I hope SF isn't getting another reboot. Let the series get some consistency going for God's sake. Miyamoto was soley responsible for turning Dinosaur Planet into Star Fox Adventures, and so he should take ownership of the character he pushed into the spotlight. No one gives this man ANY flak whatsoever for taking SF on the direction it's going now.
Amen. Seriously, this is right on the money.
Unfortunately, we have so many people blaming Krystal and on-foot sequences for "ruining" the Star Fox franchise. Ladies and gentlemen, it is impossible for content within a video game to "ruin" the video game itself.
In reality, the developers (and other influential parties, if any) are responsible. The games don't make themselves. Personally, I think on-foot sequences could be brilliant, if treated with TLC. After all, aren't the Star Fox members trained in various martial arts, as well as on-ground weaponry? It seems nonsensical to keep these characters cooped up in their cockpits for each game (even
beyond this fact limiting the series from evolving).
On a different note, some unused audio from Dinosaur Planet (leftover Nintendo 64 audio ripped from Star Fox Adventures data)
might suggest that Rare
could have been planning to use Star Fox in the game in the first place,
even before Miyamoto intervened:
Before I explain, let me clarify that
this is a possibility. I am not looking to justify anything. Keep in mind that the
whole process behind Dinosaur Planet's change into Star Fox Adventures is not known,
at least in its entirety. Thus, we shouldn't really treat the "known story" as the definite truth. Just a suggestion to keep an open mind, and to read the following in a theoretical sense rather than a literal one.
First of all, I am not certain how many people are aware of Miyamoto's feelings towards Star Fox, as compared to the other franchises he's responsible for. I have a feeling that Star Fox, more than any other franchise Miyamoto initialized,
is practically his baby.
What could cause him to feel this way about Star Fox? Well, take Star Fox's
unusual developmental story into consideration. While watching these videos about the history of Star Fox, take note of anything that could have impacted Miyamoto in a significant way. Here's an example:
The battle for true 3D graphics. Miyamoto wasn't terribly fond of recreating sprites at multiple angles to simulate 3D. He wanted
true 3D. What was the first franchise to usher in true 3D for Nintendo? Star Fox. This wasn't the only thing Star Fox ushered into the gaming industry, however. Point being, Star Fox could have impacted him the most out of every other franchise he's responsible for. Ergo, perhaps he has an extremely soft spot for this franchise, and that's why he doesn't allow other developers to use their ideas with Star Fox as much as other Nintendo franchises (Legend of Zelda to Hyrule Warriors, among others).
As for Mario and Zelda, he seldom focuses on them nowadays (key word being
focus, for he does oversee certain things, obviously). Star Fox is a franchise he has virtually overseen through its entirety, however (no single source; must refer to the development of
each Star Fox game individually). If this isn't enough to verify this as a possibility, let's take a look at it from a different perspective:
Have you ever wondered why Miyamoto constantly refers to Star Fox in his various interviews? There is an interview somewhere (though I am unable to find it) where Miyamoto stated that the character he would play as in Smash Brothers would be Fox. In another interview he was asked what would be the
#1 franchise he wants to see come to the Wii U, to which he replied "Star Fox." He admitted, in another interview just before E3 2014, that he spent roughly
6 years on a Star Fox concept for the Wii (after which he decided to move the project to the Wii U). What other game has ever warranted such attention from Mr. Miyamoto himself?
Keep the possibility of Miyamoto's affection towards Star Fox in mind, as it will be used to explain the other possibility regarding the Dinosaur Planet developmental story:
As the video with the unused audio could suggest, perhaps Rare was using Star Fox in Dinosaur Planet even before Miyamoto really intervened? After all, Rare
did have access to Nintendo's franchises (i.e. Donkey Kong). Perhaps Dinosaur Planet was not only going to have two playable characters that it would switch between (given the mission/progress you were on), but
three (Krystal, Sabre,
and Fox). You might be able to see where this is going. While I don't want to sound like I'm antagonizing Miyamoto, this
is a possibility:
Perhaps Miyamoto caught wind of Rare's plan to include Star Fox in Dinosaur Planet, thus motivating him to check out its development. Upon arriving, Miyamoto could have then seen how similar Sabre looks to Fox (in certain ways). Perhaps, from this, he thought
along the lines of: "Hey, if you're wanting to use Star Fox, and seeing as how I'm at a lack of ideas for the Star Fox franchise currently, why don't we convert Dinosaur Planet into a full Star Fox game?" Sure it could be argued that he did this simply because new I.P's don't sell well, but that doesn't make sense.
