Nintendo Game Discussion Club - Xenoblade Chronicles (Definitive Edition)

[Swamp Sensei]

Do you think R.O.B. could ever star in his own new game?

 

[Mushroomguy12]

I do think R.O.B. would make a great veteran to return to the next Mario Kart. They can add them in a pack alongside, Kirby, Zelda, Captain Falcon, Olimar, Samus, and Fox.

 

[chocolatejr9]

Do you think R.O.B. could ever star in his own new game?

FWIW, I had an idea for one way back when I was younger. Sort of like a Kid Icarus Uprising-type of deal, if I remember correctly.

 

[nirvanafan]

I do think ROB could star in his own new game. Think the Smash inclusion alone gives anyone enough recognition & marketability to justify a new game & unlike F-Zero or Mother he is not really tied to any major genre Nintendo might not be interested in.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

I do wonder if they released Gyromite on NSO, would they update it to just have ROB's action be mapped to the buttons like a normal game.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

You guys might have figured this out, but I'm going to try and do this biweekly instead. It'll let me make higher quality stuff while giving more people a chance to talk.

Regardless, here's a real personal one for me.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Spoiler: Box Art

Game Summary:
The Wind Waker is the GameCube's premiere Zelda game. The Wind Waker takes the same 3D Zelda formula that Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask used and brings it to the high seas. Unique to this game is the King of Red Lions, a boat that lets Link sail across the ocean. The overworld is no longer a great field, its an ocean with dozens of islands scattered about. Each one is unique with its own treasures and hazards to explore. Link can't swim for long, so he'll have to use the King of Red Lions to the best of his abilities. While Link has access to several classic Zelda items like the bow, boomerang and bombs, this game introduces items like the grappling hook and Deku leaf to make exploring even more fun. The titular Wind Waker lets Link play melodies to control the winds, warp across the map and even control your friends?

The game begins with Link having his younger sister kidnapped by a giant bird! Link rescues Tetra, the leader of a band of pirates, and together they set off to the Forsaken Fortress. There, Link finds a mysterious figure who discards of Link by throwing him into the see. He is rescued by a talking boat, named the King of Red Lions. This boat seems to know much about the flooded world. Will Link be able to save his sister and discover the mysteries below the waves?

In 2013, Nintendo created an HD remake for the Wii U. This version utilized the gamepad as a map and item tool while allowing for online connectivity through Miiverse.

Initial Release:
December 13, 2002

HD:

September 20, 2013

Playable on...

• NGC
• Wii U

Notable Character Debuts:

• Toon Link
• Toon Zelda
• Toon Ganondorf
• Tetra
• Aryll
• King of Red Lions
• Rito
• Koroks

Spoiler: Music Samples

Current Metacritic Scores:
Original

Critics: 9.6
Players: 90


HD

Critics: 9.0
Players: 90


Confirmed Players:

• Swamp Sensei
• nirvanafan
• Megadoomer
• PLATINUM7
• cashregister9
• Mushroomguy12
• Zinith
• Verde Coeden Scalesworth
• LiveStudioAudience
• Sucumbio
• KingofPhantoms

Recommended by:

• Swamp Sensei
• nirvanafan
• Megadoomer
• PLATINUM7
• cashregister9
• Mushroomguy12
• Zinith
• Verde Coeden Scalesworth
• LiveStudioAudience
• Sucumbio
• KingofPhantoms

I love this game. It's one of my favorite games of all time. I grew up with it. That said, I can't say its a perfect game. At least, the original has some major flaws. Thankfully, the HD remake improves a lot of the game. I do find it hard to objectively rate this game. There's so many odd quirks that I'm used to but I remember giving me a lot of problem as a kid or being practically useless.

Like, you can pick up enemy weapons, but aside from sticks and fire puzzles, there's virtually no use in doing so. The infamous Triforce quest hurts the game a lot and Tingle certainly exacerbates things. Still, I love this game wholeheartedly. It's one of my all time favorites. I recommend trying it at least.

