Complaints are still raised that voice acting should come to modern titles, the most recent debate focusing on The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. All of the characters speak out audibly, and every line of dialogue in the game is distinctly heard. It's actually a major positive for the title – Nintendo is a company that's never fully embraced voice acting for its characters, but made a rare and impressive exception for this release. But be prepared for a quick reminder, as 'Fox, get this guy off me!' rings out, once more, loud and clear. It's entirely possible that, in the past decade, Star Fox fans have managed to block out the memories of the amphibian wingman's cringe-worthy cries. On the other hand, it's damaging to the nostalgia factor for the game. On one hand, the game's perfectly playable without it, and new players will never know the difference. The lack of rumble in this version of Star Fox 64 is saddening, but difficult to quantify. But there's no rumble on the Virtual Console. Rumble technology was immediately copied by the competition and became an industry staple very quickly – and all thanks to Star Fox 64, the innovative idea's showcase game. A little gyro motor, inside the Pak, plugged into the back of the N64 controller, reacted to on-screen events like explosions and collisions by physically vibrating the pad in your hands. But force feedback had never been done before, one decade ago, and Nintendo's introduction of the tactile technology was groundbreaking. We take it for granted now, since it's become so common. When Star Fox 64 shipped in cartridge form almost 10 years ago, it came in an oversized box – packaged along with the game was Nintendo's newest peripheral, the Rumble Pak. Only nearly complete, of course, because rumble got the ax. Ready and able to redeem Fox fans' faith in the franchise, the game has arrived on the Wii's Virtual Console in nearly complete form. Star Fox 64 was a blast back in '97 – and now it's back. Keeping your wingmen alive and racking up a sky-high kill count will win you medals, eventually unlocking extras hidden in the game. Success in Star Fox comes from skillfully choosing your path to progress – achieving in-level goals opens up more choices for stage advancement on the in-between mission map screen – and blasting as many baddies as possible in each level. Mixing things up, too, is a change of vehicle that occurs on a few occasions – in two of the game's levels, you drive a tank instead of flying the Arwing, and in one underwater world you pilot a submarine instead. Some levels change up the formula, though, allowing you to enter a free-roaming all-range mode that eliminates the forced-scrolling on-rails aspects and gives you more complete control.

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