Topic: Nintendo Explains Why Star Fox 64 3D Isn't Online

[NWR_pap64]

Just why isn't Star Fox 64 3D's multiplayer mode online?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/27920

Yusuke Amano, game development coordinator between Nintendo and Q-Games, explained why Star Fox 64 3D's expanded multiplayer mode lacks an online component in an interview with Official Nintendo Magazine.

"Personally, I play a lot of online FPS games," Amano states. "This leads me to think that just making multiplayer parts of existing games playable online isn't enough to create a satisfying experience for users. The popular online games work in lots of things, so they play well online - and if we wanted to satisfy everyone who bought the game, the costs required for including online support would be vast." 

In addition, one of the reasons why the game isn't online is because the development team was pressed for time and wanted to focus more on delivering the promise of improved 3D graphics. Amano explains that "for this project what we needed to do was use Star Fox to provide users with a game that shows the appeal of Nintendo 3DS as quickly as possible. We put a lot of effort into the graphics, and if we had included online support then we couldn't have reached this level in the time allowed."

Despite its absence in Star Fox 64 3D, Amano doesn't discard the opportunity of adding online play to a future Star Fox game, explaining that they were satisfied with how the current multiplayer mode worked out.

[famicomplicated]

The game was already finished, we shouldn't have to choose between nice graphics or online multiplayer.


Also, if Nintendo had got their finger out from the beginning, they'd have set up a stable, usable online template that could have been easily applied to the game and many more in the future.
Because of this, we've yet to see any online multiplayer games from Nintendo.


The real answer to the question? Laziness and/or bad planning.

[Enner]

You can throw in lack of interest in there as well.


Maybe the development team is small enough that they couldn't do both at once with the timeline they set?

[Crimm]

We should have put explains in quotes...

[famicomplicated]

We should have put explains in quotes...

I'd rather go for inserting the word "doesn't" into the sentence.

[BlackNMild2k1]

You guys forgot the facebook comment from nSpace on this news.

"Hmmm... Maybe they should hire some experts"

But there is no reason that that Nintendo didn't have enough time to add online to a game that came out over 10 years ago. That's all they've had was time... they just didn't use it wisely.

[Mop it up]

I think part of it is because they want to push Mario Kart as the first big online game.

[nickmitch]

That makes sense, but they really should've put Mario Kart out sooner if that was case. I think the whole "this was just testing grounds for a potential sequel" theory holds more water when you think about the lack of online. If you're not expecting the game to sell that well anyway, why bother doing the extra work to put it online? Putting it out there and seeing how much people really wanted an online mode would really show interest in the series being continued.

[BlackNMild2k1]

StarFox64 3D Online MultiPlayer patch on the eShop this winter ($9.99)!?
Actual game sold separately?

[Stogi]

It's sad because I've played Contra, MK3, SF2, and Mario Kart all online through emulators.

[AV]

but sales would probably increase if it had online multiplayer. This just stinks of lazyness  ' it will sell regardless, so whats the point of working harder'

[broodwars]

This really is the very definition of laziness on Nintendo's part, but that's really not surprising considering this port was rushed to market to give people some reason to own a 3DS.

That said, as much as I loved Star Fox 64 back in the day, I never saw anything special in that game's multiplayer mode.  You flied around in circles and took turns shooting each other in the ass until someone got shot down or you fell asleep from boredom, whichever came first.  The mode was a nice bonus, but it wasn't something I saw a reason to invest myself in at the time.

If I were going to update that multiplayer mode for modern times with online support, as a designer I'd want to completely overhaul it with more modes and depth, and and that would take time; money; and manpower.  Actually, I'd want to do the same to the single-player as well, so at least there's something new there for folks that already played the original.  I'm not sure a cash-grab like this port would justify that, as awesome as it could be.

[famicomplicated]

The combination of braking and boosting makes things incredibly tedious with other human opponents.
You can turn on a sixpence, loop-de-loop easily and boost constantly - I found it annoying more than fun.

Maybe a first person view would make the dogfights more exciting?
I dunno, but something needs to be changed in the gameplay to make this fun.

Anyone know of any spaceship-based online multiplayer games that are awesome?

[Ceric]

I had a blast with friends and the Star Fox 64 Multiplayer back in the day.  It is something that really needs to be experienced with someone close.

[Enner]

Anyone know of any spaceship-based online multiplayer games that are awesome?

There's EVE Online. Awesome for some, spreadsheets and ZZZ's for others.

As for space fighter multiplayer, there isn't a competitive one that sticks out in my mind. There are the old X-Wing and Tie Fighter games like X-Wing Vs. Tie Fighter but I never played them. There are online-only/MMO ones like ACE Online. There are certainly multiplayer modes in the older space sim games like Freespace 2, but I have yet to try them out. I think space fighter multiplayer would play best as a cooperative experience like in those videos of people playing in Freelancer servers.

