Star Fox 64
Star Fox 64
April 27, 1997
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subdirectory_arrow_right Family Computer Disk System (Platform), Family Computer (Platform)
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Attachment The robot boss of Sector X, dubbed "Spyborg" in the English version of Star Fox 64, is known as HVC-09 in the Japanese version.

HVC (Home Video Computer) was the model number that was used for Famicom (the Japanese equivalent to the Nintendo Entertainment System) hardware and peripherals. For example, the model number for R.O.B. (who in Japan was called Family Computer Robot) was HVC-012. Likewise, the model number for the NES Zapper (known as the Famicom Light Gun in Japan) was HVC-005. The model number for the Famicom itself was HVC-001.

Funny enough, in real life, there never was any NES related hardware whose model number was HVC-09.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 19, 2023
User's English translation of an official Japanese Star Fox 64 guidebook:
https://www.reddit.com/r/starfox/comments/y8cwc9/finally_got_around_to_doing_translations/

Famicom Robot model number promotional materials:
https://gigazine.net/gsc_news/en/20110524_famicom_robo/

Famicom model number catalog:
https://maru-chang.com/hard/hvc/english.htm
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox (Game), Star Fox Zero (Game), Star Fox: Assault (Game), Star Fox Adventures (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 (Game), Star Fox 2 (Game), Star Fox Command (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 Zero (Game), Star Fox 2 (Game)
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Attachment Star Fox 2 features gigantic battle cruisers deployed by Andross' army known as Cannon Betrayers that feature the "Planet Cannon", a massively powerful laser cannon that, hence its name, can easily destroy planets like Corneria. This ship or at least a ship of a similar design would also appear in Star Fox Zero, known as the Salvadora.

Interestingly, the official Japanese Star Fox 64 guidebook claims that both Gorgon, known in Japan as デス・ボール (Desu bōru), or Death Ball, and Bolse are also equipped with Planet Cannons, with the former using it in battle against the Star Fox team at the end of Area 6 in Star Fox 64.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 17, 2023
User's English translation of an official Japanese Star Fox 64 guidebook:
https://www.reddit.com/r/starfox/comments/y8cwc9/finally_got_around_to_doing_translations/

Star Fox Zero - Salvadora:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln9qPKQ82nw

Star Fox 2 - Cannon Betrayers in Corneria stage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDfRc6YsdI0

Gorgon using its Planet Cannon in Star Fox 64:
https://youtu.be/ajORXLo-A3g?t=103
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox (Franchise)
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Attachment In Japan, Pigma Dengar's name is ピグマ・デンガー (Piguma Dengā).

His surname seems to come from the Kansai expression, デンガナマンガナー (Denganamanganā). In the Japanese version of Star Fox games, Pigma tends to speak in Kansai dialect like people from Osaka. In Japan, people from this region are characterized as rude, bad-mannered, and even criminal lowlifes, very befitting of Pigma.

It is worth pointing out, however, that this is considered an offensive stereotype of Kansai people, and they do not enjoy being characterized this way in Japanese media.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 17, 2023
Star Fox character name origins Reddit thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/starfox/comments/11pogfk/the_untold_origins_of_star_fox_names_oikonny_kew/

Japanese video on Pigma Dengar origins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLtDilxoXaY

Kansai dialect discrimination article:
https://anond.hatelabo.jp/20201228141845
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Attachment The combat robots known as the Shogun Troopers in Star Fox 64's Sector Y stage are called サルジャー (Sarujā) in the Japanese version of the game. This can be translated as "Sarger".

It appears this name is meant to be a pun and mashup of サル (Saru) and ソルジャー (Sorujā), the Japanese words for Monkey and Soldier respectively.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 18, 2023
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/

Atwiki page on the Sarger enemies:
https://w.atwiki.jp/nitendo/pages/9680.html

bab.la dictionary entry for Sorujā:
https://en.bab.la/dictionary/english-japanese/soldier
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox (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 Adventures (Game)
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During the development of Star Fox Adventures, Nintendo considered re-releasing Star Fox 64 for GameCube, likely as a pre-order bonus similar to how The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was re-released with the first ever release of "Ura Zelda" or Master Quest as a pre-order bonus for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox 64 3D (Game), Star Fox (Franchise)
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Attachment Across two interviews with two different Nintendo Dream issues in 2011, Takaya Imamura expressed quite a bit of interest in creating a prequel to Star Fox 64 starring James McCloud and the original Star Fox team, mentioning the idea three times, unprovoked. He also even suggested a future game could be a soft reboot set several years later with a new lead instead of Fox.

