Star Fox Command

2006 shoot 'em up game

Star Fox Command (スターフォックス コマンド, Sutā Fokkusu Komando) is a shoot 'em up video game, the fifth game in the Star Fox series, published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS in 2006. Star Fox Command was announced at the E3 2006 conference, under the name Star Fox DS. Command is the first Star Fox game for a handheld, and supports the Nintendo Wi Fi Connection, The game was generally well received; it has achieved an average score of 76% from GameRankings, a reviews aggregate.

The game has two types of single player gameplay including a strategic map and battle mode. The overworld like map mode is where the player takes command of several ships. The mode is used to get ships into the battle mode and is essentially a simple turn based strategy game. Up to four ships can be maneuvered at a time. The object of the mode is to prevent the enemy ones from reaching the Great Fox. via DS Download Play and up to three players on the Nintendo Wi Fi Connection. Octoman, an F Zero racer, appears as a boss in certain Aquas and Venom missions.

The planet Venom's forces were all but destroyed, and there is thought to be peace. This is not to be, however, as a race of beings known as the Anglar rise from the acidic oceans of Venom, thought to be unable to support life. The Anglar Emperor plans on destroying the Lylat system, which Fox McCloud and crew set out to save. The Star Fox team has broken up, but re assembles to fight the threat. Peppy is made the General of the Cornerian Army, replacing Pepper. Fox flew around the Lylat system with ROB on patrol, and Krystal broke off her relationship with Fox after she left the team, because he was afraid she would get injured and it would affect him. Slippy finds love with a frog named Amanda, and spends less time with the team. Falco left the team and went around on solo missions (as he has done before in Star Fox Adventures), spending less time with the team also. Peppy's daughter Lucy joins the team for some missions. There are nine endings depending on paths chosen by the player, though the player is required to finish the game before having the options. On Reddit Cuthbert stated that "canon is something the fans like to try to follow but Command was meant to be an alternate timeline kind of game, hence the choices you make. It let us have a lot more fun with the characters".

Star Fox Command was co developed by Q Games and directed by its founder, Dylan Cuthbert, who previously served as a lead programmer of the original Star Fox duology. Q Games was working on a puzzle game called Digidrive for Nintendo when they were approached to do a mock up of the game demo. After three months, using the original Star Fox, it was shown to Takaya Imamura at Nintendo who said that the company would redesign it for better compatibility with the Nintendo DS and add some ideas from Star Fox 2. Nintendo EAD was responsible for the music and production of the game, while Q Games handled the main development.

Star Fox Command debuted on the Japanese best seller list as number 14, selling over 20,000 copies on the first day. In the United States, it was the 5th best seller in the first week. Star Fox Command has received mostly positive reviews, with a Metacritic score of 76/100 and a GameRankings score of 76%. Electronic Gaming Monthly claimed that while the game has its own charm, it lacks the original gameplay from Star Fox and Star Fox 64 and becomes repetitive. Command was nominated in three categories in Nintendo Power's annual vote in awards, although it did not win in any of them. Star Fox Command has also received an 8 from Game Informer magazine. Although it was criticized for its brevity, the game was lauded for its solid gameplay mechanics.