Pretty much every mod is worthy of praise. Taking an existing game and adding new content or improving the technical capabilities of what’s already present is no easy task. Every once in a while though, a mod comes along and just blows people away. Star Fox: EX is one of those.
Modder @kandowontu announced on Twitter that their work on the two-year project is finally complete. Attached to the tweet is a link to download the mod [Gamepur does not endorse piracy] and an action-packed trailer. The new features in the mod all look and sound incredible. Star Fox: EX adds more than 15 new missions to the original game, and you’ll encounter other Nintendo characters as you complete them — Metroids and the Mario Brothers are featured here. Up to five players can team up to clear the new missions too. Other EX features highlighted in the trailer include wireframe and borderless modes, customizable ships and crosshairs, full camera control with alternate angles, and a 3D model viewer. The trailer concludes with a list of additional new content, ranging from new bosses and music to “tons of hidden secrets” for players to uncover.
All of those new features are made possible through ROMs, but you can also play the game on true Super Nintendo hardware using an FXPAK Pro. It’s one thing to play a mod in a pirated manner on another device, but it’s another to play it on a proper SNES.
As for the official Star Fox series, at least one person who worked on the original game has asked Nintendo to port Star Fox Zero to Switch — character designer Takaya Imamura publicly requested it. The most recent game in the series was actually Star Fox 2, a complete sequel that finally saw release alongside the SNES Classic Edition in 2017. It’s also playable via Nintendo Switch Online.
