YMMV / Star Fox Zero

• Anti-Climax Boss:
  • Pigma Dengar's debut in Area 3. Instead of fighting all of Star Wolf, you only have to face Pigma alone, with all three of your teammates at your side.
  • Leon on Fichina. Just like Pigma above, Leon faces Fox and his entire team alone, thus making the fight against him considerably easy.
• Awesome Bosses: As per usual with the series, the boss battles in the game are as exhilarating to fight as they are a sight to behold.
  • The Star Wolf encounters. Special mention for Fichina's Lone Wolf mission which is a one-on-one duel between Fox and Wolf which constantly ramps up in difficulty until Wolf starts using his ship's new Limit Break.
    • And before you face off against Andross, you have to face all four members of Star Wolf... by yourself.
  • Cosmic Dodora. Take Monarch Dodora from Fortuna, throw it into space, and have the fight revolve around defending the Great Fox from its assault while luring the beast into the line of fire of the Great Fox's cannons. The boss music even gets more frantic as the creature starts to focus on you.
  • Attack Carrier. In all of its previous appearances it's the super-easy first boss of the game. Not this time: its the boss of the last stage before Venom, is far more durable, far more maneuverable, has far more deadly attacks from its launch bays (beams of powerful energy rings and quad laser-armed fighters that will swarm you and dog your tail forever), and when it loses the launch bays it splits open and fires four massive energy beams while spinning in place. Talk about an upgrade.
  • And let us not forget the final battle with Andross. Not only does it combinine elements from previous battles with the mad tyrant (chrome appearance and tile-spitting from the SNES version, Giant Hands of Doom from the N64 game, etc), but granting Andross some additional tricks that make him even nastier. His Boss Banter throughout the fight is awesome to listen to as well. And that's not counting his attempt at Taking You with Me this time around...
• Awesome Music: It's a Star Fox game. What did you expect?
• Awesome Video Game Levels:
  • Sector β. Opening up with an all out war between Corneria and Venom, with star fighters and dreadnaughts on both sides. Then the second phase starts and you find yourself in an all out dogfight involving EVERY SINGLE NAMED PILOT from Star Fox 64. This includes your team, Bill Grey, Katt Monroe, and Star Wolf.
  • Sector Ω: Blasting Through. All you have to say is "ALL UNITS, G-DIFFUSERS SET TO MAX!" and people will know exactly what level you're talking about and will rave about how fun it was.
  • Fichina: Lone Wolf. A 1 on 1 duel against Wolf O'Donnell.
  • "Meddlesome Mercs": A 1 on 2 duel against the two least favorite characters of Star Wolf: Andrew and Pigma.
  • The secret boss fight against Salvadora, for being a solo boss mission where you play as Peppy, in all his glory.
  • Venom, for not only putting Fox up against the whole Star Wolf team one last time, but for its epic confrontation with Andross.
• Broken Base:
  • The game's controls are incredibly controversial. Instead of both aiming and moving being controlled by the main stick, moving is done with the left stick while aiming is done through motion controls, and, as said by Miyamoto, "can't be completely turned off." Opinions are divided on whether this modernizes Star Fox's controls or it's an unnecessary change to what already works. Unfortunately for those who wished for it, the game doesn't have a more "classic" single-stick control scheme as an option, making the motion controls a mandatory function of the game.
  • The game being the second official Continuity Reboot. Some see it as a way for the series to return to its roots and make a pleasing experience for those who grew up with the series and bring in new players as well as avoiding the delicate quagmire that was created from Star Fox Command. Others see it as Nintendo's not knowing what to actually do with the franchise and pandering to nostalgia rather than make a proper continuation of what came before.
  • The game mostly taking after Star Fox 64 (or specifically, its 3DS remake) in terms of tone, visuals, and apparently setting. The return to what could be considered a classic approach by emulating one of the most beloved games of the series is either welcomed fondly as a sign of the game's potential quality, or a sign that the series will never move out of its shadow.
  • The transforming Arwings. Either a great and cool feature from the previously cancelled Star Fox 2 that will now finally see the light of day after so many years, or something that even for this series, just looks way too silly and breaks the play style that people would want from a Star Fox game (akin to issues with Star Fox: Assault earlier). More specifically, the demo at one point has the walker form stepping on a pressure plate to open a door, much like an adventure game would have.
