@xianc78 i mean i've known about it forever just never really thought about it lol.
the tech demo argument is a little bit weird to me. yes, they did want to push some sort of tech that seemed cool, but they still had great game design, cool characters, awesome music, the whole nine yards. the tech feels more like the starting point instead of the whole point.
you can't really say the same for something like command on the DS because it's 100% gimmick and pretty much everything else about the game sucks. zero is probably somewhere in between the two, it's just that the gimmick makes the game borderline unplayable unless you have an unhealthy fixation on mastering it. star fox 64 is a game you can play without the gimmick (rumble pak) and still love it, whereas the gimmicks are so ingrained into zero and command that you can't get rid of them.