#4 Starfox 64

I have only played one flight-shooter, and I am glad that I chose to Play Star Fox 64. The controls are pretty solid and which planet you go to depends on navigating through warp gates, beating certain enemies within a time-limit, or just keeping one of your 3 teammates (NPC's) alive. A couple planets are a real pain, but most are pure fun all the way through. You have a variety of controls at your disposable which includes single, double, and hyper (homing charged) lasers, bombs, health upgrades, a barrel roll maneuver (avoids damage), a brake, and turbo to name most. Some planets even have a different type of vehicle to use other than the Arwing.

The many planets of the Lylatt System of Starfox 64

One cannot possibly just beat the game and simply be done with it. The picture above shows one of so many routes that can be taken. The harder planets are on the left side, medium levels are in the middle, while easier planets are on the right. The combinations of planets seem limitless! For an added challenge, you can earn medals (simply for prestege) if you accumulate a certain amount of points (from killing enemies and destroying certain pieces of landscape). Some of the medals are very easy to earn while others leave a very small margin for error if you want to earn a medal.

Helping Falco can be the difference between which boss you will fight and which planet you will go to

Starfox 64 is also one of the first games to take advantage of a rumble pack accessory. Though this is widely avaiable and standard on analog controllers nowadays, it was something fun and exciting that was a part of my 4th favorite game on the N64: Starfox 64.