50 Fun Facts About Star Fox

Peppy Hare's most famous Star Fox 64 line, now an internet meme, tells Fox to do which maneuver?

A barrel roll makes the Arwing spin and deflect enemy laser fire. Pilots point out that the spin shown in the game is really an aileron roll.

Which company's search page spins when users type Peppy Hare's famous instruction from Star Fox 64?

Google added the hidden trick in November 2011 as a tribute to the Nintendo 64 game. The whole results page appears to turn a full circle on screen.

Star Fox 64 was the first game to support which Nintendo 64 add-on, bundled in its box?

The Rumble Pak brought force feedback to Nintendo consoles. It ran on two AAA batteries and plugged into the controller's memory cartridge slot.

Star Fox's creator, a fan of TV's Thunderbirds, built what to photograph for the first game's cover?

Puppets of Fox and his team were built and photographed for the box art. Larger ones made for a promotional video were destroyed once filming ended.

Which Nintendo designer created Star Fox after regular visits to a fox shrine near the Kyoto office?

Shigeru Miyamoto often walked to the shrine, about fifteen minutes from the office. He chose furry heroes because a standard science fiction cast of humans and robots did not interest him.

Star Fox Adventures swapped dogfights for on-foot exploring that critics likened to which series?

The Legend of Zelda was the clear model: Fox gets hearts for health, a currency to spend and puzzles to solve. Some fans complained that the game strayed too far from space shooting.

Fox McCloud of Star Fox has been a playable fighter in every entry of which crossover series?

Super Smash Bros. has included Fox since its first game, and he went on to be rated one of the strongest characters in competitive play.

Which British studio made Star Fox Adventures and was sold to Microsoft a day after its US release?

Rare was 49% owned by Nintendo while it made the game. Microsoft then paid $375 million for the studio, ending most of its work on Nintendo systems.

Which Star Wars starfighter did Star Fox's creator cite as the inspiration for the Arwing?

X-wing fighters inspired the Arwing, the series creator has said. The name itself came from the ship looking like one big wing shaped like the letter A.

An Arwing that plays the Star Fox theme when touched is a furniture item in which life-sim series?

Animal Crossing: Wild World and City Folk both let players display the model Arwing at home. Another Arwing turns up as decoration in a market in Super Mario RPG.

Which Star Fox ace is missing for most of Star Fox Adventures, then returns to help defeat Andross?

Falco Lombardi was left out of most of the game because he could not be worked into the plot in time. A web manga later explained where he had gone.

Slippy Toad, a childhood friend of Fox McCloud, fills which role on the Star Fox team?

Mechanic and inventor Slippy builds the team's hardware, including the Blue-Marine submarine. In Star Fox 64 he also scans bosses and shows their shield gauge on screen.

Star Fox missions are set in which planetary system, home to Corneria, Fortuna and Macbeth?

Lylat even supplied the European title of Star Fox 64, which was sold there as Lylat Wars.

Andross was exiled to which wasteland planet, where every route through Star Fox 64 ends?

Venom became a giant military base after Andross was banished there for nearly destroying Corneria with biological weapons. He declared himself emperor and invaded his neighbors.

Which chip built into the cartridge let the original Star Fox draw 3D graphics on the SNES?

Super FX was so much faster than the console's own processor that its designers joked the SNES was just a box to hold the chip. Its codename, MARIO, is printed on it.

The original Star Fox was sold in Europe under which title to avoid a German company's similar name?

Starwing was chosen because Star Fox sounded too close to a German firm called StarVox. Nintendo dropped the workaround with Star Fox Adventures and has used one name worldwide since.

Star Fox Adventures began as which unrelated Nintendo 64 project starring a hero named Sabre?

Dinosaur Planet was reworked after Nintendo noticed how much its hero resembled Fox McCloud. A build of the abandoned original leaked online in 2021.

Which rival of Fox McCloud leads the squadron Andross sends to wipe out the Star Fox team?

Wolf O'Donnell took up the feud after an older rivalry with Fox's father. His team was planned for a shelved sequel and finally appeared in Star Fox 64.

Rather than serving in the Cornerian army, the members of the Star Fox team work as what?

Mercenaries by trade, the team even bills its client. After the credits of Star Fox 64, the player's score appears as an invoice sent to Corneria's commander.

Star Fox Adventures and Star Fox: Assault were both released for which Nintendo home console?

GameCube owners got an on-foot adventure and then a return to dogfighting. A follow-up for the Wii was worked on from about 2008 but never released.

Which original Star Fox member betrayed Peppy Hare and Fox's father to the villain Andross?

Pigma Dengar sold out his teammates and later joined the rival squadron sent after their successors. In Star Fox 64 dogfights he singles out Peppy, his old wingmate.

Peppy Hare succeeds which ailing commander as head of the Cornerian army before Star Fox Command?

General Pepper hired the Star Fox team for years, and Peppy once flew under his command. Peppy also pulled him from his doomed flagship in Star Fox: Assault.

Which blue vixen, sole survivor of the planet Cerinia, joins the team after Star Fox Adventures?

Krystal was one of two playable leads in the game's earlier form but is playable only in the finished game's prologue. She joins as the team's telepath and replaces the retired Peppy as a pilot in Star Fox: Assault.

In Star Fox 64, what kind of help does the veteran wingman Peppy Hare give Fox during missions?

Gameplay tips are Peppy's job, since he is the veteran who once flew with Fox's father. The other wingmen scan bosses or scout for hidden routes instead.

Which tank debuted in Star Fox 64 and returned in Star Fox: Assault with tires instead of treads?

Landmaster tanks carried Fox through two missions of Star Fox 64. Star Fox Zero later let the tank transform into the Gravmaster for short bursts of flight.

