Star Fox 64 (released as Lylat Wars in PAL regions) is the most influential and most-loved game in the entire series. Released for the Nintendo 64 on April 27, 1997 in Japan and June 30, 1997 in North America, Star Fox 64 was the first Nintendo 64 game to ship with the Rumble Pak and introduced the branching-mission structure that every subsequent Star Fox game has either copied or reacted against.
Star Fox 64 is a 3D rail shooter where you pilot Fox McCloud's Arwing fighter through 15 missions across the Lylat solar system, fighting the simian dictator Andross and his armies. The game was a hard reboot of the 1993 SNES original — characters, story, and ship designs were all redrawn for the N64 era — and it eclipsed its predecessor so completely that most fans now treat Star Fox 64 as the true series template.
What made Star Fox 64 special in 1997, and what still makes it the most playable Star Fox game today, is the combination of three things: tight on-rails flight controls, a branching mission map that rewards experimentation, and a voice cast that turned every wingman into a meme generator decades before the word "meme" existed.
Star Fox 64 has 15 levels but only seven mission slots in any single playthrough. Reaching the harder, more rewarding stages requires hitting hidden objectives — saving Falco on Corneria, surviving long enough on Sector Y, killing the right boss the right way. The branching structure means there is no single "Star Fox 64 walkthrough" — there are seven, and the hardest path (Corneria → Sector Y → Aquas → Zoness → Sector Z → Area 6 → Venom 2) is widely considered the canonical hardcore route.
Each Star Fox 64 mission has a hit-count threshold for a medal. Medals require shooting down a set number of enemies and keeping all wingmen alive — the "all wingmen alive" condition is the harder half. Earning every medal in the game on the hard route unlocks the Expert Mode difficulty and a sound-test gallery.
Star Fox 64 introduced the voice cast that has defined the series ever since. Every character was given full English voice acting — unusual for an N64 game, where most spoken dialogue was a luxury — and the deliberately compressed audio gave the performances a charm that fans remember word for word.
Star Fox 64's local 4-player multiplayer was technologically impressive for 1997 and culturally significant for anyone who had a Nintendo 64 with three friends. Modes include Battle Royal (last-fighter standing), Point Match (kill count), and Time Battle, with both Arwings and on-foot Fox marines as playable options. Every Star Fox multiplayer mode that came afterward has been a variation on this template, until Star Fox 2026 finally added online play.
If you want to experience Star Fox 64 today, you have four legitimate options:
Star Fox 64 received near-universal critical acclaim on release — perfect or near-perfect scores from EGM, IGN, GameSpot, and Famitsu — and remains the highest-rated game in the Star Fox series. It sold over 4 million copies on the N64 alone, was re-released as the Star Fox 64 3D remake in 2011, and finally became the basis for the Star Fox 2026 Switch 2 remake. Every element fans expect from Star Fox — branching paths, "Do a barrel roll," wingman chatter, the Andross fight — was codified here.
None of substance. Lylat Wars is just the PAL-region title for Star Fox 64, used because of a trademark conflict in Europe. The games are identical.
A single Star Fox 64 playthrough lasts 60–90 minutes. Completing all seven mission paths and earning every medal takes 6–10 hours.
Most fans and critics rank Star Fox 64 as the best game in the series, with Star Fox 64 3D and Star Fox 2026 (its remakes) as the most-recommended modern alternatives.
Star Fox 2026 is the same campaign with modern visuals, voice acting, and online multiplayer. If you own a Switch 2, play Star Fox 2026. If not, the original Star Fox 64 still holds up. See the full comparison.