Concept and Creation
In 1992, Nintendo and Argonaut Software collaborated to produce a 3D space shooter for the Super Nintendo, provisionally titled 'SnesGlider'. The development team, led by Shigeru Miyamoto, redesigned what had been a tech demo into a rail shooter, with Nintendo designing the game and Argonaut handling the technical aspects. However, without a story, it lacked incentives to play beyond flying and shooting. Miyamoto sketched out a fictional universe, but could not decide on a natural hero to convey a sense of an epic space battle. Names under consideration included Star Wolf, Star Sheep, Star Fox, Star Sparrow and Star Hawk. Miyamoto finally settled on having a fox as the main character after visiting Fushimi Inari-taisha in Kyoto, the head shrine of Inari, a Japanese kami associated with foxes. Inari is portrayed as being able to fly, and its shrines, particularly the one in Kyoto, are surrounded by red arches (torii), giving Miyamoto the idea of a fox that could fly through arches. Fox's face was modeled after Inari's, and always wears a red "scarf" around his neck, like the statue, with the exception of his design from Star Fox: Assault. This however could be contested on the grounds that Fox's face was not based upon Inari's until Star Fox 64, as Fox had a very realistic look in the original Star Fox. Fox's personality is loosely based on Miyamoto's, with the name 'Fox' being suggested by Dylan Cuthbert, one of the Argonaut team.
Read more about this topic: Fox McCloud
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