Hack Showcase: Starfox EX Hack (SNES) (Revised v1.04.3 on 12/31/2022)

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.

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Retrorevisited: Starfox 1-2, Starfox 64

Retrorevisited is a stream series where I revisit a game or a game series I haven’t played in over 10 or 20+ years. I’ll go through to try see what I remember until a game over or I run out of continues. In some cases muscle memory may slowly return, in others probably not. This is a chance for me to revisit games of my youth that I still have or had at one point, playing them with and without nostalgia goggles, and do with mini-reviews of them too. If I decide to play any fully later and do a full review, parts of the mini-review would be incorporated into it. Depending on the playstyle or system, games reviewed will either be mini-reviews or one about all games in this session.

Starfox was released in 1993 and was the first SNES title to use a new graphic chip called the SuperFX chip. Sporting great game play and a killer soundtrack, this rail shooter was a bit hit, even if the graphics weren’t the prettiest. Other SuperFX chip games were later released, a list of which can be found here. Later Starfox games were released on other Nintendo consoles including the N64, GameCube, and the handheld DS. Starfox 2 was completed for the SNES but never released in 1995, over fears over looking inferior to 32bit games. Over the years, various rom images showed up online for it. The game got an official release with the SNES Mini in 2017, and on the Switch in 2019.

I loved Starfox as a kid!! I used to be pretty good at it, having finished it a few times i think. loved the gameplay and the great soundtrack and knew a few of the secrets. I’d just constantly get messed up by rng and my own mistakes in later levels, even after having racked up a number of extra lives and continues. This Retrorevisited will see how much I can remember of Starfox itself, along with trying out Starfox 2 for the first time as a bonus, seeing the rom from the SNES mini got leaked online at one point. I had Starfox64 and ate it up as a kid even with the N64 limitations! loved the additions to the series, hated some stuff like the battles with the Starwolf team but it was a great addition to the series!

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