Starfox

We weren’t exactly holding our breaths for this one.  A 3D shooter on a 3 Mhz machine?  No thanks.

But Nintendo & Argonaut delivered the goods big time, releasing one of the most playable shooters ever made.  Whether it was skimming the surface of a planet, blasting waves of enemy ships with structures toppling around you, diving between lethal spinning asteroids while dogfighting alien hordes or flipping the ship on it’s side as you fly deep into the heart of one of the capital mother-ships, Starfox was fantastic!

In terms of game-design, Starfox played a little like the Saturn hit, Panzer Dragoon. That is, the action was mostly on rails but Starfox’s 3D cunning level design gave you enough obstacles and enemies that you rarely had time to notice.

Also known as Starwing, but only in Australia as far as I know, since some copyright law wrinkle meant that it was too close to Star Wars for Mr Lucas’ lawyers.

Everything was in 3D.  Your bullets, the bosses, structures, the lot!  You could also see your wingmen dive in front of you, chasing down an elusive ship that was trying to slip behind you, and of course you could return the favour.