Reaching the end of Star Fox 64 through Area 6 reveals Andross's true form as a floating what?

Brain is the true form seen only on this route. Players who arrive through Bolse instead destroy a robotic copy of him, and the real Andross survives.

The battle over Katina in Star Fox 64 closely resembles which 1990s alien-invasion blockbuster?

Independence Day also gave the level's allied pilot his name: Fox's old friend Bill Grey is named after an officer in the film, William Grey.

A Star Fox tech demo with a spinning Arwing was shown in 1995 for which ill-fated Nintendo console?

Virtual Boy demo footage was watched through 3D glasses handed out at two trade shows. No finished Star Fox game ever followed for the system.

The Kyoto shrine that inspired Star Fox, famous for its fox statues, is dedicated to which deity?

Inari is the kami of rice and business, and foxes are regarded as the deity's messengers. The shrine's long rows of gates inspired the arches that players fly through.

Star Fox's Cornerian troops are dogs, so which animals fill Andross's army, after a Japanese saying?

Monkeys and dogs are proverbial enemies in a Japanese expression. That is why Corneria's top officer is a hound while Andross is an ape.

Which actor voiced both Peppy Hare and the villain Andross in the English version of Star Fox 64?

Rick May is also remembered as the voice of the Soldier in Team Fortress 2. After he died in 2020, that game added saluting statues of the character in his honor.

Which Japanese arcade giant made Star Fox: Assault and hid one of its own old shooters as a bonus?

Namco tucked the NES version of its arcade shooter Xevious into the game as a reward for collecting every silver medal.

Which action-game studio co-developed both Star Fox Zero and Star Fox Guard with Nintendo?

PlatinumGames was brought in because the series creator wanted outside help to finish the project faster. Star Fox Zero grew out of experiments with an abandoned earlier game.

Which Kyoto studio founded by Star Fox programmer Dylan Cuthbert developed Star Fox Command?

Q-Games was making a puzzle game for Nintendo when the series creator asked it for a Star Fox demo for the DS. It later helped remake Star Fox 64 for the Nintendo 3DS.

Which British company programmed the first Star Fox and designed the 3D chip inside its cartridge?

Argonaut was founded by a teenager, Jez San, and its name is a pun on his own: Jason and the Argonauts. Its programmers worked on the game inside Nintendo's offices in Japan.

Star Fox 2 was finished in 1995 but first went on sale in 2017 as part of which Nintendo product?

SNES Classic Edition included it among its 21 built-in games. Nintendo had shelved the finished sequel, fearing it would look dated beside PlayStation and Saturn titles.

Which insect-like race that assimilates machines and pilots is the enemy in Star Fox: Assault?

Aparoids answer to a single queen, and the Star Fox team wipes them out by infecting her with a self-destruct program written by Slippy's father.

Which young EarthWalker prince is Fox's digging, fire-breathing sidekick in Star Fox Adventures?

Tricky performs his tricks only when fed special mushrooms. He returns as a grown king, defending his world, in Star Fox: Assault.

Star Fox Guard, a spin-off played by switching between security cameras, belongs to which genre?

Tower defense duty here means protecting bases owned by Slippy's uncle Grippy while robots close in. The game began as a tech demo called Project Guard.

What does Star Fox 64 call the sections where the Arwing roams an arena freely instead of on rails?

All-Range Mode was borrowed from the then-unreleased Star Fox 2, and the programmer first built it in secret as an experiment.

How is Andrew Oikonny, a pilot in the rival squadron of Star Fox 64, related to the villain Andross?

Nephew of the villain, Andrew is a poor pilot who was pushed onto the squadron to get him out of the way. He later tries to avenge his uncle in Star Fox: Assault.

The original Star Fox in 1993 was the first Nintendo game built from which kind of 3D graphics?

Polygons were uncommon on consoles at the time. Seeing what 3D modeling could do in Star Fox is what set the series creator on the path to Super Mario 64.

A racer named James McCloud, whose car resembles an Arwing, appears in which Nintendo racing series?

F-Zero gives its James McCloud a debt-ridden outfit called Galaxy Dog to support. The link runs both ways: one of the series' racers, Octoman, can appear as a boss in Star Fox Command.

An Arwing lurks as an unused enemy, reachable only by cheat device, in which Nintendo 64 adventure?

Ocarina of Time keeps the Arwing in its code as an enemy that attacks Link in Kokiri Forest. He can shoot it down, though the blast can finish him too.

Which Wii U action game has a Star Fox costume that turns the heroine's guns into tiny Arwings?

Bayonetta 2 also swaps the plane in its final level for an Arwing while the unlockable outfit is worn.

Fox McCloud and his Arwing are playable in the Nintendo Switch version of which Ubisoft game?

Starlink: Battle for Atlas sends Fox, Peppy and Slippy after an old rival in missions made only for Nintendo's console. Its starter pack there came with a toy Arwing.

Which actor voices Fox McCloud in the 2026 animated film The Super Mario Galaxy Movie?

Glen Powell pitched himself for a part after the first film came out and was keen to lead a Star Fox movie. Away from the screen he is a licensed pilot.

A Star Fox LCD watch was offered in 1993 through coupons in which company's cereal boxes?

Kellogg's ran the offer with the watchmaker Nelsonic. The watch squeezed the game into four levels and came with earphones, but had no volume control.

Star Fox Zero drew criticism for making players aim with which feature of the Wii U GamePad?

Its gyroscope moved the crosshair while the left stick flew the ship, and a cockpit view on the controller's own screen helped with aiming. Critics called the scheme impractical.

Unlocking on-foot battles in Star Fox 64's multiplayer arms each Star Fox pilot with which weapon?

A bazooka is the weapon each pilot carries once the mode is unlocked by earning medals in the main campaign. Before that, multiplayer battles are fought only in Arwings.