  • Krystal's absence from the game, due to it being a universal reboot, is a big question mark that has put her future status as a canon character in doubt. On the one hand, there are fans who prefer the classic team and weren't as fond of Krystal as a character, so her absence is something that wouldn't harm the series for them. On the other hand, Krystal did manage to garner a fanbase during her time in the series, to the point she was a highly requested character for Super Smash Bros. on both the Wii and Wii U (and was acknowledged in both those games , and would later make it into Ultimate as an Assist Trophy) and additionally it means Krystal seems to have been added to the ever increasing ranks of female Star Fox characters who keep getting sidelined only to never appear again. The fact Krystal was Fox's main Love Interest prior really doesn't help with that last part.
  • The game's delay. Either it was necessary to perfect the game and not make it Christmas Rushed into another lackluster Star Fox title, or it will send the Wii U's sales into yet another downward spiral due to it leaving Nintendo with no first-party holiday title besides Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash or Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival.
  • The visual style, meant to have a Thunderbirds-y puppet show feel, is a major point of contention. Does it look horrible? Does it look great? Or do you not care?
  • A framerate analysis video by Digital Foundry found that occasionally the framerate can dip below 60 during really effects intensive battles. This only caused the debate regarding the game's use of the GamePad to intensify, as some claim that the framerate dips are "evidence" that the GamePad is holding the game back from higher visual fidelity, while others state that the GamePad most likely isn't to blame for the dips due to some other Wii U games displaying the game on both screens at the same time without any framerate troubles. Some have even pointed out that this isn't the first time a game developed by Platinum had some minor framerate issues, with games like Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and The Wonderful 101 also having dips, yet said games were still widely praised in spite of this minor issue.
  • The quality of the graphics in general is also a point of extreme divide. For its supporters, it's one of the best looking games on the Wii U, which especially has merit considering the console is generating the visuals twice (on the TV screen and the GamePad). For its detractors, however, it barely looks any better than an HD rerelease of Star Fox Assault, if not Star Fox 64.
  • For Latin American players, the lack of a Latin American Spanish dub like the one used in the 3DS version of Star Fox 64 (or any kind of Latin American dub) other than the European Spanish one or English. According with people who worked on it, Nintendo didn't want to do any kind of Latin American dubs anymore, possibly due of the low sales in Latin America from the 3DS version and the low quality of the voice acting of that version, at least until The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
  • The fight against Andross. A lot of players find his boss fight to be the best one in the entire series, combining elements from the original Star Fox as well as 64 and making the battle against him very fun, even for a Puzzle Boss. Then there are those who consider his fight very anticlimactic, pointing out that he's no different from the other bosses where all you have to do is shoot at the red areas until said boss dies.
  • The game's overall length. Many have pointed out that the campaign is far too short and can be beaten in a few hours. Others love the game because of how short it is, which gives the plot a fast-paced feel to it that never slows down. And then there are those who will acknowledge that the game is too short, but tolerate it because the game has plenty of Replay Value.

• Fan Nickname:
  • "Chicken Wing" for the Arwing's "Walker mode" because of its resemblance to a chicken.
  • Five Nights at Grippy's/Five Nights at Slippy's for Star Fox: Guard, both being Defense games that involve security cameras.
• He Panned It, Now He Sucks!: A lot of fans weren't exactly happy about the mixed reviews the game received. Giant Bomb's review, which gave the game a 2/5, received the most flak. Polygon got roughly as much, if not more, complaining, but in their case they refused to finish the game or even "review" the game, which was compounded by the fact that they had ads for the game on the site AND were sent review copies of the game for that purpose. And that's not even getting into Jim Sterling's 2 out of 10 score for the game, in a review where they mercilessly beat the game down to a pulp by showcasing how Nintendo can't get Star Fox out of 64's shadow, and is trying to reinvent the wheel with a Continuity Reboot aping many aspects of that game.
• He Really Can Act: Mike West does a much better job at voicing Fox than he has in Star Fox 64 or Super Smash Bros for 3DS/Wii U. Sure, he's no award winning performance, but his delivery shows much improvement. It's also notable that West returned to voice Fox for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and re-recorded his lines to match this level of performance.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Hideki Kamiya said he'd like to work on a Star Fox game. Platinum in general worked on Star Fox Zero. Even moreso considering that Kamiya at one point gave up on that desire because fans on Twitter kept nagging him about it. The Arwing easter egg in Bayonetta 2 counts for similar reasons.
  • The majority of Arwings in this game are white with blue trim; however, the Falco Amiibo gives you a black Arwing with red trim. If not for the typical length of development cycles, one would think this was an intentional Shout-Out to the X-Wings in The Force Awakens (in that film, most of the X-Wings are white and blue except Poe's, which is black and orange).
