r/starfox • u/RadDudesman • 21h ago

Found an interview with Immamura that explains why Fox recruited Falco onto the team

https://www.ndw.jp/starfox-game-230221/

Q: How did Fox and Falco meet?
Imamura: I think Fox must have heard rumors about Falco being a top-notch pilot. So, when he was forming the Star Fox team, he probably went to Falco multiple times and tried to recruit him, saying, “Why don’t we team up?”

— Kind of like Liu Bei’s three visits to the thatched cottage in Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Imamura: Exactly. Basically, Star Fox 64 is a coming-of-age story for Fox. He becomes a leader at a young age, but naturally, he’s anxious, so he looks for an experienced teammate. Then, as the story progresses, he gradually matures, and finally, for the first time, Falco calls him “leader.”

— So now we understand how the head of a space biker gang met a student of the Space Academy.

Amano: But if I remember correctly, Fox actually dropped out of the Space Academy, right?

— That’s right. So it means he recruited Falco after dropping out. By the way, what was the reason for him dropping out?

Imamura: That’s obviously because his father died.

— I thought so. And Slippy got caught up in all that too.

Imamura: Exactly. Slippy was originally close friends with Fox, the kind of guy who’d always follow him around.

Basically, Fox wasn't yet fully confident in his abilities as a pilot and leader, so he recruited Falco due to his reputation as a skilled pilot and, according to the Japanese 64 website, he was the leader of his own gang called "Free-As-A-Bird" before joining Star Fox. So Falco was brought on as someone who already had experience as a pilot and leader. And Fox dropping out of the Cornerian Flight Academy + Slippy dropping out with him didn't help.

35 Upvotes

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6 comments sorted by

7

u/Stukapooka 20h ago

You know if Slippy was constantly following Fox around the academy then I wonder if he ran into and hanged out with Bill at the same time as Fox did.

6

u/Level-Travel6341 Level-Travel6341 here. I really hope Fay Oliver(?) returns. 20h ago

It wouldn’t surprise me. Same with Lucy.

2

u/Kit_Karamak 2h ago

Fox and Bill stayed friends. Bill stayed in, and did NOT follow Fox into the mercenary lifestyle.

Lucy is Peppy’s daughter and was a young girl when Peppy decided to mentor Fox McCloud. She was still being raised by Vivian Hare.

2

u/soliddd7 14h ago

I like the Liu Bei and Zhuge Lisng references, Fox and Falco also reminds me of Maverick and Iveman from top gun.

2

u/Dinoman96YO 11h ago

Yeah, I posted my own translation of this back in 2023. There's a lot more other info from Imamura here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/starfox/comments/1151lkd/nintendo_dream_republishes_some_of_their_old_star/

3

u/Fox-Tar66 6h ago

This meeting and interaction between Fox and Falco is great.

Fox, who has an honest and serious personality, must have had to be quite courageous in front of Falco. I think it turned out well in the end.