Can a New Star Fox Save the Franchise?
It was revealed last week that the only and only Fox McCloud will be appearing in the Super Mario Galaxy movie. As a pretty big Nintendo fan who still hasn’t seen the original Mario movie, having Fox in the sequel has certainly made me more interested.
The Star Fox franchise has had a frustrating history to say the least. When you look at the core cast of Fox, Falco, Slippy, and Peppy- the Star Fox crew are some of the coolest in Nintendo’s belt of iconic characters. The characters ooze history and personality; like how Peppy used to work with Fox’s deceased father. Unfortunately, after Star Fox 64, none of the games really hit mainstream success or quality. But I don’t think that had much to do with Star Fox specifically. The turn of the milenium saw many legacy IP and genres start to fall to the wayside. Sonic, Mega Man, 2D platformers, beat ‘em up’s, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Final Fantasy; a lot of these iconic IP and genre’s began to feel less desirable to many a gamer.
It’s hard to charge full price for a two hour rail shooter, which is what the previous Star Fox games were at the time.
After the Super Mario Galaxy reveal, there’s been many leaks and rumors floating around a new Star Fox game coming out this year. And it’s made me equally excited and curious.
Nintendo has been having a stellar past few years. Even their more niche IP like Pikmin have begun to gather bigger fanbases; Pikmin 4 being the best selling in the franchise. I wonder if the same fate can befall Star Fox?
My biggest hope is that they either reboot the series or continue the storyline after 64 one again. I know some fans will be sad at leaving behind the story of Adventures and Assault behind (I’m a big Star Fox Assault fan), but I think it’s time for Fox and crew to get a fresh start in some regard. It’s time to introduce this world to a new generation of gamer while also fulfilling the hopes of longtime fans such as myself.
If Star Fox really wants to succeed in the modern era, I think a rouge-like is probably the best route. Give the player tons of options and upgrades to keep wanting to replay the game over and over. Have a bunch of hidden dialogue between Fox and his friends to keep things fresh. Plenty of boss variety would help this cause too. While this might be controversial, I’d say scrap the on-foot segments and keep everybody blasting away in their Arwings.
Every now and then I urge gamers to support the series’ they want to see thrive. And with this potential new Star Fox game, I will be buying on day one to show love for this series that Nintendo seemed hellbent on ignoring until now.
