A Deep Dive into Star Fox Zero's Controls

Star Fox Zero has a bizarre control scheme, seemingly made to justify the Wii U gamepad. In this deep dive critique, I look at what Nintendo and Platinum were trying to pull off and see where they succeeded - and where they failed.

Games shown in this episode (in order of appearance):

Star Fox Zero (Nintendo / PlatinumGames, 2016)
Star Fox (Nintendo, 1993)
Star Fox 64 (Nintendo, 1997)
Space Harrier II (Sega, 1988)
Star Fox Assault (Namco, 2005)
Kid Icarus: Uprising (Project Sora, 2012)
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor (Treasure, 2009)
Ratchet and Clank (Insomniac, 2016)
Duke Nukem Forever (Gearbox, 2011)
Starhawk (LightBox Interactive, 2012)
Splatoon (Nintendo, 2015)
Affordable Space Adventures (KnapNok Games, 2015)
ZombiU (Ubisoft Montpellier, 2012)
Dirt Rally (Codemasters, 2015)
Bayonetta 2 (PlatinumGames, 2014)
Star Fox Command (Q-Games, 2006)
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Retro Studios, 2014)
The Wonderful 101 (PlatinumGames, 2013)
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (Naughty Dog, 2016)

Music used in this episode:

Corneria (Star Fox)
Controls (Star Fox)
Continue (Star Fox)
Course Select Map (Star Fox)
Select Screen (Star Fox 64)
Corneria (Star Fox)
Title (Star Fox 2)

Other credits

Nintendo: "Corporate Management Policy Briefing"

Nintendo UK: "Star Fox Zero – Dev Team Interview: Part One"

TIME: "9 Things Shigeru Miyamoto Told Us About the New Star Fox"

USgamer: "Star Fox Zero in Hindsight"

Polygon: "Star Fox Zero is about trying new things — whether old-school fans like it or not"

Reviews:

Star Fox 64 100% Speed Run Leaderboard

Zallard1 on Twitter

[ThatsPety]

I love how, when quoting an article, you not only put the quote on screen, but you also put that entire section of the article on screen, so we could get some context. Great journalism

[Larry]

What a bizarre choice for Miyamoto. I thought his mantra was to create a mechanic first, then build a game around it. But then again you probably don't have that luxury in a sequel/prequel.

But you definitely should do more videos on mechanics that Don't work Mark.

[zallard]

Nice video! It's also worth noting that the tweets you quoted of mine were right around when the game had first released. I have since gotten used to a lot more of the quirks the game has. I don't launch bombs accidentally any more, but maneuvers like somersault/u-turn still have unnecessary mappings on the sticks that speed/score runners still struggle with. I also dislike barrel rolls being mapped to the right stick, but I do sort of see their reasoning in mapping it there. I believe they wanted all the maneuvers and movements to be accessible from both analog sticks only, and shots being accessible from the triggers only. That way you don't have to hold the controller "claw style" to break/boost & shoot at the same time, which is something you would have to do in SF64 often for score. I would still prefer other custom mappings, but I'm not as critical on them as I was very early on the game's release. If anything, I just wish I could disable the u-turn/somersault mappings on the sticks and just have them be "only" mapped to B/X. Control options should always be included though. They never really hurt, and I doubt people would have complained about the slight decrease in accuracy for the ability to use an intuitive controller.

Personally though, I actually find the dual screen thing not a huge problem anymore, same goes for the gyro aiming. Granted, I do most of my aiming on the cockpit screen as a result. I pretty much use the 3rd person screen as a way to recognize how far stuff is away from me, which in turn does mean that screen doesn't get my attention nearly as often. It's sort of the "rear-view mirror" of the game if that makes any sense. What's truly bizarre though, is if you launch "Co-Op" mode, they allow you to play through whatever stage you pick, but can control everything with a Pro controller! But shockingly, you cannot use chargeshots/upgrades/bombs on that controller at all; it's only accessible on the gamepad buttons. It's kind of a tease because I guess no one would use the gamepad anymore if had the same functionality but all mapped to a comfortable controller, haha.

Anyways that's all I have to say for the moment. Feel free to ask me questions if anyone still happens to have any!

[nachtschwarmer]

“How many eyes does Myamoto have?” Good question.

