given point; there are just three parallel branches. Starwing is its own thing, Lylat Wars has its whole timeline starting from it and going till Command (which may not be canon but is obviously a sequel to Assault), and now we have Star Fox Zero as the starting point of a third verse involving the SF crew.

My thoughts on the GameXPlain video related to the final boss & ending:

Spoiler

Shigeru promised a somewhat deeper story and character emphasis, and Shigeru did not disappoint.

My two complaints are, for one, not a flaw at all but more of a personal disdain for everything multidimensional that isn't Dragon Ball Multiverse; secundo, I hate how in every area only accessible thanks to the teleporters, only Fox is there to beat the baddies while the other teammates are left behind. And it's also true for this Final Boss battle. To my mind it feels as irritating as Luffy having to defeat the toughest boss of every One Piece arc all by himself (in the videogames I mean. It's actually okay in the manga, and the manga matters more than anything else so it's not an issue either, but I am trying to demonstrate my point with a similar example).

I reminisced about the ever-sexy Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker and Bayonetta 2 when looking at those shiny graphics.

The Andross battle is awesome overall. Almost flawless. During the first minute of the fight I thought that it was pretty clever to increase Andross's size as well as to remove the pattern that he set up for several Nintendo games (floating head, floating hands). But then Fox engages Andross in a real fight and POOF! Two wild hands appear! Screw you Miyamoto! Nah, I'm not mad, actually. I've always liked that pattern.

And DAMN, SON. All of those ending shots displaying the Great Fox in all of its glory... not only are they pretty, but they also reminded me of when I was 6 years old and played Melee for the first time(s) and everything looked so bright and shiny in that game's opening movie, stages, trophies and whatnot. We all remember how the ship concurred with Samus's Gunship and the Blue Falcon beneath a delicious sunset. Nostalgia.

RIP Iwata.

I haven't seen a lot of SF tweets, though I did see one where they retweeded a Star Fox image with the blue fox and Panther. Another one where Slippy and Amanda are getting married. Other than that I haven't seen anything.

Taking those into consideration as well as Sauria being mentioned, and the two Krystal and Randorn like characters makes me worry about the DP fanseries haha

 

[LancerStaff]

Having played about four or five hours, kinda feels like the Gamexplain guys overrated how difficult the controls are.

You guys should definitely experiment with the motion control thing, though. Prefer the one who you can only aim while shooting, though I use the other option too.

For those Starfox pros, you can do a charged unlocked shot by holding L. Not sure if I should be surprised it's a thing since they made it an in-game tip in 3D.

 

[ILOVESMASH]

Should I buy this game now or wait for a price drop? I have heard incredibly mixed things about this game, with some saying its pretty fun while others say that it is a horribly short game with no redeeming factors, so I'm not sure whether buying it is wise or not.

 

[Zuby]

Should I buy this game now or wait for a price drop? I have heard incredibly mixed things about this game, with some saying its pretty fun while others say that it is a horribly short game with no redeeming factors, so I'm not sure whether buying it is wise or not.

Definitely wait. I preordered the First Print edition an could only stand it for about an hour before giving up for the day. The controls are unbearable (and as far as I can tell you can't customise them), the voice acting is the worst the series has ever turned up, and it's basically just the FOURTH revision of Starwing, having stripped away all the plot development and female characters created by the various sequels. They also seem to have reconfigured the Lylat System, removing most of the planets and changing the orbit patterns of the ones that remain (unless something changes after you finish it).

As a big Star Fox fan, who has been waiting 12 years and bought two consoles for this game, it's incredibly disappointing.

I haven't put Guard in to try yet but I'm not expecting much there.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Definitely wait. I preordered the First Print edition an could only stand it for about an hour before giving up for the day. The controls are unbearable (and as far as I can tell you can't customise them), the voice acting is the worst the series has ever turned up, and it's basically just the FOURTH revision of Starwing, having stripped away all the plot development and female characters created by the various sequels. They also seem to have reconfigured the Lylat System, removing most of the planets and changing the orbit patterns of the ones that remain (unless something changes after you finish it).

As a big Star Fox fan, who has been waiting 12 years and bought two consoles for this game, it's incredibly disappointing.

I haven't put Guard in to try yet but I'm not expecting much there.

Huh. I'd actually say the opposite for almost everything.

Controls are fine and the voice acting is some of the best in the series.

Opinions I guess.



If you liked Assault and 64, you'll like this game.

 

[LancerStaff]

I've been waiting for this for just as long and I think it's great, though not as good as 64.

The controls are definitely where most of the difficultly comes from, though that's not inherently a bad thing. It's an organic difficultly, something that gets better the more you play. If you keep playing and replaying levels your skills improving becomes pretty obvious. First time I beat Lone Wolf it took me like five minutes, right now my record is 52 seconds.

It values the journey over the destination. The rewards for collecting the medals aren't that great, though it's fun going for high scores and just finding the things. (Note that you can unlock the amiibo Arwings with enough medals, and the Falco one is basically expert mode with permanent hyper charge shots.) You can beat every level in the game much faster then in 64, but that's only because it's a world map instead of an arcade mode you have to play through every time. Speaking of the arcade mode, in Zero it's not only really hard, but it also keeps track of every route and keeps best times and scores separately. If you liked going for scores in 64 then you'll definitely have enough to do here.

