Starfox Wii U

[FMW]

There have been a couple of rumors now that Retro Studios is working on Starfox for the Wii U. Since we don't know of anything else they're working on, and because this rumor has been floated out two or three times over the last year from different anonymous sources, I think it's probably happening. Ask most anonymous video game enthusiasts on the internet what they want from Starfox and you'll hear something to the tune of "Make it like Starfox 64, Nintendo keeps changing things and making the franchise worse." I'm not going to disagree that Starfox 64 is the high watermark for the franchise, but I think that the three Starfox games that have been released since then have had good parts that can and should be brought to the next main title.

 

Did anyone here buy Starfox 64 3D? If there's a lesson to learn from that game, it's that the N64 game design really doesn't cut it in our modern market. For a retail title Starfox 64 3D was light on content, light on narrative, and unless you really got into score attacks it probably wasn't worth full retail price. This thread is for people to talk about what they do and do not want out of the future of Starfox. I'll kick things off with a list of features from recent Starfox games I hope don't get lost in whatever the next game is.

 

1. Starfox Adventures introduced two things I hope to see in the next Starfox. The character Krystal (giving the cast a much needed female character), and controls for walking around that don't suck. Starfox Adventures actually controlled pretty well, and the melee combat felt satisfying (even Tim Rogers liked it!). If the next Starfox includes gameplay on foot (and I sincerely hope it does) then Starfox Adventures is where the team should look for inspiration.

 

2. Starfox Assault is a franchise entry many people complain about, but I think the framework for a modern Starfox game is mostly here. The controls on foot and in the tank were pretty terrible, but that seems to have distracted people from some really good parts. In particular, I hope Starfox Wii U includes the open ended levels from Starfox Assault. Many single player missions in Assault allowed free use of the Arwing, the Landmaster, and any number of increasingly ridiculous handguns. You could approach enemies from any angle you wanted in whatever order you wanted using whatever tools you wanted. That was cool.

 

The other thing from Starfox Assault that should stick around is the local multiplayer. It was all the fun of those free roaming single player missions, but with a seemingly bottomless barrel of weapon, map, and character unlocks to reward you every five or ten games. I don't think this style of multiplayer would be as fun online though, it's very prone to people finding the best exploits to win and just sticking to those. It's very important that Starfox maintains an offline multiplayer.

 

3. Starfox Command was very different from the rest of the franchise. Some of those strange design decisions left fans feeling cold, but some of them were totally awesome! Without question I think that every character should have his/her own unique aircraft and music again. Starfox has always done a good job with characterization, making these little animal puppets into recognizable personalities. In Starfox Command these personalities were reflected in the way the character played. Falco has no health but can spin practically forever. Slippy can't spin to save his life and can't hit anything smaller than a barn, but has a ton of health and more bomb slots than anyone else in the game. Fox is an everyman with a standard Arwing, and Wolf is basically just Fox with an unfair boost in every statistic. The music also went a long way towards defining the characters. Falco and Krystal in particular have themes that are both memorable and fitting.

 

The other thing I would definitely want to see back from Starfox Command is the expanded list of characters. Not only did Starfox Command introduce a ton of new characters, they were all playable. I say that future games should expand on that even more. Keep growing the menagerie of colorful animal personalities please.

 

How about you folks? Where would you like to see Starfox go, in particular on the Wii U?

[Battra92]

You know, I feel Starfox Adventures never got much love. Personally I thought it was great. I don't know that I want to play it again but maybe one of these days I should.

[fuchikoma]

I've always wanted a Starfox sequel that carries on from Starfox 1. The levels vary hugely, but you start, finish and do everything else flying an Arwing. I have Starfox 64 on 3DS - haven't finished it, but to me it feels really uninspired compared to the first game and controlling the tank is just painful. I miss the black hole, Out of This World, Sector X/Y/Z, Macbeth, the Space Armada and all the crazy stuff from Starfox.

 

But... I've pretty much come to terms with the fact that the game I want isn't happening. Dylan Cuthbert has even talked about how he wanted to make it, but Miyamoto always has new twists and ideas to plug into the series. Now Cuthbert is completely out of the picture, so I'm giving up on it. 64 3D was the last chance, but I've spent too much now on Starfox games that don't deliver.

 

Sorry if this just comes across as a bitter rant, but Starfox is my "Sonic the Hedgehog" if you know what I mean. If there's any game I'd just want them to return to basics for, and if there's any game they just won't do that for, it's this. The closest I can find is Child of Eden and 2D bullet hell games since unidirectional 3D rail shooters are an anomaly that's only happened a few times.