Japanese gaming publication Famitsu recently produced an insightful interview about the SNES Mini and the legendary games included on the system. One of the games mentioned was the mythical Star Fox 2. The magazine spoke to Kazuhiro Maruyama from Hardware development department, Takao Shimizu from the Planning and development department, and Kazuyoshi Nishi from the Business department. Here’s what they had to say (translated by Siliconera) about the more than welcome inclusion of Star Fox 2 on the SNES Mini.
Famitsu: Could you tell us how including the mythical Star Fox 2 on the Super Nintendo Classic Edition became a reality?
Takao Shimizu, Planning and development: From the beginning when we were thinking what we would add to a hypothetical SNES Classic, one of the issues were the titles that utilized the Super-FX chip, such as Star Fox and Yoshi’s Island. Of course, we knew about Star Fox 2, and we were talking about adding those titles if we could emulate the Super-FX chip.
Kazuhiro Maruyama, Hardware development: At the time, we didn’t know if the emulator would work or not.
Shimizu: In the end, we wouldn’t know unless we let NERD (Nintendo European Research & Development) try their hand at it, so they tried to work it out on the side while developing the NES Classic. Something else that was crucial was that we found the completed data for Star Fox 2 that still existed, in both Japanese and English.
Nishi: That really was important.
Shimizu: The source code still existed as well, so we thought we could finally work on it properly. Producer Shimada and the director of Star Fox 2, Eguchi negotiated with Miyamoto, and handed the data to NERD. After that, Super-FX chip emulation started.
Famitsu: Star Fox 2 is being released for the first time, so did you treat it differently compared to other titles on the SNES Classic?
Maruyama: Firstly, we tested to see if it was objectively fun to play. Just in case, maybe, the game was better off left as a myth. (laughs)
Shimizu: But the results showed that it was good, so it got included.
And there had better be enough stock of that thing so everyone gets to experience a game once thought lost.
Yeah…stock…
I still haven’t seen any SNES Classics in stores since launch day. Good thing I got one on launch. I’d be SO ticked off right now. However, I still want a second one so I can experiment with hacking it. Something I’ve never done before. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll EVER see these in stores.
I believe that you will find another Mini SNES down the line. lol
I’m more curious about whether they’ll treat this as part of their new lore. If they’re working on a new Star Fox it’d be interesting to see them go off of SF 2.
While not as fun as the original, I still really enjoyed Star Fox 2. I feel like some people were a little hard on it.
I personally prefered 2 over 1, actually. I can’t quite explain why, but I didn’t really warm up with Star Fox 1 (it was probably the little things, like a missing aiming reticle, that bothered me). Star Fox 2, however, I only planned to play for a couple of minutes, then it actually hooked me and I found myself completing a whole playthrough. I think one thing I enjoy is how there are random elements involved, so every plathrough is different, and also that most levels/section are shorter and more varied.
I totally get that. It had some fresh ideas that were completely abandoned when it came to 64. It looked great too. The opening where the ship is cleaved in half and the appearance of the weird space dragon really stood out to me. It’s nice to know others enjoyed it.
Thank goodness it passed the test of fun. I think the barrier was set quite low for these retro systems considering some of the garbage that made it to the NES Classic.
I just hope they think to bring to life a new Star Fox game.
I would have also accepted “Because we made a whole game, so we wanted to sell the damn thing.”
Because Nintendo likes making weird ass to stupid decisions to keep certain good games/perks away from Americans.
It was never released in Japan, either.
Like I said, weird to dumbass decisions.
I’m happy I just got mine yesterday! Had to wait on line for a couple hours at Nintendo World. Can’t wait to play thru this! Worth the wait!
And how you would feel if VC launches on Switch with all of those games? lol
LOL I would be tight!! Haha! It’s going to happen and I know it lol I’m just happy that I do have something that could be deemed a collectors item
Collector’s item? lol I would just get the original from a local retro game shop.
Lol no need I still have the original and the slim SNES I’m working condition! 😎