  • Peppy's bonus mission, taking on a dreadnought solo and wiping out its turrets, basically predicted the opening act of The Last Jedi a year and a half in advance.
  • In a 2015 interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, he stated that the idea for the Transforming Arwings came from the then-officially unreleased Star Fox 2 as he wanted give players the chance to finally use them in a modern game, as there was no intention to release Star Fox 2 to the public, saying "I'd rather have people play a new game." Jump forward two years later, Star Fox 2 would eventually be released as one of the 21 games available on the SNES Classic.
• Ho Yay: Also overlaps with Squick in The Battle Begins. Many people pointed out why a grown man like Peppy would hold hairballs made from General Pepper's fur as a lucky charm, even if is a plot point later on (see below for details). The squicky part comes with the fact anyone who has read the novelization of Mobile Suit Gundam, when Amuro Ray holds a locket made from Sayla Mass's pubic hair. It doesn't help that those hairballs are round-shaped either.^note It's also entirely possible that this could be a Shout-Out from a manga adaptation of Fire Emblem, when something similar happens, except it's not explained where that hair comes from.
• I Knew It!: When the game was first announced at E3 2014, it became a popular request among fans for PlatinumGames to develop it as Hideki Kamiya stated on multiple occasions he was interested in developing a Star Fox installment. The company was eventually brought in to co-develop it along with Nintendo EAD.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: Some people have complained that, despite the vast number of new paths and levels, the game is way too short and can be beaten in two hours or less. Granted, all Star Fox games have very short campaigns (sans Adventures), so some see this as a complaint for the series as a whole.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Outside of motion control debate, the most common criticism of Zero is it borrowing a lot of its story elements and level settings from Star Fox 64.
• Love to Hate: Pigma is an even bigger swineball than he was back in Star Fox 64, to the point where even Fox can't mention the pig's name during the intro without abhorrence in his voice. All his lines from the original game are back, he goes as far as proclaiming that he's the best Star Wolf pilot, and his voice is absolutely riddled with nothing but smugness. It makes it all the more rewarding when you humiliate him in combat.
• Narm Charm: The voice acting looks to be just as amusingly cheesy as it was in Star Fox 64, except now the voice actors don't have to really try to capture the Narm using the same lines and have to do it with more originality.
• Older Than They Think:
  • Zero is actually not the first time the franchise has been rebooted; Star Fox 64, the game it takes a lot of its story beats from, was also a reboot of the original SNES game.
  • The game was heavily criticized for being short. Looks like these people don't remember Star Fox 64 was completed in two hours, tops. And that if you died multiple times. Although there are people in this camp who argue Star Fox 64 had much more Replay Value.
• Player Punch: At the beginning of Sector α, you have to save three battleships from the enemy. Failing to do so will result in a brief message of the ship's pilot screaming.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Slippy of all people surprisingly gets this treatment. The Battle Begins has him coming up with a clever plan to protect General Pepper by infusing his missiles with Pepper's DNA (courtesy of Peppy's good luck charm, which had Pepper's fur), and the game proper has him holding his own against enemy aircraft without assistance (most of the time), analyzing boss shields instantly rather than halfway into the fight ^note the only exception to this is the fight with the Attack Carrier due to technical difficulties and even then, it's a scripted event., and most importantly having Peppy crashing onto Titania instead of him, thus erasing his infamous Leeroy Jenkins moment from 64.
• Scrappy Mechanic:
  • The controls, particularly the motion-based ones, are a massive point of contention and a major contributor to the game's divisive reception.
  • The dialogue coming out of the GamePad and not the TV is rather distracting and can make recording a stream or let's play a pain.
• So Okay, It's Average: Concensus among critics is that the game is enjoyable but suffers from tedious controls, short length and does not bring anything new to the series.
• Spiritual Successor: The Sector Ω stage basically turns the game into Afterburner.
• Tear Jerker: After the credits roll, the game pays tribute to the late and great Satoru Iwata.
  This game is dedicated to our wingman who fell in battle.
• That One Attack:
  • The main reason why Gigarilla is so tough is because of its attack where it launches several missiles at you. Just one of these missiles can take away nearly a third of your health.
  • Wolf's Lightning Tornado in his one-on-one secret boss fight. He moves insanely fast, making him hard to dodge, he ends up far away so that you can't retaliate, and the attack itself knocks off about one-fourth of your shields.
