Star Fox Zero is a 2016 rail shooter game created by Nintendo and PlatinumGames and released for the Wii U by Nintendo. It is the sixth game in the Star Fox series. The game was officially announced at E3 2015 and released in April 2016. It is a new version of Star Fox 64. A separate tower defense game called Star Fox Guard was included with the game.
Critics had mixed opinions about Star Fox Zero. They praised its level design, graphics, and boss battles. However, they criticized the game for being short, not changing much from earlier games in the series, and having difficult controls with the Game Pad and motion controls. Some critics were also divided about how similar the game was to Star Fox 64. Others were disappointed because the game lacked original ideas and did not include a new story.
Gameplay
Star Fox Zero is a 3D rail shooter game that plays similarly to earlier games in the series, such as Star Fox 64. In this game, the player controls Fox McCloud as he flies his Arwing spaceship through different levels. The game uses the Wii U GamePad for controls. The left control stick moves the Arwing, and motion controls help aim weapons. A view of the cockpit is shown on the second screen to help with aiming. The minus button on the GamePad can switch the two screens at any time.
Some vehicles in the game can change shape in certain situations. For example, the Arwing can turn into a bipedal Walker, a type of robot that allows the player to walk on platforms and in enclosed spaces. The Landmaster tank can transform into the Gravmaster, which can fly for short periods. A new vehicle called the Gyrowing is introduced. This drone-like helicopter can drop a small robot named Direct-i, which can enter small spaces, hack computers, or attach to explosive cubes that can be thrown at enemies. Players can also add laser upgrades and smart bombs to their ships. Special moves, such as charge shots, barrel rolls, somersaults, and U-Turns, are available.
The game has two main gameplay modes. In on-rails sections, the player follows a fixed path. In All-Range Mode, the player can move freely within a closed area. The game does not use a life system. If the player’s vehicle is destroyed or a mission objective is not met in some stages, the mission fails, and the player must restart. Gold rings, which help heal the player like silver rings, can be used as continues if three are collected. Levels are divided into phases with checkpoints. If Fox dies or fails a mission, he can retry from the last checkpoint reached if three gold rings are collected.
Characters from previous games return, including Fox’s teammates Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare, and Slippy Toad, who can help protect the player from enemy attacks. The rival team Star Wolf, including Wolf O'Donnell, Leon Powalski, Pigma Dengar, and Andrew Oikonny, also appears. Many locations from earlier games, such as Corneria, Zoness, Titania, Fichina, and Fortuna, return. Five new locations—Sector Alpha, Area 3, Sector Beta, Sector Gamma, and Sector Omega—are added. The game supports Amiibo figures. Scanning the Fox or Falco Amiibo unlocks special versions of the Arwing: the Retro Arwing, based on the original SNES model and unable to lock on but with a larger blast radius, and the Black Arwing, which is faster and stronger but takes more damage. Both Arwings can also be unlocked by earning enough gold medals in the campaign.
Development
The game was created using leftover materials from a Star Fox game for the Wii that was never released. A small team worked on this project since around 2008, but it was canceled because the team could not develop enough new and exciting ideas, as explained by Shigeru Miyamoto, the series creator. The game was officially announced in a press release on June 8, 2014, two days before E3 2014 began. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo on June 10, 2014, a news website shared details about the game early in the day, and Nintendo later announced the title publicly. During Nintendo’s E3 presentation, more information about the game was shared. In an interview with Wired, Miyamoto said he wanted to work with outside developers to finish the project faster.
In an interview with GameSpot, Miyamoto explained that two projects, Project Guard and Project Giant Robot, were connected to a Star Fox game for the Wii U. In March 2016, during a Nintendo Direct presentation, Project Guard was officially named Star Fox Guard and was released alongside Star Fox Zero, both as digital and physical copies. Project Giant Robot was canceled in 2017 and never released.
