StarGlider

Star Fox is one of the most technically impressive games on the SNES, and was a collaboration between Nintendo and UK-based Argonaut Software. We've covered the making of the game in the past, but Unseen64 has an excellent in-depth history of its little-known forerunner, NesGlider.

Based on the 1986 Atari ST and Amiga title StarGlider, NesGlider was a proof-of-concept project which was intended to show Nintendo what 3D games could look like on its hardware, and hopefully earn Argonaut some lucrative work. Argonaut also created a SNES version of the prototype, which can be seen in the video below.

NesGlider ended up being a bit slow and sluggish, and this would convince Nintendo to work with Argonaut on the Super FX chip, which would be included inside games to augment the SNES' 3D capabilities. This chip would be included in Star Fox, Stunt Race FX and other Super FX games.

When Nintendo decided to throw its weight behind NesGlider, Shigeru Miyamoto came on board and quickly built a team which would give the title a "Nintendo" touch. The result was Star Fox.

Argonaut's relationship with Nintendo wouldn't last however, and the company soldiered on alone, creating 3D games like Croc, Buck Bumble and Red Dog. The company was dissolved in 2006, but some of its more famous employees - Dylan Cuthbert and Giles Goddard - have since gone on to become major players in the Japanese development scene, founding Q-Games (Star Fox Command) and Vitei (Steel Diver: Sub Wars) respectively.

[source unseen64.net]