Summary
- Harbour Masters has released a PC port of Star Fox 64, titled Starship.
- Takaya Imamura is supportive of the project, even if Nintendo probably aren’t.
- Starship will offer all the same bells and whistles as Habour Masters’ last port, Ocarina of Time.
Harbour Masters, the modding team that brought us Ocarina of Time on PC (known as Ship of Harkinian), has now made another Nintendo classic more accessible for modern players. Star Fox 64 is now available to play on PC under the title Starship, and series pioneer Takaya Imamura has given his opinion on this new development (nice spot, GamesRadar+)
“I don’t think Nintendo will tolerate it, but personally I’m very happy,” writes Imamura in a social media post. Historically, Nintendo is fiercely protective of its intellectual property and is not afraid to get litigious. The publisher is engaged in an ongoing legal dispute with Palworld developers Pocketpair over specific patented features in Palworld like throwing a ball to capture a creature.
Welcome to Starship
Ship of Harkinian has yet to be publicly targeted by Nintendo which has likely emboldened Harbour Masters to continue to port classic Nintendo games that aren’t available on modern hardware. The team defends the legality of their port, saying their tool rips assets from legally owned ROMs. The legal justification is that Ship of Harkinian is simply allowing legitimate owners of Ocarina of Time to play their game on a different platform.
Starship supports 60 frames-per-second gameplay, widescreen support and full modding capabilities, similar to Ship of Harkinian. Harbour Masters will presumably continue to update the port following its release.
Either way, I don’t think anyone can dispute that the existence of Ship of Harkinian and Starship is a positive for players who want to experience these classics but lack the hardware to do so legitimately. I am the proud owner of Final Fantasy 5 on the Super Famicom, but I concede… I do not own a Super Famicom.
As for Imamura, he was a 32-year journeyman at Nintendo before he retired from the company in 2021. He’s known for designing the character Captain Falcon from F-Zero, Tingle from The Legend of Zelda and many of the supporting characters in Star Fox.
Now you can see, hear and feel the power of the Nintendo 64.
This masterpiece from Shigeru Miyamoto will launch you into a futuristic world of space combat like you’ve never experienced before. Combine great real-time 3-D game play with the innovative Rumble Pak accessory (available separately), and you’ll be immersed in the interplanetary struggles of the Star Fox Team.
Graphically, Star Fox 64 takes full advantage of the power of the Nintendo 64 to produce realistic, 3-D environments full of alien adversaries. Skim over the surface of an alien sea, weave through the concrete canyons of a futuristic metropolis, or dodge planetoids the size of mountains. Between missions, you’ll be treated to real-time 3-D movies that progress the story of the Star Fox Team of space mercenaries in their struggle against the evil ape emperor, Andross. The seamless transitions from action to story give Star Fox 64 a truly unique, cinematic feel.