 

[nirvanafan]

This was my 1st Zelda game. I guess im not the smartest since i did struggle when i was a kid to progress meaningfully but i did have fun occasionally booting up a new save & running around Outset Island. I would tend to make it just a bit farther each time & was blown away when i reached the Forsaken Fortress & found out there was other islands. Think i made it as far as the Forbidden Woods back then.

Did go back several years ago & finally beat the game. Was as great as expected except the triforce shard section at the end. Would have quit the game if not for me having an action replay to skip the section since it just wasnt fun or something i wanted to do. This was all the original version, not sure how much more tolerable it may be in the HD Wii U version.

Twilight Princess is still probably my favorite of this style Zelda game but this is a really close 2nd. Is worth noting i went back & completed Twilight Princess 1st so who knows if this opinion would be different if my 1st complete experience with these games was Wind Waker.

 

[Megadoomer]

It's been a while since I played this, though from what I recall, the art style has aged quite well. (certainly better than the tech demo from earlier in the Gamecube days)

I might replay the game - I think I beat it on the Gamecube, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[PLATINUM7]

Have the HD version. It was probably my favourite 3D Zelda up until BotW and TotK.

Sailing around and finding new islands was really fun.

 

[RealLuigisWearPink]

Haven’t played this one yet, but it has some of my all time favorite graphics in a game like seriously the HD version is beautiful

 

[Dan Quixote]

I'm in the very rare demographic that's played Phantom Hourglass but not the Wind Waker. I'll fix that one of these days, but for now it's just very funny to me.

 

[cashregister9]

Yeah Wind Waker HD Is my favorite Zelda game, The game looks gorgeous and the changes they made were all very positive changes to an already fantastic game.

There is a conversation to be had on whether or not HD or the Original look better, but when both versions look as good as they do, it is hard to complain.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

I played part of the HD Remake before my Wii U broke. If they port it to Switch I might consider getting it again (if I can clear my backlog enough).

I do love the music and atmosphere of the game, I remember how it was discussed that the artstyle was received negatively at first when the game was first revealed, but the game defied expectations with its charm and became a beloved jewel in the fanbase, a real underdog story.

 

[Zinith]

I really wish I could take my time writing reviews for my favorite games, but I don't have the time these days. Just know that Wind Waker was my first Zelda game after moving away from the PlayStation it's my second favorite after Majora's Mask

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

I only played the original. The lack of Tingle Tuner made me no longer want the HD version. That said, the Tingle Bottle was cool... till Miiverse shut down.

I also haven't beaten it yet. I could never get the swinging portions down and couldn't make it to the second Gohma fight. Welp. XD

 

[Swamp Sensei]

What boss is your favorite from Wind Waker?

I've always loved the Helmaroc King. It's important to the narrative and really fun. Using the hammer is always a treat.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

If there's a term I constantly think of with Wind Waker... its charm. Link to the Past best balances out its elements, Ocarina of Time has the most significance, Majora's Mask the strongest story, and Breath of the Wild the most impressive sense of scale. But there's a warmth and coziness to WW more than any other title in the series which makes it so easy to go back to. Part of it is rooted in the toon aesthetic allowing the best range of character designs and expressions; I recall NPC's from Wind Waker with a resonance greater than anything outside Majora's Mask, and that's because they stand out that well.

Going back to the combat is always a joy with WW. Waiting for openings and weak spots with enemies may have rendered it too easy to some, but there's a organic energy to fights that just makes them fun. I'd honestly say until BofW went so deep with them that this game had the best combat in the series. It built on the N64 games while still feeling distinct from them while marrying a very solid base with a very cinematic feel. Yeah, Twilight Princess probably has stronger bosses across the board;; even with that Wind Waker holds its own in that department, with a pretty strong Ganondorf fight to finish things off.

