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In days gone by, the burning desire of Dr. Andross to rule the Lylat system filled the galaxy with the chaos of war. The mad ape sent out wave after wave of armies from his stronghold on the planet Venom, and used unique forms of radiation to create horrible monsters and terrible soldiers. His ambition swept this army across the galaxy too the planet Corneria.
It was there, however, that a quartet of mercenaries known as Star Fox put an end to the threat, and the leader of the team, Fox McCloud, defeated Andross in single combat.
In the years that followed, Venom was designated a forbidden planet and placed under the rigorous watch of Cornerian forces. All was going well until a mysterious army suddenly sprung forth from the toxic seas of the the planet. Controlled by a mysterious leader called the Anglar Emperor, this new threat cuts through the Lylat system like a scythe through ripe wheat. The unexpected attack once again places the peoples, cities, and culture of the Lylat system in dire peril.
But much to the shock and dismay of the Lylat people, the members of Star Fox have gone their separate ways... leaving Fox McCloud as the lone obstacle in the Anglar army's path. Despite the odds, Fox heroically launches himself into the fray. But can he survive without the aid of his former teammates?
—Fox Stands Alone... (Instruction Booklet)

Star Fox Command is the fifth game in the "Star Fox" series, and the first online "Star Fox" game.

Gameplay[]

Gameplay in Star Fox Command is far more rooted to the styles of Star Fox 64 than Star Fox Assault was. The levels start out with a turn-based movement system similar in style to Advance Wars. Players are marked by Arwings, enemies are marked by red dots, and bases are marked by small building sprites. This is very similar to the map system from the initially-canceled Star Fox 2. "Fog of War" covers the field and the player can remove a certain amount of the fog once every turn. A player's flight path must intersect with that of an enemy to engage in battle. After engaging, the battle goes to a fully 3-D "All-Range Mode" stage. Here, the player uses the stylus to move their ship about and perform various maneuvers, while they can use any of the face buttons to fire their main weapons.

The overworld-like map mode is where the player takes command of several ships. This 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 this mode is to prevent enemy ships from reaching the Great Fox. This mode also allows players to fire missiles from the Great Fox that they have picked up from exploring in this mode, or from meeting certain conditions in the battle mode (usually destroying all enemies). When a craft that is controlled by the player encounters an enemy group or missile in this mode, the gameplay switches to the battle mode. Battle mode is similar to the "all-range mode" employed in Star Fox 64 for some bosses and levels. Like Star Fox 2, the game is completely all-range as opposed to the "on-rails" levels featured in most other Star Fox games (however, the game will sometimes force the player to engage in classic "chase" missions in order to complete an objective). The usual objectives are to destroy a base ship, destroy all enemies, or collect a number of cores to complete the battle mode. Once the battle mode is completed, the game returns to the map mode.

Character Dialogue[]

Star Fox Command does not feature traditional voice acting. Instead it outputs gibberish akin to the "voices" in Star Fox for the SNES, or the "Lylat Language" present in Lylat Wars (the PAL region's release of Star Fox 64). Players can also record their own voices into the game’s "gibberish generator" using the built-in DS microphone where it is converted into the garbled speech of the various characters.

The Tactics Map[]

The Tactics Map displays the entire area over which a mission occurs. Missions are broken up into turns on this map.
—Instruction Booklet, pg 20

Viewing the Tactics Map[]

Remaining Time

This shows how much time you have while engaging in battle on the Combat Screen.
—Instruction Booklet, pg 20

Turn Capsules

This shows how many turns are available for a mission. Once capsule will vanish at the beginning of each turn.
—Instruction Booklet, pg 20

Remaining Enemy Cores This shows how many Anglar Cores need to be collected before the forces are cleared.

Ally Status

This shows how many bombs and how much shield power each of your allies possesses. You can also see how many missiles the Great Fox is carrying.
—Instruction Booklet, pg 20

Tactics Map

This map shows the position of your ships, enemies, and items. The Great Fox will be shown as (Great Fox Symbol) and allied pilots by character icons.
—Instruction Booklet, pg 20

Single Player Rules[]

Each turn in Single-player Mode is made up of three phases. It's especially important to remember the particulars of the flight path phase.
—Instruction Booklet, pg 22

About Turns and Phases[]

Turns proceed in the order shown below. Once all the battles in the combat phase are complete, the turn is finished.
—Instruction Booklet, pg 22

Flight Path Phase[]

How to Draw a Flight Path

Touch a ship, then slide the stylus in any direction to draw the flight path. The maximum length of the flight path is determined by how much fuel the ship in question possesses. If you wish to change a ship's flight path, simply touch it again and draw a new one. When your ship passes over an allied base, its fuel reserves are replenished, allowing it to cover longer distances. When you've finished drawing all of your flight paths, double-tap the Touch Screen to bring up the turn icon. Touch the icon to proceed to the Movement Phase.
—Instruction Booklet, pg 23

Fuel Gauge

Shown during movement, tho empties as the route grows longer.
—Instruction Booklet, pg 23

