Star Fox Zero: The Battle Begins treats the series right

By Gabe Gurwin Published April 21, 2016

Star Fox Zero releases tomorrow and while reviews for the game haven’t been glowing, it looks to, at the very least, return the series to the more traditional vehicular combat perfected in Star Fox 64. To go along with the launch, Nintendo has released an animated short, Star Fox Zero: The Battle Begins, and it makes a strong case for a Star Fox television series.

As one should expect from the Star Fox series at this point, The Battle Begins opens with Andross’ forces attacking the heavily populated Corneria. This interrupts Falco’s game of what looks like the original Star Fox on SNES, and all four members spring into action (and their Arwings) to take on the invading forces.

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The action sequences are outstanding and the animation — produced by Production IG and WIT Studios — evokes classic television shows that have long since gone out of style — but the real success in Star Fox Zero: The Battle Begins is in just how well it nails the Star Fox universe. While Star Fox: Adventures mostly dumped the team in favor of a Fox McCloud solo romp and Star Fox: Assault was the “dark middle chapter,” the short largely brings back the tone of the original games. Slippy is still annoying and a bit clumsy, but you can’t help but love him, and Peppy Hare has plenty of classic one-liners. Yes, “use the brakes!” and “do a barrel roll!” are both used.

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Nearly every comment on The Battle Begins‘ YouTube page are fans calling for a Star Fox television series, and this might be a good way for Nintendo to finally make some actual progress on the team’s story. Star Fox Zero is essentially telling the same tale for the third time, and an animated series would allow for more narrative progression than what’s possible in the very short games.

Would you be willing to watch a full Star Fox television series? Let us know in the comments!

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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C-combo breaker!
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To be continued
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