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Star Fox Zero and the Wii U: A Tale of Two Sh**ties

Cravis

Member
Hoping Nintendo brings it to the Switch with regular controls. If Skyward Sword can get a port with regular controls so should Star Fox Zero.
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
I've watched part of that video the last two days now. His delivery is fantastic, love his videos.

I managed to get SF: Zero for like $5 used. Tried it a few times and it is really obtuse, I'd like to get used to it though and play more.

I will say, as much as the WiiU gets trashed, it really is an awesome system. It's not for everyone but I love mine and play it all the time. It has a ton of unique features that we'll probably never see again. My house is also small enough that I can play it upstairs in bed and not have any connection issues with the gamepad. COMFY AS CAN BE YO. The hate just seems like dog piling, it's a Switch Jr. for the most part and has many of the same games. The Switch obviously is better for current gaming but the WiiU has plenty of reasons for people to still play it. To me it's the same thing as the Dreamcast. Has all the big titles you'd expect and Xenoblade Chronicles X is effectively Nintendo's Phantasy Star Online. I just wish the Miiverse was still up.
braveheart GIF
 

GamesAreFun

Banned
It has a ton of unique features that we'll probably never see again
Out of interest, which unique features do you like? I can only think of Miiverse as being unique, and that was turned off.

I have a Wii U and love some of the first-party games, but never bothered with the tablet (think I only played in bed once and found the screen too small) so its selling point was lost on my preferences.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
Thanks man I’m enjoying the shit out of this video. Wii U is so endlessly fascinating and baffling to me. It’s like Nintendo deliberately made the worst possible choices they could make at every opportunity. It’s a miracle Nintendo even survived.

Still love the system though. I lined up at Best Buy to get one on launch day.
 
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SpongebobSquaredance

Unconfirmed Member
I hope they can revamp this game for the Switch somehow.
I thought about this as well, but the Wii U pad is kinda essential so it can't be just a straight-up port with regular controls, so perhaps a new title would be easier to do. I'd take a Star Fox 3D HD with online play and gyro controls though.
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
Out of interest, which unique features do you like? I can only think of Miiverse as being unique, and that was turned off.

I have a Wii U and love some of the first-party games, but never bothered with the tablet (think I only played in bed once and found the screen too small) so its selling point was lost on my preferences.
I really love being able to play Wii games directly on the tablet. Like you said, the screen is small but it makes Wii games look great. Only downside is that you need to either make a stand for it or buy one, the tablet doesn't stand up on it's own. I like the Miimaker via the camera, even though the camera quality is shit and the Mii's that are generated look comically bad. ZombiU in particular is a better experience because of the dual screens. Dual screen is also good for titles like Wind Waker HD and other things that free up space on the TV while displaying it on the Tablet. Wii Sports Club, being able to see the golf ball on the tablet. I will wholeheartedly admit that it's largely a gimmick and probably isn't necessary, it's also dumb to have the tablet on the ground where someone can step on it. It just adds to the experience with friends even if it doesn't do much for the gameplay. The virtual console is great too with having access to various DS, N64, and other titles. The selection isn't the greatest and emulation can bypass it but again, it works well for me. I'm mostly looking at the WiiU without any mods. I do plan on soft modding it though so I can play GCN games.

It's a fun system to have around for when my wife and I are hanging out with friends. Most of my friends don't game but they like Mario Party, Mario Kart, Wii Sports. The system is just weird and it's fun to see people's reaction, "What the hell is this? A Wii U, what's that??" lol.

I would never get into a straight up argument over the merits of the WiiU, that's dumb, but for my type of gaming and my social circle, it's a really entertaining console to have around. It's certainly not for everyone, and it can be expensive considering that if you're serious about collecting for it, you'll need to invest in the tablet stand and an external hard drive, and then a Y cable because it can't power certain hard drives on it's own. Lots of negatives but also lots of benefits if you seek them out.
 

