Topic: Emily Rogers On Star Fox Franchise

@Scar
Technology alone will not help Star Fox overcome its struggles. (That's my point. I hope you're getting the picture now.)

You're comparing apples to oranges. That's like comparing Call of Duty 4 to Portal.

Star Fox Assault's online would have been awful. Especially considering Nintendo's track record thus far.

I understand that technology alone won't help Starfox be successful, but it's still an under utilized IP that is still recognized. I'm not comparing Apples to oranges. I'm comparing a green grape to a red grape, an orange to a grapefruit, or a peanut to a cashew.

Nintendo's online track record is directly derivative of how well GCN did. They planned to have online be a bigger aspect, but it wasn't worth pushing any further with PS2 as the market leader. It's not that hard to understand.

@Scar Recognized? Yes, but marketable? I really don't think there's much impact those characters and setting would have on store shelves. Arguably Sonic is "cooler" these days but even Sonic Boom I think is pushing it to try to get kids into those characters and setting. 90s cartoons are hard to repopularize in my opinion, specifically that decade's IP.

@Scar

No, you're comparing the fact that both Halo and Star Fox Assault have guns and turning around to say: Star Fox can compete with triple A games on other consoles. That doesn't make sense.

The GameCube's struggle to compete with the PlayStation 2 isn't solely due to the company's lack of online support. It's not that hard to understand. (Don't get off topic now.)

Pro tip: Reading the article in full allows you to understand it better.

Okay. Cool.

And this isn't a red grape green grape situation, this is two series that actually can grow as games, and one that can't unless it changes drastically.

That being said, I loved the Arwing missions in Assault, all four of them. But for there to be another StarFox game Nintendo will have to change something, and we all know how good Nintendo is at not changing what used to work.

I would disagree that Gears of War really has anywhere left to go creatively unless it overhauls its formula. That series may be even more stagnant than Star Fox.

You know, why not make Starfox like Ace Combat? WITH FURRIES!!!

I had the amusing image in my head of Star Fox with Gears of War gameplay. You could call it Star War! Oh... oh, wait... Disney might not be happy about that, actually.

There are lots of things that can be done with Star Fox. Also, no one's saying it needs to be a big-budget extravaganza. The eShop needs exclusives, too, you know. Put it there, charge us $25, the fans will go crazy.

Emily really makes a fair point how Star Fox can be adapted into something new (3rd person action with proper cover based shooting, on-rails flying and even some free flying exploration) while still feeling like a Star Fox game, I think she is wrong that Star Fox only sells with an add-on or gimmick to me its a bit of a rash assumption, I mean she points out in the article the real reason this was the case whether intentional or not. The reason I feel home console Star Fox 64 sold worse is the lower install base, Star Fox Adventures poor reception by fans directly affecting the sales of Star Fox Assault (which really wasn't to bad just needed more flying segments and cover based shooting) it also didn't help that Assault came out in 2005 when most people were anticipating the arrival of new consoles.

Here's an idea... follow the Steel Divers Sub Wars F2P model but add spaceships and StarFox. Instant hit with the fans and an excellent way to revitalize the franchise.

sounds about right, in my opinion

Yeah, either release a smaller-scale game on the eShop. I have to agree with Emily on the notion that Star Fox may not sell well as a full $60 game unless Nintendo tried something new with it.

I completely agree with this. Why not make it a side scrolling shoot 'em up or something similar. Nintendo could certainly flesh out their release schedule with smaller titles from neglected franchises. I know their philosophy is to make retail releases of big budget games, but going "old school" would allow them to utilize old IPs and get a few more sales.

maybe they could even leave the original formula untouched BUT making it just a part of the game instead of being it whole.

The original Star Fox was not a "glorified tech demo." It was a full game that happened to be the first game to use that technology. I guess Mario 64 was a glorified tech demo for the N64. Here's how you do a platformer in 3D. Nevermind that it's a full game. It was their first N64 game, so it's a glorified tech demo.

How do we conclude that Star Fox 64 was bought because of the rumble pack? That must be why so many remember the game so fondly. They loved that their controllers kind of shaked a little bit sometimes. It wasn't that the game was fun and had more charm than any before it.

Star Fox being added to Dinosaur Planet halfway into development does not seem a sign of the Star Fox team running out of ideas and latching onto trends. The game was already in development and had nothing to do with Star Fox, so the decision to make a third-person adventure game had nothing to do with Star Fox needing to follow trends.

I don't know how Star Fox 64's game length is a problem, either. I can't think of many games in other genres on N64 that took much longer. And like most other N64 games, its longevity was in multiplayer (and replays, which most games were not as good for as Star Fox was).

I don't disagree that a rail shooter may be a hard sell at full price, but the points leading up to it just seem to be reaching for explanations because the writer wanted a pattern that isn't there. The new Star Fox games after 64 failed because they were bad games. Star Fox 64 3D didn't sell well because you could just pay $10 and get it on virtual console, and most people at the time didn't have a 3DS anyway.

I think a focus on a really strong online multiplayer while maintaining a 64-like story mode would make a good Star Fox that people would buy. It's not like Star Fox 64's short mission mode means a new entry can't have a longer story. Star Fox's multiplayer probably needs more players to be interesting again, though. The four-player dogfights in Command felt kind of empty. My dream would be something like Warhawk/Starhawk, but more realistically, just a four-on-four battle mode would be pretty great.

I think it's great that there is an article giving attention to the Star Fox problem, because there is definitely a problem, but it feels like drawing conclusions and working backwards from them to make them make sense.

That was after reading the article. Now reading the comments here...

A side-scrolling shoot em up from Nintendo would be welcome, but I don't know that Star Fox fits. I find it hard to imagine having a team with me on screen and having a dialog over a 2D shooter. I don't know why. But unless they can get that aspect to work, it's not Star Fox. Star Fox 64 lives on almost entirely because of the voice acting. That's not to take away from a fun game. The article makes a validish point that the game play does not add much new... but video games offer more than game play, and Star Fox 64 in particular did this.

The problem Nintendo faces is what to do next with the series. Can they really risk making a full-scale game or make a smaller release on the eShop?

With that said, I'm surprised they don't take advantage of their lesser franchises and make new releases on the eShop

@Chrono_Cross
I said how they were similar, and that Starfox would have to be changed to match todays standards, in which case, it would have to measure up to games like that. I don't think you realize that I'm agreeing with you more than you think. Also, I'm not saying GCN failed, because of lack of online. I was bringing up that Nintendo probably didn't push online, because it wasn't worth the effort in a scenario where they lose to PS2 either way. If you blame Nintendo's online for something, at least realize GCN not being successful had something to do with it.

@Aviator
I'm agreeing woth you. I said this like 3 times now. I know they would have to change the game alot. I was just saying that I think Assault had the core of what a new Starfox should be, while still realizing they would have to change and overhaul it to be comparable to something more suited for 8th gen. Nintendo would be making jump from 6th to 8th gen by rebooting Starfox.

I actually agree with the reboot suggestion. Star Fox Command really made things confusing, Storywise...they really need to start over. Plus, Star Fox 64 was a reboot, so hey.