Miyamoto said the game’s main story and presentation were divided into parts, inspired by the 1960s TV show Thunderbirds. Main missions used traditional Star Fox gameplay, compared to "primetime programming," while side missions with unusual and experimental gameplay, like those in Project Guard and Project Giant Robot, were compared to "late-night programming." Yusuke Hashimoto of PlatinumGames said Nintendo asked them to help develop the game after they requested to add an Arwing-themed bonus level to Bayonetta 2. Hideki Kamiya of PlatinumGames had previously wanted Nintendo to ask them to create a new Star Fox game. Nintendo stated that the story of Star Fox Zero is not a prequel or sequel to earlier Star Fox games.
Release
In December 2014, Miyamoto said that Star Fox Zero would be released before the next game in The Legend of Zelda series in 2016. He also said the game would work with Amiibo, but he did not explain how. Star Fox was playable at E3 2015, and Miyamoto repeated the use of the GamePad and monitor for gameplay, which would "allow movie-like scenes to mix with ongoing action." Nintendo planned to release the game on November 20, 2015, but it was delayed until the first quarter of 2016. The game was released in North America and Europe on April 22, 2016, and in Australia the next day.
Before the game's release, Nintendo of America started a contest called the "Star Fox Zero Intergalactic Art Event" that same month. People entered by creating fan art for Star Fox Zero and sharing it on the game's Miiverse page. The top 40 entries won Nintendo eShop credit. A Star Fox Zero home menu theme for the Nintendo 3DS was released two days before the game's launch. An animated short titled Star Fox Zero: The Battle Begins was posted online on April 20. The short was made by Japanese animation studio Wit Studio, with help from Production I.G and Nintendo. The 3D CGI animation was done by Orange. In July, a free demo of the game was available on the Wii U eShop. The demo included the training mode from the full game and the animated short Star Fox Zero: The Battle Begins.
The game's credits include a small tribute to former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who passed away during the game's development. When asked if Star Fox Zero could be released on the Nintendo Switch, Atsushi Inaba of PlatinumGames said they did not know if it could happen and that Nintendo had not contacted them about it. However, in a later interview with VGC, he said they would consider porting the game to Switch if the opportunity arose.
Reception
Star Fox Zero received mixed reviews from players and critics, according to the website Metacritic, which collects and summarizes game reviews. Many reviewers discussed the game's control system, the short length of the main story, and how its structure was similar to older games in the series.
Jose Otero from IGN praised the game's levels and bosses, saying Star Fox Zero reimagined a classic Nintendo 64 game. However, he criticized the controls as awkward. Damien McFerran from Nintendo Life noted that players must be patient to learn the controls, which he compared to those in Splatoon. Peter Brown of GameSpot said the controls forced players to split their attention between the TV and the GamePad. However, he found the second time playing the game more enjoyable than the first, praising the game's branching paths and level design.
Other reviewers disliked the mandatory motion-based controls, calling them frustrating or harmful to the gaming experience. David Roberts of GamesRadar said the game suffered because it focused too much on using the Wii U's GamePad features, even when they did not improve the gameplay. Arthur Gies of Polygon did not give the game a final score because he found the controls so unpleasant that he could not finish the game.
Reviewers had different opinions about the game's length and its similarity to Star Fox 64. McFerran said the game felt familiar, which he considered a positive thing. However, Ray Carsillo of EGM said the game did not offer new or exciting ideas, and he was disappointed that it reimagined an older game instead of creating a new one. Steve Watts of Shacknews said the alternate vehicle missions, which made the game different from older titles, distracted from the main gameplay. McFerran concluded that Star Fox Zero was as good as the classic Nintendo 64 version. Dan Ryckert of Giant Bomb thought the game felt outdated, like a game from 2002.
On April 19, 2016, Star Fox Zero was the most preordered game on Amazon.com, a position it held for two days. In Japan, the game sold 8,135 copies as a standalone title and 17,114 copies as part of the Star Fox Guard Double Pack. These numbers placed the game fifth and eighth in sales for that week, respectively. Combined, the two versions sold 25,249 units, making it the fourth best-selling game that week. In other regions, it was sixth in the United Kingdom, third in France, and fifth in Australia. According to the NPD Group, which tracks physical game sales, Star Fox Zero was the fifth best-selling game in April across all platforms. However, sales were weak in Japan, where it became the least successful game in the franchise in the country.