Star Fox Zero + Star Fox Guard

After the release of Star Fox Command on the DS, a new Star Fox game was created for Nintendo’s then-current Wii U console in collaboration with PlatinumGames, titled Star Fox Zero (Zero). Rather than a continuation of that timeline, Zero is a full-on continuity reboot, aiming to introduce the Star Fox IP to a new generation. Unfortunately, due to a combination of factors such as its control scheme, it being a retread of Star Fox 64 (which had already gotten a 3DS remake five years prior) and releasing near the end of the Wii U’s life cycle nixed any plans there may have been for a sequel. Said control scheme, which requires use of the Game Pad, also notably makes this one of the few first-party Wii U exclusives that has not yet been ported to the Switch. After getting to play it, while I didn’t find it as bad as the negative reception at launch made it out to be, it’s clear to see how this game may remain chained to the Wii U for some time, as its dependence on the Game Pad would make a Switch port difficult.

The plot is similar to that of Star Fox 64: After years of imprisonment on the planet Venom following a defeat by Star Fox, the evil Andross has escaped and has begun an attack on the Lylat system. In response, General Pepper calls on Star Fox, with a team consisting of Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Slippy Toad and Peppy Hare, to stop Andross once again.

Beyond the basic premise, while the plot does follow many of the same story beats, even including the framing of each Mission, but expanded or reimagined to make it feel less like a retread, even getting some original content. The game even opens the same way as the original, but by the end starts showing changes that indicate a change in direction. This even applies to the final battle with Andross, which is both expanded and reimagined to throw players of the original game for a loop, though the strategy to defeat him is largely the same.

The gameplay itself is also similar to Star Fox 64, but with some changes to take more advantage of the Game Pad. Starting with the more minor adjustments, holding ZL allows you to lock on to a specific target, which becomes more difficult to use in the non-linear segments, and you can toggle whether or not you want the Y-axis to be inverted. Additionally, while the penalty for losing an ally is the same, you no longer have to wait an entire Mission for them to heal. Failing a Mission too many times also unlocks an item crate that grants you an invincibility item, but at the cost of preventing your score from being recorded.

The biggest and most controversial change is the aiming being based on the Game Pad’s screen and gyro controls, which is made to resemble the cockpit and meant to allow for more precise aiming, but unlike Star Fox 64 3D, cannot be turned off. The dependence on this can still be toggled, but some moments require its use. Although I was able to adjust to it pretty quickly, even seeing how far I could get without having to look at the Game Pad, it still felt awkward to use at times and made some sections more difficult than they needed to be, including some boss fights. It’s also because of this awkwardness that in only one Mission did I feel the need to bite the invincibility crate bullet just to get past it.

 

This plays more awkward than it looks.

In addition to the Arwing, the game features new or reimagined vehicles for various situations. The Arwing, for instance, can now transform into a bipedal robot known as the Walker, which enables navigation through tight spaces. Like the Arwing itself, aiming is dependent on the Game Pad, which can make certain sections awkward if you don’t know what you’re doing. Turning is done by turning the right stick left or right, however, it’s possible to accidentally boost or hover instead since those actions are also tied to the same stick (up and down respectively), making navigation harder than it needs to be until you get the hang of it. The Landmaster makes a return as well, this time capable of transforming for limited flight, though the Game Pad is required for aiming here as well.

 

The Landmaster has been reimagined (flight mode not pictured).

A third, brand new vehicle, the Gyrowing, opens up further level design space, as it can drop down a tethered robot named Direct-i that can reach otherwise difficult areas and switches within a certain range. However, Direct-i is controlled entirely using the Game Pad once deployed, with the Game Pad’s screen representing the robot’s POV, which alone presents a layer of difficulty for a hypothetical Switch port.

