It has been almost a year since Star Fox Zero was first announced, and Nintendo has been putting a lot of promotional push behind the forthcoming action shooter, which is expected to be one of the Wii U’s biggest titles to date.
Despite a slight delay from the original November 2015 release, fans are thrilled to be getting back into the pilot’s seat with Fox McCloud and company, as they take to the skies (and the ground) in an effort to stop the evil Andross and his army of minions.
The game made a memorable debut during last year’s Nintendo Direct special prior to the Electronic Entertainment Expo, where the late Satoru Iwata, alongside Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime and producer Shigeru Miyamoto were represented by puppets designed by Jim Henson Productions. They later transformed into StarFox characters before revealing the game. Fans were thrilled with the presentation, which continues to get a lot of attention.
These puppets recently made a return in a StarFox Zero television commercial. In it, McCloud and his fellow pilots take on enemies in a lighthearted manner, and the lead pilot provides his own narration, complete with mention of the word “foxy,” which his fellow pilots find amusing.
The commercial has gotten very good response, but Nintendo’s latest move could very well skyrocket StarFox Zero to new heights. The publisher has announced a special event taking place on April 20, where it will debut the first episode of an online animated series titled StarFox Zero: The Battle Begins, starting at 3 PM PDT on Nintendo’s webpage. Following that, Nintendo will host a special Treehouse event, where it will showcase new gameplay from Zero alongside its supplementary game, StarFox Guard, which will be included free of charge with both physical and digital editions.
Even though the company has been hard at work promoting its incredibly popular mobile release, Miitomo, and is possibly making plans to unveil the rumored NX game console sometime later this year, it hasn’t forgotten about the many fans who grew up on StarFox games. Most recently, the hit shooter StarFox 64 (which originally released on the Nintendo 64) was ported to the Nintendo 3DS.
Look for Zero to “do a barrel roll!” on the market when it arrives this Friday on the Wii U.
