A Review of the ``Star Fox 2'' Video Game

In the early 1990s, Nintendo finished the sequel to ``Star Fox'' from 1993, but shelved it in favour
of ``Star Fox 64'' released in 1997.  This makes sense, as ``Star Fox 2'' is the better game, and it
figures they wanted less competition.  I heard about the game over the years, including a case where
a man at an expo stole an incomplete demonstration copy and was arrested, though paid it little mind
until it was finally released over twenty years later, as a game available in the SNES Mini console.
I later relented and bought the console specifically to play this game, although the others are nice
too, and this is easily the best game included, one of the best games available for the SNES at all.

I've been playing this again recently, so a review with everything fresh in mind seemed appropriate.
I only play on Hard mode, playing Normal mode a few times first, and have yet to unlock Expert mode,
but I believe I've come close; I'll update this review if and when I best that last difficulty mode.

The original ``Star Fox'' is an ``on-the-rails shooter'' not unlike an amusement ride, with the game
split into 3-D scrolling levels concluding with boss fights against much larger enemy spaceships.  I
find it fun to be able to count the individual polygons on screen, in the double-digits at the most.
A game of ``Star Fox 2'' is much less repetitive, and truly belongs to a different subgenre: Instead
of set levels, the player fights against the forces of Andross as random planets are conquered, with
other forces sent out at set points.  The player travels on a real-time map, intercepting his forces
or being intercepted by them.  Planets feature a landscape with fortress; carrier ships feature only
an inner sanctum; and the rest of the game typically takes place in space.  While much more visually
impressive than the original, I've noticed ``Star Fox 2'' to use fewer polygons on screen at a time,
mixing them more intelligently with sprites, especially during the space fights.  Fights against the
rogue Star Wolf team happen at predictable points while the player progresses, and games conclude in
a battle against Andross himself, after a fight against one of his strongest machines and then Wolf.

The game features some platforming elements, as the planets and fortresses or inner sanctums require
switching to a mode that has the spaceships behave like bipedal tanks, although the game technically
makes this switching optional in most cases, so skilled players can switch much less often than new.

In Hard mode, more planets are conquered and there are more carrier ships.  A space station protects
the planet Corneria from enemy fire occasionally, and Hard mode introduces an enemy force which will
hijack it and fire upon the planet instead.  I look forward to commenting on what Expert mode holds.

At the beginning of the game, the player chooses between six characters belonging in pairs to one of
three predictable classes: all-around fighter, defensive with extra health, and offensive with less;
each has use of a different special weapon also, but these can be changed later by collecting items,
and the time taken to charge the blaster weapon also differs between them in the quite obvious ways.

I prefer one all-around fighter, Falco or Fox, and an offensive character, Miyu or Fay; I'll usually
play with Fay and switch to Falco once I've incurred too much damage to continue playing her safely.
Returning to the cargo ship allows one to teleport between safe or reclaimed locations, and restores
health.  I've learned, not to my detriment, that the player used for the final fights before Andross
is sent ahead into that final stage with no opportunity to switch between them or to exit the level.

I've seen this game described as featuring roguelike elements, and I suppose that to be true, except
even extremely low quality polygons still make sense and probe one's imagination in ways ASCII vomit
never will.  I rarely play video games nowadays, but it's nice to revisit one that throws a familiar
setup at the player repeatedly, which is something I find to be rarer in the much longer games.  One
session lasts not even fifty minutes, once one gets good and plays to beat the arbitrary time limit.
Sans the unavoidably clunky visuals, another aspect very appealing in this game, which Free Software
rarely features, is its soundtrack; the music is very clearly delineated between sections and ranges
between wacky music for a wacky world, to the dramatic tune that plays during the dog fights against
Star Wolf's roster.  For such an old game, its design is unmistakably professional and very amusing.

I rarely play video games in part because the protections against malicious software on the machines
I use is pathetic, which makes the SNES Mini and other dedicated consoles appeal to me.  Rather than
waste my time on games I'd be comfortable running, it's nice to look at how a real video game plays.

I should finish configuring a SNES emulator, to play some of the delightful modifications I've seen.
.