Wild Blue, a spiritual successor toStar Fox, has officially been announced to be in development by Humble Games. The originalStar Fox, first released for the SNES in 1993, was immensely popular in its day for its revolutionary 3D graphics. It spawned six mainline sequels over the years, including the release ofStar Fox 2some 30 years late, exclusive toNintendo’s revamped SNES Classic.Star Fox- along with the titular character himself - has since become a bit of a Nintendo icon, althoughthey’ve scarcely gotten any of their own releasesin recent years.
All that’s about to change, though, with the reveal ofWild Blue, aStar Foxspiritual successor newly revealed to be in developmentin a world premiere trailer during today’s Humble Games Showcase. An on-rails aerial space combat shooter, it hearkens back to the old-schoolStar Foxgames in both gameplay and visuals. It’s now in development by Chuhai Labs, a studio founded by originalStar Foxprogrammer Giles Goddard. It appears to be a PC exclusive for now; no release date has been announced.
Wild Blue Wears Its Star Fox Inspiration Proudly
How Star Fox Influenced Wild Blue
Even if it weren’t so open about all the ideas it draws fromStar Fox, it’d be pretty obvious thatWild Blueis a spiritual successor to the SNES classic. First, there’s the gameplay:it looks almost identical toStar Fox, with simple, colorful, blocky graphics featuring X-shaped ships locking onto distant targets as they race over the surface of alien worlds. LikeStar Fox, ships move on rails inWild Blue- while players will almost certainly have at least some control over orientation and positioning, speed will be set automatically.
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In addition, there’s the character design aspect:Bowie Stray, the only character we’ve seen from Wild Blue thus far, is an anthropomorphic animal. They have a decidedly different art style from anything inStar Fox, but the influence is undeniable: instead of an orange fox, a slightly-lighter-orange dog in a futuristic bomber jacket and driving gloves.
Finally, there’s the involvement of Giles Goddard. A programmer who worked on the originalStar Fox, as well as1080° Snowboardingand the interactive Mario face in the menu forMario 64,Goddard is a Nintendo veteran with a fascinating career under his belt. He founded Chuhai Labs (then called Vitei) as a Kyoto-based studio back in 2002. It’s since developed a couple of spiritual successors toclassic Nintendo gamesGoddard worked on, includingSteel Diver: Sub Warsand the VR gameCarve Snowboarding.
Wild Blue Could Be Great, But There’s No Guarantee
Still Early Days
Wild Bluehas a good pedigree, and already hasStar Foxfans excited. Still, it’s only the earliest days of its announcement, andwe scarcely know anything about the game at this early juncture. Gilles was undeniably an important part ofStar Fox’s development, but he’s just one programmer on a much larger team; it’s going to take a lot of work to recapture that magic.
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In addition,spiritual successors like this one can be hit-or-miss. Some of them turn out great: when assistant director ofCastlevania: Symphony of the Nightcame out withspiritual successorBloodstainedin 2019, it was a critical and commercial success, reeling in classicCastlevaniafans while bringing tons of new players to the genre. But they don’t always make the grade.Mighty No. 9,Mega Mandeveloper Keiji Inafune’s effort to revive the series, didn’t quite live up to fan expectations, and was largely criticized as a poor imitator of the original games.
Still, a modernStar Foxsuccessor sounds cool, and it does have the potential to breathe a little life back into a mostly-dormant series. The development ofWild Blueis one to watch.