Honestly I never really cared about the story or cannon of Starfox much, though there's enough different twists towards the end so that it doesn't entirely feel like a retread of 64. Thought the voice acting flowed a lot better then Assault and 64's too, though it's less memorable as a result. Wolf not being a meme spewer anymore is probably the most notable change.

Getting close to 13 hours and I have 65 out of 70 medals. Enjoying every minute of it. Well... Besides a few medals anyway.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

Should I buy this game now or wait for a price drop? I have heard incredibly mixed things about this game, with some saying its pretty fun while others say that it is a horribly short game with no redeeming factors, so I'm not sure whether buying it is wise or not.

You're going to have to purchase the eShop version if you're not interested in Star Fox Guard. When bought separately, Star Fox Zero only costs $49.99 without the added tax.

On my end, the last stage that I've finished so far is Zoness, but I'm still trying to get used to the gyro controls. I also have 4 of the 5 medals for Corneria (I'm only missing the medal that you'll get for making 300 hits or more), but the spider mech phase has been an issue that I'm still trying to take care of without taking too much damage.

 

[LancerStaff]

The walker is the key to the all-range missions. Transform right over a bunch of 'em and hover in place to shoot them, and barrel roll away when the shots get close.

On Finchia you can lock on to them, aim up above them, and then fire and the Landmaster's missiles will fly at enough of an angle to hit the weak spots. Not sure how well it'd work with a normal charge shot but if you're really taking that much damage it's worth trying.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

For those who are trying to get the Mission Accomplished messages, I did spot some of them, and figured out their requirements.

• Corneria: Destroy Androsa's core.
• Sector Alpha: Protect all the Cornerian ships from being destroyed. There are three of them total.
• Zoness: Avoid being detected by the searchlights.

 

[LancerStaff]

Well if you guys want the rest of them... Some actual spoilers too I suppose, might want to beat the game first.

Spoiler

Area 3: Use the walker to reactivate the Gigarilla and finish the stage.
Sector Beta: Defeat Wolf before he shoots down Peppy.
Titania: Destroy all spider, worm and alpaca robots.
Sector Gamma: Prevent all damage to the Great Fox.
Finchia: Destroy all spider robots.
Fortuna: Destroy all the eggs in the background.
Sector Omega: Don't take any damage until the boss starts. (My game glitched and gave me a gold path even though I didn't do it, for some reason.)
Corneria 2: Destroy all the lights on the Gigarilla.
Venom: Do a U-turn and shoot Andross's weak point one last time before escaping.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

LancerStaff

Spoiler

I'm a bit confused with the Venom requirement. Do you have to shoot Andross's weak point during the part where you're escaping Venom while avoiding Andross's attacks?

 

[LancerStaff]

LancerStaff

Spoiler

I'm a bit confused with the Venom requirement. Do you have to shoot Andross's weak point during the part where you're escaping Venom while avoiding Andross's attacks?

Uh-huh.

...Guess I'll talk about Guard a bit to pad out my post.

It's alright. First two of the five planets (I'm assuming since the rank rewards spoil it) are really easy and personally didn't do a good job selling me on the game. Third planet was a bit of a difficultly spike, though, and everything started to fall into place then. Not sure how hard it actually can get since the robot routes are predetermined, and it's not hard to prepare for whatever wave killed you as a result. Level editor is somewhat limited at first, but you unlock more and more space for bots as you play the main story. What's strange is that you can only save one stage for every map...

Mm... Dunno what else to say. What you see is what you get, I guess. I'll probably stick it through to the end because it's not terribly long. I mean, it's long for a 10$ game, but it's definitely not as long as Zero.

 

[Pazzo.]

I'm enjoying it.

It's bringing a nice mix of familiar and new. There's also something so satisfying about maneuvering in with the Arwing, transforming into the walker to attack, then back to the Arwing to dodge again.

 

[Radical Bones]

Okay so after playing it a bit more I do like this game, but it could have been much better. This is the second time I've felt a bit ripped off by Nintendo - the first being Mario Tennis Ultra Smash.

I just want more from this game. It couldn't be that hard to throw in a few more areas?

Ah well. Hopefully this is the return of the series, and the next game improves on what we've seen here.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

I was able to complete Venom earlier, and I can pretty much say that Andross felt like a pushover for the game's final boss.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Andross is either ball crushingly hard or stupid easy depending on who you ask.

One way or the other...

 

[LancerStaff]

Thought he was kinda middle of the road the first time... Like everything in this game, the fight isn't hard with practice. Only part of the game I think is particularly hard for me is Aquarosa if I end up there with little HP or I die and lose my twin lasers. Lots of arcade mode runs killed by the dumb flower. <_< At least it's the first boss for those routes.

As I keep playing the game I can't help but think DLC or at least a patch would be nice. A few things could get tweaked and they could add in support for the amiibo ships and co-op in arcade mode. There's lots potential for DLC, like more Arwings and more levels for the different vehicles and stuff like that. Not sure they'd do it, but after Pikmin 3 getting DLC (and a new control scheme like a year later) it's not impossible.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

Andross is either ball crushingly hard or stupid easy depending on who you ask.

One way or the other...

Truthfully, the main challenge is just defeating Andross quickly, because it seems that the faster you take down a boss, the more hits you'll receive; that's something that you must also do against Star Wolf if you want to reach the hit goal for acquiring a medal. I also read somewhere that destroying the cannons with charged shots without targeting them can give you as many as 4 hits if done just right, but I'm not even sure if that information is right.