On this day 6 years ago, Star Fox Zero was officially released on Nintendo’s Wii U console. Unfortunately, the game reception was rather divisive, for various reasons. Even today, years later, the game still leaves fans of Star Fox divided.
Due to the game’s reception, Star Fox Zero has not even been ported to the Nintendo Switch. However, Star Fox’s original character designer, Takaya Imamura, doesn’t agree with that decision. In a tweet marking Star Fox Zero’s 6 year anniversary, Imamura thinks that, even though there may be “some issues”, he wants Nintendo to bring the game to the Switch. You can see Imamura’s tweet about the matter down below.
I agree with Imamura and I’m happy to see somebody who worked on the series defend Star Fox Zero. I’ve long thought the game was just a few tweaks away from greatness, and I believe with some slight gameplay alterations the title would work brilliantly on Switch. I only wonder if it’s been too stigmatized by reviewers who couldn’t grasp the controls to recieve an objective second look from the public. A shame, as I think the game had a lot going for it and was primarily hampered by leaning too hard on the Wii U’s somewhat obtuse control gimmicks. Regardless, I’m hoping to see Nintendo give Star Fox the second chance it deserves and would like to see the series return in some form
Give us the real classic, Dinosaur Planet.
I love Star Fox and all, but honestly I would rather Nintendo make a new game for the series
You’ll get it in about 25 more years…. unless it’s Mario or Zelda.
Yeah, I would rather get a new Star-Fox title. I grew up with the N64 one, so to have the last one be practically unplayable if you’re not coordinated that way and the one before that being 15 years ago just hurts my soul. The series deserves better.
You know, I agree with you on that. Instead of porting Star Fox Zero to the Switch, I was thinking Nintendo should make a new game in the series honestly. Because I’m honestly hungry for a new game in the series for a long while now since the Wii U era and I want to see them to bring in new elements in the new game and be able to be more enjoyable and fundamental like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and have a accurate amount of sales rate. To tell you the truth, I really want Nintendo to make a new game in the series right now because I love the Star Fox franchise and got in to the series during the GameCube era.
If Nintendo ever have the proper controls for any Nintendo console to make the new game in the series then maybe Nintendo should start thinking of a challenged for advance players who really wanted to see something surprising in the new game.
Yeah it is rather sad that Zelda and Mario is all Nintendo cares about. They can make those games immediately. While other franchises come every 15 to 20 years.
How many years apart is Metroid Prime 3 to Metroid Prime 4?
How many years is Luigi’s Mansion 2 from Luigi’s Mansion 3? How many years is Pikmin 3 from Pikmin 4?
How old is Tropical Freeze? Where’s its sequel? How old is Pikmin 3? Where is its sequel?
How old is Metroid 3? Where is its sequel?
How old is Starfox Zero? Where’s its sequel?
Where is Toads Treasure Tracker’s sequel?
They’ll drop them sequels by 2030.
I wouldn’t say Mario and Zelda is all they care about. Metroid has gone out from a long hiatus with the Samus Returns remake and Dread with MP4 being in development hell, and there’s also stuff like XC, FE, and Splatoon that get a bit of love too, but we definitely have some games that got tossed by the wayside like Custom Robo, Kid Icarus, Pikimin and Star-Fox. Their priorities seemed to have changed mote than anything.
Here is what doesn’t make sense: when yall decided to put Tropical Freeze, Mario Kart 8, Zenoblade 1&2, Pikmin 3, it never once crossed yall minds until now to put Starfox Zero on the Switch? You gotta be kidding me.
No. Just no.
There’s just too much that would need to be not just tweaked, but completely restructured in order for the same game to work on Switch. You gotta remember- the big thing with this game was the dual-perspective, with classic third-person view locked to the TV which occasionally became a forced cinematic view where the camera focused strictly on one particular thing like a boss or a part of the map, and the Wii U gamepad showed a first-person view from the cockpit. Aiming was only accurate when viewed from first-person, but then you couldn’t see other important things like if you were getting flanked, and in third-person you could see more, but then your aim was much less accurate. And, of course, the game FORCED MOTION CONTROLS ON THE PLAYER, which you should never do.
I’d much rather see a new entry, and not YET ANOTHER reboot of the series; it can continue from the story we had in Zero and even start with a recap of what occurred in Zero, but I don’t want the story to start over again.
Oh god please don’t. I really want this series to thrive again on Nintendo platforms. If this game gets a rerelease and flops it could be buried as deep as the F-Zero franchise. This series needs a new entry that doesn’t retread the same story from its original SNES game like it already has multiple times.
Make the controls simple like 64, but give us new planets and courses to fly through and unique bosses with weird gimmicks and a weak spot to uncover and fire at. This isn’t brain surgery here, why refresh arguably the most controversial game in the series when you can give the series another try at true greatness.
I want to play Zero but I’m not playing with those annoying controls on Wii U. (Nor am I buying another cursed Wii U, for that matter.) I did annoying controls with Kid Icarus Uprising. Never again. If they can get Skyward Sword on Switch, I want no excuses for why they can’t do the same for Zero. (And Uprising, for that matter, if that’s a thought they have.) I don’t give a shit what they have to tweak. To quote Shia Labeouf, just do it.
They can do both a new game AND a port! Enough of this “one or the other” bullshit! Do fucking BOTH!! It’s not that damn hard! In fact, I’ll make it real simple! Throw some money at Platinum Games, let them make the next new Star Fox, & make the team that originally did Zero port it to Switch. There. Simple & clean. Like the Utada Hikaru song!
So what should I do with my unopened copy of Star Zero Zero for the Wii U?
I’m pretty sure the game isn’t on Switch because the level design and scoring system requires you to master the dual perspective, not sales. FE x Shinmigami is on switch and it did worse than Zero by a great margin. (I’m sure the game is fine, just obscure.). But Zero would need a significant amount of reworking for a 1 screen experience. If they had VR technology, they would easily be able to port it.
Zero is an amazing game, I don’t have any trouble mastering all its complexity. But at the moment, I don’t see easily being ported. That must be “the problem” Imamura mentions.
Yeah just what we need. More zombiware on the dumpster console. MAKE. NEW. GAMES.