PlatinumGames Wants to Port Star Fox Zero to Nintendo Switch

PlatinumGames would love to port Wii U’s Star Fox Zero to the Switch, but it would want to respect both Nintendo and Miaymoto’s wishes in regards to an updated version.

Speaking to VGC, PlatinumGames studio head Atsushi Inaba said that it would have interest in porting 2016’s Star Fox Zero to Switch – which remains one of the few big-name Wii U games yet to make it to Switch alongside remasters of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker and Twilight Princess – if Nintendo wanted it. However, any “potential changes would be up to Mr. Miyamoto.”

“It’s not cool that people aren’t able to play older games because they’re locked out of the platform, so of course if anything was possible we’d like to bring over any of those older titles to the newer platforms,” Inaba said. “It kind of depends on what’s in the realm of actual possibility, but yeah, if the chance came up it’s definitely something we’d like to think about.”

“The important thing to remember there is that because it’s Nintendo’s IP, the ideas are coming from Miyamoto-san himself. We have to respect what Miyamoto-san wants to do.” Inaba continued. “Of course, at that time there was a lot of discussion between Platinum and Nintendo, but if the opportunity came up to bring Star Fox Zero to the Switch again it would be more of a question of what he would like to do in that opportunity, and of course we would respect that again.”

Star Fox Zero would need to be more than just a simple port, as the Wii U version had players using both the TV screen and the Wii U gamepad to play. The TV would should traditional third-person Star Fox gameplay, while the Wii U’s screen would provide a cockpit view that was used to aim and use motion controls.

In our review of Star Fox Zero, we said that was one of the weaker parts of the game.

“The problem comes when trying to maintain control as you move your eyes between the two screens, especially since the perspectives affect how you aim.” IGN’s Jose Otero wrote. “Even though the TV shows a larger field of view, sometimes using it to take an unassisted shot that looks like it should hit will completely miss. In those cases, you have to look down at the GamePad to line up a precise volley, then look back up to take in your surroundings and push forward.”

Star Fox Zero’s new features had mixed reactions from others around the industry, including Giles Goddard, one of the programmers on SNES’ Star Fox. He said that he would be very interested in working on another Star Fox, but one that would “just dial it back a lot and not in gimmicks like, you know, the stuff Star Fox Zero had, and maybe not even put in the free roaming aspects and stuff like that.”

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.