Franchise: Star Fox

The Japanese text for Papetoon, the home planet of Fox McCloud, is "パペトゥーン". Amusingly, this is also the Japanese text for Puppetoons, a Hungarian-American puppet and cartoon series created by George Pal. As the Star Fox series was inspired by Shigeru Miyamoto's love of old puppet dramas such as the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson "supermarionation" television series "Thunderbirds", it could be said that this is a joke that Fox originated from this show.

In a June 1997 Nintendo Dream interview with Shigeru Miyamoto regarding Star Fox 64, when asked if he would produce a sequel, Miyamoto responded with:


Funny enough, both of these ideas would come to fruition with future titles such as Star Fox: Assault, which hugely emphasized its multiplayer battle mode, and Star Fox Command, which revisited many of the real-time strategy elements that were previously experimented with in the then-unreleased Star Fox 2.

The development for Kid Icarus: Uprising began with a vague concept of a game conceived by Masahiro Sakurai that would switch between aerial and land combat. At the recommendation of then-Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, it was decided to incorporate a pre-existing Nintendo IP onto the concept, and Sakurai would ultimately land on Kid Icarus, as he was aware of its endearing popularity in the west and a desire from fans for a new installment, especially with its protagonist, Pit, being included as a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Another IP that was briefly considered was the Star Fox franchise. However, Sakurai ultimately felt that the character of Pit and his universe were more flexible and fitting for the type of game he was creating with Uprising.

In a 2011 Nintendo Dream interview with the development staff of Star Fox 64 3D, Yusuke Amano joked that a future Star Fox game could be a dating simulator:

Barring the mistake with calling Fichina "Fortuna" in Star Fox 64, there is only one other main planet in all of the Star Fox series to have a slightly different English name from their original Japanese counterpart, that being Katina, which in Japan is called カタリナ, or Katarina.

In comparison, Katina directly translated into Japanese would be カティナ.

While Star Fox 64 would mark the debut of Star Wolf, the rival team of Star Fox, they were originally meant to debut in Star Fox 2, which was cancelled for twenty years before seeing an official release for the SNES Classic in 2017.

Something that's very peculiar in the final build of Star Fox 2, however, is how most of the mainstays of the Star Wolf team, such as Wolf O'Donnell, Pigma Dengar, and Leon Powalski, are present, all except for one: Andross' nephew, Andrew Oikonny. In his place is what appears to be a lemur character named "Algy", who is described by SF2's online manual as being rumoured to be "the most devious creature in the cosmos".

What makes this even more strange is the fact that Andrew actually was initially conceived for SF2, as a piece of concept art drawn by series' character designer Takaya Imamura portrays him along with Wolf, Leon and Pigma. In fact, there actually exists evidence that, by the time of Star Fox 2's gold build, Algy was still internally referred to as Andrew in the game's source code, which makes it all the more clear that Andrew was indeed planned to be in SF2 before being changed out for Algy.

It's worth pointing out, however, that despite being the main character designer for the first Star Fox, as well as future games like Star Fox 64, Imamura actually had very little to do with Star Fox 2's development, outside of the aforementioned initial Star Wolf concept art and also play-testing and advising towards the end, being only listed as under SF2's "Special Thanks" credits. Another staff member at Nintendo, named Masanao Arimoto, took over his duties as character/sprite designer for SF2. Comparing his final spritework to the original concept art, one could see that Arimoto took a lot of creative liberties with Imamura's initial designs, the latter of which look more closer to how the Star Wolf characters would look in Star Fox 64, with the most glaring example being Andrew transformed into an effectively different character.

It's pretty obvious that when Takaya Imamura returned for Star Fox 64 as its art director, Algy was reverted back into Andrew Oikonny.

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:


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


In a later interview, Imamura says:


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.

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).

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.

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.

