Star Fox
Star Fox
February 21, 1993
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subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox (Franchise)
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Attachment During the development of the original Star Fox, character designer Takaya Imamura originally wanted to make the characters generic humans and aliens, similar to his character designs from F-Zero. It was Shigeru Miyamoto who convinced him to instead make them anthropomorphic animals, as he wanted the game's aesthetic to stand out from every other science fiction property coming out at the time.

Fox in particular being a fox was inspired by the Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine located near Nintendo's offices.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month December 28, 2023
Iwata Asks - Star Fox 64 3D:
https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/3ds/starfox/0/2/

2002 Nintendo Dream interview with Takaya Imamura on Star Fox Adventures:
https://shmuplations.com/starfoxadventures/

2002 Nintendo Official Magazine interview with Takaya Imamura:
https://web.archive.org/web/20030416023122/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/nom/0210/fox_03/page03.html

English translations of above NOM interview:
https://www.reddit.com/r/starfox/comments/18rek3h/just_throwing_out_a_translation_of_this_old/

Nintendo Classic Mini: SNES developer interview – Volume 1: Star Fox + Star Fox 2:
https://www.nintendo.co.uk/News/2017/September/Nintendo-Classic-Mini-SNES-developer-interview-Volume-1-Star-Fox-Star-Fox-2-1273086.html
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Attachment The hand-operated puppets utilized in Japanese promotional material for the first Star Fox game, as well as the cover of one of its guidebooks, were created by Takashi Yamazaki, a Japanese filmmaker and visual effects supervisor best known internationally for his 2023 film "Godzilla Minus One".
person Dinoman96 calendar_month May 15, 2024
Star Fox - Japanese promo store video featuring puppets:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hR4G8BK59c?t=130

Time Extenstion article:
https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024/05/seems-like-godzilla-minus-ones-director-worked-on-star-foxs-puppets

Takashi Yamazaki interview featuring attached image (text in Japanese):
https://cgworld.jp/interview/1502-entry010-admiration.html

Star Fox - Japanese guidebook cover with puppets:
https://twitter.com/ayano_harumaki/status/1790292102796153093
subdirectory_arrow_right Starglider (Collection)
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Argonaut Software's Starglider games released in the 1980s, which were first-person combat flight simulators rendered with wireframe vector graphics, inspired them to come up with a prototype that would eventually lead to the creation of the first Star Fox. They created a prototype for the Nintendo Entertainment System codenamed as "NESGlider" that was based on the original game, utilizing a similar method to accelerate graphics to how the Super FX chip for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System later would. When they showed this prototype to Nintendo in 1990, they were instead advised to port and develop the game for the then-upcoming SNES. After Argonauts did that, Nintendo declared that this was the best 3D graphics the console could produce and that they hadn't designed the SNES with 3D games in mind. Argonaut staff suggested that if they wanted better, then they should let them design a 3D chip for them, and thus the Super FX chip was born.
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox (Franchise)
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Attachment According to character designer Takaya Imamura, each of the original Star Fox team members were modeled after his fellow Nintendo staff members at the time:

•Fox was based on Shigeru Miyamoto, with Miyamoto said to have a fox-like face.
•Falco was based on Tsuyoshi Watanabe, as the development team laughed over how his nose stuck out like a beak.
•Peppy was based on Katsuya Eguchi, with Eguchi said to have a mouth like a hare.
•Slippy was based on Yoichi Yamada, with Yamada said to have large, round eyes.

Imamura has also stated that he based Andross on his "boss at the time". It remains unknown who at Nintendo he is specifically talking about, though it's been long rumored that Andross was intended as a caricature of then-Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi, who was known for his cutthroat and ruthless ways. However, it's also been speculated that Imamura is referring to Hiroshi Ikeda, the then-manager of Nintendo R&D4 (later EAD) who was also Miyamoto's boss, though it's worth pointing out that Ikeda had stepped down from his position in 1992.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month January 23, 2024
Nintendo Classic Mini: SNES developer interview – Volume 1: Star Fox + Star Fox 2:
https://www.nintendo.co.uk/News/2017/September/Nintendo-Classic-Mini-SNES-developer-interview-Volume-1-Star-Fox-Star-Fox-2-1273086.html

Star Fox Adventures Nintendo Dream interview:
https://shmuplations.com/starfoxadventures/
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox Command (Game), Star Fox 64 (Game), Star Fox 2 (Game)
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Attachment In the original Star Fox on SNES, Venom was said to be a beautiful, green planet in the vein of Corneria before Andross, after being banished by Corneria due to his dangerous experiments, invaded and ruined it, transforming it into a dark, polluted world of military machines, all while enslaving its inhabitants who he drafted into his new army. Star Fox 2's Venom stage on Expert mode would actually depict Venom in its lush green state again, indicating that it was being terraformed back into its original state.