Puzzles are pretty solid if nothing spectacular. It's actually the most middle of the road with dungeon/mini-dungeons in the regard; it doesn't reach the heights like a Forest Temple or Stone Tower, but never reaches the lows of a Water Temple or Great Bay Temple either. Tower of the Gods probably has the strongest location-based puzzles at the cost of the setting not being quite as interesting as something like Forsaken Fortress.

Exploration is the most fascinating subject in Wind Waker because it might be the biggest strength and biggest weakness in the game. There's remarkable scope for the Great Sea, a genuine sense of accomplishment at finding new locations, and the setting gives it possible the most unique identity in the series. The problem of course is that (more in the original release) is that it simply is too big for its own good and there's an eventual repetition that settles in because there's only so many kinds of combat and puzzles one can do with an ocean setting. That paired with an aesthetic that also gets a bit old after a while creates an experience that hits the point of diminishing returns the longer you do it. I'd never call it boring, but unlike a Phantom Hourglass which managed to freshen up the concept via stuff like ship parts and in interactive map, there's a basic nature of Wind Waker's oceans that does hinder it a bit.

The narrative is fine. Link is at his most likable, the characters are fun, Tetra's a great contrasting character to interact with, and Ganondorf might be at his most interesting personality wise. They're all just in service to a fairly standard story that largely hits the beats you expect. Given the heavier nature of Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess, Wind Waker almost feels like a light breather (even with its dark backstory) between the more serious games its sandwiched between.

Its telling in hindsight that while (in my estimation) the four major games that followed this (Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks) all had certain complex/systemic issues that made improving them a bit tricky, WW really just comes down to "more dungeons, less sailing". The slightly rushed nature of its release and the lopsided emphasis on ocean exploration are so obvious that essentially fixing it would be pretty straightforward.

The HD version is a very welcome remaster in that regard. While I know the choice of bloom and certain other artistic choices rankled some, the QoL features are so entirely welcome and critical in streamlining the overall gameplay experience that it's the version I go back to. It's not a perfect remake (the game really could serve to have 1-2 more dungeons to beef up the core playthrough) but it does make so many little improvements that add up to a variation of WW that feels much easier to recommend.

It's a title that while hampered a bit by its choice in focus and rushed release, has aged wonderfully in hindsight and is still enjoyable to just look at, let alone play.

 

[nirvanafan]

Thought Gohdan being similar to Eyerok was kind of neat. Probably not too exciting of a pick but i did particularly enjoy this Ganondorf fight & would say it was my favorite of the game. Gohma & Molgera are good too.

 

[Sucumbio]

WW is my favorite 3d Zelda. It's not without it's "issues," mainly for me being the slog finding the triforce pieces about 2/3 of the way thru but once that's done it is totally overall my favorite. Originally I thought the graphics were a joke when other games like RE4 exist but when compared to the eventual TP, it turns out I prefer the cell shaded animation style. It was charming, bright and full of life.

My favorite part of the game is this tbh

 

[Zinith]

I don't get the hate for the triforce quest. At least the one everyone focuses on. "Oh no, don't make me explore the world! Having to find all the charts that all have a unique way to get them is a chore, I just want to teleport directly from Wind Temple to Ganon's Tower!"

The actual tedium of that quest is the rupee farming you have to do for Tingle

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Hell, none of it bothered me. I like grinding. I like exploring. The game was loads of fun. Tingle being a jerk was a lot more ridiculous than him charging money to help you. Albeit, it's a far cry from his more heroic self in MM, but it's not even the same Tingle. I do like they downplayed him in later normal universe appearances, though(MC was a much better person).

That said, I'm glad they made the sailing a bit better in the remake too. That's nice. If anything, the most difficult part of the game for me was that multiple effects(I.E. an explosion) could outright block your view instead of being see-through. It's not that big of a deal, though. But it definitely upped the difficulty sometimes. It's also still weird to have a Link who can only temporarily swim like that. Only other game to be a bit odd was Oracle of Ages(as deep water shouldn't really matter when you have Flippers. Fully diving underwater makes sense as you become temporarily part fish. I guess it's at best "too rough of waters" or something? I do forget the lore).