Camreezie

Member
Great videos I also hope we get this ported with some tweaked controls as everyone says it's a lot better when they're changed. Is it just this and Devils Third that havent been ported at this point?
 

AGRacing

Member
My 8 year old son is a huge Star Fox fan. He's played a little of every title.

I bought 4 discounted ($5 each) Starfox versions of Starlink so we could play with the Arwings in the box. He would really love it if Nintendo would do something with Starfox on Switch.
 

GamesAreFun

Banned
Great videos I also hope we get this ported with some tweaked controls as everyone says it's a lot better when they're changed. Is it just this and Devils Third that havent been ported at this point?

Twilight Princess HD & Windwaker HD, although perhaps they'll be announced for the Zelda Anniversary as another time-limited collection. And my personal favourite game on the Wii U, Yoshi's Wooly World. They already ported it to the 3DS, would be funny if it was ported twice.
 

Neff

Member
I liked the game but you could feel that nobody's heart was truly in it. It felt like it was assembled by robots.
 
Star Fox Zero wasn't great & I wouldn't try to argue otherwise but it did at least try to utilise the more unique features of gaming on the Wii U.

I would've liked to have seen a few more titles taking advantage of a 2nd screen, gyro aiming, etc... Splatoon was excellent, for example, but the console was doomed from day one & will forever remain a "could've been".
 

cireza

Banned
Only downside is that you need to either make a stand for it or buy one, the tablet doesn't stand up on it's own
Premium pack comes with a charging dock and a stand.

More people need to play the Luigi's Mansion game from Nintendo Land, as well as Animal Crossing.
 
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What a shame that game was. Miyamoto tried way to hard to implement the second screen.Gimmicky AF.
Please Nintendo, just make a 4player coop SF64 style game, it would be perfect for the switch.
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
There’s only one game that did the Wii U controller right and that’s Breath of the Wild you had all of Links weapons ready at the touch of a button on the tablet screen. 👌
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
I still don't get why they didn't make one for the Wii. Controls were tailor made for a Starfox game as seen in Sin & Punishment. Such a missed opportunity. They were too busy adding waggle into their games.
Man, waggle controls have to be the dumbest gimmick ever. “Wank the controller around randomly to make Link do his canned 3 hit combo” ..... I still don’t understand how anybody found this appealing.
 
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SpongebobSquaredance

Unconfirmed Member
Man, waggle controls have to be the dumbest gimmick ever. “Wank the controller around randomly to make Link do his canned 3 hit combo” ..... I still don’t understand how anybody found this appealing.
It's appealing when it's done well, is precise, and makes sense. I would never play Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort with a regular controller for example. Sadly, what most developers did was replacing commands that could've been easily done with a simple button press with random waggle. The worst example is Nintendo themselves with Donkey Kong Country Returns.
 

F31 Leopard

Member
I thought about this as well, but the Wii U pad is kinda essential so it can't be just a straight-up port with regular controls, so perhaps a new title would be easier to do. I'd take a Star Fox 3D HD with online play and gyro controls though.
You know you can play the game with regular controls right? Port should work fine.

 
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SpongebobSquaredance

Unconfirmed Member
You know you can play the game with regular controls right? Port should work fine.


No, I didn't know that. The problem isn't the gyro controls though, it's the gamepad itself. The game is done in a way that gives you advantages if you use the gamepad view to aim and there are certain sections that require you to look at it.
 

F31 Leopard

Member
No, I didn't know that. The problem isn't the gyro controls though, it's the gamepad itself. The game is done in a way that gives you advantages if you use the gamepad view to aim and there are certain sections that require you to look at it.
Did you watch the whole video? You don't need the gamepad whatsoever.
 
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SpongebobSquaredance

Unconfirmed Member
Did you watch the whole video? You don't need the gamepad whatsoever.
The game is designed around aiming and maneuvering independently from each other, it still gives you advantages when using the gamepad for aiming and therefore a handicap when played "regular". The are enemies designed around this. Bosses designed around this. There is a section, later on, I believe it's the 5th level, where you need the gamepad.