Star Fox 64 would essentially retcon all of this, and claim that Venom was already a desolate wasteland to begin with, which is the entire reason General Pepper banished Andross there after the latter nearly destroyed Corneria with his weapons. That being said, Star Fox Command would later reveal that during his banishment on Venom, Andross had actually created a terraforming device that he planned on using upon Venom as a means to transform it into a beautiful green world similar to Corneria, for prosperity and to also give his heirs and descendants a home to live happily in. This is essentially an inverse of his original SNES backstory, where he's now trying to save Venom and turn it into a hospitable world, as opposed to invading and transforming it into a polluted wasteland.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 18, 2023
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox 64 3D (Game)
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Attachment A 3D polygonal model based on the Arwing from the first Star Fox was discovered within Star Fox 64 3D's files. It is not known if it had anything to do with Q-Games' pitch to Nintendo of a Star Fox SNES remake that was ultimately rejected, though it's worth pointing out that that occurred after Star Fox 64 3D's release.
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox 64 (Game), Star Fox Zero (Game), Star Fox 64 3D (Game)
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Attachment The go-to term for the initial conflict of the Star Fox series, as told in three different installments (Star Fox on SNES, Star Fox 64, and Star Fox Zero), is the "Lylat Wars". This name originates from the original PAL release of Star Fox 64, where it was renamed to Lylat Wars due to trademark issues (similarly to why the first Star Fox was renamed to "Starwing" there as well). In comparison, its 3DS remake, Star Fox 64 3D, would retain the Star Fox 64 moniker in all regions. Nintendo would later actually canonize the "Lylat Wars" moniker as the official name of the conflict against Andross' forces in the opening prologue to Star Fox Zero.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month February 7, 2024
Star Fox Zero prologue where Fox mentions the "Lylat Wars":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8vgF1mSj5c&;list=PLAV-xzjVBR0Wr2JIdD02pefR7CLz18wg2

Lylat Wars page on NOE website:
https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-64/Lylat-Wars-277897.html
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox: Assault (Game), Star Fox Zero (Game), Star Fox Adventures (Game), Star Fox 64 (Game)
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Attachment Fichina, the ice planet that was introduced in Star Fox 64, is infamously erroneously called Fortuna in the English version of the game. Fortuna was previously the name of the jungle planet from Star Fox on SNES filled with monstrous and primordial creatures. It was also infamously dubbed "the Dinosaur Planet", years before the Star Fox series would incorporate another Dinosaur Planet with Star Fox Adventures.

However, looking through leaked SF64 files from the Gigaleak, there does seem to be evidence that Nintendo dubbed Fichina as Fortuna for most of SF64's development, only to change the name to Fichina at the tail end of it. Almost all of the source code refers to it as Fortuna, and the internal file system has “FO” appended to all of the stage’s assets. The image file Nintendo provided for the stage name to be translated is also labeled FO_E_FO. With the decision to rename it to Fichina seemingly being a last minute one, it's possible Nintendo of America were not brought up to speed by Nintendo's Japanese branch of this lore change when they were originally localizing SF64.

Nonetheless, Nintendo has since firmly established Fichina and Fortuna (as it was in the SNES game) as being their own distinct planets, with both appearing together in Star Fox: Assault and Star Fox Zero. Strangely, in the former game, Fortuna's Japanese name フォーチュナ (Fōchuna) was slightly modified to フォーチュナー (Fōchunā), which would translate into "Fortuner" in English.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 18, 2023
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox: Assault (Game)
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Attachment Some of the characters during Star Fox Assault's briefing cutscenes feature details in the back that are typically unseen by the player, since the models are normally only viewed from the front. The only way around this is to move the camera using an emulator.

One such example is Beltino Toad, Slippy Toad's father. Rotating his model around reveals his coat has the logo for Space Dynamics, the manufacturer for many of the Star Fox team's vehicles, such as the Arwing, Great Fox and Landmaster.

This particular logo had actually first appeared in the official Star Fox Mission File Printout guidebook released for the original Star Fox on SNES in Japan, back in 1993.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 17, 2023
The Cutting Room Floor article:
https://tcrf.net/Star_Fox:_Assault

Star Fox Mission File Printout guidebook:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1teMzzkSkgzwqcwhdTwWrOhR08gOwh6hl
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox 64 (Game)
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Attachment The Official Star Fox Missile File Printout guidebook released alongside the original Star Fox on SNES in Japan mentions two pilots, Desla Koba and Bear Noguccini, who don't appear anywhere in the game proper. They were said to be two of the most capable members in the Cornerian Defense Force, who had previously embarked in cutting-edge Arwing scouting vessels.

