Star Fox programmer says he’s sure the series will return
Dylan Cuthbert also explains why he feels the sequels didn’t capture the feeling of the original
Star Fox programmer Dylan Cuthbert says he’s sure the series will return at some point.
Cuthbert previously worked at Argonaut Software and was one of the main programmers on the original Star Fox (aka Starwing).
Despite being one of Nintendo‘s most recognisable brands, there hasn’t been a new Star Fox game in seven years – the last was Star Fox Zero on Wii U, which was met with a mixed critical response.
In a recent interview with VGC, we asked Cuthbert if he expected to see Star Fox coming back at some point soon.
Cuthbert replied that he did, but stressed that he didn’t feel previous Star Fox games had managed to capture the feel of the first game.
“Oh, I’m sure [it’ll return]”, Cuthbert told us. “I mean, they keep trying, don’t they? They keep trying, not quite achieving the original.
“But I think that’s one thing – my opinion is that the original was born out of the UK Amiga-style 3D at the time, games like Star Glider or Carrier Command. It was born out of those and a bit of the Star Wars Arcade game, combined with Namco’s Starblade.
“And then there was all the Nintendo character building, all the characters and stuff, making it very family friendly.”
Cuthbert explained that, in his opinion, modern Star Fox games have each missed at least one of these elements, meaning none have recaptured the tone of the original.
“It’s the combination of all those things that I suppose was what made Star Fox what it was,” he told us. “So some of the more recent titles – maybe, say, the Namco version, for example – are all great games, but there’s always that one element missing, that sort of UK old-school 3D shooting game element missing from it.
“So that one was very slick – they got the Starblade side of it perfect, but it’s a combination of all [elements], you kind of need it all in there to make it work.
“And then, of course, the one that Rare made, Star Fox Adventures, that was also a good attempt but that was too British, it didn’t have the Starblade side of it.
“So I think Star Fox is a very complex title, because you’ve got to have all those elements in place, and that gives it the atmosphere it needs to make it really work.”
Further reading
Interview: Takaya Imamura, the artist behind Star Fox and F-Zero, speaks out
Last year Star Fox character designer Takaya Imamura called on Nintendo to port Wii U title Star Fox Zero to the Switch, something its developer PlatinumGames has said it’s open to doing.
Asked if he was bored of talking about Star Fox after all these years, Cuthbert noted to us that he was wearing a Star Fox shirt, then replied: “I think it’s still a pretty original title really, isn’t it?
“There isn’t really an equivalent game to Star Fox even now, so I think that’s why it’s kind of stuck around and kept in people’s minds. It’s weird, but it’s remained a fairly unique title and I think that’s really cool.
“But I’m not bored of Star Fox, really. It was a fun project, it was fun to make, I was very young at the time but it was just a really good experience all around. Just one year of development time, everything packed in there, and there was only really a handful of us working on it.”
