Star Fox
Constellation Arwing
Star Fox launched on the SNES in February 1993, made possible by the Super FX chip — a dedicated RISC processor that Argonaut Software packed into the cartridge itself to render textured polygons on hardware that otherwise couldn't.
An animal squadron
Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Slippy Toad, and Peppy Hare. The barrel-roll-to-deflect-lasers tutorial, the "do a barrel roll" line, the all-range mode dogfights against Star Wolf — Star Fox built a whole vocabulary of arcade flying that the series has been refining ever since.
Star Fox 64
The 1997 N64 sequel is the one most people remember, and it deserves the reputation: branching paths, rumble pack included in the box, fully voice-acted (in a way that's now charmingly stilted). It's a 90-minute arcade game you can finish in an evening and replay forever.
