This article has some good points. I don't think the whole "Miyamoto assigned Rare to re-invision Star Fox" thing is accurate, though. There were far more subtle business-related issues that led into the creation of Star Fox Adventures, but I won't get into them right now. It's kind of a shame, because if you ask people who are inclined with Star Fox about Star Fox Adventures, many of them will respond with an answer similar to what the person who wrote the article noted. At least, that's what I'm willing to bet.
Regardless, it's a definite uphill battle to make Star Fox relevant again to the current market. That much is quite clear.
The question is: How does Miyamoto plan to pull it off? What is going to be the extent of the content that the game will have to offer?
I suppose we'll find out at E3. 30 days away, was it?
Personally, I don't have faith in the franchise right now. But that's just me. I sort of feel like the only things that are keeping Star Fox alive are the Smash Brothers games and general Star Fox fans (and perhaps a few furries too). I don't mean to categorize, however. These are just my personal observations. I don't mean to imply accuracy.
It's cool to look at the possibilities and potential of something, and all. Believe me, I get this. Possibilities and potential were/are major points in all the arguments I have made (especially for Krystal in Smash and Star Fox as a series in general).
You soon realize however that it's difficult to convey ideas to other people that are merely possibilities. Many people will often not be able to see the possibilities in something that you can see... or at least see those possibilities as "happening" (therefore making those possibilities impossible).
My understanding is that Miyamoto just decided to repurpose a game Rare was working on in Dinosaur Planet into a Star Fox game. That's about it for me in terms of "facts" though regarding all this. The idea that Miyamoto might figure Rare could revive Star Fox with his direction does seem like it might be possible... although it feels a bit short sighted. I ended up loving Star Fox Adventures, I have to say... but the process that lead to it seems kind of messy. Even moreso if Miyamoto really though what this writer claims he did.
Oddly enough, the part of the article your pointing out here wasn't the most contentious in the comments. Far more people appeared to have a problem with the notion that rail shooters are a dead or dormant genre that Star Fox needs to steer away from to be relevant. Have to admit, it's a bit much to claim that, but I can definitely say that "Star Fox 64 2" isn't the formula for success for Star Fox. The series needs to expand and deepen, in my opinion.
Yeah, in theory there's a lot of great things Nintendo can do with Star Fox. I think we collectively understand the potential. We'll just have to see what they do. I'll remain optimistic myself even if there's always doubt. If we all were so troubled with doubt we wouldn't have much of a thread here, since, after all, the life of this thread is fed with hope and possibility.
But that's us. Others outside our circle will have trouble buying in to our ideas. I'll be the first to admit that my reasons for wanting Krystal in Smash and more developed in Star Fox Wii U are because I can see potential that's not obvious. Other's might take the character at face value and see little in comparison. I see a character I believe to be interesting even if she's not proven it so clearly. I desire to see her potential realized, particularly in Star Fox. I think all the Star Fox characters could all use some proper character development not necessarily pushed by dramatic high concept story telling. I think a deep game like I've described would be the ideal way to accomplish this. In terms of Smash, it's more basic. I see her as having unique potential. I think a Smash or Star Fox appearance would give her another chance to be a character more people can appreciate.
Thanks. I knew I had other reasons, but I was blanking on them at the time.
I would say a shovel is a unique weapon, but considering he mostly uses it like a sword, and it's more practical use wouldn't offer much in terms of a moveset... maybe I'm just missing something.
The shovel has several abilities. In standard attacks it would resemble sword play sometimes. Even if it was a sword and not a shovel, being a sword doesn't immediately remove it's opportunity to be unique. Marth, Ike, Robin, Link, and Meta Knight all play very differently and they all use swords. Shovel Knight uses a shovel kind of like a sword. Closest character to him would maybe be Link just because Shovel Knight has projectiles and a bouncing aerial down stab like Link's dair. I think his uniqueness is still pretty safe though.
Unless you feel the sword users aren't unique because they use swords. In that case, your standards are really high and the opportunity for a character to be unique is really poor anyways.
Shovel Knight and Shantae's basic attack gimmicks could be easily accomplished by Cranky Kong and Dixie Kong respectively. Krystal's got no monkey business holding her back.
Seems like a joke post, I'll be honest. Sorry if it was.
Only things those two Kongs have in common with Shovel Knight and Shantae respectively is that one of them uses an "extension of the arm" and the other uses their hair to attack. Actually seeing how Shovel Knight uses the shovel you could see just how different and diverse the weapon is compared to Cranky's stick. Likewise with Shantae. Shantae's hair is her primary "standard" attack method and she could use a gun similar to Dixie too, but she also has access to a ton of other abilities, tools, and weapons. Saying Dixie would take all of Shantae's uniquness is as bad as saying Palutena already has the "staff" thing covered in Smash. Shovel Knight being compared to Cranky or a sword user in general and claiming they already have anything Shovel Knight could do covered is pretty much silly too.
I'm not saying this because I really want Shovel Knight, I don't... although I would like Shantae but also Dixie... I'm saying it because I feel you got to be fair to other characters even if you don't support them. Characters like Shantae and Shovel Knight have other more "real" obstacles to face anyways. If you're to make an argument against them, it should not be because they lack uniqueness.