Finishing the story once unlocks an Arcade Mode, in which you go through each level in a marathon to get a high score, with the penalty of having to start again from scratch if you lose, though between levels you are given the option to take a break and pick it up later, encouraging good gaming habits. Notably, in a seemingly undocumented feature, the gyro aiming is completely disabled unless required, which feels closer to what I felt should have been the standard controls. Though I will admit to not beating this mode when I tried it once, I can say that this mode can increase the replay value, and I am aware that finishing it once successfully will unlock an additional Sound Test feature.

Although there is no standard control option, there is a co-op function, in which Player 1 uses the Game Pad to aim and shoot with the Arwing while Player 2 uses another controller to pilot it. Despite how it's described, Player 2 can also shoot and both players have access to additional moves such as somersaults and barrel rolls. Some coordination may also be required, especially if one player is inexperienced, and piloting the Arwing into the right position can be more difficult in more open sections. What I neglected to mention until now is that, as far as Player 2's control options, they are limited to either the Wii U Pro Controller or the Wiimote and Nunchuk. Due to my understanding of the Wii U's compatibility with Wii accessories, I attempted this mode using a Wii Classic Controller Pro, which I bought specifically for this experiment, only to find out the hard way that Player 2 is limited exclusively to the listed methods and that trying to use the Wii Classic Controller Pro attached to the Wiimote instead of the Nunchuk will have it registered as disconnected.

 

Did you know Star Fox Zero has a co-op mode?

Zero is also perhaps the best-looking Star Fox game to date, taking advantage of the Wii U’s comparatively (to the 3DS and Wii) advanced specs to present a more realistic visual experience while still retaining the series’ art style. The fur, feather and scale textures for each character are on-point with their real-world counterparts, all while finding a happy medium between realism and abstraction, even while faithfully replicating the Mission progression and transition screens from Star Fox 64. In a small but interesting detail, there is also a shine on the menu screen borders, which I quickly realized was based on the current position of the Game Pad, which I found to be a rather subtle, yet creative use of the gyro feature.

Like previous Star Fox games, Zero has a really good soundtrack, including the memorable Star Fox fanfare. The voice acting is good as well, with Mike West even notably reprising his role as Fox McCloud and the pre-Mission “Good luck” audio making its return from Star Fox 64. In a display of the Wii U’s functions, the voice audio comes out of the Game Pad’s speakers for increased immersion, though this can be toggled.

 

Fox amiibo.

Lastly, Zero is one of the earliest games to feature amiibo support, with specific compatibility with the Fox and Falco amiibo from the Super Smash Bros. line. Though I had read about what these amiibo do, I happened to find both of these amiibo sealed in the wild for a great price, and so bought and opened them for the express purpose of getting more out of the game. As for what they do, after pressing the amiibo button on the level select screen, placing the Fox amiibo on the NFC reader unlocks the original SNES version of the Arwing that fires that iteration’s bombs as the charge attack, while the Falco amiibo unlocks a special black Arwing that deals and receives double damage, though only one of these bonuses can be active at a time.

 

The Fox amiibo in action.

Notably, the Arwing itself was originally intended to also be represented as a transforming amiibo designed for the game, with the Walker as the alt mode, but the idea was scrapped since it failed to comply with Japan’s toy safety standards, and so was replaced with the Fox and Falco amiibo compatibility instead. That said, as a collector of transforming toys, if this idea were ever repurposed for a proper toy and not just as an amiibo, I would gladly purchase it for a good price.

 

To promote the game, a 14-minute anime short animated by WIT Studio (Spy x Family) and co-produced by Production I.G (Ghost in the Shell), Star Fox Zero - The Battle Begins, was released onto YouTube, with an English dub on the official Nintendo of America channel featuring the game’s cast. This short adapts the opening section of the game, complete with music directly from the game, and serves as an effective introduction to the main cast for those who are unfamiliar. Upon my initial viewing of this short after completing my initial playthrough, I felt it so well-done that it felt like it could serve as the blueprint for a full-on Star Fox anime series, if not a movie. The short also includes some fanservice for existing Star Fox fans, among them a mention of Sauria in a way that seems to suggest a version of the events of Star Fox Adventures happened at some point.

