Star Fox Guard: website launched (details, footage, screens, more)

5 March 2016 Lite_Agent PlatinumGames, Star Fox Guard, Star Fox Zero

During the latest Nintendo Direct presentation, this week, Nintendo announced brand new Star Fox game called Star Fox Guard. It was originally shown at E3 2014, even before Star Fox 0 was revealed… that’s right, it’s actually Project Guard! It will be released as stand-alone on the Nintendo eShop, and will also be part of a Launch Edition bundle in Europe, North America, and Japan.

Following the Nintendo Direct presentation, Nintendo opened the official website for the game, providing us with more details, screenshots, and even some gameplay footage.

Let’s start right away with the gameplay footage:

Technical details and screenshots

Genre: Surveillance camera shooting
Players: 1
Save data: 1 per user, requires at least 1.5MB
Sound: Surround (Linear PCM)
Controllers: GamePad (not compatible with Off-TV)
Online: share enemy patterns with other players via the internet (as explained during the Nintendo Direct)

Here’s some screenshots:

Story

In this game, you play as the new employee of Corneria Precious Metals Co., Ltd., a mining company specialised in rare metals. You have to protect the base from robots, who came in order to steal the precious metals. To do so, you have to use special cameras called “ProteCam” (Protect + Camera), which not only allow you to keep an eye out for any intruder… but also directly shoot them with a laser.

From the Control Tower, you can take control of any of 12 different cameras, that you have to place around the base. You have to think carefully about their placement, in order to make sure you can see enemies approaching (and shoot them down) as soon as possible.

On the TV screen, you can see footage of all cameras, which means that if you have friends or family members with you, they can help you play by spotting enemies. Once you’ve spotted an enemy, you select the right camera on the touchscreen of the GamePad, and shoot the enemies down before they reach the core of the base.

Missions

Star Fox Guard features over 100 missions. There’s actually two types of missions:

regular missions: regular “story missions” which will take you to various places in the Lylat System: Corneria, Titania, and more;
extra missions: once you’re done with regular missions, you can tackle the extra missions for some extra challenge. Those missions have different rules, in order to spice things up a bit.

The website gives us three examples:

Sniper: in those extra missions, you have to defend the base with a limited number of shots. In other words, you have to aim carefully, and avoid shooting like a madman;
Airborn: in those extra missions, enemies do not try to invade from the ground… they come from the sky! They are parachuted directly into the base, which is why you should try and shoot them down before they touch the ground or you will quickly run into trouble;
Tottori Tour: in those extra missions, you control a camera which is placed on top of a robotic bird. You have to move around and shoot enemies down from on top that bird.
and more…

Enemy robots

In Star Fox Guard, you will have to defend your base from enemy robots, who came to steal your precious metals. Nintendo introduces some of them:

Attack type

Those robots are pretty straightforward: their goal is to reach the center of your base.

Attacker: when they’re shot, the top part of the robot falls off, but the bottom part keeps moving forward. When that happens, they start moving even faster. You need to shoot down both parts to defeat them;
Shielf: those robots defend themselves with a shield, that you cannot shoot through. You have to get their attention with a camera, and then switch to another one in order to shoot them in the back while they’re distracted;

Jammer type

Those robots are pretty tricky: as the name implies, they’re here to “jam” your cameras with various tricks.

Hi-Ho: they don’t take many shots to be destroyed, but if they get near the Control Tower, they automatically explode;
Jack: they use a special signal to jam your cameras, and replace the footage with some dancing robots. You need to use another camera to shoot them down;
Smog: when you destroy them, they release some smoke, obscuring your vision;
Green Tank: those come toward your cameras, and shoot in order to destroy them;
Invisible Robots: not listed on the website (but seen on the gameplay footage above), those robots are invisible, and you need to shoot them to make them appear. It looks like you can hear them when they’re near one of your cameras;

The game also features some bosses, and various types of enemies that are not shown on the website (but some can be seen in the gameplay footage above).