On how it doesn’t take place before other games in the series…

“It’s definitely not a prequel. In some ways I think more of it as being a remake of the first one or we’re starting from ‘1’ again, but obviously with that as a base trying to think, ‘now with these two different screens and new play system and different vehicles, what are the new things we can add to that?’”

– Zero name chosen in part because they “liked how it sounded”

– The Kanji character for Zero is written into the game’s logo in a way to resemble the tail of a fox

– Co-developed between Nintendo and Platinum Games

– Art is being done at Platinum’s Osaka office

– Design is being done in Nintendo’s offices in Kyoto, where some of the Platinum guys have taken temporary root

– Nintendo’s director on the project is Yugo Hayashi (level design on The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess and then directed Wii Fit U)

Miyamoto on how a dev goes from Zelda to Wii Fit to Star Fox…

“I was kind of surprised by it, too. Probably the main reason is actually that he sits the closest to me [of anyone in the development group].”

– Main gameplay idea is a two-screen view

– GamePad shows a cockpit view by default

– TV displays a behind-the-vehicle angle or in some scenes a more cinematic angle

– At times, the player can lock on to an enemy target on the TV screen

– This allows them to see the relative positioning of their vehicle

– Use the Wii U’s gyro sensor to look around in your virtual cockpit by moving the GamePad above your head, downward (glass-floored cockpit), left or right

– Can’t look behind

– Your lasers are essentially on a turret

– In practice, the developers assume you’ll sometimes be watching the TV, sometimes looking at the cockpit

– 4 ways of playing: Arwing flight, the Landmaster tank, a “gyrowing” and a walker

– The walker is the Arwing, transformed

– Hashimoto said that the transformation is mechanically sound, using all the parts of the Arwing

– Landmaster is still a tank but can transform into a hover-tank that can fly through parts of a level

– The transformation holds only for a few seconds, as it is tied to a rapidly-expiring meter

– Gyrowing is a slower flying vehicle that works like a helicopter

– You see it from behind on our TV but also sometimes need to switch to an overhead view so you can position the craft precisely

– The Gyrowing carries a little robot called the Direct-i

– Can drop Direct-i from the gyrowing and drive around

– The robot is tied to a tether so can’t go far from the gyrowing

– The GamePad will display what the Direct-i sees

– Gameplay for Direct-i seems to involve tucking into nooks and crannies, exploring insides of buildings, finding bonuses

– Miyamoto said it added a “Mario”-like element to it in terms of rewarding exploration

– Some dialogue and level design as Star Fox 64

– Not exactly a remake

– New vehicles, planets (levels)

– Returning levels seem different

– Example of the above from Kotaku:

Corneria, the first sequence from the N64, begins on Wii U the same way, with Fox’s team flying down to the verdant planet and skimming over a body of water. But immediately there are changes as massive… flying sword-like enemy fighters… emerge from the water and attack. The subsequent action is still funneled through a city area, still past some big robots, but as it moves from a “Phase 1” to a “Phase 2” it then opens into a “Phase 3” that opens up into more of an arena-flight stage that involves protecting a central tower (and General Pepper inside it) while enemy fighters, tower-climbing spider-bots and eventually a massive enemy flying saucer attack.

– Star Wolf returns

– Dogfighting with all four of the series’ signature enemy squad

– Levels are intended to be replayed, sometimes with different vehicles

– Ex: only have the Arwing when initially playing the Corneria stage, but can transform into a walker when playing it again

– With the press of a button, the player can transform, drop to the ground and engage robot enemies more directly

– The final battle with the giant saucer can play out very differently

– With just the Arwing, the player has to attack various turrets and chip away at the saucer

– With the walker, players can chip away just enough to spot a now-exposed interior corridor, fly into it, transform, walk into the core of the saucer and destroy the core for a quicker victory

– Star Fox Zero is more linear than Star Fox 64, unclear if there is any branching

– Kotaku was told “not as much” about branching

– The developers told Kotaku that Slippy, Peppy, and Falco will shoot enemies down

– These characters are smarter than in the N64 game

– They’re still designed to let players feel like they’re handling most of the action

– Falco might scold you if you take one of his kills

– 60 frames per second on the TV and GamePad, across two distinct views

– That comes at some price to the complexity of the graphics, which is in turn a challenge for Platinum’s artists

“The visuals kind of can’t be that rich, but we also want them to appear rich. That’s been an interesting technical challenge for me, and I’ve used my experience as a designer in the past to help with that.”

Miyamoto on the frame rate emphasis…

“Yes, I absolutely don’t talk about specs very much, but when it comes to framerate, that’s just tied very closely, be it a Mario game, an F-Zero or a Star Fox game…to the controls feeling very immediate, to having the image react to what you are doing, so that is something I will focus on from time to time. Of course in a Zelda game, the visual expression becomes more important, so a lower framerate is kind of okay in that type of game.”

– Uses 3D sound to simulate the effects of an earpiece

– When you are holding the GamePad and playing without headphones, you’ll hear chatter from your allies

– It sounds like it is coming into your right ear, thanks to the developer’s use of “3D sound effects”

Miyamoto on the sound…

“We basically think of the GamePad as the cockpit. So we wanted to get that feeling of being surrounded even if you aren’t using headphones. On the television, you’ll have all of the environment noise and on the GamePad you’ll have the cockpit noise like the shooting and the enemies passing by. The third level is when your teammates speak they’ll sound like they’re in your ear.”

– Co-op mode planned

– One player is driving/flying and the other shooting

I went through Corneria as described above, taking out the saucer by flying into its corridors and using the walker to attack its core. I played Sector Alpha, a reinterpretation of a Star Fox 64 level that is an on-rails battle amid an armada of ships. This level appears to be the one that introduces the walker, as you fly into one ship, transform and explore it from within (while doing this I killed enough enemies to earn a medal, a sign that there are hidden challenges in these levels). In an industrial planetary level called Zoneness, I flew the Gyrowing out of sight from searchlights, dropped the Direct-i robot to activate security panels that opened gates, and used the Direct-i’s tether to grab an explosive crate and then drop it on an enemy barge. Near the end of that level, I heard from Kat, a returning franchise character. Finally, I drove the Landmaster in a desert level called Titania, using the Landmaster’s charged shells to blow up stone structures that toppled onto enemies to inflict indirect damage. That level ended with a boss battle, my tank against a sort of giant enemy worm.

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