Ode to OG Star Fox & Hajime Hirasawa - the One Hit Wonder

Now that I spend a lot of quality time with Switch 2 Star Fox, I want to give some love to the game that started it all:

The original Star Fox on the Super Nintendo.

This game was way ahead of its time.

And somehow, it's still the only game where I can tolerate an absolutely terrible frame rate and have a great time.

Back then, I obviously didn't know what a frame rate was. I just knew that Star Fox looked and felt unlike anything else I'd played. Looking back now, the game was running at around 10 FPS in places, and some of those cutscenes were practically a slideshow.

And I didn't care.

I loved every minute of it.

Hirasawa’s Score

The other thing that immediately grabbed me was the soundtrack. I absolutely adore the Star Fox SNES OST and I think it was a genre defining work.

Hajime Hirasawa has a few game music credits under his belt but Star Fox is by far his most popular. I have no idea whatever happened to him. He dropped a banger of a score for a 1993 space schmup and disappeared.

The Star Fox SNES score is the reason I was so disappointed with Star Fox 64’s offering just four years later in 1997.

I didn't initially appreciate the Star Fox 64 soundtrack in the same way I did the SNES original. I've come to absolutely love that score - it may be one of the most underrated soundtracks on the N64 - but the N64's sound hardware really didn't do that score any favors.

The SNES sound font, on the other hand, sounds fantastic to me.

There's something about the original Star Fox soundtrack that just works. I still go back and listen to it regularly.

So I have to give credit to composer Hajime Hirasawa, who absolutely dropped a masterpiece and then essentially just disappeared from the video game music scene.

Talk about a one-hit wonder.

He gave us this incredible score and then left us wondering what else he could have done with the series.

Finally, the Music Gets the Treatment It Deserves

One of the reasons I'm so happy about the new Star Fox on Switch 2 is that Hajime Wakai’s score will be freed from Kondo’s N64 sound font.

It give the Star Fox 64 soundtrack the orchestral treatment it always deserved. The original compositions are fantastic. Now they finally have the sound quality and production to match them. It took nearly 30 years, but better late than never.

I've already talked about how excited I am about the soundtrack, and the more I hear, the more convinced I am that Nintendo handled it with care.

Now Give Me a Real Star Fox Sequel

Please Nintendo… Keep this going. I don't want another experimental Star Fox spinoff.

I don't want Fox and the crew running around on foot with guns.

I don't want another Star Fox Adventures (honestly, Star Fox Adventures shouldn't exist).

I want Star Fox.

Give me the Arwings.

Give me Fox, Falco, Peppy, and Slippy.

Give me the Landmaster.

Give me the Blue Marine.

Give me new planets, new sectors, new enemies, and new threats throughout the Lylat System.

There's an entire galaxy out there.

Let's explore it.

Keep this Revival Going

That's ultimately what has me so excited about this new Star Fox. Nintendo has given the franchise another chance and I had an absolute blast.

Now I want to see where they take it.

Star Fox and Star Fox 64 established an incredible foundation. The Switch 2 remake has the opportunity to reintroduce that formula to a new generation while reminding longtime fans why we loved it in the first place.

So Nintendo, please don't let this be another one-off.

Give us a real sequel.

New worlds. New music. New challenges.

Same Arwing.

Let's keep flying!