The physics flight combat and space combat adhere to lock them to a methodical style of play in a straight up dogfight or death match situation. The only ways I can think of to avoid that style is to have more objective-based multiplayer or to have the aircraft/spacecraft behave more dynamically. If the Star Fox series continues to have multiplayer, I would like to see the Arwing be able to do power-cut/slide maneuvers where the Arwing will travel in one direction on inertia and can freely rotate. That will provide more dynamic movement in competitive multipalyer. Hopefully it and other special maneuvers can't be spammed.

[Ceric]

Honestly lets not kid ourselves, there is a reason why the best Space Flight games are mostly on rails.  Space Multiplayer is a lot of searching for a little bit of action.  That's what happens when you had a third useable axis.  Even Homeworld suffered from this. 

You send you ships out to do something only to have the enemy go under you and both of them not realize the other was there.  Then you manually correct them and get things going.  It would become a flurry of information with a lot of "where did that come from" moments that was hard to process.  Once a victor was established it was back to navigating 3D space.

The Wing Commander series had Auto-Pilot to get to the action.  Privateer, which I hold to be the best in this series, eventually allows you to get upgrades that predict where the enemy ship will most likely be heading.  This was done so you could keep track and get into the action better.

[UltimatePartyBear]

Rogue Squadron III had some fun multiplayer modes.  Nintendo should have ripped them off.  Just making them work with four players would have been enough.

[ThePerm]

Nintendo should have had Factor 5 make the star fox games, or hired all the people who used to work there before the whole legal troubles.

also, of all the characters that Nintendo has created, Starfox is probably the one that lends itself best to a cartoon.

[broodwars]

also, of all the characters that Nintendo has created, Starfox is probably the one that lends itself best to a cartoon.

Yeah, I remember Star Fox having a particularly awesome Nintendo Power comic series.  Pity that the Japan of today is probably incapable of making a non-creepy anime using anthropomorphic furry animals.

[Mop it up]

I remember playing Star Fox 64's multiplayer a long time ago, when my brother rented the game and wanted to try it out so he forced me into it. I don't recall specifics, but I do know I found it incredibly boring, and the experience is probably one of the reasons I've never again played a Star Fox game despite now owning three of them. If there were any type of multiplayer the game should have, it would be co-op. Given the gameplay and the fact that the Star Fox team consists of four members, it seems like the game is screaming for co-op. I probably won't try one of the games until it has that.

[broodwars]

Co-op would be nice, but something I'd actually like to see was something that was hinted at in Star Fox Assault of all games.  There was one level in Assault's Single-player campaign I remember thinking was a brilliant idea, where you had to infiltrate a space station while a space battle was going on outside.  You would fly in on your Arwing, do some on-foot fighting, and every once in a while you'd be called to jump back in your Arwing and dogfight with some enemy Fighters before rejoining the mission inside.  It was just a really cool idea, and it would have made a pretty cool multiplayer mode.  Imagine playing a version of Capture the Flag or whatnot where each team is trying to assault the other team's space station, with players constantly jumping in and out of various vehicles to either defend or take the fight to the other team.

[NWR_insanolord]

Assault's multiplayer was awesome. It was almost a Star Fox take on the Battlefield franchise. If they took that and fleshed it out more and put it online with a new traditional-style Star Fox campaign with 4 player co-op that would be just about the greatest game ever.

[oohhboy]

I am probably one of the few people that enjoyed Assault. A fun little Battlefield lite. Although it wasn't very Star Foxy, and the flying mechanics could have been a lot better considering it was developed by Namco although not developed by Project Aces.

[NWR_insanolord]

I enjoyed Assault for what it was. It's like current Simpsons episodes: if you ignore everything that came before it and just look at it as its own thing, it's perfectly enjoyable, but if you start comparing it to the way it used to be your opinions are just going to turn negative.

[UltimatePartyBear]

Co-op would be nice, but something I'd actually like to see was something that was hinted at in Star Fox Assault of all games.  There was one level in Assault's Single-player campaign I remember thinking was a brilliant idea, where you had to infiltrate a space station while a space battle was going on outside.  You would fly in on your Arwing, do some on-foot fighting, and every once in a while you'd be called to jump back in your Arwing and dogfight with some enemy Fighters before rejoining the mission inside.  It was just a really cool idea, and it would have made a pretty cool multiplayer mode.  Imagine playing a version of Capture the Flag or whatnot where each team is trying to assault the other team's space station, with players constantly jumping in and out of various vehicles to either defend or take the fight to the other team.

Star Wars Battlefront 2's space battles were pretty much what you just described.  I could definitely see that working in Star Fox.