The original Star Fox, released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System on February 21, 1993 in Japan and March 1993 in North America (under the title Starwing in PAL regions), is the game that started the entire series. Powered by the custom Super FX chip embedded in the cartridge, Star Fox was Nintendo's first home-console foray into real-time polygonal 3D graphics.
Before Star Fox launched, no Nintendo console had displayed polygonal 3D in real time. Argonaut Software co-developed both the Super FX chip and Star Fox itself with Nintendo EAD; the chip lived inside the game cartridge and effectively turned the SNES into a 3D-capable machine. The result was a flat-shaded, low-polygon space shooter that pushed the SNES well past what Nintendo's hardware was ever supposed to do, and it remains a landmark of early-90s home-console technology.
Star Fox plays as a strict on-rails shooter. You pilot Fox McCloud's Arwing forward through six stages with light branching — there are three routes (Easy / Medium / Hard) selectable from the system map — and shoot down waves of enemies, asteroids, capital ships, and bosses. The Arwing can boost, brake, barrel-roll to deflect lasers, and perform U-turns and somersaults in boss encounters. Wingmen Falco, Slippy, and Peppy fly alongside Fox and can be saved or lost based on player skill.
The 1993 Star Fox plot is sparse compared to later entries. Andross, a mad scientist banished to the planet Venom, has launched an invasion of the Lylat system. General Pepper of the Cornerian Defense Force hires the Star Fox mercenary team to push him back. The 1993 game's story was canonically rebooted by Star Fox 64 in 1997 — the Andross of the SNES original was a faceless invader; the Andross of Star Fox 64 became Fox's father's killer.
The 1993 Star Fox is historically important but mechanically rougher than its N64 successor. Where Star Fox 64 has 60 polygons per ship and full voice acting, the 1993 SNES original has flat-shaded triangles and no spoken dialogue. Most modern players who try the original after Star Fox 64 find it more interesting as a museum piece than as a game to actually finish. Star Fox 64 is the one to play; the 1993 Star Fox is the one to study.