Star Fox Command
Star Fox Command
August 3, 2006
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1
Two of the game's endings make references to the F-Zero series. In the first ending, "Goodbye Fox", Falco Lombardi can be seen wearing a pair of boots that belong to F-Zero's Captain Falcon. In another ending, Fox and Falco are seen entering the "G-Zero Grand Prix", a mock up of the F-Zero Grand Prix. What's more, the two convert their fighter ships into racing vehicles, as did a character in the F-Zero games known as James McCloud, himself a tribute to James McCloud of the Star Fox games.
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Attachment Octoman from the F-Zero series appears as one of the bosses in the game and a member of the Anglar Empire. His design is more reminiscent of his appearance in F-Zero: GP Legend.
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In the "The Worm" mission on Titania in the Fox and Krystal story route, Krystal goes more in-depth about Andross' plans to terraform Venom.

KRYSTAL: After Andross fought you, he dedicated his remaining days to planet Venom. He wanted to leave some sort of legacy. That's all.

Peppy Hare has a similar line in the "Andross' Legacy" mission, also on Titania during the Goodbye Fox story route.

PEPPY: Well, after our last battle with Andross, he started thinking. He put together a plan to terraform the whole environment. He wanted to make Venom a more hospitable place to live.

These both seem to bizarrely imply that even after being destroyed by the end of Star Fox 64, Andross was somehow still physically alive somewhere on Venom, which is where he began to plan out terraforming Venom into a beautiful green world.

Re-translating the Japanese text for both of these, however, reveals:

KRYSTAL: 彼はあなた達に復讐した後 後世に新しいベノムの創造主として名前を残したかったのよ (He wanted to take revenge on you and leave his name as the creator of the new Venom for posterity.)

PEPPY: かつてアンドルフは我々との戦いの後 ベノムを住みやすい環境に変える計画を立てていたんじゃ (Andorf once had a plan to turn Venom into a livable environment after the war with us.)"

Which makes it much more clear that what Krystal and Peppy had intended to say was that Andross (or Andorf as he's called in Japan) had always intended on terraforming Venom for posterity after he had enacted revenge against General Pepper and Corneria for banishing him there. One could say it was essentially Andross' retirement plan.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 28, 2023
2
Attachment One of Star Fox Command's new characters is Dash Bowman, the grandson of Andross who, ironically enough, is a pilot in the Cornerian Defense Force and also an admirer of the Star Fox team.

In the Japanese version of the game, his first name is アッシュ (Asshu), or Ash, which is more in line with the naming conventions of his relatives, Andross and Andrew Oikonny, whose names also start with "A". It's possible that his surname, Bowman, is a reference to the character of David Bowman, the protagonist of the film "2001: A Space Odyssey", though this is unconfirmed.
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox 64 (Game), Star Fox (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 Adventures (Game)
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Attachment Star Fox character designer Takaya Imamura illustrated the back boxart of Star Fox Adventures for its Japanese release. Notably, it's one of the first notable instances of Fox's head being drawn with a more stylized, Noh Kitstune mask look, as opposed to the more animalistic proportions he had in-game and also in prior installments such as Star Fox on SNES and Star Fox 64. This design has often been described by certain fans, often in a derogatory manner, as a "bellhead", due to it being somewhat shaped like a bell.

Star Fox Command would be the first time Fox would sport this head design in-game, and it would go on to influence his appearances in later Super Smash Bros. games and to a certain extent, Star Fox Zero.
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox 64 3D (Game), Star Fox (Franchise)
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Attachment When asked about the canonicity of Star Fox Command in relation to its predecessors (those in particular being Star Fox 64, Star Fox Adventures and Star Fox: Assault) in a Reddit AMA, Dylan Cuthbert had this to say:

Canon is something the fans like to try to follow but Command was meant to be an alternate timeline kind of game, hence the choices you make. It let us have a lot more fun with the characters.

In turn, many within the Star Fox fandom figured that he was implying that the game itself was not canon to the previous installments. However, years later, Cuthbert would clarify on what he really meant by Command being an "alternate timeline kind of game":

Each play through is an alternate reality, play through multiple times until you get the reality /you/ want. In this sense none of them are canon and they are just a few possible realities based on your subjective experience and choices.

