A Formal Apology to Dylan Curthburt

[ThirdMarioBro]

Okay, I've been bitching quite a bit as of late, but I recently have been shown up, and when I get shown up, I feel the need to apoligize for my misguided words.


I raised a lot of hell about Star Fox Command. Now, before I start, let me offer a little background. I've been a Star Fox fan since Super FX and Blast Processing meant something. I rented the original six times before I bought it. Loved it to death. Same goes for all the others. I publically defend Star Fox Adventures, even when there's a fanboy gun placed to my head. I don't care. Assualt may have disapointed many, but I loved it for it's Rail Shooter action, tight controls, and epic-ass presentation (Peppy using the Great Fox as a goddamn missile), not to mention the killer music). People tell me I'm wrong because the game is lacking, and I admit it is no Star Fox 64, but i tell them to fu*k off anyway. Hell, I love the series so much I gutted a Doom SNES cartridge and burned the unreleased Star Fox 2 to an EEPROM and stuck it in a cartridge, soldered the damn thing to an FX2 chip, and played it and beat it on my real SNES. That's how hardcore I am.

Now, I know this sounds childish, so sue me. I have an attachment to those furry little characters Miyamoto drew for Argronaut's little polygon game during his lunch break. When I was a kid, Star Fox was the fu*king Star Wars of video games. Seriously, it may have been a bunch of moving triangles, but I'll be damned if it didn't work. The music and setting came together to make something special, that in my opinion, is as fun now as it was then. I loved that when I was a kid, and I still do now. There's a part of me that loves that feeling I got when playing games as a child. There was an innocent sense of wonder back then, where I played the games, and loved everything. I wasn't looking for technical flaws or poor level design. I just let myself be drawn up in the experience. I remember trying to make model Arwings out of cardboard when I was 9. It was just fun then. I've always fought to keep that last small surviving part of that wonder inside me when playing video games.

Then along came Star Fox Command...

First, let me state that the game sucked ass at E3, but that was misguided play, in a bad place, with IGN asshats bitching at you to hurry up, and trying to adapt to a new control style, plus a lack of sleep, with me running on red bull/ballz after a night at the strip club. I misjudged the game based on that pissy experience, but then I found out they were fu*king with the storyline, which I actually give a damn about (even though I'm probobly the only one).

Now, I've talked to and interviewed Dylan Curthburt over the series. A friend of mine helped me track him down. It was like the first thing I did at AMN. He helped me iron out the flaws I had going when I was writing the history of the series, and I even interviewed him about Star Fox 2. He even revealed how it became the only title to be leaked out of Nitnendo. He's basically the man that created the series. Yeah, Miyamoto drew the characters as an afterthought, but Dylan is the man of the former company Argronaut behind the creation of the game itself.

When I heard Nintendo was farming Star Fox out to a third party developer, I got pissed because they just don't do anything in-house anymore. Well, fu*k me. I'm an idiot. I failed to realize that they farmed the game to a third party studio named Q Games.. Know who they are? They're a third party based in Kyoto which is owned and controlled by Mr. Dylan Curthburt himself. Nintendo farmed the series out to the man who created the damned thing. I gave it another shot based off of Peanut's good word (thanks man ), played it, beat it, and now love it to death. I love the new Advance Wars map stratagy setup, and the controls are supurb on the touch screen, though I miss the rail missions I hope they return eventually.

Nontheless, I owe the man an apology for not having faith in the game. It's ****ing awesome, and currently my favourite DS game (big damn deat). Dylan, I apoligize. Star Fox Command pwns ass.