Playing this game "regular" may work, but it is not ideal. Porting the game over can be done, but it can't be a simple port like other Wii U titles. It needs to be reworked.
 
I'm one of the two people who enjoyed the game and 100% it.

The controls clicked almost immediately and really enjoyed my time with it.
I gotta say, I'm jealous. I love Starfox, but i just could not trudge through Zero. I hope they can just get it right in the future. Miyamoto, unfortunately is the problem. These olds guys need to retire. They had their time.
 

K' Dash

Member
I gotta say, I'm jealous. I love Starfox, but i just could not trudge through Zero. I hope they can just get it right in the future. Miyamoto, unfortunately is the problem. These olds guys need to retire. They had their time.

I watched a documentary on BOTW and actually Miyamoto's input was incredibly valuable, the fact that Link can climb anything and how the stamina bar works were his ideas.

But this time, I think the problem was forcing the pad, if they had scrapped it, the game would have turned really different IMO.
 

F31 Leopard

Member
The game is designed around aiming and maneuvering independently from each other, it still gives you advantages when using the gamepad for aiming and therefore a handicap when played "regular". The are enemies designed around this. Bosses designed around this. There is a section, later on, I believe it's the 5th level, where you need the gamepad.

Playing this game "regular" may work, but it is not ideal. Porting the game over can be done, but it can't be a simple port like other Wii U titles. It needs to be reworked.
That has more to do with the gyro controls. The gamepad is more of a display for additional FOV. During the boss fights it goes into diorama mode where they force you to look at the gamepad. That's why in my video I toggled the gamepad screen to switch with the TV. Of course if they made a port it would have to be reworked. If they did a port the boss fights would have to transition to 1st person. If they can port W101 and Pikmin 3 with some adjustments Star Fox Zero should be no different. I really like SFZ and its a shame it's stuck on the Wii U.
 
I watched a documentary on BOTW and actually Miyamoto's input was incredibly valuable, the fact that Link can climb anything and how the stamina bar works were his ideas.

But this time, I think the problem was forcing the pad, if they had scrapped it, the game would have turned really different IMO.
True, but he also canned a lot of GREAT ideas that could have been implemented in BOTW as well.
 
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SpongebobSquaredance

Unconfirmed Member
That has more to do with the gyro controls. The gamepad is more of a display for additional FOV. During the boss fights it goes into diorama mode where they force you to look at the gamepad. That's why in my video I toggled the gamepad screen to switch with the TV. Of course if they made a port it would have to be reworked. If they did a port the boss fights would have to transition to 1st person. If they can port W101 and Pikmin 3 with some adjustments Star Fox Zero should be no different. I really like SFZ and its a shame it's stuck on the Wii U.
Perhaps handling everything plus gyro controls which require you to move the gamepad anyway is kinda convoluted. If they did gyro controls like in Splatoon without the additional FOV I'd have enjoyed it way more. Or IR-Pointer controls like in Sin & Punishment. I think SF Zero is flawed, but it's not a terrible POS. I actually like it way more than SF: Adventures. With a few things changed, options for gyro and classic controls, and a few additions like onlineplay it would be legitimately a great game. Also, if they actually port it to the Switch, they could improve on graphics and framerate in a bigger fashion, because afaik the game's look was held back by the fact that it had to render it twice (TV and gamepad). The question is though if it is even worth it considering the extra steps they need to take to port it over.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
I often wonder why Miyamoto thought StarFox Zero was fun or if he even thought it was fun..

I think this was the phase where they were really trying to prove the Wii U's gimmicks, and this was the game they were going for it with. I don't know if he had pressure to do so, or if he thought the game was a good idea on his own, but yeah, his output during the era was eh
 

Kreen101

Member
The controls were fine but you had to learn them, the same way you'd have to learn to drive any vehicle in real life. People will make the effort to deal with the most complicated action RPGs that have a thousand menus and systems, but taking 15 minutes to get used to the controls in SF Zero is too much...
 
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