The original developers of Star Fox have been celebrating the game’s 30th anniversary on Twitter.
Star Fox was released for the Super Famicom in Japan on 21st February 1993, followed by releases in North America and Europe later in the year. The game was lauded for its 3D polygonal graphics using the Super FX chip, thought impossible on Nintendo’s 16-bit machine.
Takaya Imamura, the former Nintendo artist who designed lead character Fox McCloud among others, marked the occasion with a new illustration.
“Thank you for supporting me for over 30 years, Fox! And everyone involved in the games you’ve appeared in! Thank you!” he said.
フォックス！３０年以上僕を支えてくれてありがとう！そして君の登場するゲームに関わったすべての人！ありがとう！
Thank you for supporting me for over 30 years, Fox! And everyone involved in the games you’ve appeared in! Thank you!
#スターフォックス #starfox pic.twitter.com/NFgeCZb4T5— 今村孝矢 / Takaya Imamura (@ima_1966) February 20, 2023
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Dylan Cuthbert also shared a celebration: a deliciously fruity cake featuring the Star Fox crew. Cuthbert was the original programmer on Star Fox – and lead developer across four Star Fox titles – and is now CEO of Q-Games.
We had a big cake today at the office to celebrate 30 years since the launch of the original Star Fox #StarFox pic.twitter.com/bAI582u2A2
— Dylan Makes Games (@dylancuthbert) February 21, 2023
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Cuthbert reflected on development of the game in an interview with Time Extension.
On the inclusion of the game’s mascot-style characters he said: “It made it very Nintendo, didn’t it? Whereas, until then, it had been very British in a way. Like it was a bit colder, harsher, and dystopic. And all those things we kind of drew from [classic] British sci-fi. And Nintendo was saying, ‘Nope, we’re not having any of that, we’re going to make it a bit cuter and fluffier and cartoon-like,’ and they just kind of went to town on it. I [also] heard that Miyamoto liked Thunderbirds a lot.”