Smash Switch Speculation: Star Fox

Note: These articles are more for discussion purposes before E3. They'll be short, sweet, and to the point for a brief recap and looking into possible characters/stages for each series in Smash Bros. These also go by a "Don't expect too much" philosophy. Please remember to be civil in the comments discussion.

The Star Fox series has had a big stake in the Super Smash Bros. series, much to the surprise of many people. In the original Super Smash Bros., there was one Star Fox stage, with Fox as the series' only character. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, both of those numbers were brought up to two. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the series had only two stages still, but three characters. Across Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U, the series got chopped down to two characters and received an overall three stages.

So, what about this time?

Returning Characters​

Fox is bound to return - Beyond that, it's a little bit iffy. It's hard to see them cutting Falco after three appearances unless we get a very small roster (which is doubtful). Wolf returning is where things start to get trickier. On one hand, he was cut from Smash 3DS/Wii U, but on the other hand, he not only beat all odds and made it against other characters in the first place, but he was also highly requested to return from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

New Characters​

It's hard to see there being a new character and frankly we'll be fortunate if we all of the previous Star Fox characters return. Beyond that, Krystal seems like a pretty heavy lock since she could have an interesting moveset. Slippy or Peppy would be an easy clone addition but not much more than that. Any Star Wolf characters or other characters are doubtful at best. It's really more worth focusing on the returning characters mostly, for this franchise.

Returning Stages​

Orbital Gate Assault or Lylat Cruise seems like an easy lock, if one stage returns. According to Sakurai, Orbital Gate Assault took a year to develop, so it's very hard to see a stage like that being cut from the game. Venom would be nice to see the return of, but don't hold any breath for it.

New Stages​

Star Fox 64 and Assault seem like where it'll go for its reboots. Smash has a tradition of using what makes each franchise unique. That said, a stage on top of a landmaster or something based on Star Fox Adventures could be possible, but the best guess to put is "Something on a ship."

Author's Note: What are your thoughts on the Star Fox franchise? What Star Fox related content would you like to see in Smash for Switch? Let us know in the comments below!

 

Considering Sm4sh brought back Lucus, I'm really surprised they never brought back Wolf. He would've been extremely easy to bring into Sm4sh, and he actually does have some unique factor going on for him. All things considered, if any more Star Fox characters are added, it's gonna be either Wolf or Krystal, very likely. Both of 'em are stars in some way, shape or form.

But personally, I want Slippy in as another joke character.

 

I have no idea if what they are going to do with stages. Corneria and Lylat Cruise are ones I want back (especially if they fix Lylat's ledges).

For characters, it would be cool to see Wolf back and Krystal added. I also would like to see Falco buffed. At this point, all we can do is to wait for further information and hope.

 

Honestly i think we'll get wolf and krystal this time around, i feel like we are actually running out of significant Nintendo charecters to add at this point, with wolf and krystal being 2 of the last highly requested charecters, I can see them being added just out of a lack of better options

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they hold off Wolf until DLC like they did Mewtwo, especially if Star Fox is to get a newcomer this time around. Krystal lacks relevance, but is a popular character that's been considered for Smash before. Slippy is less requested, but has been in Star Fox since the beginning, and was arguably the main character in the Star Fox Guard side-game. Both Krystal and Slippy would offer unique movesets, being a staff user and engineer, respectively. I've actually made movesets for the both of them, which you can find at the bottom of the post.

As for stages, I really hope Orbital Gate Assault returns, and that we see a new stage or two based off of Star Fox Zero. Star Fox Zero has a lot to offer, being new designs for the Star Fox cast, potential for stages, great music, etc.

Spoiler: Krystal Moveset

Spoiler: Slippy Moveset

 

[Pretend this comment doesn't exist Opps]

 

Considering Sm4sh brought back Lucus, I'm really surprised they never brought back Wolf. He would've been extremely easy to bring into Sm4sh, and he actually does have some unique factor going on for him. All things considered, if any more Star Fox characters are added, it's gonna be either Wolf or Krystal, very likely. Both of 'em are stars in some way, shape or form.

But personally, I want Slippy in as another joke character.

The one thing getting in the way of Wolf returning would probably be how many re-used animations he has in Brawl. Some work pretty well, like down-air or back air. Some, like up-tilt or his dash attack (which is based on Sonic's animation for running into a wall - yes, seriously)... not so much.

Plus Wolf was also in a weird predicament where Smash 4 came out sandwiched between a remake of an older game and a then-upcoming reboot. His Assault design was already outdated, his 64 3D design would've been outdated and also would possibly look out of place with Fox and Falco's more Assault-esque designs, and his Star Fox Zero design might not have even been finalized at that point - and if it had been, it would be major spoilers for a game that wouldn't be out for more than a year.

Normally Smash doesn't care about spoilers - look at Zelda and Sheik - but they probably wouldn't have spoiled something that wasn't gonna be out until a year after the base game. Even with DLC, the latest release period would've been right around the time Star Fox Zero came out, and when they do have spoilers, they usually wait about two years after the game being spoiled comes out.

 

If the stage has a different set of Star Fox conversations than one another, it’ll come back

 

Newcomers:
There's the possibility of there being a completely new space animal from an upcoming Starfox Switch game (a new main/central character):

Maybe in the next Starfox game Fox'll be accompanied by a new crew and to help hype up the game they'll add one of his new crewmates to smash.

I can't really see them adding in a character from an old Starfox game since the Starfox Series's following pales in comparison to that of Super Mario Bros, Zelda, Pokemon, etc.

