Original Star Fox Designer Shares New 30th Anniversary Art
On February 21st, 1993, Star Fox released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The game launched a beloved franchise for Nintendo, and introduced audiences to popular characters like Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Slippy Toad, and Peppy Hare. Star Fox was a critical and commercial success for Nintendo, and helped push the SNES' abilities thanks to the inclusion of the Super FX chip. To celebrate the franchise's 30th anniversary, artist Takaya Imamura shared a new piece of art featuring Fox McCloud. It's a very cool piece, and a nice way of honoring a classic SNES game!
The art from Imamura can be found in the Tweet embedded below.
フォックス！３０年以上僕を支えてくれてありがとう！そして君の登場するゲームに関わったすべての人！ありがとう！
— 今村孝矢 / Takaya Imamura (@ima_1966) February 20, 2023
Thank you for supporting me for over 30 years, Fox! And everyone involved in the games you've appeared in! Thank you!
#スターフォックス #starfox pic.twitter.com/NFgeCZb4T5
Shigeru Miyamoto came up with the idea of using animals for the game, including a fox as the protagonist. However, it was Imamura that created the designs for all four members of the Star Fox team, and came up with the rest of the animals that would be featured. Over the last 30 years, the Star Fox team members have gotten a couple of minor design revisions, but remain quite faithful to Imamura's original concepts. The team has gone on to star in several sequels, as well as games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Starlink: Battle for Atlas.
Unfortunately, the Star Fox team has been out of action for quite some time now! Nintendo has not created a new Star Fox game since 2016's Star Fox Zero, which released on the Wii U. Fans have been clamoring for a new Star Fox game ever since, and there has been a lot of talk about the best way to revive the series. In a 2021 interview with GameXplain, Star Fox co-programmer Giles Goddard shared his belief that the series has focused too much on gimmicks over the years, and needs a more back-to-basics approach. Whether that will be the way Nintendo handles the next game remains to be seen. For now, Nintendo Switch fans will just have to settle for playing the original three Star Fox games, which are available through Nintendo Switch Online!
Are you a fan of the original Star Fox? Do you want to see a new game? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter and on Hive at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!