New Star Fox Game On Its Way?

Nintendo has been quietly developing a brand-new Star Fox game. This new game is going to allegedly bring in old and new elements in a soft reboot.

By Jason Collins | Published

star fox

A new Star Fox game is reportedly in development over at Nintendo, aiming to release on all versions of Nintendo’s newest handheld console, which is something that the fans have been hoping for, for years. It appears that Nintendo didn’t know what to do with the franchise, which has since fallen by the wayside, despite good sales and a faithful fanbase. However, the newest reports suggest that Nintendo is collaborating with a third-party studio to grant the fans’ wishes.

According to ComicBook.com, a prominent Nintendo insider and a reliable source regarding Persona titles shared that a third-party studio is developing a Star Fox game under Nintendo’s close supervision. However, the source hasn’t disclosed which outside studio is developing the game due to them not being able to track the development, but they did say that it isn’t PlatinumGames, the studio in charge of the Nier: Automata, and Bayonetta series, the latter of which recently received a censorship mod.

The source described the new Star Fox game as both the sequel and a reboot of the series — usually called a soft reboot — with some new elements added to the game, like the multiplayer mode. Soft reboots are a fantastic way to reimagine a gaming title, and 2018’s God of War is a good example of a well-executed soft reboot. On the opposite side of that scale would be 2013’s DmC: Devil May Cry, which had horrible initial impressions but managed to gain favorable reviews post-release.

For those unfamiliar with Star Fox, we’re talking about an arcade-style rail shooter and a third-person action-adventure gaming series created by Shigeru Miyamoto — the same game creator who nearly gave Super Mario Kart a really horrible name. The original Star Fox, the first game of the series, was released in 1993, and it followed a combat team of anthropomorphic animals called Star Fox, led by chief protagonist Fox McCloud. It also used a SuperFX Chip, an additional math co-processor built into the game cartridge that helped the SNES console better render its graphics.

Unfortunately, despite great sales and a faithful fan base, Nintendo never really invested in the franchise, which had nine mainline releases. The most recent release was Star Fox 2, a direct sequel to the original game, which was originally canceled even though it was finished. It was later officially released as part of the Super NES Classic Edition — a miniaturized and modernized version of the original SNES console — with 21 SNES titles pre-installed, Star Fox 2 included.

As for the purported Star Fox soft-reboot, Nintendo plans to make the franchise a part of its overall media strategy going forward, along with several other properties and a newly acquired animation studio, Nintendo Pictures. Of course, the information regarding the soft reboot and the future of the franchise should be taken in with a grain of salt. The source might be reputable, but the information hasn’t been officially confirmed, and above everything else, it’s subject to change. It’s highly unlikely that an official Star Fox announcement could go unnoticed; thus, we’ll keep you updated as new information becomes available.