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General

We're Star Fox!
97 Fox

Star Fox, also referred to as the Star Fox Team or Team Star Fox, is a legendary team of mercenaries and adventurerers-for-hire which has repeatedly defended the Lylat System in times of peril. Founded by James McCloud, the leadership passed through to his son, Fox, after his apparent disappearance.

For a price, this crack group will fight against any threat to the Cornerian star system. Although it may appear that the Star Fox Team is motivated only by financial gain, they will only accept missions that serve to uphold justice.

History[]

Early Beginnings[]

StarFoxFounders

Star Fox was founded by James McCloud and his best friend, Peppy Hare. Shortly into their new career, they were joined by a new member: Pigma Dengar. The team flew about the Lylat System, finding work wherever they were. They earned so much that James decided to take out an 80-year loan to finance the team's headquarters and building rights to a new mothership from Space Dynamics that would transport the trio about the System, in conjunction with an android pilot for extra assistance, but they had to wait a while until it was completed. Star Fox tangled in battle after battle with Wolf O'Donnell during an uprising threat from an evil mad scientist named Andross.

Occurrence at Venom[]

Meanwhile, Andross unleashed a secret experiment that annihilated Corneria's cities and was arrested by General Pepper, tried for treason and finally banished to the far away desolate planet, Venom, for the casualties he caused on Corneria. Five years after the ordeal, General Pepper received reports from Corneria's observation station about sightings of bioweaponry appearing from Venom. The Star Fox team was then hired by General Pepper to investigate these reports, but the senior McCloud and Peppy had been betrayed by their own wingman, Pigma Dengar having been paid immense riches and betrayed his teammates to his new master Andross, delivering them into a deadly trap upon their arrival, from which there was seemingly no escape. Wolf O'Donnell of the future Star Wolf team was also suspected to have had a hand in the involvement.

Only James's wingman, Peppy was barely able to escape, but managed to limp home in his badly damaged starfighter. Peppy returned home to Corneria and informed Pepper of Pigma's treachery and the danger Andross posed to the Lylat System. He also told James' son Fox of his father's fate.

Fox was a cadet in the Cornerian Defense Army Academy when he heard the news that his father had met a violent end at the hands of the twisted genius, Andross. As the only survivor of the original Star Fox Team, Peppy insisted that the young Fox should take on the leadership of the group and form a new team of pilots. Thrust into the leadership role that he wasn't prepared for, Fox recruited the hot-tempered Falco Lombardi and the mechanical genius Slippy Toad to make up the new Star Fox Team. Still feeling guilty about sending James to his doom, Pepper began to worry for Fox's future and decided to take the young McCloud's career into his own hands too.

Vehicles[]

The Arwing is the main air craft of the Star Fox team, it has appeared in all Star Fox games to date. Throughout their appearances the Arwings have had considerable changes, though all versions have retained the basics such as simple lasers that can be upgraded and Smart Bombs.

The Walker is activated when the Arwing transforms and touches ground into it. This allows players to explore sections that would be too small for the Arwing or require slowed down exploration. The Walker is useful in areas such as the inside of the Androsa fortress because the tunnels would be too small for the fast flying Arwing, and the Walker can remain stationary when attacking the main reactor.

This tank first appeared in Star Fox 64 as a tracked light tank in two of the game's missions and one of the game's multiplayer maps. It appeared again in Star Fox: Assault, although with wheels replacing the tank treads for this game only, the tanks were also modified somewhat and acted as anti-air craft tanks. In Zero, an alternate flight upgrade of the Landmaster called the Gravmaster is the flying tank that serves best for increased mobility and airborne performance, but when the boost meter runs out the Gravmaster will revert into the normal Landmaster.

The Blue-Marine is a submarine vehicle, it has only been used once by Fox McCloud on the planet, Aquas. Instead of shooting bombs, the Blue Marine has an unlimited source of torpedoes. Strangely enough, this vehicle was never used again. It is unknown if it is even still in their arsenal. It is equipped with lasers like the Arwing, essentially performing the same way the Arwing would, only underwater.

The Gyrowing is a slow-flying hovercraft ship that serves best at stealth missions. It can deploy a tethered robot called Direct-I to gather item pickups such as medals during a mission and simultaneously collect various items on platforms, such as medals and even hack into computers. The Direct-I robot can also fire at enemies to defend itself.

Great Fox is the teams base of operations and later their home, it is used for carrying the Arwings and other vehicles as well as back up against heavy assaults. ROB 64 is the primary pilot of the Great Fox.

The Great Fox appearing in Star Fox Command acts as the successor to the original Lylat Wars Great Fox following the loss during the Aparoid Invasion. It launches star fighters and fires missiles to defend itself but cannot move on the map screen and will be destroyed instantly upon contact with enemies.

The Mothership that appears in Star Fox 2 is essentially the games equivalent to the traditional Great Fox, but can only hold and repair star fighters and cannot take part in battle.

Services and Legacy[]

I feel a lot more confident with you around!
—Dog Soldier

The Star Fox team are elite commandos-for-hire, therefore they are not restricted to serving any one client, yet they will only work for commitments that serve justice. The team are known to have a long-standing, even personal connection with the Cornerian Military.

