“Unveiling the Essence: How Megastar Fox’s Fashion Mirrors Shigeru Miyamoto’s Vision”
By The beloved SNES title Star Fox brought to life Fox McCloud and his team of anthropomorphic animal pilots, showcasing a profound link to key Nintendo creators. In fact, Fox embodies the “spirit” of Shigeru Miyamoto.
According to artist and character designer Takaya Imamura, the initial character designs for Star Fox were “an extension of the entire F-Zero universe,” as he explains in Edge magazine issue 407. It originally represented a more realistic sci-fi realm filled with “space pirates and that sort of thing.” Then one day Miyamoto-san proposed, ‘Let’s transform these characters into animals.’” The choice of Fox McCloud’s species was influenced by a nearby shrine at Nintendo HQ, known as Fushimi Inari, which honors a fox deity.
Furthermore, the animal characters drew inspiration from the game’s development team. “The [designs] reflect the essence of the game’s staff rather than being mere caricatures,” Imamura states. “Fox is modeled after Miyamoto-san, while the rabbit, Peppy, represents the game’s director [Katsuya] Eguchi-san. I believe that if you examine closely, you’ll notice the resemblances.”
It’s important to be honest – I’m not quite seeing the resemblance myself. The designs were significantly influenced by the game’s team. “Falco was modeled after [Tsuyoshi] Watanabe-san from the graphics department,” Imamura goes on. “When I viewed his face, he had quite a prominent nose, similar to a Roman nose. Slippy was inspired by the assistant director, [Yoichi] Yamada-san – he just gave me that vibe, and he also had an affinity for frogs.”
What were the reactions of these developers to being turned into cartoonish animal mascots? “Honestly, none of them reacted strongly,” Imamura reveals. “We were deep into development, and it seemed they thought, ‘Hmm, OK.’”
Star Fox stands out as one of Nintendo’s most cherished franchises, with game releases occurring intermittently over the years. The last major…