In reality, it seems what Cuthbert really meant was that each playthrough and story path is meant to represent an alternate timeline, not that Command itself was in a separate timeline from 64, Adventures, and Assault. Nintendo Dream's guidebook for Star Fox 64 3D from 2011 would actually include an entire chronological timeline of the series up to that point, beginning with Star Fox 64 and ending with Star Fox Command.

Essentially, all of the game's branching story paths are canon and non-canon at the same time, as there's said to be no true ending as it's up to the players to decide how Command, and perhaps the entire series' chronology as it truly began in 1997, ends. A 2011 Nintendo Dream magazine interview with Dylan Cuthbert, as well as Takaya Imamura, would reiterate this sentiment.

Which of the endings in "Command" is considered the canonical one?

Imamura: I think that's going to be up to each person who plays through the game.

Dylan: But the ending picture you drew, Imamura, had an impact. Like the one with Fox crying (laughs).

I definitely figured that was Imamura-san's work. That means that whenever you make the next game, I assume that one of these endings will end up being canon.

Dylan: I'm pretty sure that one will be picked when that time comes.

Fox's son, Marcus, could also potentially be the main character in that case?

Imamura: Yeah. 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." With "Command," there's no "this is it, it's over" moment, which I think makes for a better video game experience.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 7, 2023
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox Adventures (Game), Star Fox (Franchise)
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Attachment In a 2002 interview with Takaya Imamura regarding Star Fox Adventures, in which he explains his reasoning for having the characters age over the eight years since Star Fox 64, Imamura had this to say:

"This time around the story is set 8 years in the future. Characters like Mario and Bowser never age, but I feel that Fox needs to change in various ways over time. Maybe 10 years from now, we'll have the same face we've always known, but the character is actually Fox's son."

Funnily enough, four years later, the "Goodbye Fox" ending in Star Fox Command shows Fox McCloud and Krystal settling down and having a son named Marcus, who then goes on to form an all new Star Fox team, comprising of Slippy's son, Peppy's granddaughter, and even Falco Lombardi, who takes Peppy's place as the older mentor of this new team.
person Dinoman96 calendar_month November 5, 2023
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox: Assault (Game), Star Fox 64 (Game), Star Fox (Franchise)
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Attachment The official Japanese Star Fox 64 guidebook reveals that Andrew Oikonny was essentially forced onto the Star Wolf team purely out of nepotism on Andross' part, and that he was actively disliked by his teammates due to his poor piloting skills and also massive ego in regards to his relationship with Andross. Effectively, the only reason Wolf put up with him during the events of Star Fox 64 was due to the fact that he was using said connections to Andross to provide his team with immeasurable technological and financial backup.

A timeline of events provided in Star Fox Command's official guidebook claims that after Andross' defeat at the end of SF64, the Star Wolf team moved away from the Venom army effective immediately and in turn kicked out Andrew, who no longer had the support of his now deceased uncle, hence why at the beginning of Star Fox: Assault, he's on his own trying to rebel against Corneria using the remnants of Andross' forces.
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person Dinoman96 calendar_month October 29, 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: Assault guidebook:
https://www.reddit.com/r/starfox/comments/10m82rq/for_all_you_star_fox_assault_fans_some_pictures/

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/
subdirectory_arrow_right Star Fox (Franchise)
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Attachment According to Takaya Imamura in a 2011 Nintendo Dream magazine interview, planet Papetoon, the homeworld of Fox McCloud as well as his father James and also Peppy Hare, actually exists outside of the Lylat System, approximately 10,000 light years away from it and Corneria. Imamura even states that the characters have to use warps to come and go.

This was alluded to in "The Curse of Pigma" ending in Star Fox Command, where Falco says:

FALCO: Papetoon, eh? Yeah, that's pretty much the edge of everything right there.

For comparison's sake, in the Japanese script, he says:

FALCO: はあ?パペトゥーン? ずいぶん遠いな… (Huh? Papetoon? That's a long way...)
person Dinoman96 calendar_month October 27, 2023
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