Trivia / Star Fox Zero

• Ascended Meme:
  • Personally, I prefer the air.
  • Peppy becomes self-aware.
• Development Gag:
  • The Arwings being capable of transforming was taken from the formerly unreleased Star Fox 2.
  • Katt getting an earring on her left ear is a reference to Miyu, a feline character who wore an earring on her left ear who was introduced in Star Fox 2.
• Franchise Killer:
  • The game was intended to act as a revival for the Star Fox series after Star Fox Command initially sent it into a hiatus. Unfortunately, its poor sales and mixed reception would only cause the franchise to go into hiatus yet again. While Shigeru Miyamoto has shown interest in continuing the franchise, outside of a crossover with Starlink: Battle for Atlas and of course, continuing to be repped in the Super Smash Bros. games, little has been done with the franchise post Zero.
  • It may have even served as one for the Wii line itself. It was the last major (exclusive) title for the Wii U (a poorly-sold Paper Mario game notwithstanding) and in a last ditch effort to save the sinking platform, Miyamoto insisted that a heavy emphasis be placed on the Wii U Gamepad during gameplay, even to the game's detriment. Instead of convincing users and developers of the Wii U Gamepad's potential, the game cemented the Gamepad's reputation as a useless gimmick at best and a downright nuisance at worst that Nintendo was better off scrapping altogether in favor of pouring resources into giving the Wii U some much needed extra horsepower. Shortly after this game's release, it was announced that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, originally planned as a Wii U exclusive, would also see release on the then-unannounced Nintendo Switch, further signalling to the public that the Wii U was a dead platform.
• In Memoriam: "This game is dedicated to our wingman who fell in battle."
• Role Reprise:
  • Mike West, Lyssa Browne, and Ja Green are back as Fox McCloud, Slippy Toad, and Leon Powalski originally voicing them in Star Fox 64 and its Nintendo 3DS Video Game Remake. It was later announced that ENTIRE cast of 64 would reprise their roles, though this later turned out not to be true, as Peppy, Falco, and Andross had their voices from the 3DS remake, and Wolf was thought to have his Brawl voice, though it has since been proven to be Mike West doing his best Jock Blaney impersonation. On the other hand, David Frederick White (the original voice of General Pepper, ROB 64, and Pigma) did return to reprise his roles.
  • The Japanese version also uses the voice actors from the 3DS remake.
• Schedule Slip: The game was initially planned for a late 2015 release, but later had its release date pushed to early 2016.
• What Could Have Been: The game was originally going to have a more compact, pick-up-and-play approach to its levels, to mimic the feel of a TV series like Thunderbirds. After receiving feedback from E3 2015, the developers decided to make the levels longer and more robust to make the game feel more like Star Fox 64, which was designed to feel like a movie.
  • There were plans to make an Arwing amiibo and some prototypes were created that would be capable of transforming into a Walker but the prototypes weren't finished because according to Miyamoto, they were not able to meet the safety guidelines for children. The only trace of this project remains in Super Mario Maker which has a Arwing/Walker costume available, and was likely meant to be unlocked via this amiibo. Although not an Amiibo, an interactive Arwing toy was eventually realized for Starlink: Battle for Atlas.
  • The Treehouse streams from E3 mentioned having future levels change in some way based on how you beat a stage, citing the Androsa boss' pilot from Corneria showing up again based on whether or not you destroy ship's cannons from the outside (leading to the pilot escaping) or the core from inside (causing the entire structure to explode). Though the "Mission Complete"/"Mission Accomplished" messages will still show up depending on which you chose, the pilot never reappears, nor does your choice make any impact besides the Complete/Accomplished message at the end of the fight.

---