Well, I've been planning on writing a review on this game for a while, seeing as this is probably the game I played the most out of growing up as a wee little kid. Welcome to my review of Star Fox 64, a game full of awesomeness packed around every corner. There are plenty of things about this game that make it really great (though I think Star Fox: Assault was the best Star Fox game, and seriously underrated), but those will be delved into one by one. Released in 1997 for the Nintendo 64 (duh), Star Fox 64 received great praise for its great levels, great music, being an overall better  experience than the original Star Fox (though those Mode 7 graphics really weighed the game down in terms of speed), and being an overall great N64 game. Before heading towards the main game, might as well explain the story, given to you right at the beginning of the main game, but I'll go into a bit more detail.

The game takes place in the Lylat System, where a whole bunch of planets thrived in prosperity. On Corneria, the fourth planet and "heart" of the Lylat System, a scientist named Andross began spending all his time in experimenting with biotechnology. Corneria was a planet of peace, and pretty much ignored Andross' research, making him get angry. He eventually snapped and unleashed a weapon upon Corneria that damaged it pretty badly. General Pepper, leader of Corneria apparently, managed to capture him and punish him by exile to Venom. A few years later, Corneria's forces noticed strange activity around Venom. General Pepper sent out the Star Fox team, composed of James McCloud, Pigma Dengar, and Peppy Hare, to investigate. However, Pigma sided with Andross and betrayed his teammates, leaving them to be captured. Peppy barely escaped with his life, and went to his homeworld to tell James' son Fox of his father's fate. Andross declares war on the entire Lylat System, conquering planet after planet. Corneria is next, and General Pepper asks the new Star Fox team, composed of Fox McCloud, Slippy Toad, Peppy Hare, and Falco Lombardi, to save the Lylat System by defeating Andross.
Since there are plenty of interesting characters in this game, I'll explain stuff about them. You know you want to know. =3

Fox McCloud is the leader of the current Star Fox team and son of James McCloud, the former leader of the previous team before Andross
killed (?) him. Although it's never actually said, I'm pretty sure he has personal issues with Andross. You control him throughout the entire main game.

Peppy Hare was a member of the previous Star Fox team and James' best friend, and he's still here. His use in game is to tell you how to beat bosses, outsmart enemies, and barrel roll.

Slippy Toad is a new member to the team and Fox's best friend, apparently. He's always getting into trouble, sounds like a girl in this game, and even one of the missions in this game is revolved around saving him, but he at least shows the health for bosses.

Falco Lombardi is Fox's friend/rival on the team. He's the best flyer on your team besides you, but probably the most annoying/awesome.
He scolds you every time you screw up something, even not giving thanks when you save his butt, but he's the key to getting to a few secret passages.

ROB 64 is the robot piloting the  Great Fox, the main ship. Whenever he tries to communicate with you and respond, he'll send you an item.

James McCloud is Fox's father. He was a skilled pilot that is said to have died at the hands of Andross, but no one really knows.

Wolf O'Donnell is the leader of Star Wolf, a rival group under Andross' orders to take you out. When fighting the team, he's a skilled pilot that always goes after you. Also, he's British.

Leon Powalski is just some chameleon guy who joined the team for some reason. He has a badass voice, and is generally calm when fighting you, but flips out once he deals with Falco.

Pigma Dengar was the guy who betrayed the previous Star Fox team, and now is part of Star Wolf. He's pretty annoying, spewing one-liners back and forth, and chases after his former teammate Peppy.

Andrew Oikonny is the last member of the Star Wolf team, and the grandson of Andross. He talks trash too, and chases after Slippy, but he's the easiest of the four to defeat.

Bill Grey is Fox's friend, who he grew up with in the Cornerian Flight Academy. He's located in Katina, and he'll help you out in the next level afterwards. He has a cool voice too.

Katt Monroe is Falco's stalker. HE absolutely adores him, but Falco doesn't really return that favor. She appears in Zoness, then the next level after that to help out.

Last is Andross, the bad guy in the game. Not much to say about him already stated in the story. Guess I didn't mention that he
s some weird freaky monkey thing.