 

[KingofPhantoms]

The Wind Waker is genuinely my favorite video game of al time. There hasn't been a single game out there that's resonated with me more than this one, and while I attribute a great part of that due to growing up playing it as well, I also just adore just about everything in the game in general.

I first played the game via a 20 minute demo on The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition compilation for the Gamecube. While every game on the compilation intrigued me and eventually led to the series being my favorite video g ame franchise, it was the Wind Waker's cartoony aesthetic and styles that caught my attention the most out of all the games' graphics and styles. I loved watching animated films and TV shows growing up, especially Disney films, so out of all the Zelda games, so combine that with Ocarina and Majora's gameplay that I had already enjoyed, and naturally, the Wind Waker was right up my ally.

It was a while before I got to play the full game. My mom was an avid player of a pirate-theemd MMORPG at the time, and saw me playing the demo once. Due to the similarities with me also sailing in that game, she was curious, so I explained to her that it was only a demo. At this point, the game had been out for a few years, so she went out of her way to try look online for stores that were still selling it and buy the game for me, but it still didn't take her long to find and buy a copy.

She didn't have to get that early Gamecube game just for me. But man, I am so grateful that she did.

I absolutely loved the full game. I love the game's innovative combat gameplay, solving it's puzzles (even some of the more complicated ones in the last two or so dungeons, with the earlier dungeons not being so difficult admittedly) doing side quests and talking to new characters, exploring the game's open world and every new island, the game's insanely intriguing and compelling story (which I didn't even fully understand until I got older) the game's remarkable soundtrack, and I quickly grew to love the game's cast of characters and their interactions with one and other as well. Heck, Tetra in particular ended up becoming my most wanted newcomer for a Super Smash Bros. game after I learned that Toon Link was in Brawl (something I was totally shocked and utterly overjoyed about) some years later, and she still is my most wanted newcomer to this day. She was one of hte coolest characters I had ever seen in a video game before, and her story was as shocking as it was compelling to me.

I go on about this game all day. The fact that you can pick up enemy weapons, play as characters other than Link with their own unique abilities in some locations, use a massive variety of creative weapons both for combat and puzzle solving, trave lto and explore a wide variety of islands across a beautiful ocean setting, and just the fact that it's a well-made action-adventure video game in general with a surprisingly deep story despite it's seemingly cartoony surface, it just...all really resonated with me growing up. Even while I didn't understand the game's story fully at the time, it still taught me that characters could change and grow, and along with Pikmin 2 and Ocarina of Time were the games that truly helped me start to learn puzzle-solving and problem-solving. While I have fond memories of hte game growing up, every time I boot it up nowadays, I still enjoy it for it's merits today, for all the same reasons I did back then, and for being able to better appreciate the gameplay and writing the game has now that I'm older.

It's really just...the perfect game for me, honestly. It's still my favorite Zelda game, and still my #1 favorite video game of all time to this day, and I don't think that's ever going to change.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

The fact that this hasn't been rereleased at all is a crime!

Star Fox Assault

Spoiler: Box Art

Game Summary:
Star Fox Assault is the fourth entry in the Star Fox franchise (that got released anyways). This game takes the old school style of Star Fox 64 of linear arcade shooter gameplay and upgrades it for a new generation. The player can do all the same Arwing maneuvers as 64, such as barrel rolling, charging up shots and racking up those high scores. New to this game, are on foot segments, where your pilot will run and gun their way through open sandbox levels to complete objectives. During these segments, your pilot can hop in Arwings and the mighty Landmaster tank. The game features a variety of weapons including grenades, rocket launchers, machine guns and high tech barriers.

The game has a robust multiplayer mode where up to four players can fight each other with a variety of rules. There are standard battles, jetpack battles, sniper wars and even one hit kill modes. There are six playable characters, each with their own stats, strengths and weaknesses. The playable characters include Fox, Falco, Slippy, Krystal, Peppy and Wolf. One can even unlock the retro game Xevious to play. There is a lot to do and unlock after the main game.

