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.

Star fox 64 map