Star Fox

Arguably one of Nintendo's most forgotten treasures, the soundtrack to Star Fox is a rollickingly awesome soundtrack which sounds like it could come from John Williams. The "Main Theme" in particular is somewhat reminiscent of Star Wars, yet it is not at all a ripoff of that title. It's *the* defining characteristic of the game, and it is a fun piece of music to listen to. The other tracks range from handsome and symphonic to rocking and jamming. The one catch about this score is that the sound quality is somewhat hollow and metallic. In other words, the instruments aren't quite "real", like in other games such as, say, ActRaiser, or even Final Fantasy VI. But that is the only weakness in this spectacular, rocking soundtrack. It holds well, even after repeated listenings.

The three arranged versions at the beginning of the CD are also a treat for Star Fox fans. The "Main Theme" is the very best of these tracks; it has some extended bridges and an even cooler ending than that of the game. "Corneria" is also jamming, if a bit slower than the original version. I also like the extended bridges in it. "Black Hole" is a marriage of two separate themes, the moody and ambient stage music and the mysterious map music. It is so unrecognizable, that one may have to listen to these tracks more than once for good comparisons.

The three play version tracks can be uncomfortable to listen to since they sound like, well, the sounds of the game going on - the music, the sound effects, the voices and all. But on the other hand, they also can bring back happy memories of playing through the game if you haven't played it for a long time, perhaps a year, ten years... well you know what I mean.

Overall, if you can ever find Star Fox anywhere, get it. Despite its minor shortcomings, this soundtrack is still worth the money, as well as listening to again and again.

Being a fan of John Williams, I was immediately drawn to the music of Star Fox when I first played it several years ago. Quite a few of the tracks, "Main Theme" in particular, are clearly modeled after the legendary Star Wars score. Unfortunately, the disc contains only three arranged tracks. The OSV tracks, though unquestionably awesome in composition, suffer from a metallic, hollow sound. It's hard to embrace the melody when you can't get past the presentation. The arranged tracks, on the other hand, are very well done. Mixed in a fairly traditional "grade-up" style, the arranger didn't take a lot of creative license. The songs still sound exactly like they did in the game, just powered up. The last three tracks on the disc, subtitled "Play Version", are somewhat of an oddity. On these tracks, it's almost as if someone just plugged their SNES A/V cables into a stereo and started recording *while* they were playing. What you end up with is the OSV tracks in the background and lots of laser shots and enemy explosions in the foreground (yes, there's the occasional "Shield!" and "wuh-wuh-wa-wing damage"). Whether the three arranged tracks alone warrant the purchase of the entire disc is up to the listener.