With Star Fox 64 getting a recent remake, plenty of eyes are back on one of Nintendo’s most underrated franchises. Of course, part of the reason it’s underrated is that Nintendo refuses to make new games starring Fox McCloud and his crew. Still, Star Fox hasn’t seen this much love in at least a decade, which means newer fans might be wondering about the series’ long history. Below, I’ve put together a quick list of five Star Fox facts that most fans have probably missed, even if they have been around since the Super Nintendo original.
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5) Fox McCloud Does Have A Mom
We know a ton about Fox McCloud’s father, James. The legendary pilot was the founder of the Star Fox team, but died at the hands of Andross after his former friend, Pigma, turned on him. His heroic deeds set the stage for his son Fox to take over his team and fight back against Andross’ evil forces. On the other hand, Nintendo rarely mentions Fox’s mom
In fact, the only place we really saw her mentioned for several years was in the 1993 tie-in comic that was published in Nintendo Power. There, she is called Vixy Reinard, and it is revealed that Andross killed her as well. However, Takaya Imamura would later say that those comics are not canon. Instead, Fox’s mom (who hasn’t been officially named in canon) is alive and well on Fox’s home planet, Papetoon. She and Fox are seemingly estranged because he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps.
4) The Training Mode Tanuki’s Potential Criminal Enterprise
Yaru de Pon is a tanuki that only appears in Star Fox 64 and its remakes. You’ll only encounter him during that game’s Training Mode, so it’s not too surprising that most players wouldn’t think twice about him. If you dig a little deeper, there are some hints that Yaru de Pon might not be completely above board. In the Japanese Star Fox 64 website and the Holoviewer profile in the 2026 remake, we learn that de Pon is actually the president of Space Dynamics, a company that builds weapons and vehicles.
That doesn’t sound too bad, but Slippy says on that old website that de Pon is “scheming,” but also says he shouldn’t say things like that out loud. This implies that de Pon might be selling his goods to both sides of the Lylat Wars conflict, profiting from both sides via under-the-table deals. The theory is given more weight when you realize that Yaru de Pon’s name might be a reference to Henry du Pont, who became ridiculously wealthy selling gunpowder. Supposedly, du Pont was selling to both sides of the Civil War, which would be a fitting reference if the assumptions about de Pon are true.
3) Fox Almost Appeared in Mario & Luigi
Here’s a fun one that you can confirm yourself if you want to dig through the files of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. That classic RPG is filled with fun references, but Fox McCloud and crew were almost added to the mix, too. In fact, the developers went so far as to create sprites of several characters, which can still be found in the game’s code.
Unfortunately, the Mario & Luigi team ran out of time and had to leave it on the cutting room floor. Again, the sprites and animation of the characters are technically in the code, but Professor E. Gadd has replaced the Star Fox team. Fans have gone back and restored the content, adding Fox, Peppy, and Slippy to the sequence. It’ll take some work to play yourself, so you’ll probably be better off just watching a YouTube video. Thankfully, there are plenty of other cameos for the Star Fox crew across Nintendo’s catalog, but it would’ve been neat to see Fox pop up in Superstar Saga.
2) Why There’s Only One Underwater Level in Star Fox 64
You might wonder why there’s an underwater level at all in Star Fox 64. After all, the series is all about flying a spaceship and dogfighting against enemy ships. However, the developers at Star Fox 64 wanted to change things up. That’s why Fox and the crew dive into the water on Aquos and jump into the Landmaster to bring the fight to the ground. It is kind of strange that there’s only one water level, though.
There’s actually a good reason for that. Nintendo originally wanted to have more water levels as a way to change up the pace. In fact, there were a few more included in the original version of the game, but playtesters reported that fighting underwater was sluggish, taking them out of the action for far too long. Nintendo decided to reverse course and change out most of the levels. Thankfully, Aquos survived, giving Nintendo that quick change of pace it wanted.
1) The European Name Change
If you played Star Fox 64 in Europe, you might not know it by that name. That’s because Nintendo decided to call it Lylat Wars in the PAL regions. What you might not know is the weird reason behind that name change. It actually comes down to a German company most people have never heard of.
See, there was a company named StarVox, and Nintendo was worried that, when pronounced with a German accent, Star Fox would sound too much like that company. Nintendo decided it didn’t want to deal with a potential lawsuit and changed the name to Lylat Wars. And just to make things even easier, the name was changed throughout Europe, keeping the brand the same across Europe. This is also why the first Star Fox is known as Starwing in Europe, but as of Star Fox Adventures, the series has been brought under the same banner worldwide.
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