Hack Showcases and RPG Hack Showcases are a series where I show off various game and rpg hacks. I try to stick with hacks that improve gameplay or add quality of life features, completely or partially change the plot and characters, along with additional content, dialogue, graphical and sound improvements. Non-rpgs I try to give a full run to, or at least enough for a solid review. Rpgs I will stick with titles that have enough changes in the beginning to show off, and when I can, show parts later in the games where more differences appear. There may be spoilers in the reviews and videos. Some of these I may stream fully in the future or play on my own. Reviews are open to later revisions due to bug and content updates or me playing them and finding anything new I wish to bring up.

Created by kandowontu and a number of other contributors, this hack boosts a lot of changes to Starfox! Like a great chef, Kando has taken all the ingredients from the source code and constructed a beautiful 4 course meal with this hack! You got a pre-game menu to set different options, including God mode, different guns, a 2-player mode and more! A boss rush was added and a whole new map based on the map from Starfox 2! The new plot involves various characters from Nintendo franchises posing as Andross and his forces to conquer the Lylat galaxy, and they even hired the infamous Star Wolf Team to help! You can even change your ship design and see all of the different models in the game, and a harder game of Starfox with New Game+! There’s a lot of new features in this hack that are too numerous to name here including:

• A brand new map with 17 new levels, new bosses, music, backgrounds, enemies and more!
• A 3+ page pre-game menu to customize your experience!
• Use the SNES Mouse, Super Scope, NTT Data Pad or Multi-Tap for a new way to play!
• Play with 2/3/4/5 people, AI controlled teammates, or ships all controlled by player 1!
• Wireframe mode, grid lines, palette changes and more!
• Customize your player ship and crosshair style with new crosshair functionality!
• A full model test viewer, BGM/SFX test menu and Super Scope Calibration screen!

This revised review is for the brand new (as of 12/30/2022) version of this hack. For the record, I’ve helped Kando with testing and ideas for this hack streaming and on Discord in the past. Review will be as objective as possible. As of 12/23/20023 the current version is 1.08.2 and may do a new review in the future depending on major updates.

SO HOW IS IT? This hack is so much fun! Kando and everyone who helped out deserves a round of applause! Kando managed to stuff so much into this hack it barely feels like the original game anymore. You still have vanilla Starfox 1 of course as Map 2, but map 1 is where it’s at with all of the new enemies, stages, worlds, music and more! This hack adds so much to Starfox it’ll feel like a different game anytime you play in one of the four levels or mess around with the other settings! Loading this hack up you have a large variety of different options to choose from including god mode, level features to change things in the levels, endurance mode and other graphical changes! You can even skip Pepper’s dialog and the scramble screens when you begin and get right to the action! Included in the options menu is a sound and graphics test to see all the different ship designs and spin them around, and check out the old and new music in the game! Full description of the options are in the users menu.txt included with the hack.

You also have different viewpoints in-game other than the 2 traditional ones: an in the cockpit view (barf bags not included) and a left and right angled view that really let’s you see everything and how the game is a rail shooter. Different gamepad configurations will bring these up, along with activating god mode (or hit start), bringing up the helper balls, and you can instantly finish a level or kill yourself too! The game also have support for the SNES Mouse, Super Scope and the Multitap, which will bring the game into 3-5 player mode. 2 player and cpu ai assist modes look amazing and run seemingly through the levels without any glitches or problems! I know a few people who would have loved for these options when this was first released!

The new music in the new levels are great too and range from pulse-pounding to relaxing…until a boss fight starts. The new planets and stages each have their own look and feel and don’t look like rehashes of older stuff. You’ll be flying over a lava planet with fire fish jumping out, an ocean planet and more. They all look beautiful and feels like you’re on another planet or in space.

If you were challenged by vanilla Starfox you will be with this hack and the new content! Fight your way through new and exciting and dangerous enemies and stages! Bosses range from fighting Link, Luigi, clowns with a final battle against Mario and Luigi! For some (maybe all?) of the bosses it looks like they were built upon the coding and scripts of bosses from the original game, which isn’t a bad thing at all! The fight with the Star Wolf team is a lot of fun too, more so then fighting them in Starfox 64, though I did like the one on one dogfights in Starfox 2!  This hack is highly recommended!

I GIVE STARFOX EX 5 OUT OF 5 ARWINGS!

GAMEPLAY VIDEO:

LINKS:
https://romhackplaza.org/romhacks/starfox-ex-super-nintendo/ – Romhackplaza page
http://discord.gg/bUdd7RccvD – Discord

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