So Nintendo came out and had a star fox animated episode air in order to promote Star Fox Zero. I have embedded the episode below for you to watch.
I’m going to quickly discuss the potential for Nintendo animated series.
Nintendo has been trying to reach out into new markets lately for example they are working on creating a theme park with Universal Studios, have created Pikmin animated shorts, have had their IP appear in Wreck-it Ralph and were heavily rumoured to be working on a live action Zelda Netflix series.
This seems to be a way that quite a few games companies are going with the Assassins Creed movie in the pipeline and the Rachet and Clank movie coming out.
I personally really enjoyed the Star Fox animated special and have yet to see the Pikmin Shorts. However I have seen the Kit Icarus Uprising videos that were featured on Nintendo Video on the Nintendo 3DS (pretty good) and I am unfortunate enough to have seen the Mario Bros movie. I believe Nintendo might be going down this path due to these developments in their business strategy and the strategies of competitors.
I think Nintendo has been after a more cinematic feel as shown by a few games. For example the sheer number of cutscenes in The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword, the fact that one of the reasons Star Fox Zero was delayed was to work on the tone of the game and add cutscenes and a particular cinematic that comes to mind is the one from the beginning of Super Mario 3D World in which the bowser performs a theatrical-like performance in capturing a Sprixie.
To conclude whilst I do want many Nintendo anime’s and films I’d like to highlight what I believe a continuation of the Star Fox Anime could offer. I think a Star Fox Anime could allow for the series to drift away from its roots in it’s narrative. I believe this by looking at cartoons such as the Sonic Boom cartoons in which Eggman etc weren’t always the bad guys. For example in the case of Star Fox they could sway away from using Andross constantly which would feel refreshing. I really liked the design of General Scale in Star Fox Adventures (though Andross was shoehorned in at the last moment) and I also enjoyed fighting the Aparoids in Star Fox Assault. This could really open up a lot of paths for the Star Fox games without the risk of upsetting fans as they could test the waters in the anime.
The original voice cast for Star Fox 64 and now Star Fox Zero, are pretty good voice actors and I believe they could hold up for an entire anime. This anime could help build the backstories of many characters. Everyone already cares about Wolf and Star Fox’s team but exploring the backstory of characters such as Bill, Kat and Panther could be an interesting development. What would you like to see from a Starfox anime or other Nintendo Anime and can you think of any other examples of Nintendo trying to be more cinematic?
-Tom
Game Development & Reviews 