From the Star Fox 64 3D Developer interview in the September 2011 issue of Nintendo Dream:

Why did Pigma join the original Star Fox team?

Imamura: I still don't want to talk about the events surrounding James or other episodes from the original Star Fox because if we were to do something with that, I would want to create a game around it and release it.

Ohhhh!

Imamura: I'm just thinking out loud.

Everyone: (laughs)

Imamura: You see, if we talk about it too much here, it might become difficult to make if it really happens (laughs).

Shortly aftwards, after being asked about the future of the Star Fox series:

When Nintendo makes a video game, we don't make it to tell a story. We first have some kind of cool idea for the core of a game, and if that idea is something that works well for Star Fox, then we need to build a story around it. When that time comes, it might be a story about James, or we might just keep the "Star Fox" franchise name and set it far off in the future with a different main character.

In a later interview, Imamura says:

But really, part of me does want to end Fox's part of the story with "Command." So, going forward, if we made a sequel it might be set between "64" and "Adventures," or maybe even a prequel to "64."

Unfortunately, nothing has ever come of this. All the Star Fox series has seen since then is the release of Star Fox Zero (a reimagining of Star Fox 64), Star Fox Guard (a tower defense game set around the same time), and an official release of the 20-year old game Star Fox 2. Takaya Imamura would retire from Nintendo in early 2021.
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox: Assault (Game), Star Fox Adventures (Game), Star Fox (Game), Star Fox Zero (Game), Star Fox Command (Game), Star Fox 2 (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
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Attachment The Landmaster's appearance as Fox, Falco and Wolf's Final Smashes in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U is a composite of its appearances from Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Assault, maintaining the sharp and futuristic appearance it had in the latter, but still retaining traditional tank treads as seen in the former.

This particular design would eventually be implemented into the Star Fox series proper, beginning with the Landmaster's appearance in Star Fox 64 3D, and would be used again in Star Fox Zero.
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox Command (Game), Star Fox 64 3D (Game)
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Attachment For Star Fox 64 3D, Bill Grey's fighter craft in the Katina mission was redesigned to be closer in design to its appearance in Star Fox Command. It was probably also done to distinguish it from the other Cornerian Fighters present in the mission, which Bill's fighter looked identical to back in the original Star Fox 64.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 5, 2023
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox Zero (Game), Star Fox: Assault (Game), Star Fox (Game), Star Fox Command (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
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Attachment The Blue Marine, the submarine used in only the Aquas mission, is the only vehicle utilized by the Star Fox team in Star Fox 64 to not have been designed by Space Dynamics. It was instead a personal project designed by Slippy Toad, who scrapped it together using discarded parts. He also used maintenance Arwing parts, such as the laser cannons and rolling mechanism.

This information also appeared in the Star Fox 64 Official Player's Guide. However, it would also bolt on the fact that Beltino Toad, Slippy's father who was first mentioned on the Japanese website for Star Fox 64, helped him create it.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 4, 2023
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 64 Nintendo Power Official Strategy Guide:
https://archive.org/details/Starfox64NintendoPowerOfficialStrategyGuide/page/n53/mode/2up
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox 64 3D (Game)
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Attachment The official Japanese Star Fox 64 guidebook reveals that the Great Fox's creation by Space Dynamics was commissioned by Fox's father, James McCloud, who was involved in its design from the planning stage. Its enormous cost incurred in its construction resulted in James taking out an 80-year mortgage to purchase it, a debt that Fox is still trying to repay to this day.

This information also appeared in western material, such as the official western Star Fox 64 website and also the Star Fox 64 Official Player's Guide, and was also mentioned again in a 2011 Nintendo Dream magazine interview with the development staff of Star Fox 64 3D, where Takaya Imamura reveals that the Great Fox was taken out to the original Star Fox team's investigation on Venom that resulted in James' death.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 3, 2023
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Attachment Titania, being called the "Forbidden Planet", is the only stage in all of Star Fox 64 to not feature any of Andross' forces. Instead, all of the enemies and defense systems, including the boss Goras, are said to be remnants of an ancient alien civilization, with Goras being said to be a bio-weapon the ancient people modified before they went extinct. The official Japanese Star Fox 64 guide (as well as the Star Fox 64 Official Player's Guide) hints that the underwater ruins seen in the oceans of Aquas are connected to the ancient ruins on Titania.

