With only six games to its name, Star Fox is one of Nintendo’s lesser developed franchises. The series started with a rail shooter with revolutionary graphics for its time before experiencing a reboot with a game that might be one of the best Nintendo 64 games. While there have been a few games released of varying quality, most people probably know the franchise from an itemless Fox being alone on Final Destination. Like all series, there were a few game planned or in development but never released, and the most infamous example for this franchise is Star Fox 2.
Star Fox 2 was under development for a 1995 release on the Super Nintendo. Andross had returned to seek revenge on the Star Fox team, conquering many planets in the Lylat System while setting his sights on Corneria herself. Star Fox had to defeat Andross’s forces to free the captured worlds as well as slow his advancement towards the homeworld. To make things even more difficult, Andross hired the mercenary force known as Star Wolf to interfere with Star Fox’s mission.
At least two prototypes of Star Fox 2 have surfaced over the years. The first one is a very early build featuring a barebones menu but also featured a versus mode that was absent in the later prototype. The second prototype is probably more famous since it appeared to be nearly complete, to the point the game could nearly be played from start to finish. Game hackers and modders even managed to clear up a number of glitches to make it completely playable.
The gameplay would have been very different compared to the first game. Instead of choosing a particular path to travel, the player would be given free roam of what mission they wanted to do next. Enemy fighters, missiles, and battleships all bare down on Corneria, and they move whenever the player would. Everything is in real-time, so dealing with the threats closest to the planet would be advised so it doesn’t get attacked while the player is dealing with another threat.
There were three classes of fighters available to the player, with the standard Arwing piloted by Fox and Falco, the Defense-class flown by Peppy and Slippy, and the Interceptor-class piloted by newcomers Fay (Lady/Fara Pheonix in the first prototype) and Miyu (Saru, an Andross lookalike, also from the first prototype). Each class had their own stats and special weapons, giving each an advantage or disadvantage. The player gets to choice two of the pilots to send out on mission, so they have several combinations at their disposal. The controls are relatively unchanged compared to the original, though the ability to charge the lasers, lock onto enemy fighters, and to switch to a walker alt-mode is new to the game.
Combat would have also been executed differently in Star Fox 2. Battles against enemy fighters or missiles involved free-movement like 64’s All-Range Mode and usually require the player to take out a set number of targets before moving onto the next. Battleship encounters involved entering the ship and taking out its core, similar to the original game’s Armada level. Planets involved accomplishing a goal before infiltrating the base, though destroying the base is done in a similar fashion as the battleships. Occasionally Andross would send a boss out, which would play out like a difficult space battle.
Once Andross has run out of things to throw at the player, there’d be one final battle with Wolf before tackling Andross’ Astropolis. The base itself was essentially a longer version of a battleship with Andross and his Rubik’s Cube of Doom waiting at its core. The final fight was similar to the one from the first game, though Andross now teleports around to make him harder to hit. Expert Mode even adds an additional phase to the battle that appears to be a precursor to what now is Andross’s iconic appearance.
Star Fox 2 was actually complete before it was canceled in favor of the Nintendo 64’s launch title. However, a number of elements have found their way into future installments of the series and have even become series mainstays. Star Fox 64 introduced charged shots, enemy locks, All-Range Mode, and Star Wolf, which have all appeared in just about every game since. The mediocre Star Fox Command borrowed a few more elements like a real-time overworld map and unique ships for different characters. Even the recently released Star Fox Zero recycles additional unused elements, primarily the use of a walker alt-mode.
Additional Links
Unseen64’s Main Article
Unseen64’s Beta Analysis
SNES Central’s Page
