Star Fox Command Developer Shares More On Why The Game Did Not Feature More Traditional On-Rails Levels

For many Star Fox fans, the Nintendo DS title Star Fox Command will always remain a contentious entry in the series – with some praising its unique controls, while others loathed the game’s multiple endings that fragmented its story. Well, we now have a little more insight into how the game ended the way it was, straight from the mouth of the game’s developer Dylan Cuthbert!

In a recent interview with Nintendo Life, Cuthbert spoke more about his experience developing the game. When asked what he would have liked to go back and rework, Cuthbert pointed to the lack of traditional ‘on-rails’ levels that the series was well-known for. As it turns out, however, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto had encouraged them to try different and new ideas back then – instead of sticking to the series’ conventions:

“If we’d have had more time, I would have liked to add some ‘standard’ Star Fox levels with forward-scrolling, but at the time Miyamoto was adamant that we stick with free-range modes. That was part of his ‘Star Fox should explore new things’ initial direction on the project. I would have liked to expand the mothership sequence more too, adding variation and different things to do, allowing you to enter mothership for an on-rails sequence, perhaps.”

“The ideas in Star Fox 2 seemed interesting to Miyamoto to apply to the Nintendo DS with its two screens. He explained early on that the Star Fox franchise wasn’t about repeating the same game in sequel after sequel, but was a vehicle for exploring ideas in 3D gaming. Just like the early experiments we did in Star Fox 2 with 3D platforming that eventually helped shape Super Mario 64, he wanted us to try out new ideas and see what happened.”

What do you think? Was this the right decision for the DS game? Feel free to share below!