As it did for Bacoon and the underwater ruins of Aquas, the Star Fox 64 Official Player's Guide would expand upon Goras' and Titania's backstory, claiming that it was formerly a green lush planet, and that the ancient people who lived there were an advanced agrarian civilization that would leave behind their harvests at temples that existed in each town to appease Goras. It claims that the civilization was destroyed by an asteroid colliding with Titania, leaving Goras as the only surviving creature on the planet that was now a barren wasteland, and it also claims that it was modified by Andross.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 3, 2023
Star Fox 64 Nintendo Power Official Strategy Guide:
https://archive.org/details/Starfox64NintendoPowerOfficialStrategyGuide/page/n53/mode/2up

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 Command (Game), Star Fox Zero (Game), Star Fox: Assault (Game), Star Fox (Franchise)
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Attachment According to the official Japanese Star Fox 64 guidebook, the main driving point for Wolf O'Donnell's rivalry with Fox McCloud is the fact that Wolf was previously rivals with his father, James. This is alluded to in-game with various voice clips from Wolf across Star Fox 64, Star Fox Assault and Star Fox Zero, and it's also reiterated in the timeline of events provided in Star Fox Command's official Japanese guidebook.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 3, 2023
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/

User's English translation of official Japanese Star Fox Command guidebook:
https://www.reddit.com/r/starfox/comments/ysr1ip/behold_translations_of_characters_stages_bosses/

SF64 English quotes:
https://youtu.be/uVlGrXk9ybE?t=9

SF64 Japanese quotes for good measure:
https://youtu.be/dZ3TnqHmEaU?t=2

SF Assault quotes:
https://youtu.be/mZF-dopYnPg?t=86

SFZ quotes:
https://youtu.be/Ua5m27jTsBk?t=19
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox Command (Game), Star Fox: Assault (Game), Star Fox Adventures (Game), Star Fox (Franchise)
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Attachment All in all, it would seem that the entire Star Fox chronology, at least as it was presented from Star Fox 64 to Star Fox Command, spans roughly 20 years.

Star Fox 64's whole backstory take place across 10 years, beginning with Andross' banishment to Venom and then James' death/betrayal on Venom five years later, and the events of Star Fox 64 taking place another five years later after that. The Japan-only "Farewell Beloved Falco" Manga, the canonical manga follow up to Star Fox 64 and prelude to Star Fox Adventures, would take place four years later, and SFA would take place another four years later after that. Star Fox Assault takes place one year after the events of SFA, and Star Fox Command was said to take place a vague 2-3 years after the events of Assault. This would amount to overall roughly 21-22 years.
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person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 1, 2023
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Attachment One of the enemies that appear on the Zoness stage, according to the official Japanese Star Fox 64 guidebook, is known as オブネマ (Obunema), or Obnema, a giant anthropod that can only be defeated with charge shots.

The Star Fox 64 Official Player's Guide renames it as "Kani" and claims that prior to Zoness' devastation, it was a favored delicacy in Zoness restaurants.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 1, 2023
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 64 Nintendo Power Official Strategy Guide:
https://archive.org/details/Starfox64NintendoPowerOfficialStrategyGuide/page/n91/mode/2up
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Attachment The Star Fox 64 Official Player's Guide gives Aquas' boss Bacoon a very different backstory from the official Japanese guidebook. The latter says that Bacoon is simply just a bioweapon made by Andross, but the former gives it a more elaborate background, claiming that it was an ancient monster that was jealous of the ancient civilization and their temples/islands above the ocean's surface, and overtime it learned how to control the other aquatic lifeforms within Aquas' oceans, such as the explosive Starfish, which were then commanded by Bacoon to migrate to the ice cap and detonate, resulting in the polar cap being melted and all of the islands submerged into the sea forever, essentially explaining the ancient undersea ruins throughout the Aquas stage.
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person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 1, 2023
Star Fox 64 Nintendo Power Official Strategy Guide:
https://archive.org/details/Starfox64NintendoPowerOfficialStrategyGuide/page/n87/mode/2up

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/
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