The Best Nintendo Game Every Year 1983 - 2024
32. 1993 - Star Fox
Whereas in certain generations the next major milestone of gaming isn’t necessarily obvious (and might simply boil down to “more power”), the advent of 3D gaming was a clear horizon that the industry was moving towards. For a time, many franchises implemented tricks to use 2D elements in a way that appeared to give them more depth.
Star Fox was not one of these games. Famously the first game to feature Argonaut’s Super FX chip built into the cartridge, the 1993 sci-fi rail shooter was the first home console game to feature 3D polygonal graphics.
It was simply stunning that a machine that hadn’t been natively designed to produce such effects did so this flawlessly. Star Fox was fast and frantic, with a thumping soundtrack to match and - like the sharp points of the game’s polygonal Arwing - was cutting edge.
The game was a breath of fresh air; a worthy contribution to any SNES owner’s collection; and revolutionised gaming.