Now that that's over with, might as well go over the controls. A is to shoot your laser, B is to shoot a bomb(limited amount you have), C-Up adjusts the camera angle, C-left is to boost (which requires a recharge after a full boost), C-Right is to respond to ROB whenever he tries to communicate with you, C-Down is to brake, R is to tilt right, and Z is to tilt left. Those two allow you to make sharp turns if you move in the direction they tilt you in. You use the Control Stick to tilt your ship in any direction. To Lock-ON to enemies, press A once, then again and hold it, then again to shoot a Lock-On laser or B to fire a bomb. Pushing down and C-Left will make you do a loop, used to grab items and get enemies and front of you. Pushing C-Down instead will pull off a U-turn, sending you in the opposite direction you were going(Note that this only works in all-range mode). Hitting Z or R twice will let you do the glorious barrel roll, used to deflect enemy fire. That's the controls for the Arwing you're usually in. The Landmaster is the same, except tilting moves you automatically, barrel rolls don't deflect enemy fire, and holding Z and R lets you hover briefly. The Aqua Marine is mostly the same, except lock-on is automatic and you shoot torpedoes except bombs, which you have an unlimited amount of btw.

There are plenty of items here as well. Their is the silver ring, which restores a bit of health. The gold ring restores more health than the silver. Collecting three gold rings gives you a health expansion, and another three after that gives you a 1-up. The Star ring restores a ton of health. The Wing Repair item repairs your wings if you lost them. The Smart Bomb creates a big explosion once it hits something. Checkpoints restore some of your health and mark your respawn spot if you die. The Extra Arwing is just a 1-up. The supply container, sent by ROB if you communicate with him, contains a random item. Time for the main game.
The map screen sows up with a bunch of planets. I'll go over the planets starting with the lower planets, the mid planets, the top planets, Venom 1 and Venom 2. There is also an expert mode in this game, which you can only get by getting a medal on every planet, which can be obtained by getting a certain number of points on that level. Expert mode itself is just more enemies that shoot faster and you also lose your wings in pretty much one hit. I will leave the number of points needed for a medal next to the planet's name.

Corneria (150 points)
This is the first level in the game. You start out over some water, where Slippy gets in trouble and you have to save him. Then you enter the desolated cities packed with enemies in the air and on the ground as Peppy starts giving you some advice on the controls, then the checkpoint appears. Falco gets enemies on his tail, and you HAVE to save him if you want to get to the secret boss. IF not, he's out for the rest of this level and the next, and Peppy leads you to the default boss. After that, you reach some arches. With Falco saved, fly through all the arches and he'll lead you into the waterfall. Going the regular way, Peppy leads you to the first boss, some robot walker thing. Despite his claims on crushing you, he's really easy. Simply fly behind him and shoot the battery pack thing on his back repeatedly, and he'll go down. Taking the secret path, shooting down some firebirds leads you a boss. He simply opens up the things attached to the machine to unleash some enemy fighters. When they open, shoot into those things them until they fall off, then shoot the main body till it explodes.

Meteo (200 points)
We're in an asteroid field. There isn't much to say here, since it's all pretty straight forward. Meteors can be destroyed for points, and there is a lot of them to, so go for those. There is also a special warp point you can access. Once you see these blue ring things, keep flying through them one after another till you're sent into some trippy part of space full of meteors containing a lot of items. THis leads you to Katina. Putting that aside, you'll eventually reach the boss, who has a shield hovering around him. Once the yellow point appears, fire at it ill it explodes. Then he unleashes a lazer at you repeatedly. Shoot the yellow spot smack dab in the middle. Then he reverts to shooting a stream of waves at you while sending out enemy fighters at you. Shoot down the two yellow spots, and he's done.

Fortuna (50 points)
Simple mission. You start off just shooting enemy fighters coming out of the base, then Star Wolf appears. Defeating them here is no problem. All you need to worry about is Wolf since he follows you, but simple loops/somersaults will do the trick. After you beat them, that's it.

Sector X (150 points)
This level is pretty straight forward. First you're bombarded by a ton of one hit enemies, then yu begin flying through the wreckage of a base, with some arm things that fly by as the level goes on. The level eventually splits into two paths, one the regular path and one a secret passage to Sector Z. The secret passage is incredibly hard to access because of some gates you need to activate that require the best trigger finger out there. IF you do get past them, you're warped to another trippy part of space before going to Sector Z. That aside, the other path is full of wall and aerial enemies shooting you and your teammates. The boss here is some robot with a rather trippy voice who thinks you're the enemy and boasts creator. Its usual attacks are shooting its eyes out at you and spinning its arms around. Shoot its eyes once they glow, and it will explode, but come back to life. It will go berserk and start flailing its arms around everywhere. Shoot the place its eyes used to be to kill it. Slippy will try to come in to help, and if he gets hit, he crashes into Titania, your next destination. If not, your sent to Macbeth.