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Returning:
Fox and Falco are most likely here to stay as they're both pretty solid/fully realized characters. Their movesets are all figured out and have already been altered/"balanced" in the past. Making them WAY easier to transfer over to Smash 5 than a Smash 4 newcomer (e.g. Bowser Jr.) who might have to get re-worked, balanced, etc. (Like Melee Falco vs Brawl Falco). That along with their popularity and reputation makes it highly unlikely that they'll be dropped from the cast.

Contrarily, Wolf is not a fully realized character. He's only had one iteration (Brawl) unlike Fox's four or Falco's three. So adding him back to the cast would not only take a lot of time, effort, and resources, it would also require him to have an avid following/fanbase. That's the only way Nintendo would dedicate the number of man-hours it would take to bring him back.

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We have two examples of this happening in the past that serve as evidence that we can speculate on:

Two Characters, Two Circumstances, Two Outcomes

Pichu:
Added: Melee
Missing In: Brawl, Smash 4
Reason: Pichu was a joke character, the fanbase didn't hate her, they just didn't care or pay much attention to her (outside of using her to make people angry/embarrass players in pools.) So she was dropped from the cast of playable characters as a result.

Dr. Mario:
Added: Melee
Missing In: Brawl
Returned: Smash 4
Reason: Probably originally cut due to his many similarities to Mario and because the Brawl Dev Team thought he was unoriginal and unnecessary. But since he had become a character loved by the smash community (Cause Doc is sick and Shroomed is super rad to watch) people were upset by his removal as a playable character. So he was brought back in Smash 4.

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So Wolf coming back is pretty unlikely. While he's not as unnecessary as Pichu was and he has a bit of a following, he's not Dr. Mario levels of popular. So as much as I would love seeing or lost dog returned to us...it's probably not happening.

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Stages:
I don't really care too much about stages lol

 

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Author's Note: What are your thoughts on the Star Fox franchise? What Star Fox related content would you like to see in Smash for Switch? Let us know in the comments below!

I've never played it beyond a few minutes of with a relative who owned it. I think an aerial combat game isn't a bad idea, though not my cup of tea. I might get interested if they added KOTOR-style Swoop racing, but that's just me.

Regardless, Falco has been my favorite character to play in SSB since I was a pre-teen, and it's hard to see that changing even in this next game. So, naturally, I'm completely against cutting him, especially after his godawful nerfing in tr4sh.

I think Project M more than any other game realizes the full potential of the Star Fox trio, just as it does for the Fire Emblem trio. For FE, you have, as most powerful, one for the tip, one for the hilt, and one for the middle of the blade. SF doesn't work as cleanly (but you might consider it as comboing primarily horizontally, vertically, and diagonally), but just as if not more intriguingly. If the developers copy Brawl Wolf and ignore the alterations PM and B- brought, then he might as well stay dead---that's how bland they made him originally.

I want the option to play both Brawl Falco and Melee Falco (in terms of movesets). It could either be discrete (separate characters), or a mixture in one character---for example, Melee Reflector tapped, Brawl Reflector held. I furthermore believe that the PM alts should be a thing in Smash 5. I want them to keep Lylat Cruise's "Corneria" (but give it a snappy remix) and "Star Wolf" (but give it a snappy remix), include a remix of "The Loner, Falco Lombardi" from Star Fox Command, and a mix of "Boss Titania" and "Boss Corneria, Meteor" from StarFox SNES.

I don't care to see more Star Fox characters. I'm more concerned that they get EVERYTHING right with Fox, Falco, and Wolf. I don't want even a second of attention to be distracted from making their appearance in this game be absolutely perfect. Otherwise, I'm 100% certain they're going to f*** up.

I want customs to return in this game, and I want their custom moves to be way better this time around; giving Falco a Fox laser wasn't a bad idea, but poorly executed. We need the option to shorten again, but I also want the option to drift or fall flat after using side b (that is, to have SSBB and SSBM side-b ending mechanics available).

VEEENOOOOOOM

Seriously, Lylat Cruise but PM style tilt and no tilt alts. Keep the Smash taunts but make them briefer, so that they can be reasonably pulled off mid-match (think Jigglypuff's rest time).

Give Fox and Falco their Melee Japanese voices and go back in the direction of the Brawl voices for English. Wolf's VA was fine in both cases.

A friend of mine pointed out that Wolf's eyes are canonically violet/purple---fix that.

SSB4 black falco costume, SSBB blue falco costume, SSBM red falco costume, necessarily. This matter of colors is highly important and needs to be discussed more.

I will save more additions for future edits.

 

I want Slippy in as another joke character.

I hate the idea of a joke character. I think all characters should be worth playing and good in their own right. A character like Pichu who is logically supposed to be inferior, to replace the handicap feature in traditional fighting games, is the exception.

Corneria and Lylat Cruise are ones I want back (especially if they fix Lylat's ledges).

It's only slightly more difficult to recover to than Smashville's. I think you're complaining about the tilting.

I wouldn't be surprised if they hold off Wolf until DLC like they did Mewtwo

If they do this, I'll be the first to start calling this iteration tra5h. DLC is a bull**** practice.

Unrelatedly, you neglected to specify jumpsquat in your movesets.

Some, like up-tilt or his dash attack (which is based on Sonic's animation for running into a wall - yes, seriously)... not so much.

Interesting, didn't know that. They should just pilfer PM's animations.

There's the possibility of there being a completely new space animal from an upcoming Starfox Switch game (a new main/central character)

Isn't that what Fox's son was for?