Details have emerged of a canceled Star Fox game pitch that would have used the original puppet aesthetic used to promote the original SNES game. While it has remained one of Nintendo's beloved series, Star Fox seems to have been shelved once again given the financial and critical bomb of Star Fox Zero in 2016. The game was met with mixed reception from its reveal all the way to its release. There was, at one point, a pitch for a much different Star Fox Wii U game from none other than Metroid Prime's Retro Studios.
Star Fox debuted on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993 and was praised as a showpiece for the system thanks to its use of the console's Super FX chip to create 3D graphics amid the SNES' library of 2D games. The game follows a team of four mercenaries, Fox McCloud, Slippy Toad, Peppy Hare, and Falco Lombardi, as they fight Andross, a mad scientist hell-bent on taking over the Lylat system.
Following 1997's Star Fox 64, which many claim is the best Star Fox game, the series faced somewhat of an identity crisis. 2002's Star Fox Adventures resembled the Legend of Zelda series, and Star Fox Zero faced severe backlash for its awkward implementation of Wii U gamepad elements. Now, YouTube channel Did You Know Gaming has discovered that before Star Fox Zero began development, staff at Metroid Prime developer Retro Studio pitched its own semi-reboot of the series called Star Fox Armada.
The pitch for Star Fox Armada was developed by an artist at Retro Studios named Eric Kozlowsky, who had previously worked on games such as Uncharted 3 and Brutal Legend. The game would have used a puppet art style similar to the original promotional art for the SNES game and been a direct sequel to Star Fox 64, making the entries in-between non-canon. The game would focus on the Star Fox team's rebuilding of the Lylat system following Andross' defeat, and the creation of an armada fleet.
The game would have also taken influence from Mass Effect's Normandy, with a hub area based on the Great Fox for players to explore and interact with other characters. Star Fox Armada also would have included side-content in the form of mercenary missions and multiplayer missions, which sounded very ambitious for a Wii U-era Nintendo game.
It's still bizarre that in the nine years since Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze's release, very little is known about what Retro Studios had in development before it took over Metroid Prime 4 in 2019. This pitch for Star Fox Armada at least highlights one of the ideas that was floated, at least before it was rejected by Retro's leadership.