Jet Force Gemini

スターツインズ (STAR TWINS)

The world needs another Nintendo 64 game on Medium as we take a trip to the United Kingdom, and it’s called Jet Force Gemini (known in Japan as Star Twins), a third-person shooter developed and published by Rare and released in late 1999. The game follows the story of three members of a galactic law enforcement team as they try to stop a horde of drones led by an insectoid called Mizar. It features a single-player mode where the player must explore a galaxy and save Tribals, a race of survivors who have been enslaved and imprisoned by Mizar and places a strong emphasis on shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The game also includes a multiplayer mode where two to four players can compete in traditional deathmatch games. The Japanese release of Jet Force Gemini was localized as Star Twins because Nintendo felt that the Japanese pronunciation of the Western title, “Jetto Fōsu Jeminai”, was too difficult to pronounce.

I didn’t own an N64. I never played the game, but I would try it. In 2002, Microsoft purchased Rare for $375 million USD (~$548 million USD in 2021). Rare became a first-party developer for Microsoft’s Xbox. Character trademarks from games developed by Rare for Nintendo consoles, such as Conker of Conker’s Bad Fur Day and Banjo of the Banjo-Kazooie series, were retained by Rare; intellectual property created by Nintendo, such as Donkey Kong and Star Fox, were retained by Nintendo.

Gameplay/Story

Jet Force Gemini is a third-person shooter with shoot ’em up and action-adventure elements, in which the player controls the player character from a third-person perspective in a 3D environment. The game places a strong emphasis on shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. Weapons have no magazine restrictions and include grenades, a pistol, a machine gun, a sniper rifle, a flamethrower, and rocket launchers, among others. Although much of the game is spent in battle, the player can jump, hang from ledges, swim, and fly using jet packs, when needed. In combat, the player is free to set on a manual aiming system with the targeting camera fixed behind the character’s head. When using this technique, a crosshair appears on screen and the player character becomes translucent so that players can aim and shoot with finesse. By contrast, when walking around, the game plays similarly to a 3D platformer.

Jet Force Gemini revolves around the galactic law enforcement team Jet Force Gemini attempting to stop a horde of drones led by an insectoid called Mizar. The team is composed of siblings Juno and Vela and their war dog mascot Lupus. The game begins with the three characters in orbit around the planet Goldwood after barely escaping the destruction of the entire Jet Force fleet at the hands of Mizar, who has been capturing and enslaving a race of survivors known as the Tribals. When Juno, Vela, and Lupus are attacked by several drones, the three decide to abandon their ship and go off on their own separate paths to stop the invasion. After traversing various planets, the heroes find themselves reunited at Mizar’s Palace and face to face with Mizar, who escapes to a nearby asteroid where he sets course to impact Earth. To help the heroes, the Tribals leader King Jeff provides them with an ancient starship that can quickly catch up to Mizar’s asteroid. In return, the team must rescue all the Tribals throughout the galaxy.

After rescuing all the Tribals and restoring the starship with several needed parts, the team, along with King Jeff, departs to the asteroid and confronts Mizar. To the surprise of all though, Mizar is revealed to be a robot controlled by King Jeff’s jealous brother, Barry. Realizing that destroying Barry’s robot ruined their best chance of destroying the asteroid, the team is out of options. In an honorable notion, Floyd, a little robot that defected from Mizar and followed the team, offers to sacrifice himself to destroy the asteroid. Hesitantly, the team agrees and attaches a timed warhead to Floyd before sending him into the core. The team returns to the starship and departs shortly before Floyd destroys the asteroid. Afterwards on Earth, the Jet Force Gemini team is given the highest honors for their accomplishments.

Main characters

• Juno (nothing to do with the actual film, nor the actual Canadian music awards) is the leader of the Jet Force team and the main protagonist. During the start of the game he, along with Vela and Lupus, patrol the seemingly peaceful corners of space in their mothership; but then they suffer an ambush by a fleet of Drones commanded by Mizar. When they realize they’re outnumbered, they escape from the mothership to different destinations on their ships, with Juno aiming at the nearby planet Goldwood.
• Vela is Juno’s twin sister and is good at making infiltrations. During the first half of the game, Vela focuses on making her way into the primary space vessels of the Drones: Anubis during the start, then Sekhmet when she’s freed from imprisonment, the Spawnship right after finishing her errands in Ichor (though she’s unable to get there, sending Lupus instead), and later in the game the Spacestation.
• Lupus is the trusty, loyal longtime pet of Juno and Vela, enhanced cybernetically to further maximize his skills during combat. After escaping the Jet Force Gemini mothership, Lupus is next seen wandering into the dangerous terrains of Ichor. It’s also there where he reunites with Vela and manages to enter the Spawnship for his ordeal to begin, allowing Vela to finish hers and travel directly to Mizar’s Palace.
• While the majority of airborne drones are considered enemies, Floyd switches sides when he sees a group of Drones about to execute Tribals in Tawfret, killing the Drones before any of them shoots. When another Drone attempts to shoot one of the recently-released Tribals, Floyd catches the bullet and gets torn in pieces. After being repaired by Juno, Floyd not only joins his team but also becomes playable via the second controller.

Main antagonists

• Fet-Bubb is the first boss in the game and the resident monstrosity of the Tawfret Castle. After Juno repairs Floyd in a prior area (namely the one where he met and helped Gimlet), the two venture into the ruins of a castle, now filled with Drones of all types. In the end, they reach an altar within the castle where a giant, fanged beetle-like insect approaches them.
• Lurg is the second boss in the game, Lurg is a high-tier lieutenant that lurks through the foundry network of Ichor. After Vela defeats the majority of the Drone army located in the military base, she arrives at the foundry and is greeted by the gargantuan, slug-shaped monster. The Drones, knowing that they have Vela right where they wanted, give Lurg the proper salute and wish it luck in the battle.
• The Mechantids are a pair of giant praying mantises that serve the collective role of the third boss in the game. After Lupus finishes exploring the digestive system of the giant worm where he entered Eschebone (and that means exiting back to the overworld by the worm’s rectum), he reaches a large volcanic wasteland where he witnesses a Tribal being pursued by the Mechantids and approaches them to distract them and allow the Tribal to escape. Knowing that he’s the new target of the big insects, he prepares for a battle that is much more intense than those of Juno and Vela.
• Mizar is the antagonist of the game, and the fourth and last boss to be introduced. Mizar is a giant insect who plans to govern the galaxy with fists of steel, taking down opposing groups with lethal force and conquering the vicine planets. The Jet Force Gemini team does their best to thwart his plans, unaware of how far he will reach to attempt his goals, what kind of things he will do when things don’t go as he plans… and who catalyzed his abilities and thoughts since the beginning.

The game is included as part of the Rare Replay video game compilation for Xbox One, with support for dual-analog controls being added post-release. The game is also set to be re-released via the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack on November 30, 2023, in Japan, and December 2023 in Western regions.