Titania (150 points)
Titania is a Landmaster level. Its full of crab like enemies, enemy fighters shooting you from above, enemies that toss rocks down at you, and mines scattered around the ground. This level really isn't a hassle, just follow your partners ques ad you'll reach the boss in no time. Some obstacles might randomly fall over though, so watch out for that. After shooting the boss once, it activates. You can see Slippy being held bu one of its four arms! D: It tries to attack you with its other three arms, just shoot them off and then the arm containing Slippy. After that, its chest opens, revealing its weak point. Shoot its heart while avoiding the bosses lasers and attempts to smack you with its tail. It'll go down sooner or later.

Bolse (150 points)
The level starts off with something being covered by a shield. Destroy  the things connecting to the shields, then the core of the outpost will emerge along with a swarm of enemy fighters. Destroy every yellow point on the core to win. IF you never faced Star Wolf at Fortuna and ended up here, this is where they'll show up.

Katina (150 points)
Very simple level. All you do for the first half is shoot down enemy fighters until the mothership approaches. It opens its hatches to unleash more enemy fighters. Shoot and destroy those hatches, then destroy the core that appears soon after to win.

Solar (100 points)
Remember that you're constantly taking damage since you're flying right above the sun. Don't worry, there are plenty of health items to help you out. There are firebirds, meteors and lava leaping out of the surfaces, and giant waves of lava out to get you. The boss here is some.....lava monster thing. It tries to slice you with its arms, shoot lava at you, and dive into the lava to create waves. Shoot its arms off and it resorts to spitting out lava everywhere. Shoot its head and it'll explode. Winner. :3

Macbeth (150 points)
Welcome to the second and last Landmaster level. The whole time, you're chasing down a train. IT has a bunch of tricks up its sleeve, such as dropping boulders, summoning enemy fighters, firing bombs at you, making you hover over gates, and closing up gates. Really, this level feels like an obstacle course. At the end lies the boss. You will also notice some switches with numbers on them. IF you can hit all 8 switches with your cannon, then the final big switch, you'll force the train to crash, ending the level. IF not, you have to the face the boss. It's some bat like thing attached to the train that either tries to scoop you up and damage you or summon some spear things to fall from the sky onto you. Destroying its mouth is best since it eliminates its grab attack. A part of it will appear, and once you shoot it, the boss goes berserk. Keep shooting at it till it explodes, dodging the lasers it shoots at you along the way.

Sector Y (150 points)
This level is kinda long, but there are plenty of enemies to oppose you, such as turrets and mech troopers that fire at you while wielding a shield. The path splits at one point, but the only thing that changes are the enemies you see. Eventually, you'll reach the boss, which are just two mech troopers that you fight in all-range mode. Destroying them reveals a third one that is faster and more difficult to hit, but is pretty weak regardless.

Aquas (150 points)
Welcome to the first and only Blue Marine level in the entire series. This is a pretty slow moving level to be honest, and all you can do here is shoot, drift, and barrel roll, but I personally really enjoy this level. Enemies in this game are enemies you really won't see at all in any other level than this, such as clams, squid, explosive starfish (wut) and eels. The whole level is mostly darkish as well, but your trusty supply of unlimited torpedoes, which is basically the underwater homing version of the regular Smart Bomb, can light up the way. Since you have auto lock in this level, all you really need to do is just spam your laser and torpedoes repeatedly, and you'll eventually reach the boss, a giant clam that shoots snakes and orbs out at you. Shoot off the things on its top (I think those are just for points, but you should anyway). Then when it opens its mouth, fire torpedoes at the things sticking to its top and bottom. Once those are gone, spam the laser at the middle thing till its eye is revealed, then hit it with a torpedo. It will eventually go down, and that's all for the Blue Marine. Forever.

Zoness (250 points)
Lots of points to get , huh? Well thankfully, this level, an ocean made up of toxic waste and some of Andross' leftover henchmen, has plenty of enemies all around for you to shoot. You'll see Katt in this level, and Falco complaining whenever she does show up. :3 All she does is shoot down a few enemies for you, and that's it really. This is a pretty dangerous level overall, with plenty of enemies such as birds, dragon things that leap out of the water, and simple obstacles leftover from the previous base. Eventually you'll reach the boss, a giant battleship. This boss requires bombs to even lay a scratch on, but thankfully the cannonballs the ship shoots at you always drop them. FIrst, use bombs to destroy the things at the very top. Then, destroy one cannon, and as the ship turns to try and lower the crane, destroy that. Destroy the last cannon, and the ship goes berserk, firing it's chain ball and lasers at you. Spam your lasers, and it's done in no time.

Sector Z (100 points)
This is an incredibly simple level if you're not going for the medal. The Great Fox is under attack, and six missiles are heading straight for it. Simply go towards them once they appear and spam lasers till they are destroyed. But if you're going for a medal here, this level is hard, especially without the blue twin lasers. Your partners will go after the missiles as well, and if they destroy them, you get no points. And the missiles are your main source of points here. Good luck with that.

