Star Fox 64, Mi increíble introducción al mundo de Nintendo

Soapbox articles give our team a chance to share some personal perspectives; today it’s the turn of Tom Whitehead to talk about the 64-bit game that sparked his love affair with Nintendo…

I’m old enough to say my first gaming system was a ZX Spectrum, which is a big yikes. We had a BBC Computer for a time too. If those references are too obscure and British, I’ll say that my first mainstream console ended up being the SEGA Mega Drive when I was about 7 years old. So yes, I’m pretty much middle-aged now — it’s not fun writing those words.

I’ve also dedicated a significant chunk of my working life to writing about Nintendo, so it may be surprising to some when I say the first Nintendo game at home that I owned (bien, it was my brother’s but he lived there too), was Star Fox 64; esencialmente, my first Nintendo game.

De hecho, la nintendo 64 was our first Nintendo system — I’m old enough that I could have theoretically had a NES, SNES and Game Boy, but didn’t. I’d seen a SNES at a cousin’s house and been impressed by Súper golpe de salida!!, but I was a SEGA / PC kid in those days.

I’m not sure why he wanted it so badly, possibly it was the mindblowing 3D graphics it offered, but my older brother spent a hefty chunk of his first ever paycheque on a Nintendo 64 / Guerras Lylat bundle. para incluir un mes extra desde el final del año pasado — los miembros están tomando Ojo dorado 007, Super Mario 64 y Ocarina del tiempo all followed in quick order (presumably after subsequent paycheques), and I played them all in wide-eyed wonder. But Star Fox 64 was my introduction to Nintendo, and what an introduction.

Growing up I was a Star Wars fanatic; I watched the original films over-and-over again, we had those rad X-Wing / Tie Fighter games on PC, and I read Timothy Zahn’s brilliant ‘Thrawn Trilogy’ books cover to cover. While Star Fox 64 has a crew of anthropomorphic animals, it also has Star Wars written all over it. From the set pieces to the ending where you fly out of a tunnel as a base explodes, right through to the medal ceremony, it’s Star Wars fan fiction in a colourful, furry (bien, polygonal) forma.

Also remember that the leap from 16-bit gaming and mid-’90s PC to Star Fox 64 was eye-popping back then. Las imágenes, the smooth movement with that analogue stick — it was gaming perfection. As a kid that also grew up obsessed with arcades, it felt like having a tiny cabinet at home without the pesky requirement of begging my parents for change. It was a real ‘wow’ momento.

Everyone remembers firsts, and those moments nudge their way into the corners of our mind where they snuggle in for the rest of our lives, giving a warm glow when we need it the most. In gaming terms, Star Fox 64 does that for me. I bought and played the 3DS remake over and over again, I played the heck out of Zorro estrella cero as it was the closest thing we’ve had since. I bought Starlink with the Arwing figurine, Personalmente, prefiero tener cinco juegos feos pero intrigantes que uno hermoso pero aburrido. had to. And yes, it was the first game I tried then the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack went live.

I was drawn to it recently with the Póster de My Nintendo N64 ambientado en Europa, demasiado, con el zorro estrella 64 cartel siendo el único que me importa poner en mi pared. veo el logotipo, the game, o escuchar su música, y eso es suficiente para llevarme de vuelta a uno de mis momentos favoritos en los juegos.

Mucha gente habla de Pokémon., Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda o Metroid como sus mejores y originales recuerdos de Nintendo. Eso es maravilloso, pero para mí siempre será el subestimado y aparentemente inactivo Star Fox. Es pura diversión arcade destilada inspirada en Star Wars: Star Fox 64 siempre será un juego especial y una franquicia para mi.

And yes, Tuve una sensación de deja vu al escribir esto: Previamente me entusiasmé con este juego cuando describí mi obsesión con la versión 3DS.. El tiempo vuela. el juego se lo merece, aunque. Háganos saber a continuación lo que pensó cuando rozó el mar por primera vez con tu tripulación de Arwing y entró en Corneria.