Narratively, the game takes place after Star Fox Adventures with the new Star Fox team being made up of Fox, Falco, Slippy and Krystal. Peppy has since retired to be mission control with R.O.B. 64 assisting. After chasing down Andrew Oinkey's fleet, the team are attacked by a strange alien. This alien is called an Aparoid and they have plans to conquer and assimilate the entire Lylat System. Star Fox will have to face their biggest threat yet. They may see the fall of beloved allies and may have to join forces with the villainous Star Wolf. Can Team Star Fox save the Lylat System?

Initial Release:
February 15, 2005

Playable on...

• NGC

Notable Character Debuts:

• Panther Caroso
• Beltino Toad
• Aparoids

Spoiler: Music Samples

Current Metacritic Scores:

Critics: 67
Players: 8.1

Confirmed Players:

• Swamp Sensei
• Quillion
• Verde Coeden Scalesworth
• Megadoomer
• Mushroomguy12
• LiveStudioAudience

Recommended by:

• Swamp Sensei
• Quillion
• Verde Coeden Scalesworth
• Megadoomer
• Mushroomguy12
• LiveStudioAudience

Okay, this may be controversial, but this is my favorite Star Fox game of all time. It's not a perfect game as some of the on foot missions can feel clunky and tedious, but the Arwing missions are perfect. I love the story. I love the soundtrack. I love this version of the Star Fox team. It's the direction Star Fox should be going right now. Arcade shooters are harder to justify making nowadays, so why not create a hybrid like this? It makes perfect sense to me.

I've put countless hours into this game's multiplayer with my friends and while I rarely won because one guy was MUCH better at the game than the rest of us. He'd always win and that's why he'd always want to play! Still I miss those days. The multiplayer theme is stuck in my head for ever.

 

[Quillion]

Yeah, I gotta admit that while Assault itself isn't perfect, it's probably the most ideal direction for Star Fox of anything it has currently done.

And still, while Splatoon takes on a more linear/platform-focused approach to shooter campaigns, I'd like to see Star Fox further pursue the "open-level" approach that Assault tried.

And speaking of Splatoon, just give such a Star Fox game the motion+stick controls that said series has mastered. Hell, just give a re-release of Assault those controls and a lot of the problems of Assault are solved right then and there.

And still speaking of Splatoon, I think that team is best-equipped to make a Star Fox game out of any team within or partnered with Nintendo.

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Great game. As cool as Adventures is too, this was a more regular sequel. It's part of why I loved it. But it's also cause having them on the ground more often is really neat after playing Smash Bros.

So it was more "I just happened to play the right games in the right order to enjoy this factor" than anything else, heh.

It's still a really fun game regardless. Good controls, interesting ideas. And showing that even Wolf has standards and so on. I gotta finish it up someday.

 

[nirvanafan]

Havent played this one yet, own it though. Unfortunately my gamecubes disc drive is failing so not sure when i will get to this one. Was able to borrow a wii to backup my collection to play on wii u or dolphin but unfortunately cleanrip wasnt able to completely dump a couple of my games when i tried & this was one of them. Not sure if there is an actual issue with the disc though since it booted fine & a couple other games that failed also work completely fine.

 

[Megadoomer]

The multiplayer was a lot of fun. I can fondly remember playing what was basically hide-and-go-seek with remote-controlled rockets. (though Wolf was overpowered, from what I recall) The story mode felt like a natural progression from Star Fox 64 and Adventures. (plus, it was nice to see Tricky getting acknowledged) It's been a while since I played the game, but I remember enjoying it.

 

[Mushroomguy12]

If they ever make a new Star Fox game, this is the ideal direction I'd want them to go. It's more traditional than Adventures and less soap opera than Command. Also it has an original story and new characters, something I really miss after the two straight retellings of Star Fox SNES/64 in a row.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Assault is a tricky game for me to really assess, because for me, I have to look at it in two ways.

