[8+1 Top] The Star Fox games, from worst to best

The Star Fox series is already a legend of 90s pop culture. Its blatant yet light-hearted homage to Star Wars, its plushy, polygonal characters full of cartoonish quotes, and its genre (which had almost fallen into oblivion) were and will remain its hallmarks, and now that it's preparing for a grand comeback, it's time to look back at the best instalments in the franchise.

And how do we know it's preparing its comeback? Well, it's not official, but Fox McCloud has already become one of the best cameos in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and there are sources claiming that the announcement of a new Star Fox game for Nintendo Switch 2 is imminent and that the space combat game will be packed with "LEGO-style" humour.

"Never give up. Trust your instincts"

With the introductions out of the way, let's follow this legendary phrase from James McCloud and, based on our experience, present you with the top Star Fox games on Nintendo consoles, from worst to best, as follows:

8. Star Fox Guard (Wii U)

The Wii U was one of the lucky few to receive as many as two Star Fox instalments, whilst other consoles came away empty-handed. The "problem", though Nintendo's attempts at innovation are always welcome, is that both titles were clearly experimental, with Shigeru Miyamoto keen to make the most of the system's dual-screen technology.

Guard is the "least Star Fox" game on this list, and that's saying something given there are a couple of outsiders here. It's not that it's bad; in fact, it's an interesting title, a combination of multi-camera surveillance and defence/construction in which we meet Grippy Toad, Slippy's uncle.

Unfortunately, its poor visual finish and its flirtation with monotony ultimately doomed a peculiar spin-off that was released under the radar and at the worst possible time and on the worst possible platform. Miyamoto-san's very last game concept?

Read our review of Star Fox Guard.

7. Star Fox Command (Nintendo DS)

Speaking of monotony... The Nintendo DS game arrived at a time of high demand from fans and attempted to offer freedom in route planning and open combat in the classic 'all-range mode', now with the map/radar always visible on the touch screen.

The fact that Q-Games' approach was also experimental in order to make the most of the platform wasn't a bad thing, and the touch of strategy and turn-based combat added depth (and lent itself to a roguelike structure that would have extended its lifespan). However, it did so at the cost of losing much of the excitement and cinematic flair characteristic of the series, however much it hid multiple endings and delved into the characters' backstories.

6. Star Fox Adventures (GameCube)

"Jeez Laweez! What is that?!"

But how?! How dare you rank Adventures so low? Let us explain. Star Fox Adventures was a much, much-anticipated game and later much, much-loved, but if you look closely and beyond its beautiful graphics (something much easier to do nowadays), what remains is certainly not memorable.

But in an environment where good adventure games had The Legend of Zelda as reference, the actual experience of Star Fox Adventures fell short, very short. It was the early 2000s, during the second wave of GameCube exclusives, but this title had actually been designed much earlier, as the cancelled Dinosaur Planet for the Nintendo 64. It carried the intrigue of being Rare's final game for Nintendo before its acquisition by Microsoft, and ironically revealed how the British studio had begun to lose its touch and how, at that time, they were unable to refresh their winning formula.

Linear, tedious, silly, and uninspired, this sequel to Star Fox 64 gave Fox a baton and a third-person perspective to dish out blows on foot and collect lots of items, whilst its few aerial sequences left us wanting more. The best thing apart from the graphics? Krystal, the blue Cerinian fox and new recruit to the Star Fox Team. We look forward to seeing her soon in the Nintendo Switch Online GameCube catalogue.

Special mention: Starlink: Battle for Atlas

Underrated, this game, in which Ubisoft applied its open-world formula to a series of interplanetary missions involving plenty of mining, lent itself shamelessly to a 'crossover' with Star Fox, and so it came to happen on the Switch, much to the delight of fans. What's more, in the twilight of the toys-to-life craze, you could connect it to plastic figures with interchangeable parts that attached to the controller - something we would have killed stolen for in the 90s.

Somewhat repetitive and lacking the arcade rush, but original in its own way within the genre, the Star Fox sections were among the best in the game, and we still have its Arwing toy, packed to the brim with weapons, here at the Gamereactor office.

Read our review of Starlink: Battle for Atlas.

In the video, you can see what was undoubtedly the best Star Fox cameo until the Super Mario Galaxy film:

5. Star Fox / Starwing (SNES)

Right, top 5: things are getting serious. The game that started it all. When you saw the 3D polygons of Virtua Racing in the arcades in the early 90s, you'd come home and be able to play them on your 16-bit Super Nintendo straight from the cartridge, thanks to the joint invention of the Super FX chip by Nintendo and Argonaut. Something was happening in Europe that it couldn't be called Star Fox, and here we knew it as the much-loved Starwing.