Area 6 (300 points)
This is level is crammed with hilarious voice acting and enemies galore. Not much to say here, just shoot everything in sight as quick as possible, as enemies here generally pop up and leave quickly. Get the Great Fox to help you out as well by communicating with ROB, and whenever you see a non-moving enemy, it generally is bound to explode, so take those out quickly. The boss here is really weird, and kinda hard. It opens up, and that's when you shoot the three energy balls circling around the center. Then it tires to hit you with is tentacles, which you can destroy, opening the core up again. Keep destroying these energy balls till the core turns red, revealing its weak point. At that point it charges up and fires a laser at you, which is kinda unpredictable if you ask me. Just spam lasers into its core until it finally is destroyed.

Venom 1 and 2 (200 points)
Not much to say here for Venom 1, which you go to if the last level you were in was Bolse, it's pretty straightforward and full of slightly branched paths and HORDES of enemies. Bombs are your best friend here. Eventually, you'll enter some temple thing and the boss, who is running from you for some reason. Just shoot every single point of its body while dodging the pillars emerging from the walls, then shoot at its center once all of the stone its wrapped up in is gone. It will eventually collapse and be destroyed. You'll find yourself going through a corridor as Andross tells you of your future demise. Then you confront the monkey himself. All he really does is try to swipe at you with his floating hands, then suck you up, which can be avoide by spamming the brake. Destroy the hands by hitting their glowing center, then fire away at his eyes, and it will be revealed that you were fighting a robot the entire time. This time, the robot just spazes out and tries to rush right into you. More lasers will eventually destroy it. There, you "beat" the game

But for the real ending, enter Venom 2 through Area 6 and you automatically encounter Star Wolf. Their ships have been improved a lot. They resist bombs, have higher defense, and can barrel roll and are generally more agressive. They become annoying if you don't have a powerful laser, but not so much once you do. Defeating them will land you in front of Andross again. Use the same strategy as discussed in Venom 1, but this time Andross explodes and reveals his true form, a brain with floating eyeballs that can somehow talk o.O. He sorta just flings his eyeballs at you. Destroy them, then go after the brain. Behind Andross' brain lies his glowing weak point. He's pretty persistent, but enough hits to that point will destroy him. The entire base or whatever begins to explode, but not before you have a reUNION with your father, James. Ghost or not? Anyhoo, just follow him and you'll eventually get out of there and beat the game for realz. Time for some official scores.

SCORES

Graphics - 9
I love these graphics. Everything is generally nice to look at, and I love the way the characters look like whenever they're talking. Plus, I love the looks to the bosses.

Sound - 8.5
Pretty good. Though some of them aren't as great as some people would say in my opinion, the game still has a very enjoyable soundtrack. And since this game is probably well known for it, there's also the voice acting. Really cheesy most of the time, but still enjoyable. (DO A BARREL ROLL).

Story - 8
Pretty good for what it tells you. There are one or two plot twists in the game, but I wish there were a few more suprises in there.

Addictiveness - 9.5
This game is seriously addicting. Whether it be for the music, the voice acting, or just the levels in general, you'll find yourself hooked to this game.

Depth - 10
There is a lot to do in this game. The least amount of times you need to beat the game to explore every level is 3. 3 fun and mostly new playthroughs. The game also has multiplayer, which is basically to just kill each other whether it be point matches or battle royales. There's also time attack as well if you want to taste your overall speed in this game. Tons to do here. :3

Difficulty - 7
The normal game is really no problem at all. You might get stuck once or twice, but you'll quickly learn how to overcome obstacles. But on Expert Mode, this game can kick your butt.

Overall - 9
I love this game a lot. Second best in the series behind Assault in my opinion. It's open levels and exploration is great, but I lovez the voice acting as well. This game is a must play.

Thanks for reading.

I have a feeling someone really wanted a Jersey today In all honesty though, I think this is more of a video game walkthrough than a video game review (well, it is both, since you rate things too). Maybe you should look into joining Ilian on becoming a RGR walkthrough writer. 

Anyway, I am surprised with how much I love Star Fox for the Super Nintendo, I have actually NEVER played Star Fox 64. It already looks amazing, but this makes it sound amazing. I'll say though that I did not read any of your walkthrough segment so I can just be surprised

Hey vizwiz this is actually a very good review of a fantastic game from back in the day. You make me want to dust off my N64 and pull out one of my multiple copies of Star Fox 64 and have a go at it! Good memories, man, good memories! (Also, congrats on the Red jersey XD)