Both were said to have mysteriously disappeared. It is said later on in the guidebook that Desla Koba had disappeared in the Asteroid Belt when he came across a mysterious giant space bird, and upon trying to inspect it, he ended up being warped into another dimension, known in-game as "Out of this Dimension". Similarly, Bear was last seen in Sector Y, where he encountered the mysterious space whale before losing all contact, never to be seen again.

Desla Koba would actually be mentioned again in Star Fox 64's official Japanese guidebook, with a similar backstory that he had in the Missile File Printout guidebook. Here, it is said that he led a unit conducting an investigation in Meteo (SF64's equivalent to the Asteroid Belt from SF1), only for communications to suddenly be cut off as he'd apparently entered the stage's warp zone, which simultaneously led to him crashing his aircraft on the nearby planet of Katina. This was said to have occurred more than 10 years prior to the events of Star Fox 64.

Both Desla Koba and Bear Noguccini's surnames seem to come from two of the editors of the Mission File Printout guidebook: Hitoshi Kobayashi and Yukata Noguchi.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 15, 2023
Japanese Star Fox Mission File Printout guidebook:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1teMzzkSkgzwqcwhdTwWrOhR08gOwh6hl

User's English translation of the above guidebook:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bZnqRPY83GGhqYLeOTm82TtkBR6Pzv1WvUiWEkfiaT4/edit

User's English translation of official Japanese Star Fox 64 guidebook:
https://www.reddit.com/r/starfox/comments/y8cwc9/finally_got_around_to_doing_translations/
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox 2 (Game), Star Fox Zero (Game), Star Fox Adventures (Game), Star Fox 64 (Game), Star Fox Command (Game), Star Fox: Assault (Game), Star Fox (Franchise)
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Attachment The Aparoids are unique in Star Fox's rogue gallery in that they're the only main enemy forces, at least within the official game canon (which includes "Farewell Beloved Falco", the manga interlude between Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Adventures) to have absolutely no connections or ties to Andross whatsoever:

• In Farewell Beloved Falco, Captain Shears, despite being affiliated with the Cornerian army, was revealed to be a turncoat seeking to revive Andross through cloning.

• In Star Fox Adventures, General Scales and the SharpClaw were revealed to be the unwilling pawns of Andross' ghost, who manipulated them as well as Fox to revive himself using the power of the Krazoa.

• In Star Fox Command, the Emperor Anglar and his Anglar Army are revealed to be bioweapons created by Andross in secret within Venom's acidic oceans.

In particular, the Aparoid Queen is the only final boss in all of the Star Fox series to either not just be Andross again (Star Fox, Star Fox 2, Star Fox 64/Star Fox 64 3D, Star Fox Adventures, Star Fox Zero), nor a creation of his (Star Fox Command).
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 5, 2023
Star Fox "Farewell Beloved Falco" manga:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Fnk1t-4Uw_VaFTeWTpvsCaFQDFEK1psW

Evolution of Andross boss battles in Star Fox games:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY5bGXYgrxg

Star Fox Adventures - General Scales boss fight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEQ4Wd1CCvE

Star Fox: Assault - Aparoid Queen boss fight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDLGphZTpxI

Star Fox Command - Emperor Anglar boss fight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZilG-nNgok?t=653
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox: Assault (Game), Star Fox 64 (Game), Star Fox Command (Game), Star Fox Zero (Game), Star Fox (Franchise)
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As it currently stands, barring Star Fox 64 3D, Macbeth is the only planet from Star Fox SNES and Star Fox 64 to not have reappeared in future games.

•Corneria, Fichina, Katina, and Fortuna would reappear in Star Fox Assault. Titania and Zoness would appear in Star Fox Assault's multiplayer mode as well.

•Corneria, Fichina, Katina, Solar, Aquas, Titania and Venom would reappear once again in Star Fox Command.

•Corneria, Fortuna, Fichina, Zoness, Titania and Venom would also reappear in Star Fox Zero.
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person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 4, 2023
1
Attachment The English manual for Star Fox infamously states that the Lylat System is located "near the center of the Milky Way galaxy". However, this appears to be a localization quirk on Nintendo of America's part, as the original Japanese manual states that Lylat is located simply "near the center of a vast galaxy".
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 2, 2023
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox 64 3D (Game), Star Fox (Franchise), Q-Games Ltd. (Company)
1
After the release of Star Fox 64 3D, Dylan Cuthbert and Q-Games had pitched doing a similar style of remake for the original SNES Star Fox title. However, this was turned down by Nintendo.
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox 64 (Game), Star Fox: Assault (Game), Star Fox Adventures (Game), Star Fox Command (Game), Star Fox (Franchise)
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Attachment 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.
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person Dinoman96 calendar_month October 30, 2023
Star Fox OST box contents:
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/starfox/images/c/c9/S-l1600.jpg

User's English translation of official Japanese Star Fox 64 guidebook:
https://www.reddit.com/r/starfox/comments/y8cwc9/finally_got_around_to_doing_translations/

Star Fox "Farewell Beloved Falco" manga:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Fnk1t-4Uw_VaFTeWTpvsCaFQDFEK1psW

Official Japanese Star Fox Adventures character bios:
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ngc/gsaj/chara/index.html

Star Fox: Assault Instruction Booklet:
https://archive.org/details/StarFoxAssaultInstructionBooklet/page/n3/mode/2up

Nintendo Dream Star Fox Assault interview:
https://shmuplations.com/starfoxassault/

Nintendo of Europe Star Fox Command developer interview:
https://www.nintendo.co.uk/News/2007/Interview-Star-Fox-Command-249670.html

Takaya Imamura Wolf generation tweet:
https://twitter.com/ima_1966/status/1491699675074039813
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Star Fox Composer Hajime Hirasawa left Nintendo shortly after the game released and six years later founded Faith Co. Ltd, the company that developed the world's first downloadable ringtones.
person DopeyDragon calendar_month September 2, 2023
Faith Co. Ltd company history:
https://www.faith-inc.com/corporate/faith/history/index.html

Faith Co. Ltd press release from 2007 verifying Hirasawa was still president:
https://www.faith-inc.com/press/doc/20070820desperado_nfrm.html

MobyGames listing:
https://www.mobygames.com/person/82535/hajime-hirasawa/

Multiple sources included above as no single valid English sources are available to correlate the founder of Faith Co. Ltd. as being the same man who composed Star Fox for SNES.
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Attachment On the Continue screen, Fox can be seen standing alongside a grid display showing off the 3D model of an Arwing, which can be interacted with.

Controls:
•D-Pad = Rotates the model; pressing or holding down in one direction will cause it to move faster; doing so in the opposite direction will cause it to slow down; doing so in a perpendicular direction (i.e. pressing either left/right and then pressing either up/down, or vice versa) will not affect the speed of the model.
•X button = Stops the model's movement; moving with the D-Pad resumes it.
•L and R buttons = Zooms in and zooms out the model respectively.
•A button = Holding this button triggers a "drawing" mode where a still image of the frame where the render last appeared will trail behind it infinitely with each succeeding frame; this effect is similar to the "trailing/ghosting" glitch that can occur when dragging windows or dialog boxes on older computer operating systems.
•Plugging in a second controller = Every button except for L, R, X and A, will let you scroll through numerous models of enemies found throughout the game.
person MehDeletingLater calendar_month January 16, 2022
1
According to Takaya Imamura in a 2002 interview published in Nintendo Dream magazine, he was asked how he came to create the game? He responded:

"At the time, the majority of “3D” shooting and racing games were achieved via 2D fakery; polygon technology was beginning to emerge, and Miyamoto really wanted to use polygons to create an authentic 3D shooting game with genuine depth. From there, talk began of the Super FX chip, and that’s when the prototyping started…

Actually, I worked on F-ZERO immediately after joining the company, and after that I worked on The Legend of Zelda."
1
During the secret "Out of this Dimension" level, listening carefully to the music that plays throughout reveals the level's theme to be a distorted version of Johann Strauss II's "Voices of Spring" waltz. The giant slot machine's battle theme is a mix of several folk songs: the Japanese folk song "Yuki", the American folk song "When the Saints Go Marching In", and the German folk song "Hänschen Klein". As the fake credits roll after defeating the giant slot machine, a distorted rendition of the credits theme can then be heard.
1
Attachment Although this game started the franchise, it's often ignored and is not usually considered canon. The recap present in the Star Fox: Assault instruction manual ignores the original game and begins the series at Star Fox 64. However, the official Star Fox Adventures Japanese site stated that the events of the Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 games are two sides of the same coin, implying that they could directly co-exist within the same timeline since Star Fox 64 is a reboot of Star Fox.
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