It set the standard for everything: the on-rails mechanics moving towards the back of the screen for a deeper 3D effect, the scoring system, the damage model and the behaviour of the Arwings despite using a D-pad (already including braking and acceleration), the lore of the Lylat System, Andross, and the Star Wolf squadron, first and third-person camera angles, the Landmaster tank, and the Blue Marine submarine...

A game ahead of its time which, beyond its nostalgic value and the quality it still possesses, is quite tricky to control (though surprisingly playable) in a world of analogue sticks and "pretty smooth flying", but which is essential for understanding the series and its impact on space combat games.

4. Star Fox Zero (Wii U)

And speaking of difficult to control... How can you rank Zero so highly?!

Right, unlike Adventures being "so low down", the game from PlatinumGames deserves a special defence in our opinion with the passage of time. Yes, Miyamoto was still stubbornly insisting on games that made use of the dual screens. And, if you tried to play it like the classics, you could end up feeling dizzy.

However, the idea was to separate flight from aiming for greater freedom, and the game behind it is very good and pure PG style - the sort where the first run is just the tutorial. You have to think of it as if it were first-person, and then all its possibilities for fun will open up to you, including some nice mission design, memorable bosses and a wide variety of vehicles.

Perhaps its huge learning curve or entry barrier puts people off, or the fact that it's the second reboot of the same concept (following the SNES original and the N64 rehash), but you've never experienced it with these graphics and modern voice acting, nor with so much content. Do many people really consider Zero to be one of the worst Star Fox games?

Read our review of Star Fox Zero.

3. Star Fox Assault (Gamecube)

Namco's arcade experts gave fans everything they wanted on the N64's successor, which Rare had left them craving more of with its Adventures. Critics pounced on the (somewhat ridiculous) on-foot missions, but the rail-based flying missions still stand the test of time today, more than 20 years on. If you see it as an arcade game (it's short), it works perfectly and has a phenomenal original soundtrack. And Krystal is back!

We hope it arrives on NSO soon (unlike SFA, there's no conflict with Rare) so we can continue celebrating the return of Star Fox in style, and the upscaling to HD graphics will suit it down to the ground.

2. Star Fox 2 (SNES)

Why, if it plays almost exactly like the first one? Because it's a gem, an unreleased rarity that could only be officially played on the Nintendo Classic Mini: SNES and later arrived on NSO. And because it pulled off feats unthinkable on the Super Nintendo, with an advanced 3D engine.

And because it's great fun, surprisingly advanced and brimming with personality (plus you could choose your character and wingman, something we'd love to see in the new instalments), all the more reason for it to be the second most interesting Star Fox game to play today.

• Check out the gorgeous 16-bit Star Fox 2 manual

The imminent arrival of the Nintendo 64, with its anti-aliased graphics and ever-present fog, was bound to look better than the pixelated messes on the PSX and Saturn, and therefore far better than the archaic contraptions with the Super FX chip on the SNES, which would look terrible by comparison. But this unreleased title, tucked away in a drawer, introduced new strategic elements (you must defend Corneria from a planetary attack with a real-time damage counter!), free-roaming planets, and characters and features that ultimately shaped...

1. Star Fox 64 / Lylat Wars (Nintendo 64, Nintendo 3DS)

We could treat the two versions separately, but it's the same game and each has its own delightful quirks. For example, the proper analogue stick and that vibrating Rumble Pack that came in the box are only available on the N64 (a version you can also play on NSO), whilst on the 3DS, probably the best way to play Star Fox to this day, we got new voice acting in additional languages, better and smoother graphics, and a glasses-free stereoscopic 3D effect that still surprises today.

"You're becoming more like your father"

But what matters is that the second/third instalment, Star Fox 64 or Lylat Wars (because in the PAL region we were still stuck with that nonsense of names) remains to this day one of the best space combat games in history. Without the difficulty of the hardcore vertical and horizontal shoot 'em ups from Treasure and co., but with a unique and exciting design and a hi-score depth well hidden from the casual player, this varied 3D arcade game still plays perfectly today, and as it remains the definitive reboot of the series, it continues to make things very difficult for those who wish to add new features and innovation to the perfect formula.

The other day, straight after watching The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, we captured our first flight through Corneria so many years later: