Fused's Random Articles: Star Fox the Forgotten Franchise

Published on 4/5/2012 7:14:04 PM by Rial Johnson

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Hey there guys, Fused here with another, shorter, article. This time I want to focus on a series which I know many of you have never played nor are you familiar with, Star Fox. But since Star Fox as a whole is a little bit too broad for me to write about and make interesting, I'm going to discuss why we haven't seen a new star fox game for several years. Now, E3 2012 is coming up and we may see another Star Fox game being revealed (Although that is highly unlikely), and I would be ecstatic to see another addition to this great franchise, but I want to explain to you why we will not be seeing another Star Fox game in the near future and why that is a bad decision on the part of Nintendo. So go ahead and click the jump to read further! Now, a little bit of a gaming history lesson. The last Star Fox game to be released was Star Fox 64 3D, which, being a remake, I'm not even going to mention any further in this article. The last REAL Star Fox game to be released was Star Fox Command, a little known Star Fox title that was released in 2006 with little recognition by gamers at large. The Star Fox game you probably know best, as it stands, is Star Fox 64, highly praised by gamers across the world and still played by retro gamers today. Very few people know of the original Star Fox, or of Star Fox Assault for the Gamecube. The last critically acclaimed Star Fox game out there was Star Fox 64. (Although Star Fox Adventures may qualify) The fact that Star Fox 64 is probably the only Star Fox game that you remember is one of the main reasons that we haven't seen a new Star Fox game. Whenever Nintendo tries something new, it is only remembered by die hard Nintendo fan boys. Other franchises are remembered by your parents and there are many many fansites solely dedicated to Zelda or Mario, whereas there are only a few Star Fox fansites. Games such as Kirby don't count here, since they are geared towards a more family-esque audience. At E3 2011 people were so busy drooling over the WiiU, Ocarina of Time 3D, and Skyward Sword that Star Fox 3D was buried underneath the excitement for the previously mentioned topics. Popularity = Money Money = Demand for more games Star Fox ≠ popularity Therefore Star Fox ≠ Demand for more games (If that makes any sense) But why does Star Fox not attract the crowds of adoring fans that Zelda or Metroid attract? There are several factors worth discussing... Repetitiveness Look for a second at the Star Fox franchise, its gameplay, story, everything. To me, it's almost as if every Star Fox game (Excluding Adventures) is just a huge copy of the previous game. You fly forward while enemies attack you. Not much room at all for variation or story, let alone enough variation to make a separate game out of it. And when they try and make variation out of this simple formula, they end up with the mess that is Star Fox Assault. Boring and repetitive 3rd person shooter segments mixed with mildly entertaining dogfights and straight forward segments seen in previous games. Overall, the entire franchise could use a major reboot that isn't in the form of a remake. Publicity The whole series could use more advertisements to get the series out to younger crowds. You'll notice that the majority of people who play games such as Star Fox 64 are older than the general Zelda and Metroid fanbase. Although Star Fox 3D was publicized very well, it's still a remake of a classic game, and not its own game. Story Of course, this does not play as big a factor as the previous two, but this done effect it to an extent. Both Zelda and Metroid have decently sized fanbases (The former larger than the latter) and both have very deep and riveting stories. Mario has a large fanbase as well, but that is because it doesn't go for story. Star Fox, however, tries to have a story, but for some reason it's not nearly as motivational and riveting as other franchises. It tries to, as seen in Star Fox Adventures and Assault, but it falls behind other series. Luck I don't believe in luck, but the fact that other series are highly praised and Star Fox is lagged behind is partly due to the bandwagon effect, which is partly due to pure luck. Zelda and Mario were picked up and spread around through word of mouth as being great games, but for some reason, Star Fox was not picked up in its early stages. Sometimes series just need to get lucky, and Star Fox was not one of those. In general, these factors have prevented Star Fox from gaining the popularity it deserves, and will likely prevent a new Star Fox game from being developed for years to come. This series though has the potential though to become so much more than what it is now, as Star Fox Adventures showed. Star Fox Adventures is a Zelda-esque Star Fox game for the Gamecube, in case you do not remember, and is in my opinion a true show of the possibilities awaiting this franchise. The game as a whole was great, the story was riveting, the puzzles challenging, and the combat fun. What else could you want out of a game? Even the base formula for most Star Fox games could be improved to the point of a new Star Fox game that is fun and different and not a remake. We'll have to wait until E3 2012 though to truly figure out whether or not we'll be seeing a new Star Fox game in the near future. But anyway, that's all for today folks. I wish you a very happy Easter! Adios! ~Fused

About the Author: Rial Johnson

Rial Johnson founded Nintendo Castle in 2011 with hopes to build the largest collection of Nintendo walkthroughs, guides, and content on the web. He is an avid gamer with a special place in his heart for Nintendo, but often finds himself writing about games more than actually playing them. You'll likely see him around Nintendo Castle and on social media, mostly managing the front-end content of the site.