As a gameplay reboot of sorts for the series, it has real merit albeit with some issues. There's potential with the ground missions, the multiplayer is incredibly good, and there's an exciting energy to shifting from flight to on foot and so forth. They make effective use of the various settings, the story manages to be a reasonable sequel to the previous games, and even the flying sections manage some strong spectacle at points. Assault's a game where it's not quite there yet, but there's a very good core to build on.

However, to look at it as an outright sequel to Star Fox 64... ooh boy. In many ways Assault is like the 6th generation Sonic titles where I understand the need to shake up the concept to get more play time and perhaps expand its appeal to beyond the traditional audience. It just comes at the cost of effectively executing the older pillars of the series. The lack of branching paths is just a bit baffling especially given that it's an idea that could still work within the context of the on-foot missions. It's such a natural way to build replay value even for a mixed genre release that its absence is felt after playing other games in the series.

The other Sonic comparison is that the more one ventures into other gameplay styles, the more such detours need to be either really strong or really novel to feel the most worthwhile. As I said there is potential there, but the on-foot sections just don't really feel that much better than what one could find in other games. If you're not married to Star Fox being a shooter that's fine, it just ends up being a bit of a come down for those that want more levels in space and instead find themselves in planet missions that amount to feeling "okay" most of the time. The levels in all range mode feeling a bit gimped to make them stronger for the multiplayer also feels a bit disappointing if you're venturing for more of a single player run.

Everything else amounts to basically personal nitpicks (I don't find the voice acting as charming or memorable as SF64 for example) and I recognize that's more of a me issue than the game's. As I said on some level, I do see the enjoyable mixed style game that Assault is, it's just impossible for me to entirely separate it from my own biases about the series (ie that I'd be fairly indifferent about SF going this way again unless the on-foot sections were made considerably stronger).

A good game, just not really what I'm looking for in a Star Fox title (a sentiment I may end up reusing when we get to Command).

 

[Quillion]

The lack of branching paths is just a bit baffling especially given that it's an idea that could still work within the context of the on-foot missions. It's such a natural way to build replay value even for a mixed genre release that its absence is felt after playing other games in the series.

I think you just don't like linearity in general.

I mean that's fine, but to use that as a demerit? No.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

I think you just don't like linearity in general.

I mean that's fine, but to use that as a demerit? No.

I'm fine with linearity in the context of many games like 3D Mario where I generally prefer the Galaxy titles to stuff like 64 and Odyssey. But in my estimation, especially within the context of a game that mixed genre or not, is still pretty short? Including branching paths would add more to the overall experience than it would take away, even with the story concessions that would be necessary to execute that.

 

[Quillion]

I'm fine with linearity in the context of many games like 3D Mario where I generally prefer the Galaxy titles to stuff like 64 and Odyssey. But in my estimation, especially within the context of a game that mixed genre or not, is still pretty short? Including branching paths would add more to the overall experience than it would take away, even with the story concessions that would be necessary to execute that.

Like branching paths through a level? Assault mostly favors explorable mini-sandboxes already, so that sort of thing wouldn't work too well.

I'd say just run with the mini-sandbox and make hunting for targets less repetitive.

 

[Dinoman96]

Star Fox Assault is a weird ass game when you look into its development cycle. Like this recently uncovered Nintendo Dream interview with Takaya Imamura (who was the godfather of the Star Fox series until his departure from Nintendo in 2021) and the dev team at Namco explains quite a lot: https://shmuplations.com/starfoxassault/

Namely....it actually was just a multiplayer arena game that had a single-player mode cobbled together later in development. That's why all of the on-foot stages are just repurposed battle mode maps with enemy spawners thrown about.

—I do recall the first thing you showed at E3 was the Battle Mode. It was all you could play then.