Allied Base

Pass through these to replenish your fuel.
—Instruction Booklet, pg 23

Firing Missiles from the Great Fox

To fire a missile, touch the Great Fox and then drag the missile onto an enemy. Missiles are extremely powerful but limited in number, so choose your targets wisely.
—Instruction Booklet, pg 23

Movement Phase[]

During this phase, all of your fighters move simultaneously along their respective flight paths. Enemies and missiles also move during this phase. Any times collected during the movement phase will become yours. You can access the Pause Menu during the Movement phase by pressing START.
—Instruction Booklet, pg 24Enemy Fighter
If one of these enemies crosses a ship's flight path, cam bat will occur. The (fighters(s) icon) represents the enemy's force- more red dots mean increased numbers of core enemies.
—Instruction Booklet, pg 24

Enemy Missile

Combat will being is a fighter and a missile come into contact. Note that unlike enemy fighters, missiles will never change course to follow a character's flight path.
—Instruction Booklet, pg 24

Enemy Bases

If a fighter passes over one of these, it will stop and engage the enemy mothership protecting the base.
—Instruction Booklet, pg 24

Combat Phase[]

If combat is initiated during the movement phase, the top and Touch Screens will switch. The touch screen will then display battle panels for all of the upcoming battles.
—Instruction Booklet, pg 25Battle Panels
The character engaging in battle is displayed in the upper right-hand corner of the panel. The number of cores needed to win (see p. 18) is in the lower rich-hand corner.
—Instruction Booklet, pg 25
Touch a battle panel to begin that fight. Once one battle is finished, touch another panel to engage in a new one. Continue this pattern until all battles are finished. When panels are stacked on top of each other, you can select only the front panel. When two chargers are displayed on a panel, you can choose which character will fight.
—Instruction Booklet, pg 25

Multiplayer[]

Star Fox Command supports 6-player local wireless for multiplayer matches via DS Download Play. Up to four players on the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection are supported. In Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection matches, only the Arwing II is available. Players score not by killing opponents, but by collecting stars from them when they have been destroyed. It is also possible to collect a star from an opponent not killed by the player. This is a modified version of the mode from Star Fox 64.

Power-ups[]

  • Twin laser upgrade: Equips The Player With Twin Lasers
  • Plasma laser upgrade: Equips player with plasma lasers.
  • Time bomb: Gives players a modified smart bomb. When dropped, it leaves a five second countdown visible to others; at its end it explodes.
  • Supply ring: Health.
  • Stealth: Makes players invisible on screen and radar.

Stages[]

There are five stages available in the game. These stages are randomly selected, and all of them can be found in the single player mode of the game too.

  • City: A city with buildings. The buildings are intangible but cause damage if flown through.
  • Mountains: The mountain stage consists of a green landscape with canyons and rivers.
  • Ocean: A flat arena above water, it can be very easy overseen due to the lack of high objects.
  • Space: As the name implies is this stage located somewhere in space. There are no objects whatsoever here, except some asteroids.
  • Fichina Mountains: Snowy mountains on the planet Fichina.

Character Database[]

The following info and pics are taken from the Gallery section of the game where every main character is shown. They are unlocked after they are played with at least once.

Every character is presented with a short description of their person and their own ship that they use throughout the game:

Character Gallery[]

References in later games[]

  • Several character trophies in Super Smash Bros. Brawl make references to Command or included it in their notable gaming entries. Some stickers also use some of Command's character artwork.
  • Fox and Falco's physical design and wardrobe in both Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U is partly based on their designs from Command.  However, their appearances have a more more realistic fur / feathers and clothing in both titles.
  • Falco's regular gameplay tune was set to be included in Super Smash Bros. Brawl but was cut from the final release.
  • Bill Grey's Cornerian Fighter in Star Fox 64 3D resembles the one he flies in Command.
  • The multiplayer in Star Fox 64 3D is comparable to Command's V.S modes.
  • In Star Fox Zero, the main characters wear identical microphone / targeting aid headband helmets akin to the ones used by them in Command.

Trivia[]

  • Star Fox Command shares many similarities with the movie Return of the Musketeers. Both are sequels to their respective series, their canonicity is debatable, a villain who should have been dead returns (two in the case of Command) while the major antagonists (Andross and Milady de Winter) are not retconned (aside from a story Peppy tells about Andross), and at the beginning the main characters' teams have disbanded and must find each other again, with one (Krystal and Aramis) temporarily joining forces with a shadier character (although if the player chooses, Krystal could remain with Star Wolf rather than rejoin Star Fox).
  • Command seems to disregard Wolf's team turning good during the battle with the Aparoids. The intro says they continued to be involved in dirty dealings, to the point of being wanted by Corneria. It could be argued that this is similar to Bowser joining forces with Mario in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.
  •  In comparison to the Star Fox 64 Lylat map, both Zoness and Macbeth are nowhere to be seen, even though they were not targets of the Anglar invasion.
  • This is the first game in the Star Fox series where non Arwing or Wolfen spacecraft are playable.
  • Star Fox Command marks the final appearance of Krystal, Panther and Beltino in the series.

Names in Other Languages[]

Language Name
Japanese (スターフォックス コマンド: Sutā Fokkusu Komando)

References[]

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