By It’s nearing a decade since Nintendo unveiled Star Fox Zero for the Wii U in 2016. However, if Nintendo won’t pursue it, another developer has something quite comparable. Giles Goddard—one of the developers of the original Star Fox—is creating Wild Blue Skies, a fresh on-rails aerial shooter that resembles and evokes memories of his previous franchise.
IGN introduced the latest gameplay footage for Wild Blue Skies, covering the entire second level, Hurricane. It’s sufficient to evoke Star Fox 64 memories as Bowie Stray, a canine pilot with anthropomorphic features, leads his team—Chuck, Roe, and Thorne—into combat amidst a turbulent storm. The personalities of the new team members are distinct enough that we can confirm Thorne is certainly the Slippy Toad of this bunch.
Goddard and his group at Chuhai Labs maintain the playful dialogue between Bowie and his crew throughout the stage. And when Boss—his actual name—appears for a confrontation at the level’s conclusion, he too joins in on the banter. The final edition of the game will include various biomes for the squadron to soar over, and Bowie can already perform a Fox McCloud-style barrel roll.
Wild Blue Skies, previously dubbed Wild Blue, is being distributed by Humble Games, and it is presently only set to launch on PC through Steam, although a specific launch date hasn’t been confirmed yet. Furthermore, it’s not the sole Star Fox homage game available on Steam. Whisker Squadron: Survivor launched in its completed version on Steam earlier this year.
Although the Star Fox series is currently inactive, comedian Adam Conover has disclosed that Nintendo intended to collaborate with his former company, CollegeHumor, on a Star Fox stop-motion animated series. That project, along with a proposed live-action Legend of Zelda series on Netflix, fell through after the developments were leaked, according to Conover.
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