Franchise: Star Fox

According to Shigeru Miyamoto in an edition of Iwata Asks regarding Star Fox 64 3D, Yusuke Amano originally wanted to create an all new Star Fox title for the Nintendo 3DS. However, the higher ups at Nintendo wanted a game that could be released fast for the 3DS' launch window in 2011, whereas a fully original title would require at least three years to make. Thus the project was reduced into a simplistic remake of Star Fox 64. Miyamoto called upon Dylan Cuthbert and Q-Games, who previously had worked on Star Fox Command in for the Nintendo DS in 2006, to assist development.

According to the official Japanese Star Fox Command guidebook, Slippy's home world is the water planet of Aquas.

Contrary to popular belief, and also contrary to the Star Fox 64 Official Player's Guide, Solar is not a star, but merely a lava planet with an exposed mantle, according to both the official Japanese guidebooks for Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Command. Even the official Western Star Fox 64 website clarifies it being a planet. The Western localization of Star Fox Command would also reiterate this in-game, with one of its missions on Solar being named "The Red-Hot Planet".

In a 2011 Nintendo Dream magazine interview with the Star Fox 64 3D development staff, Takaya Imamura once again clarified that Solar is a planet, and that the star Lylat exists somewhere in the Lylat System not visible on the map screen. Apparently, the development team did consider changing Solar into being a sun for Star Fox 64 3D, but this was passed over.

Star Fox, Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Adventures are the only Star Fox titles to provide official ages for the main characters, primarily within their Japanese ancillary material. In the Original Soundtrack box released for the first game, Fox, Falco, Peppy and Slippy are said to be 25, 28, 36 and 19 respectively. Star Fox 64, being a remake of the first game, would retcon these ages and make Fox 18, Falco 19, Peppy 41 and Slippy 18.

The "Farewell Beloved Falco" midquel manga, which is set right in the middle of the eight years between Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Adventures, also gives the original Star Fox crew ages, with Fox now being 22, Slippy 22, Falco 23, and Peppy 45.

Star Fox Adventures takes place eight years after Star Fox 64, which means that Fox is now 26, Falco 27, Peppy 49 and Slippy 26. Japanese Star Fox Adventures ancillary material also reveals Krystal's age to be 19, making her distinctly the only Star Fox character outside of the original four Star Fox members to have a known age. Going by this, she would be 11 and 15 years old during the events of Star Fox 64 and Farewell Beloved Falco, respectively.

After Adventures' release, Nintendo, specifically Takaya Imamura, made a deliberate decision for future Star Fox games to not provide any official age numbers for any of the characters. However, Star Fox Assault officially is said to take place only year after the events of Star Fox Adventures, so this would make Fox 27, Falco 28, Peppy 50, Slippy 27, and Krystal 20. Similarly, according to Takaya Imamura in a 2007 interview, Star Fox Command takes place 2-3 years after Assault, which would make Fox 29-30, Falco 30-31, Peppy 52-53, Slippy 29-30, and Krystal 22-23.

Although Wolf O'Donnell has never had any age officially listed for him, Takaya Imamura implied on Twitter that he is within the same generation of Peppy and James.

Prior to his days as Star Fox's ace pilot, Falco Lombardi was originally a member of a space gang known as "FREE AS A BIRD". Katt Monroe was part of this gang as well. In a 2011 Nintendo Dream interview, Takaya Imamura revealed that when Fox was forming his new Star Fox team in the wake of James' death, he heard stories about how good a pilot Falco was as apart of FREE AS A BIRD, and visited him multiple times to try to convince him to join his new team, as he wanted to have an experienced partner due to still being unsure of himself as a leader.

Though originally mentioned in the background lore for the Japanese version of Star Fox 64, FREE AS A BIRD in its entirety would physically appear in "Farewell Beloved Falco", a canonical manga interquel set between Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Adventures that was never localized outside of Japan.

The name "FREE AS A BIRD" is a reference to the song of the same name composed by English rock band The Beatles. This adds up as both Takaya Imamura and Shigeru Miyamoto were reportedly big fans of the band, with General Pepper's design and name also being a reference to their album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".