Their payments are known to be very steep at times, evident by General Pepper acknowledging in Star Fox 64 after looking at the team's service invoice, "This is one steep bill! But it's worth it." or even an astounded "What?!". In Star Fox Adventures, it is only after Pepper notes to Fox that "your fee has been approved" that the team start to show immediate interest in their expedition on Dinosaur Planet. This is because they require a lot of money to make upgrades to their armoury and especially to pay off the 80-year loan James McCloud took out to purchase the original Great Fox.

The Star Fox team's successful, reputable work seems to have a positive, morale boosting effect on friendly Cornerian pilots, evident by the above quote. Krystal's change of employment to Star Wolf apparently made her unpopular with the Cornerian public as two dogs mock her behind her back, believing her to have betrayed the Star Fox team in the Star Fox Command's ending 4 Star Wolf Returns.

Team motto[]

Never give up. Trust your instincts.
—James McCloud & Peppy Hare

The original Star Fox team's basic motto has still remained a trademark motive throughout the team's years of service. Peppy Hare still continues to use and rephrase this quote. Fox chose to hold onto this phrase when denying the Apaorid Queen's immitation of his father.

Other Appearances[]

FBFFox&HotRodders

After the victory over Andross's Empire, the Star Fox team flew many freelance missions during the years following the Cornerian-Venomian conflict. However, all was not well as time passed: After the conflict had been drawn to a close, the need for mercenary work became redundant and much needed money became harder to come by. The Great Fox and the Arwings became very aged while ROB also suffered from lack of new parts and had trouble keeping himself together, leaving him and the vehicles in dire need of repair. Due to his age, Peppy had retired from active flight duty but remained as a mentor. Even Slippy was barely able to keep up with the repairs and had traded in his role as an active pilot and started to develop various weapons and gadgets for the Cornerian R&D. Fox and Falco became frustratingly bored and were prone to bickering, which Falco found amusing.

One day, Katt Monroe sent out an SOS to Falco that she was being attacked by an unseen assailant, giving Falco reason to ship out into action without consulting with the team, leaving them to follow him in haste. On Titania, Falco rescued Katt from the Goras and met up with the space hot rodders gang that were causing trouble for a remnant of Androssians after stealing their data tapes for a secret weapon. Meanwhile, the Star Fox team met with the Cornerian officer, Captain Shears at the Titanian research base, who informed them that the base was under attack from Androssians and asked them to deal with the gang that stole the data. Fox took the bait and attacked the group who Shears accused of being the Androssians, actually the space hot rodders, prompting Falco to retaliate by entering a dogfight with him. Despite using a barrel roll to deflect firepower, Falco ridiculed Fox for it since it would leave him unaware of where his opponent will be, until Fox hid from sight in the sun rays and launched homing lasers at Falco, crashing his Arwing in the desert.

Following the dogfight, Falco started fixing his downed Arwing in the desert while wondering if either Fox has gotten better, or he's gotten worse. Back at the Great Fox, Peppy scolded Fox for his actions, noting that his father would not be pleased with his behaviour. Star Fox then start doubting Captain Shears's accusations since they knew Falco would never betray them to join any Androssians, Peppy even wonders about the base really being under attack when it was actually very quiet, sending Slippy in a Landmaster to investigate the problem. Slippy drove his Landmaster across the desert while having bad memories about the last time he landed on Titania, just as Goras attacked in order to take him hostage. The hot rodders then contacted Great Fox; Katt trashed Fox for Falco's disappearance while Fox and Peppy wondering why she's on the ship that Shears accusesed being Venomian. Both teams came to a truce and viewed the data to contain the D.N.A for a living being and not a weapon, revealed to be the genetic code of Andross himself, deciding to join forces and attack the base after ROB reported Slippy's disappearance.

Fox and the hot rodders assaulted the base, the gang caused a distraction for the soldiers while Fox followed Peppy's guide to rescue Slippy from captivity, eventually finding the lab where Andross was being grown and Fox quickly getting into a sword fight with Shears after his true loyalties were revealed. Slippy attempted to reverse the growth process, but only accelerated it when Andross began to remember who Fox is and his hatred for him. Fox and Slippy then used the impounded Landmaster to finally destroy the feral Andross and escape the base. Outside, the hot rodders were unable to damage Goras until Falco arrived to save them by manipulating the creatures spitfire with the G-diffuser and barrel rolled thorough its body.

Falco then decided to have a vacation, taking his Arwing with him, but told Fox to tell Katt to disband the gang and get out of trouble.

Trivia[]

  • In promotional materials for the original SNES game, the entire team had what initially appeared to be metallic-looking feet and ankles rather than large boots. It was theorized that the Star Fox team had their legs amputated and replaced with futuristic prosthetics to prevent loss of consciousness while flying, as gravity tends to force blood away from the brain and toward the lower extremities. However, at around the time of the release of Star Fox Zero, both Shigeru Miyamoto and Dylan Cuthbert have stated separately that this is not the case, with the former stating that it was merely an aesthetic. Many false claims have been made around Fox and Falco's legs, however they have not been removed in the official canon. In all other appearances to date, including Star Fox 2 for the Super NES Classic, the boots were redesigned to be more natural-looking and less alien-looking.

References[]

America. 1997.]

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