- “General Pepper's Flight Log, pg 50
Traffic to Titania is usually restricted, but we have heard that Andross's scout forces are on the planet. We don't know what they're up to, but if they gain control of the technology of the planet's ancient Goras defence system, who knows what Andross might use it for. Get down there and see what Andross is planning, and neutralise Goras if you can! Since Corneria's tank corps is limited, your team's Landmaster is the only vehicle that can do the job. Good luck!” - —
Goras was a large alien creature, known to have been a species of Prehistoric Beasts that once lived several million years ago on the planet Titania, that were once worshiped as gods, and offered large sums of farming harvests. Several years after life on Titania became extinct, Andross's scout ships arrived on the planet and claimed the planet in the name of his empire, even recreating a Goras as a bioweapon from the fossilized remains of the creature. In "Star Fox 64", a Goras serves as the boss of the Mission on Titania, while another appears as a bioweapon of Captain Shears in the "Farewell, Beloved Falco" manga, and also appears in the "Lylat Wars Comic" where it mirrors its role in the N64 game.
History[]
- “Lylat Datalink; The Red Planet, pg 53
Millions of years ago, Titania was a thriving planet populated by an advanced agrarian civilisation. Interspersed between the farming communities were ornate cities of stone that the Titanians constructed using advanced engineering and architectural techniques. The centrepiece of every town was its temple, where villagers would leave their harvests to appease the fearsome Goras. Now, two million years after an asteroid collided with Titania, the Goras is the only surviving creature roaming the planet. A far cry from the lush, green planet it once was, Titania has become a barren wasteland of deserts and dunes. Even the Goras is different- a direct result of Andross's biomechanics experimentation.” - —
Cornerian Archaeologists had found evidence of an ancient civilisation due surprisingly advanced ruins on the "red planet", and in fact, a high-tech planetary defense system, which was code named "Goras," which were worshiped as gods and offered harvests, presumably in exchange for protection. Millions of years before the Lylat Wars, a meteorite collided with Titania, reducing its vegetation rich paradise to an arid desert and all native lifeforms became extinct.
Lylat Wars[]
- “Planetary Compendium
Titania is known as the "Red Planet" due to the huge ion storms that swirl dust from the surface of the planet into its stratosphere. Archaeologists have found surprisingly advanced ancient ruins on this planet, and, in fact, a high-tech, planetary defense system, code named "Goras," is still active. Travel to the planet has been prohibited because of to the threat to starships posed by this system.” - —
Although traffic to Titania was usually restricted, Andross's scout forces had been detected on the planet. Cornerian planning grew concerned that Andross might have been gaining control of the planet's ancient Goras defense system. Since they were going to Titania anyway in the search for Slippy Toad, the Star Fox Team were sent to also try to neutralize Goras after Andross's scout ships transformed it into a hostile bioweapon. Since Corneria's defense forces did not have a tank corps, the Star Fox Team's Landmaster was the only vehicle that could do the job. Fox came across Slippy's Arwing trapped in one of the many limbs of Goras. Goras had buried underground at first, but quickly emerged from the sand after taking enough firepower from the Landmaster and entered battle for Slippy's rescue and was destroyed.
Titanian Base Incident[]
Four years after the Lylat Wars, a gang of space hot rodders had traced classified data from Captain Shears and his research unit, hoping to sell the information to the highest bidder believing he was up to no good. But they were attacked by a Goras before they could leave, so Katt Monroe sent an S.O.S to her colleague Falco Lombardi for aid. Falco answered her call and attacked the Goras with ease, but he did not destroy it because it had retreated to safety. Later, Captain Shears began to get concerned that Star Fox had found out what he was doing on the planet and ordered the Goras to capture a hostage as ransom. Goras had managed to successfully capture Slippy in a Landmaster (the irony is, he was at the time having bad memories of the last time he was nearly eaten by Goras). Shears then later sent Goras to attack Katt's team yet again in the middle of their raid on the base. The team then decided to retreat since their weapons did not damage and only angered Goras, but Katt decided to stay and handle things herself, but Falco arrived in his newly repaired Arwing and continued where he left off, flying into Goras's spitfire and manipulating it with the G-Diffuser, ramming through the prehistoric beast at a high speed, killing it permanently. Kool saved Katt from being crushed from the deceased remains of Goras and shared a moment with her from doing so.
Biology[]
It is unknown how much of the Goras' characteristics and abilities depicted in the games and comics is factually the native creatures of palaeontology and what was added on by Andross's experimentation but it maybe at least had its design based on the native creature of the planet, and judging by the many giant bones and skulls similar in design to it scattered around the planet's surface, there was most likely many of them on Titania before the great extinction.