The English manual and prologue for Star Fox Adventures implies a bigger backstory for Krystal, in that she's the sole remaining survivor of her doomed home planet, "Cerinia", and that she's been roaming the galaxy in search of answers for the truth of her family's death, until she receives a distress call from Dinosaur Planet. With how the manual states that Krystal "may finally be drawing closer to the truth" behind her parents' and planet's destruction, it seems Rare was loosely implying that Andross, who turns out to be the real villain of Star Fox Adventures and thus the culprit behind Dinosaur Planet's woes, was responsible for Cerinia's destruction. Krystal even says "It's you!" right before Andross imprisons her in the crystal at the top of Krazoa Palace.

However, it would seem the Japanese localization for Star Fox Adventures would completely eschew this backstory, removing all mention of Cerinia and as well as Krystal's dead parents. The Japanese prologue was even heavily simplified to this:


The Japanese website even states that "it is not known what her purpose is", which flies directly in the face of Rare's original story for her, that explicitly states that she was searching for the truth of Cerinia's destruction. To add more insult to injury, there isn't even any Japanese subtitle presented when Krystal gets knocked into the crystal by Andross in Krazoa Palace.

Curiously, the Japanese localization of Star Fox Adventures also heavily emphasizes Krystal having telepathic abilities, much more so than in the English version. This is noteworthy because neither Star Fox Assault or Star Fox Command, the next two story follows up to Star Fox Adventures that were developed and written in Japan, made any sort of mention of Cerinia. Star Fox Assault however would hugely emphasize her telepathic abilities, and its manual even describe Krystal the same way the Japanese version of Star Fox Adventures does, just as "a mysterious telepathic woman". This also applies to her trophies in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U that once again make no reference to Cerinia. It's very clear that the developers and writers behind Assault, Command and Smash Bros. in Japan were using the Japanese version of Star Fox Adventures as a reference, as opposed to the English version.

All in all, it would seem Nintendo of Japan had their own differing vision of what Krystal's character was from Rare, that being mostly just as a telepathic woman with a mysterious background, as opposed to Rare's original backstory of her being the lone survivor of her kind.

After the release of Star Fox 64 3D, Dylan Cuthbert and Q-Games had pitched doing a similar style of remake for the original SNES Star Fox title. However, this was turned down by Nintendo.

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.

Prior to his days as Star Fox's ace pilot, Falco Lombardi was originally a member of a space gang known as "FREE AS A BIRD". Katt Monroe was part of this gang as well. In a 2011 Nintendo Dream interview, Takaya Imamura revealed that when Fox was forming his new Star Fox team in the wake of James' death, he heard stories about how good a pilot Falco was as apart of FREE AS A BIRD, and visited him multiple times to try to convince him to join his new team, as he wanted to have an experienced partner due to still being unsure of himself as a leader.

Though originally mentioned in the background lore for the Japanese version of Star Fox 64, FREE AS A BIRD in its entirety would physically appear in "Farewell Beloved Falco", a canonical manga interquel set between Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Adventures that was never localized outside of Japan.

The name "FREE AS A BIRD" is a reference to the song of the same name composed by English rock band The Beatles. This adds up as both Takaya Imamura and Shigeru Miyamoto were reportedly big fans of the band, with General Pepper's design and name also being a reference to their album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".

Star Fox, Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Adventures are the only Star Fox titles to provide official ages for the main characters, primarily within their Japanese ancillary material. In the Original Soundtrack box released for the first game, Fox, Falco, Peppy and Slippy are said to be 25, 28, 36 and 19 respectively. Star Fox 64, being a remake of the first game, would retcon these ages and make Fox 18, Falco 19, Peppy 41 and Slippy 18.

The "Farewell Beloved Falco" midquel manga, which is set right in the middle of the eight years between Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Adventures, also gives the original Star Fox crew ages, with Fox now being 22, Slippy 22, Falco 23, and Peppy 45.

Star Fox Adventures takes place eight years after Star Fox 64, which means that Fox is now 26, Falco 27, Peppy 49 and Slippy 26. Japanese Star Fox Adventures ancillary material also reveals Krystal's age to be 19, making her distinctly the only Star Fox character outside of the original four Star Fox members to have a known age. Going by this, she would be 11 and 15 years old during the events of Star Fox 64 and Farewell Beloved Falco, respectively.

