I’m thoroughly enjoying Star Fox, the new remake of Star Fox 64 which was a remake of Star Fox. It all comes circling back! I was going to write something about how this is the exact Nintendo experience I’ve been craving on the Switch 2. I was going to write about how this game makes me feel the way the Nintendo 64 version did when I was twelve. Is it the deepest game? No. But it’s like they took what I imagined Star Fox 64 to be and then actually did it. You might disagree, but also, this column isn’t about that. Instead, I want to talk about how the Rumble Pak that came with Star Fox 64 was the greatest thing ever. Top ten best choices humanity has ever made.

Now, before you get all, “Well, actually!” on me, I know that the Rumble Pak for the Nintendo 64 was not nearly the first video game with force feedback. A few arcade games had already had a version of it decades before Star Fox 64. There were also weirdo gaming-adjacent consumer devices such as the Aura Interactor, a bulky vest that essentially turned the bass into little vibrations. I owned this product and it’s hard to emphasize the extent to which it did not work. I mean, it did vibrate, but it felt like putting a heavy, yet extremely low power bluetooth speaker on your sternum. It sucked and I spent my own childhood money on it, so I do have experience in the matter.

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But the Rumble Pak, oh, man. It looked stupid. It sounded stupid. A massive, chunky, battery-powered device that plugged into your controller. Not only did it make the controller heavier, it also took up the slot that we thought we were supposed to use for the memory card (I’m sorry, Controller Pak!). But Star Fox 64 came with it, and the box promised it was going to be crazy. Or, at least, it used a very 1990s “THIS AIN’T YOUR DAD’S GAME” font that seemed pretty cool when I was a pre-teen. I was almost tempted to skip it since it felt kinda awkward and embarrassing for these new consoles for grown-ups. I’m grateful I was so wrong.

Using the Rumble Pak in Star Fox 64 for the first time was like seeing a new color. It drew me in. I could feel every big explosion, every screwed up summersault. For the first time, I was able to really picture myself in the Arwing, flying a space ship that responded to my every move. Sure, it might’ve been a simple parlor trick. Sure, the force feedback in the Rumble Pak is almost hilariously quaint compared to the types of haptics we have now in controllers. THIS was what a new generation of games meant to me. Better graphics, of course. But also new technology that immersed you in the experience. If I wasn’t going to get virtual reality for another 20 years, I could at least literally feel the experience as if I were holding the flight stick.

Maybe that’s what I loved so much about it. This was a visual medium that was adding a tangible tactile element. My abstract controller inputs were translated to action on screen and, finally, amazingly, the action on screen translated back to my controller. A world with cartoon animals flying space ships felt more physically real. Bright flashes and a health bar were great for gauging damage, but nothing quite told you that you were in danger like feeling an enemy barrage or the sharp thump of hitting a wall. I was flying the ship and I’d suffer the consequences myself. This was dumb thinking for a twelve-year-old boy, but what can you do? I loved it.

It’s funny, because haptics and force feedback weren’t necessarily a gimme for games. Hell, a lot of games still don’t have it, especially those that use a keyboard and mouse. It’s not required for the experience and it’s not like that alone is the ultimate decider. But think about the world that immediately followed the Rumble Pak and Sony’s DualShock that was soon to follow. Imagine Metal Gear Solid or Ocarina of Time without force feedback. Oh, the games would still be great, but I wouldn’t remember some of the biggest moments if I didn’t feel a controller going crazy in my hands. Psycho Mantis not being able to move your controller with his mind is a travesty. And, as we should expect from any hot technology, before long, haptics in controllers were kicking off pretty wild discourses about sexuality.

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The Rumble Pak alone didn’t do all of this, and it’s true that a few companies had force feedback in the works before Nintendo’s own vibrator came out. But that’s always what I’m going to remember first and most about Star Fox 64 (outside of a couple lines of dialog that I’ll never stop saying). Star Fox 64 was and is an outstanding game, but the Rumble Pak made it an all-timer for me. It showed me that games can reach another “dimension” of fun that wasn’t just a visual upgrade. And, unlike that horrible vest, it was finally doing it right.

Star Fox Like Follow Followed Rail Shooter Systems Released June 25, 2026 ESRB Everyone 10+ / Fantasy Violence Developer(s) Nintendo Publisher(s) Nintendo Multiplayer Online Co-Op 5 Images Close
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