Imamura: Yeah. The N64 battle mode was kind of just a last-minute bonus, so for a long time now I've been wanting to make a proper, more fleshed out Battle Mode. So Namco handed us some planning docs titled "Vehicle-Swapping War Action Game", and we decided that would be the starting point for the Assault development.

—So the ability to change freely between Arwings and Landmasters, those ideas came from Namco?

Imamura: That's right. It was perfectly suited for head-to-head versus battles, so that's how we started the development. We spent a ton of time on it.


Kobayashi: Midway through though, we had devoted all this time and energy and the battle mode was really great, and it was like… "Ok… so what are we going to do about the 1P mode?" (laughs) The battle mode being so enjoyable, we were worried that if the Story Mode was equally great, it would feel really unbalanced.


Imamura: We did, in fact, discuss abandoning the 1P mode entirely and making Assault a pure multiplayer battle mode game. (laughs)


Kobayashi: We seriously considered it, no joke. (laughs)

—When I first saw the demo at E3, I was kind of worried it was going in that direction. (laughs)

Kobayashi: We knew lots of people out there wanted a proper story mode, though, so we said we better roll up our sleeves and make one.

Nakanishi: In a normal development, you would work on a Battle Mode on the side while you're creating the main game. And what often happens then is that you run out of time, and despite your best intentions you have to abandon modes you wanted to include. But this time we made a really solid Battle Mode first, then pivoted to the single-player, which we were determined to make as good as the Battle Mode. As a result we've been able to create an extremely high quality game. I can say that with confidence. But anyway, that's the story behind why everyone had to wait so long for Assault. (laughs)

Kobayashi: Honestly, if we had a larger team, I would have worked on both concurrently.

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Star Fox Assault is a weird ass game when you look into its development cycle. Like this recently uncovered Nintendo Dream interview with Takaya Imamura (who was the godfather of the Star Fox series until his departure from Nintendo in 2021) explains quite a lot: https://shmuplations.com/starfoxassault/

Namely....it actually was just a multiplayer arena game that had a single-player mode cobbled together later in development. That's why all of the on-foot stages are just repurposed battle mode maps with enemy spawners thrown about.

Honestly this makes so much makes sense and explains a great deal about the inconsistent execution of various ideas in Assault. I mean to their credit, the multiplayer battle mode is genuinely fantastic so clearly the work did pay off in that regard.

 

[Quillion]

Still, I think the more mini-sandbox levels are an interesting direction for a shooter campaign. Especially with all the recent shooters that are either completely linear or completely open world.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

What did you guys think of Assault's plot?

 

[Megadoomer]

I was fine with it - the Aparoids seemed to take a lot of inspiration from the Borg (I think - I haven't seen much of Star Trek), but it led to some interesting boss designs and gave us a chance to explore a variety of planets.

I wonder what other sci-fi movies or shows a future Star Fox game could take inspiration from - I know that, when I watched the second Independence Day movie, I thought that the final battle felt like it could have worked as part of a Star Fox game.

 

[Quillion]

I was fine with it - the Aparoids seemed to take a lot of inspiration from the Borg (I think - I haven't seen much of Star Trek), but it led to some interesting boss designs and gave us a chance to explore a variety of planets.

I wonder what other sci-fi movies or shows a future Star Fox game could take inspiration from - I know that, when I watched the second Independence Day movie, I thought that the final battle felt like it could have worked as part of a Star Fox game.

Did Star Trek invent the "bio-mechanical being that tries to assimilate everything" archetype?

 

[LiveStudioAudience]

Did Star Trek invent the "bio-mechanical being that tries to assimilate everything" archetype?

Given the long history of various science fiction (comics, literature, manga, etc) probably not but they did heavily popularize it after the Cybermen on Doctor Who somewhat laid the groundwork for the basic archetype.

 

[Quillion]

I know that the greater "extraterrestrial assimilator" archetype probably started with John Campbell's Who Goes There?, which would later be adapted into The Thing.

Someone must've evolved it into the "bio-mechanical assimilator" sub-archetype along the way.