The Goras seen in the games is a large skeletal, corpse-like behemoth that appears to be several stories tall with long segmented limbs (two legs, four arms and a tail), large bony protrusions from the shoulders and hips, and a large dragon-like head with a single horn. The two upper limbs have three-fingered claws that can fire bolts of energy, while the lower pair have large mantis-like pincers used for swiping. The mouth was also capable of producing a deadly spitfire that could wreck anything in its path. Its exposed ribcage, which can open and close like a cage, holds Goras' delicate organs. The design suggests that Goras is some sort of supernatural construct, or perhaps only appears to be, and the "bones" are actually an exoskeleton of sorts.
Giving the Goras was capable of burying itself in the ground, and was able to attack while buried and rise up quickly to face whatever it caught, it may be the case that it would use this as a hunting strategy.
Other Appearances[]
Lylat Wars Comic[]
Goras makes an appearance in the Lylat Wars Comic where its role is exactly the same as its game appearances. Fox refers to it as a Zied Parasite in its 13th stage of development before shooting off it's arm with Slippy's Arwing stuck in it, setting off a chain reaction which destroys Goras.
Farewell, Beloved Falco[]
Goras (mistransliterated Gola in the fan-translation) later makes a reappearance in the Star Fox Adventures Prequel manga Farewell, Beloved Falco. Its first appearance was it attacking Katt Monroe before she is saved by Falco, thus forcing it to retreat. It later appears where it captures Slippy on Captain Shears' orders (ironically while Slippy is reminiscing about the bad memories about his almost becoming its meal the last time he was on Titania). It makes a final appearance where it attacks the Hot-Rodders yet again (where Katt almost decides to fight it herself to try and settle things without Falco's help), but Falco intervenes at the last minute after having repaired his Arwing, and kills Goras by doing a spinning maneuver into its chest. The remains of Goras nearly crushes Katt but she is pulled out of the way by Kool in the nick of time.
Whether this was a resurrected version of the Goras from Star Fox 64, or an entirely different Goras altogether that was created by Captain Shears is never explained.
Star Fox: Assault[]
The remains of Goras can be found on the Titania surface of Star Fox: Assault's Versus Mode map.
Comparable[]
Trivia[]
- Goras is comparable to the title creatures of the sci-fi Alien movie franchise in that they are both fragile skeletal, corpse-like looking but incredibly feral, dangerous and violent aliens armed with sharp limbs and tails and that they were worshiped as gods by primitive species. The Nintendo Power Star Fox 64 guide even recites the first Alien film's tagline on the rear cover: "In space, no-one can hear you scream".
- The Nintendo Power guide also implied the Goras was created by an ancient civilization as a defense mechanism, similar to how the Xenomorphs were speculated to have been created by the Space Jockeys prior to the release of Alien: Covenant.
- Because the Farewell, Beloved Falco comic was never officially translated into English by Nintendo, Goras is known as Golas, which is presumably an error due to the fan translation as it is a common mistake during Japanese and English translations that the letters L and R are mistakenly switched.
Names in Other Languages[]
Language | Name |
---|---|
Japanese | (ゴラス, Gorasu) (古代化石獣 Ancient Fossil Beast) |
References[]
- NINTENDO POWER Star Fox 64: Official Nintendo Player's Guide. Redmond, WA, Nintendo of America. 1997.
- Star Fox 64.com
- Star Fox 64.com
Bioweapons & Wildlife | ||
Bosses | Bacoon • Goras • Vulcain • Golemech • Biobrain • Dune Worm • Killer Bee (Star Fox Command) • Grunner • Monarch Dodora • Plasma Hydra | |
Enemy Bioweapons | Gores • Troikas • Z-Gulls • Z-Serpents • Kani | |
Sea Lifeforms | Clam • Aquas Squid • Starfish • Giant Spindly Fish • Angler Fish • Sculpins • Garoas • Todora (Star Fox 64) • Todora (Star Fox Command) | |
Plants | Bomb Spore Plant • Alpine Root • MoonSeed • Bomb Spore • Bomb Spore Planting Patch • Magic Plant • Blue GrubTub Fungus • White GrubTub Fungus • MushGus • Cacti • Dumbledang Tree • Dumbledang Pods • Fire Weed • Spore Pod • Venus Foxtrap | |
Environmental Hazards | Asteroid • Lava Bombs • Solar Prominences • Blocker • Pillars • Stone Column • Monument • Ore • Aquas Ruins |