• That One Boss:
  • The Gigarilla when you actually have to fight it hits like a truck and can hit very frequently. Furthermore, to hit it, you have to get to its back without it noticing and get as many shots in before it turns around. Its turning around can also hit you. And its missiles can home in on you and just one can shave down a third of your health. The kicker comes when you deplete its health: You have to transform into the walker on a small platform on its back so you can hack into the Gigarilla and shut it down.
    • However, it does have an Achilles' Heel: the Walker can run in between its leg and freely fire at its rear for precious seconds before it turns around, which is also avoidable when you know what you are doing.
  • Monarch Dodora from Fortuna, in large part because this boss rarely stays still, has a devastating tail attack, and because its weak points are hard to get a good shot at since it rarely stops flying around.
• That One Level:
  • "En-Route Anomaly" is a rather frustrating level—both for being an Escort Mission, and also because it's identical to the Asteroid Field level, except there are more enemies, which ramps up the difficulty. Even worse, at the end of the level you have to fight Cosmic Dodora by yourself while still protecting the Great Fox from it.
  • Sector Gamma. There is a lot going on here. You have to take down the missiles in time, much like Sector Z from Star Fox 64. However, some drones will sometimes appear and either attack the Great Fox or your companions, meaning that you have to destroy all the missiles, protect everyone, mothership included, and deal with those obnoxious drones. Also, the missiles have to be broken into parts to be destroyed and will explode after you deal enough damage, meaning that you have to get out of here quickly or you will lose half of Fox's entire shield gauge, with his death scream in the meantime. It's pretty easy to fail the mission or cause Fox to die if you're not careful.
  • Titania is even worse than it was back in Star Fox 64. Not only do you have to use the Landmaster for most of the mission, but the level is filled to the brim with enemies, including a new worm-like enemy who can suck your vehicle towards it, and there are dozens of obstacles you have to dodge. None of this is helped by the ground mechanics, which can make the level even more difficult depending on the player.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Both this and It's the Same, Now It Sucks! complaints have been made, sometimes even by the same people, but with the former complaint regarding the gameplay and the latter regarding the story. A few reviewers have complained that the controls are over-innovated to the point of a gimmicky hindrance while at the same time there's absolutely nothing new storywise, as the story is still almost the exact same story that the previous two mainline Star Fox games used.
• Uncertain Audience: The game suffers from this due to the conflict between the game's presentation returning to the conflict against Andross and the heavily altered gameplay from the previous installments involving shooting with the right trigger, tilting and barrel-rolling the Arwing with the Right Stick, and aiming with motion controls. As a result, many players derided the presentation and story as pandering too much to fans of Star Fox 64, with the lack of a new story making sure barely anyone would be willing to Enjoy the Story, Skip the Game and admire it for its own identity, with how much it piggybacks off the more accesible 64. Meanwhile, other Star Fox fans were turned off by the reworked gameplay, finding it very unintuitive and needlessly complicated for a game as simple as it otherwise is.
• Values Dissonance: While not as severe as other Japanese games, many non-Japanese players wondered why Andross, a primate, loathes canines like General Pepper and the Cornerians as a whole, during the final battle, while in previous continuities he was mean with everyone regardless their species. This is because in Japanese culture, monkeys and dogs are considered natural enemies, in the same way cats and dogs are this in Western countries. In fact, Andross is vehemently more racist towards dogs and foxes in the Japanese version.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: While the E3 build of the game was noted as looking maybe a little too "last gen," the build shown off during the November 12, 2015 Nintendo Direct was noted for having a huge improvement in graphical quality, featuring much more dynamic lighting, higher resolution shadows, better lighting effects, and better looking textures, looking much closer to the graphical quality seen in other Wii U games like Bayonetta 2 or Mario Kart 8.
• Waggle: The controls force the player to use both the gyroscope and the GamePad screen in a very unintuitive way to aim shots. Many of the game's most negative reviews lambaste them as gimmicky attempts to justify the Wii U's features, even at the end of the console's lifespan.
• Woolseyism: The European Spanish dub of The Battle Begins amplifies the Fantastic Racism to notable levels. The most notable change is at the beginning of the episode, while Andross wanted to bring General Pepper to him, the Spanish translation change the dialogue to make Andross to sound even more racist, something than doesn't happen in either in English or Japanese versions:
  Andross (English): Bring him... to me.
  Andross (Spanish): Bring that fleabag to me.^note Traedme a ese saco de pulgas.

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