After Adventures' release, Nintendo, specifically Takaya Imamura, made a deliberate decision for future Star Fox games to not provide any official age numbers for any of the characters. However, Star Fox Assault officially is said to take place only year after the events of Star Fox Adventures, so this would make Fox 27, Falco 28, Peppy 50, Slippy 27, and Krystal 20. Similarly, according to Takaya Imamura in a 2007 interview, Star Fox Command takes place 2-3 years after Assault, which would make Fox 29-30, Falco 30-31, Peppy 52-53, Slippy 29-30, and Krystal 22-23.

Although Wolf O'Donnell has never had any age officially listed for him, Takaya Imamura implied on Twitter that he is within the same generation of Peppy and James.

Contrary to popular belief, and also contrary to the Star Fox 64 Official Player's Guide, Solar is not a star, but merely a lava planet with an exposed mantle, according to both the official Japanese guidebooks for Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Command. Even the official Western Star Fox 64 website clarifies it being a planet. The Western localization of Star Fox Command would also reiterate this in-game, with one of its missions on Solar being named "The Red-Hot Planet".

In a 2011 Nintendo Dream magazine interview with the Star Fox 64 3D development staff, Takaya Imamura once again clarified that Solar is a planet, and that the star Lylat exists somewhere in the Lylat System not visible on the map screen. Apparently, the development team did consider changing Solar into being a sun for Star Fox 64 3D, but this was passed over.

According to the official Japanese Star Fox Command guidebook, Slippy's home world is the water planet of Aquas.

According to Shigeru Miyamoto in an edition of Iwata Asks regarding Star Fox 64 3D, Yusuke Amano originally wanted to create an all new Star Fox title for the Nintendo 3DS. However, the higher ups at Nintendo wanted a game that could be released fast for the 3DS' launch window in 2011, whereas a fully original title would require at least three years to make. Thus the project was reduced into a simplistic remake of Star Fox 64. Miyamoto called upon Dylan Cuthbert and Q-Games, who previously had worked on Star Fox Command in for the Nintendo DS in 2006, to assist development.

Prior to Star Fox Zero, there were two attempts in previous installments to revitalize the concept of the Walker from Star Fox 2, or at least the idea of the Arwing transforming into a robot form, those specifically being Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Command, games that both aimed at preserving ideas from the then-long-lost Star Fox 2.

• For Star Fox 64, according to Shigeru Miyamoto in an interview at the end of the Star Fox 64 Official Player's Guide, he wanted to have the Arwing transform into "a human-type craft". This was rejected by other staff members of the SF64 development team. In response, Miyamoto told his team to come up with better ideas, and from there they created the Landmaster and Blue Marine for additional vehicles.

• For Star Fox Command, according to Takaya Imamura in an interview in 2007, the dev team experimented with having the Arwing and other spacecraft transform into robots, but this was ultimately dropped.

On the Japanese website for Star Fox 64, Slippy mentions certain background characters who would appear in future installments:

• Peppy's wife, Vivian Hare. According to Slippy, Peppy took her to planet Zoness for their honeymoon, which explains why Peppy is so distraught at its polluted status in SF64. Vivian would appear in-game for the first time in Star Fox Command, where it's revealed that she and Peppy had a daughter named Lucy, and that Vivian had died of a disease several years prior.

• Slippy's father, Beltino Toad. According to Slippy, Beltino works as an engineer for Space Dynamics, the manufacturer of the Arwing and many of the other vehicles the Star Fox team utilize. Beltino would later appear in-game for the first time in Star Fox Assault, and would later appear in Star Fox Command.

It's worth pointing that unlike Vivian, Beltino was mentioned in western ancillary SF64 material, that being both the official western Star Fox 64 website and the Star Fox 64 Official Player's Guide, where it states that he helped his son Slippy create the Blue Marine.