 

Alongside its launch, all physical copies of Star Fox Zero also came bundled with a bonus game, Star Fox Guard (Guard), which began life as an unrelated Nintendo project with the working name of “Project Guard”. Zero itself includes a demo for Guard accessible through the main menu, but the full game was also bundled as a separate disc, complete with its own box whose back tells you not to even bother with the demo, which makes the demo’s existence feel redundant until you remember that the game was also available digitally prior to the Wii U eShop’s closure. Nonetheless, I decided to play through Guard after I finished Zero in order to complete the experience, though I personally had a harder time getting myself to finish it.

Following Andross’ invasion of Corneria, business starts booming for Corneria Precious Metals Ltd. (CPM), a mining company led by Slippy’s uncle Grippy. As of late, more robots have begun invading the mining bases, leading to increased defenses around those bases, and you have been hired to help. Though Star Fox is on call in case of major emergencies, Slippy volunteers to stay behind to make sure Grippy doesn’t go too hard on you.

 

You are Grippy's newest hire. Good luck!

The story is very simple in comparison to Zero, but it does provide just enough of an explanation for why you are doing things and provides some world-building for this version of the Star Fox universe and the character Slippy. As the game progresses, CPM expands its operations further out onto other planets thanks to your help, though I didn’t play enough to see if there was any sort of payoff at the end.

The game takes place across five planets in total, starting on Corneria, and while I lost interest about halfway through the second, I still felt I was able to get a good idea of the gameplay loop.

Unlike Zero, Guard is a Tower Defense game, in which you must protect the core of the base from swarms of enemy robots. There are 12 cameras to watch on the TV, which you can swap between at any time using the Game Pad and can fire through them using any button, with the option to flick the camera’s direction on the Game Pad to handle more intense situations. Prior to each Mission, you can freely rearrange cameras before you commit, as well as toggle whether they are inverted. Each Mission has two types of Bots to worry about, Combat Bots that attack your tower directly and Chaos Bots that disrupt your cameras in various ways, though you only need to defeat all Combat Bots to pass.

 

Things can get pretty hectic pretty fast.

Defeated Bots drop Metals, with the chance to earn extra Metals at the end of a Mission based on your performance, which increases your Rank (max. 50) to unlock Bonus Missions and special cameras to upgrade any of your existing cameras during pre-Mission setup.

While I can see this loop being satisfactory for a number of people, the repetitiveness and difficulty curve, which eventually involves Chaos Bots that can literally abduct your cameras, was what did me in eventually.

The art direction for Guard is similar to that of Zero in terms of graphical fidelity, though one thing I will particularly give it credit for is that every Bot has a unique silhouette, allowing you to tell which one you’re dealing with from just a glance. While having some different sound design and music, it still feels consistent with Zero and even shares the feature of having certain audio come out from the Game Pad speakers.

 

Falco amiibo.

Like Zero, Guard also features amiibo support, specifically with the aforementioned Fox and Falco amiibo. During the pre-Mission preparation phase, you have the option to use one of the amiibo to set up an assist from Star Fox to eliminate every Bot currently at the base, complete with fanfare, but with the caveat that each amiibo can only be used once each per day. This can really come in handy with some more difficult Missions, though for some (such as myself), this can easily become more of a crutch than a tool if you’re not too adept at the gameplay loop.

Wolf amiibo (not compatible).

Taken as a whole, the package of Star Fox Zero and Star Fox Guard is flawed, but there is a good chance you may prefer one over the other. Zero isn’t one of the better Star Fox games, bet it’s not terrible, though your enjoyment of it can depend entirely on how well you can adjust to an awkward control scheme. Similarly, your enjoyment of Guard depends entirely on your enjoyment of Tower Defense games, but genre aficionados may get more out of it due to its unique take on normal Tower Defense gameplay. Overall though, if you have a Wii U and can find this game for a good price, it’s worth taking a chance on it since it’s not likely to be getting ported to the Switch anytime soon.