Star Fox: Rebooting the Franchise

[Mido]

Star Fox as a series is by no means one of Nintendo's flagship franchises, but still remains a recognizable face among its peers. With the release of Star Fox: Zero, the epic space saga was set for another reboot with its delving into the Lylat Wars once again. If Star Fox was to continue from this point, where would any of you like it to go? If you think the series should simply remain dormant, feel free to say why! (Since at this point, it may not be the worst idea.)

Spoiler: My Response

Before Star Fox: Zero's announcement, I hoped that Nintendo/Q-Games at the time would do something in the fashion of Shadow the Hedgehog in which a true ending was established to keep the lore going, ultimately taking bits and pieces from feasible endings and rolling with them. My personal idea from many years ago entailed the dawn of a new generation of Star Fox, essentially fighting another Lylat War (not against Andross), but with more variety in the fray in terms of a complete package, but that is a story for another day. (I would end up rambling all day about this idea.)

Realistically, if the series was to continue, I would attempt to follow a similar approach to Nintendo with what they did pre-Star Fox 64 in slowly unraveling more about the Star Fox universe with new characters and storylines while keeping the core gameplay the same, while also adding new mechanics à la Star Fox 2 and the walker mode. By keeping the core of the series intact, I would assume that less people would have been turned off to the direction of the series as what happened in some respects with Adventures.

 

[Dio]

Star fox just doesnt sell well like the heavy hitting franchises of Nintendo. SF:Zero did not even make back production costs. Perhaps having a small less expensive team work on the games could be a good thing to make a bit of money for Nintendo but if they do continue to make games they do need to realise Star Fox is going to be a minor franchise. I dont see it ever becoming big.

 

[Castle]

Reboot *what* ???

Every Starfox game is literally a remake of the SNES original. Those that aren't aren't even in the same genre so some argue they're starfox in name only at best.

Rail Shooters are pretty straightforward and really only require a simple premise at best in terms of story. It's not like Starfox has amassed a library of lore over the years and its core gameplay concepts are so simple and solid they don't require redefining. Of all of Nintendo's franchises Starfox along with F-Zero are the only ones that can be rehashed over and over again because Rail Shooters and Racers just aren't that involved.

Nintendo has done a good job adding features onto Starfox (when they're not trying to shove it into entirely different genres) the same way they have with Mario Kart. MK's done pretty well for itself so would it make sense to "reboot" Mario Kart? It's kinda not something you can do.

I guess you could do like a "rebranding" which reboots basically are. But instead of retconing everything just give it a facelife. New logo, redesign the characters, the vehicles, the graphics- ya know? The same thing Sega's been doing with Sonic for the last 20 years. This is usually an attempt to make it appeal to a new demographic. Not sure Starfox needs that.

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

i never wanted a reboot of star fox, i always wanted some kind continuation of the 64/gamecube games

AT THE VERY LEAST,I want assault's voice cast back,b/c those guys were just perfect

 

[the8thark]

Every Starfox game is literally a remake of the SNES original.

That about sums it up. Nintendo made the best Starfox game ever on the SNES and jsut rebooted it a bunch of times to different consoles.

 

[Spirit]

Star Fox.... A franchise I want to like because its rather unique and the only rail shooter still going.

But for a game about planes, it doesn't seem to be able to get off of the ground.

I have 2 options if I were to reboot Star Fox and make it work.

1. Make it a free roaming MMO. Take out the rail shooting. Have large planets and space dogfights that you can jump into and leave whenever.
Receive a distress call from a fellow player on Venom while you're in Corneria, answer the call and warp jump to Venom, or go the scenic route and take your time. Leave Cornerian atmosphere and arrive in space, help out some other players en route to Venom.

Get some friends for raid missions and get better specs and weapons etc.

Start with the Lylat system and then add expansions like Destiny and add new star systems each time


Or

2. Keep Star Fox in 64 mode (here meaning decent and not being ruined by hardware)

Make it an intense rails shooter with great graphics and memorable moments.... AND MAKE IT ANNUAL.

The problem with Star Fox is that it takes so long to have a new instalment that Nintendo think that we need an origins refresher story.

If the series was annual then Star Fox could actually tell more than the Wing/64/zero plotline

 

[CrimsonCavalier]

This is a franchise that is the poster child of Nintendo getting it wrong. The SNES version was and is everyone's favorites, and Nintendo has tried to recapture that magic, and it just can't. The game needs to evolve. On rail space shooters are just not en vogue anymore. Move on, and take the franchise higher. It can be a big hitter, if it were done right.

What the game needs is a reboot, not a rehash. It needs to be removed from rails, and made into a real space shooter, with incredible, massive space dogfights. I keep picturing in my head Rogue Squadron, but with Star Fox characters. Have tons of stuff going on around you, giant space cruisers exploding in view, as you dodge debris and other fighters. Real-time events are relayed by your squadmates. "Come help us in sector 1.53A!" or something like that. And mix it up: have some missions in space, maybe orbiting a planet, and then have another mission within the planet's atmosphere. Maybe have a few different types of aircraft. Have some "seek and destroy" missions, and maybe some "escort" type ones. Hell, you could even have some optional side-quests that involve you landing on a planet and going by foot, in order to acquire an upgrade for your ship or something.

But quit retelling the story. We're tired of it. The franchise sucks right now. And Nintendo has in their arsenal the perfect franchise to make a really awesome space shooter, but instead, they don't.

 

[Mido]

i never wanted a reboot of star fox, i always wanted some kind continuation of the 64/gamecube games

AT THE VERY LEAST,I want assault's voice cast back,b/c those guys were just perfect

This is pretty much what I wanted before Zero was announced. Assault's story direction and the aftermath had a decent store of untapped potential with its slightly darker tone. (And yes, the voice actors were great for the roles, especially Peppy in my opinion.)

But quit retelling the story. We're tired of it. The franchise sucks right now. And Nintendo has in their arsenal the perfect franchise to make a really awesome space shooter, but instead, they don't.

I absolutely agree with this. While I don't necessarily think the gameplay needs an overhaul as Castle touched upon a bit, the story especially needs to get moving. Perhaps I place a tad too much stock in Star Fox as a franchise, but developing its lore throughout the games should have been critical. One great example of this was the Goodbye, Beloved Falco manga, which explored the events leading up to Falco's temporary hiatus from the team going into Adventures while also creating a solid story. This sort of story is what has been sorely missed from the series in many respects. It was getting there after Assault, but Command left the series in a confusing place.

 

[CrimsonCavalier]

I absolutely agree with this. While I don't necessarily think the gameplay needs an overhaul as Castle touched upon a bit, the story especially needs to get moving. Perhaps I place a tad too much stock in Star Fox as a franchise, but developing its lore throughout the games should have been critical. One great example of this was the Goodbye, Beloved Falco manga, which explored the events leading up to Falco's temporary hiatus from the team going into Adventures while also creating a solid story. This sort of story is what has been sorely missed from the series in many respects. It was getting there after Assault, but Command left the series in a confusing place.

It doesn't seem to me that the story has ever been a main focus of the series. However, with a reboot, they could change that. Start a new story, with the same beloved characters, and actually do something with them. I'm not expecting—or even demanding—Mass Effect level of story telling or character development, but for the sake of all that is good and true in the world, do something better than what you've done so far.