Why deny the chance of a new I.P. to emerge? Imagine if they had done something similar to Pikmin. "Oh hey, Pikmin is a new franchise, therefore it won't sell well, therefore we should just make a major franchise game instead." It sounds like slippery-slope logic to me. Also, if Nintendo was
truly afraid of Dinosaur Planet being overshadowed by the looming new console over the horizon (Gamecube), they could have easily transferred its development over without changing the game itself. Like I said before, it makes no sense.
So then,
why did Miyamoto do it? It's tough to tell. From my slightly harsher perspective, it seems like Miyamoto didn't want Rare to use Star Fox as a sidelined franchise to boost the Nintendo-relevancy and sales of Dinosaur Planet (yes, perhaps Star Fox wasn't going to be the focus, and instead a supporting role in the game? It could have been a brilliant move story-wise
and marketing-wise, as many gamers are into familiarity). Perhaps this is because he feels a special bond with Star Fox, which could be why it seems Miyamoto cannot stand seeing other developers treat Star Fox in ways he doesn't want.
So, what does this have to do about
Krystal? Quite literally,
everything. To bring this post to a full circle,
everything that the developers have decided to do with Dinosaur Planet/Star Fox Adventures, as well as the other recent Star Fox games, has affected how fans of Star Fox (and some gamers beyond) perceive Krystal. Unfortunately, Krystal took the shorter end of the stick, complete with harsh stigmas and generalizations. In my opinion, Dinosaur Planet is the most
unfortunate developmental story of video game history (right up there with Microsoft's purchase of Rare itself).
As a final note, I feel that Star Fox, possibly more than
every other Nintendo franchise, could easily become Nintendo's Magnum Opus. That's a ballsy statement, I know. What other franchise could be the perfect way to showcase new technology? What other franchise could implement amazing multiplayer experiences such as (but not limited to) aerial and spacial dogfights, special ops arenas, ground battle arenas, or even clan wars (Venom versus Corneria)? What other franchise
could eventually provide open-space
and multiple open-world exploration (without it feeling like Elder Scrolls online, where it was practically empty)? What other franchise could feature not only co-op, but effective
competitive co-op, where two players could have a future setup with multiple screens (kind of like the multiple screened computers, except each player could be at different parts of the Lylat System, advancing their causes against each other, i.e. one player taking control of Star Fox and the other Star Wolf, or some kind of Venomian organization)? What other franchise has the base capacity to eventually tell an innovative story (not a story like certain try-hard companies or game producers) while balancing a sense of
wonder, integrity, and genuine character?
Actually, that last bolded word:
wonder. It reminds me of a
certain interview with Miyamoto just a couple days ago. I'm sorry Miyamoto, but I have to disagree. Pure "fun"
isn't the only thing that can bring out the inner child in someone. You know what else can? Wonder. The only difference is that
wonder could better simultaneously balance an adult
and younger audience than "pure unadulterated fun". I tell you, the future of gaming should be about player investment value. We want to
feel invested into these video game experiences (not to simulate in-game realism, but to provoke the
wonder in every gamer). That's why many Hollywood-esque video game stories tend to fall short, as they lack wonder and player investment value (and instead seem to prefer the cinematic play-out of theater, where it feels like the player is watching, rather than experiencing). Star Fox could be the perfect franchise to spearhead this concept. My final question to Nintendo would be this: "Why limit yourselves to this one so-called 'genre of fun'?"
EDIT: I forgot to mention, I praise Miyamoto's inventiveness. We probably wouldn't have some of these lovable franchises if it weren't for him. That said, I wish he embraced possibility, adaption, and wonder more so than he does simple fun.
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