[thegardenofeatin]

Being a pilot, it occurs to me to put an instrument view on the controller display while most of the game visuals are on the screen. Some missions might occur in darkness or fog, requiring the player/pilot to go "heads down" and control the ship on instruments, while being largely "heads up" for VFR maneuvers and dog fighting.

[FlackNCoke]

Star Fox GUARD on the other hand... now that's a single player game that you need the gamepad to play. Because it's a completely unique idea built for the system from the ground-up instead of being an old one that was retrofitted and made needlessly complicated.

[TurboButton]

"In their own uniquely crap way" Savage.

[Nintendrew]

"A Fisher-Price iPad" is definitely my favorite description of the Wii U gamepad to date 😂

[squiddler]

This kind of system would probably be great in a co-op game, where one player focuses of piloting and not getting hit while the other fires away with a variety of weapons

[NatStarlight]

In my opinion the games that use the GamePad best are the ones that use it in a supplemental, non-intrusive way for menus and maps and such, like Xenoblade Chronicles X and The Wind Waker HD. Besides that kind of use, Super Mario Maker is the only other game I can think of right now that really uses it well.

[testoftetris]

The sad thing is that Nintendo has been making pretty worthwhile 2-screen experiences for awhile on the DS. I'd honestly give an arm and a leg to see something in The World Ends With You's setting show up on the WiiU. Now *that* I think would work exceptionally well.

[ThunderfilmStudios]

I for one really enjoyed the "cinematic feel" that Miyamoto was talking about. I felt so cool after shooting down a missile and I flew away from the explosion in slow-mo. I loved when I had to break through the enemy's shield by using the hole they opened to fire through. The game makes you feel really cool. And I don't see the problem everybody has with the controls. It's easy enough to aim using the arwing as long as you don't flail your arms around all the time (changing the motion controls to not always on does help a lot, I must admit). The walker mode has old 3rd person game controls, but I got used to them extremely quickly. You can easily strafe by barrel rolling or pressing target, you can turn in place using the right stick, it really isn't hard to use. The gyrowing controls just like the gunship in Nintendo Land's Metroid Blast minigame... The landmaster controls just like you'd expect a tank to.

This game does require you to think a little deeper about the controls than the average game. While many games now simply have controls as a tool to allow you to achieve a totally different goal, Star Fox Zero's goal seems more to be to master the controls, and the enemies are the tools that allow you to show off your expertise.

Just my opinion... I had a blast with the game, and I can't understand how people can't grasp the controls... Simply experiment and you'll figure it out.

[nichiyohane]

"Nintendo failed in game control"
That's new. They usually don't.

[SamnissArandeen]

6:48 "Inaccurate?" Mate, that's more than a mere inaccuracy. The game outright lies to you on one screen just to justify the use of the other in a situation where it otherwise would be redundant. That's a Freudian slip on Nintendo's part if ever I saw one, that demonstration alone showcases this game's failure.

[Blairskirock]

Wait, you PLAYED Duke Nukem Forever to record footage for that gag? You really are dedicated to this, aren't you Mark?

[WritingOnGames]

mate i dont know what your problem is miyamoto is just trying to be cool why wont you let miyamoto be cool quit being so jive

In all seriousness, I really enjoyed this video. Slightly more personal and informal in delivery, but no less informative. Really enjoyed seeing more of your personality coming through in your delivery.

[danielwareking]

Beyond the infamously awful controls, this game is just so dull to look at - there's nothing appealing about the art direction or rendering. It's just ugly and wouldn't look like fun even if I had no idea the controls are universally despised.

Great explanation of the controls, though! Love this channel, keep up the good work :)

[JamishS]

One minor thing to point out -- Even in Star Fox 64, the reticle was "inaccurate" and fixed at a set distance from your ship, rather than at an infinity point. Your shots have always gone past them. It's just more noticeable in Zero. Or perhaps the reticles are closer to your ship in Zero so it's more exaggerated.

[JarroHood]

Listening/watching this while I farm on another game made me realize something... I want to see a game where one player fly the ship, and another player operate the gun. Like an ariel dogfighter game with the idea as a core-mechanic.

[legoincplxx]

"A tiny low-res Fisher-Price iPad" ouch.