Memorable Music

The music in Star Fox 64 was slightly different. While some of the music in the original Star Fox had some musical influences like rock and hip-hop, Star Fox 64 took a more dramatic approach, emulating the Space Opera like compositions of the space stages from the original Star Fox. Personally, much of the stage music isn’t very memorable. Either it’s because it’s the kind of music that only works well in gameplay, or because of the low audio quality that made it hard to hear the music amidst all the explosions. Regardless, here are some themes I find the most memorable.

At some point before my ownership of Star Fox 64 on the Wii, probably late highschool/early college, I looked up the music to Star Fox 64, wondering if it was composed similarly to the original. Like Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2, I didn’t have much exposure to the game after my childhood and consequently forgot the music. So I downloaded the music from ffshrine and what I heard had me confused. Was this the right soundtrack? Is this the wrong song? I would finally play Star Fox 64 again on the Wii and saw that this was in fact the right song and a foreshadowing of how the music would be like for the rest of the game.

Flying through Zoness was almost like flying through the grave site of an entire planet. The water was polluted to all hell and Andross’ troops were running amok. The music accompanied the dreary atmosphere of the planet, while also fitting the sort of last stand for the planet’s call to liberate it.

You just gotta love how this song kicks in at the end of a stage. You’re in a tough ass stage, lasers flying everywhere, boss is tough as nails, your fingers are hurting, and then boom, down goes the boss. Light fills the screen from the explosion. Then silence fills the area as you anticipate the boss’ demise. The vision clears… no boss! da da daaaa DOO DOOOOOO. It might not seem like much when you beat the earlier stages, but if you go through the hard path and beat the harder stages, nothing is more satisfying that hearing this theme play.

A special mention has to go to the Ending Theme. I don’t want to cover that in full for spoiler reasons (that and I want to save it for a Night-Time Listening), but damn does it make you feel like a hero.

The Star Fox franchise continued on the Gamecube in a way no one expected with Star Fox Adventures. Star Fox Assault would continue the trend started by Adventures with on-foot and Arwing play sharing the spotlight. Star Fox Command on the DS went a bit back to its roots, applying much of what was lost in the cancelled Star Fox 2 game. While there are some fans these games, there were quite a few that didn’t like where the series was going. Upon the release of the 3DS, Star Fox 64 would be remade with updated graphics and redone voicework (with much of the original cast, including Fox’s original voice actor reprising his role). No one knows where the series might go next. Many hoped Star Fox would come to the Wii, but that ship has sailed. The Wii U is here though, so maybe there might be a chance yet.