Reasons Behind Lack of Online Support for Star Fox 64 3D Revealled

[Hope(N Forever)]

Star Fox 64 3D's game planner - Yusuke Amano - recently revealled in an interview with the European Official Nintendo Magazine about the reasons behind the lack of online support in the game. He explained that making a satisfying, seamless multiplayer experience for every user would have been very costly for them, and additionally implementing any online support would have taken development time longer, and subsequently would have urged the development teams to release the game at a much later date. Development was heavily focused on the game's graphics in order to promote the appeal of the Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo's management could not allow any extra time in development either.

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[Wes]

Though sort of obvious, but this just sounds like another rush job on a SF title.

Star Fox 64 3D is still a brilliant game without the multiplayer mode.

As far as I know there is nothing worth mentioning that has changed other than better graphics. Yawn. At least they mentioned "another Star Fox title". Our luck it'll be a remake of SF Adventures. Twice as boring as SF643D.

[Psygonis]

Well... More than that pretty generic and non-saying excuse for no online play, this article is rather interesting because of it's second part:

"Having said that, Amano wouldn't rule out the possibility of online play in a future Star Fox game. "We didn't cut any corners for the multiplayer mode in this game. We did lots of experimentation for the normal wireless local multiplayer and included lots of new features. Working on the multiplayer part was a nice, satisfying challenge, and if I get the chance to work on another Star Fox title, I would definitely consider an online multiplayer mode." "

It's not an official statement, but it feels cheering that the idea of a future Starfox game (and hopefully not another remake) hasn't been ruled out!

[!Corgi]

One thing I was thinking when they were flashing it around @ E3 was the whole "See your opponents faces and reactions in game as you shoot them down!"

Okay... This is a game. Kids play games. Creepers like kids... Don't you think there would be loads of creepers flying their arwing around with their salami in broad view of the camera? ...Not such a good idea.

Although it sucks a bit that I cant get into a match with my friends across the world, I'm sure its for the greater good and honestly. Anyone who has ever played Multiplayer on DS or 3DS or even GBA with a link cable knows its pretty fun to be able to race and play people sitting next to you while your on the bus or something. It's a blast!

[Furygun81]

One thing I was thinking when they were flashing it around @ E3 was the whole "See your opponents faces and reactions in game as you shoot them down!"

Okay... This is a game. Kids play games. Creepers like kids... Don't you think there would be loads of creepers flying their arwing around with their salami in broad view of the camera? ...Not such a good idea.

Although it sucks a bit that I cant get into a match with my friends across the world, I'm sure its for the greater good and honestly. Anyone who has ever played Multiplayer on DS or 3DS or even GBA with a link cable knows its pretty fun to be able to race and play people sitting next to you while your on the bus or something. It's a blast!

You know, they probably would have disabled the camera functionality for online play if they had it.

[GameMasterGuy]

Nintendo would never allow that, sadly.

[Thunderhorse]

Yeah, Online play would've been nice, but I would prefer they would enhance the offline multiplayer a little more. I want my Landmaster and On-Foot modes back!

[Psygonis]

I want my Landmaster and On-Foot modes back!

^ This!

Nintendo> Y U NO KEEP SF64'S LANDMASTER AND ON-FOOT MODES?

[Robert Monroe]

You guys are acting like the original SF64's Mplayer mode was actually balanced or deep.

[Psygonis]

It was cool. I spent countless hours playing that with siblings and friends! :3

It may not meet recent standards but since it was a remake...

[Robert Monroe]

It was cool. I spent countless hours playing that with siblings and friends! :3

It may not meet recent standards but since it was a remake...

Its a fun time killer when you're a kid, but that's really it. Considering the remake didn't... remake the mplayer, lack of online isn't a huge loss.

[Prince Elite]

well now the 3DS people have something to enjoy, Lylat Wars rules. And i really didn't care for multiplayer anyway.

[Evil Duck]

Personally I'm in the minority of those not particuarly bothered about the lack of online play, partly due to the fact I don't have any consoles set up to the internet and never had. However, so many people are now obsessed online play which is something I can't quite get my head around. Games never used to have online features, and no one ever complained of a game lacking something or felt it had something missing.

I personally find it annoying when for example you can't recieve an achievement on the old Xbox because you need to play online in order to recieve it...

[Psygonis]

Well, it's easy not to bother about features that lack in games you don't have! D:

And games didn't have online before because it didn't exist. At some point in history, games were text only, or only had wireframe graphics. Well... Except very conceptual games today, it is expected that games feature at least decent graphics. Same for online multiplayer. Now that it is possible (and even common fact), it is expected for multiplayer games to have an online multiplayer mode.

[Evil Duck]

Well, it's easy not to bother about features that lack in games you don't have! D:

And games didn't have online before because it didn't exist. At some point in history, games were text only, or only had wireframe graphics. Well... Except very conceptual games today, it is expected that games feature at least decent graphics. Same for online multiplayer. Now that it is possible (and even common fact), it is expected for multiplayer games to have an online multiplayer mode.

I do have Starfox 64 3D.

My point here is that the addition of online gaming would have been great. But just because a game does not have online features doesn't make it a bad one.... unfortunately we are now an 'online' generation, and most gamers only seem to like the games with online capabilty, games such as Call Of Duty for example *shudders*.

[Psygonis]

Well, ok, sure, you can live always 10 years in the past in the world of today, it doesn't make things worse. But, as I say, it was expected, it would have been very much welcomed I think, even without all the 3DS version "improvements".

Online is not an obligatory thing on platforms that are collective already. I mean it wouldn't have lacked on consoles such as the N64 and the NGC, that already allow 4 players to play at the same time at the same place on the same screen. It's convivial enough. But on a handheld, or a PC, you can't be several simultaneous players on the same unit, and it's not always easy to gather people at the same place to play. So online play is much more "essential" to multiplayer modes, especially since WiFi access has never been easier lately and since online play is considered common place.

So yeah, Call of Duty and such (what's the problem with CoD by the way?) are either played alone... or online (or in LAN, but that's specific circumstances). And I'm afraid that without online play, Starfox 64 3D will be mostly played alone, which is a pity since it is fun to play in multiplayer! D: And that was the point.

[Ellanie]

Nintendo has made it very clear with their games that online play will always be secondary to their main gameplay, if it's even included at all. Their whole schtick is that local multi-player is much more fun than online will ever be (likely true, but most developers don't follow that line of thinking).

I really haven't taken advantage of online play on games, either, but I think it would be beneficial to StarFox, the series in general, to have it. Playing the mode single-player slaps the StarFox team's faces on the camera images instead of using the 3DS camera, so if that was really the issue, the developers at Nintendo could've easily let players choose from the large lot of choice faces in the game to be an avatar in Online mode.