It’s Been Almost A Decade Since This Nintendo Franchise Got A New Game

Nintendo has a habit of highlighting certain franchises while letting others fade a bit more into obscurity. While there have been countless titles released that have ties to the Mario brand, other Nintendo properties will go years or even decades between releases. It can be disheartening as a fan of those properties, especially when they have a vital role in the growth of the company and remain popular with fans thanks to crossover titles like Super Smash Bros.

One great example of that internal conflict is Star Fox, which launched to great accolades in 1993 and has since released seven mainline games. However, the last original game in the series to launch was Star Fox Zero, which debuted in 2016 to decent reviews. It’s a shame, too, because Star Fox feels like the perfect franchise to highlight the strength of Nintendo’s current hardware.

Star Fox Is One Of Nintendo’s Biggest Franchises For A Reason

Star Fox is quietly a crucial part of the Nintendo legacy, even if there hasn’t been a new game in the series in almost ten years. Inspired by the “NESGlider” prototype developed between Nintendo and Argonaut Software, the early conceptions of the franchise were made possible by programmer Jez San and his team developing the Super FX chip, a pioneer for 3D graphics in consumer products. Argonaut was the main force behind the original Star Fox‘s programming, while the game design was led by Miyamoto and Katsuya Eguchi. Taking inspiration from everything from Star Wars to Japanese folklore, the original Star Fox was well received by critics, with the enhanced graphics (and the ensuing 3D approach to rail shooters) in particular helping the game stand out to critics.

Star Fox became one of the Super Nintendo’s best-selling titles, even briefly having the fastest-selling video game launch in North America. Although a direct sequel (Star Fox 2) was quickly moved into production, it wouldn’t be released until 2017 as one of the games available on the Super NES Classic Edition. Star Fox 64 quickly became one of the Nintendo 64’s signature titles, especially in North America (where it came out not long after the launch of the console). The act of working on such an advanced title for the time even had a direct impact on Miyamoto, with the legendary game developer citing the early 3D advancements established in Star Fox as a key inspiration behind the development of Super Mario 64.

Star Fox Has Had Lots Of Ups And Downs In The 21st Century

The success of the early Star Fox titles, as well as the popularity of the character in the Super Smash Bros. franchise, led to the franchise getting a lot of attention from Nintendo in the early 2000s. Rare retrofitted one of their titles, Dinosaur Planet, into a The Legend of Zelda-esque adventure for Fox McCloud. The game was released for the GameCube as Star Fox Adventures in 2002. Three years later, Namco’s Star Fox: Assault carried on the franchise by returning to its roots as an arcade-style flight sim.

The following year, Q-Games revealed a more strategy-centric riff on the franchise titled Star Fox Command. All three games were met with more mixed receptions than the previous entries, which in turn led to a lull period for the series. This came to an end in 2016 when Star Fox Zero launched for the Wii U, incorporating that console’s GamePad and its unique gyroscope design for controlling the Arwing. Since then, there’s been little movement for the series, with even a planned animated series ultimately cancelled before it could be launched.

Star Fox Deserves A Modern Revival

While other Nintendo franchises like Metroid and Fire Emblem have gotten a lot of renewed attention in the modern era, there’s been a real lack of focus on the Star Fox front. The closest the series has gotten to a new release in recent years has been the long-awaited return of Star Fox 2, which became available on the Switch through the Nintendo Classics service. It’s a shame, too, because Star Fox would really benefit from the current Nintendo hardware. The online potential of the Switch 2 could open up entirely new realms for the franchise, especially in terms of competitive or cooperative play.

The greater processing power of the Switch 2 could allow developers to create entire star systems for players to explore, potentially opening up the rail shooter to a more adventurous angle that better reflects the worldbuilding Nintendo showed off in games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Mario Kart World. Advancements in VR technology could even be brought over to Nintendo through Star Fox, which could theoretically place players directly into the cockpit of an Arwing. Star Fox is one of the best franchises that falls under the Nintendo umbrella, and it deserves a modern comeback.

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