I believe there is a legitimate discussion to be had around this rumor and whether or not it was ever true, especially in light of the new Starlink info presented in yesterday's Direct. This thread is for discussing the possibility that all of those Starfox GP rumors were false and the implications of that, especially in terms of what Retro Studios has been up to lately. Mods, if you feel this is not threadworthy feel free to close it but I think there might be some good discussions to be had here.
So as many of us know, last year there were a whole host of rumors about Retro Studios' current project, rumored to be Starfox Grand Prix. From the rumor archive:
On top of that many other outlets claimed to hear similar things, including Kotaku:
For a while now some people were claiming these rumors were probably just people confusing a new Star Fox game with Star Fox being in Ubisoft's title, Starlink. To me, those claims never made sense because Starlink was not a racing game, and had no indications of any sort of racing mode or racing elements at all. So how could anyone mistake that game for a racing game?
Enter yesterday's Direct:
Would you look at that, Starfox racing!
Okay, so yes, Starlink has a racing mode (or minigame?), how does that prove anything?
I don't necessarily think this proves anything, but I believe it makes a rather strong case that the Starfox GP could have been a misinterpretation of leaked Starlink footage. Here's the scenario:
Why Retro? Well perhaps the source these people got this footage from is not based in Japan, so they naturally assume it is one of Nintendo's western developers. Almost every other western studio is accounted for, and this looks to be a bit too impressive in scope and visuals for it to be made by such a small team at NST, so these people with the footage make the logical leap assuming this might be Retro's game. They don't consider that it could be a third party game, and when you think about it who would have guessed that Ubisoft would make two different games with two different Nintendo IP in back to back years (the other being Mario + Rabbids)? That probably seemed unlikely at the time.
So where did the name and logo come from? Pardon my french but I would guess they came from someone's ass. Maybe whoever saw this footage just made a guess about the name and mocked up a logo.
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Now, there are a couple of possible holes in this theory.
But as of now I think the theory makes a bit more sense than the game being real, which would require that Nintendo greenlit Starfox content for a Ubisoft game that includes a racing mode while also developing their own Starfox racing game. That just seems extremely unlikely and out there, even for Nintendo. Or maybe it's just the mother of all coincidences.
Anyway, assuming this theory is accurate, what does that mean for Retro? Well, it means we can throw out all of these Starfox related rumors. Including the rumor from Kotaku stating that another previous game was potentially cancelled. So basically they could have been up to absolutely anything over the past 5 years.
Again mods, if you feel discussing a rumor like this isn't worth a thread then feel free to close it but I feel that it might be an interesting case to talk about and I feel that I've made a decently compelling argument in the OP.
Edit: Here are Emily's most recent thoughts on the game
https://www.resetera.com/threads/ni...read-ot2-new-year-new-mii.90098/post-17308012
https://www.resetera.com/threads/ni...read-ot2-new-year-new-mii.90098/post-17309063
https://www.resetera.com/threads/ni...read-ot2-new-year-new-mii.90098/post-17316903
Edit2: Jason Schreier with an update:
So as many of us know, last year there were a whole host of rumors about Retro Studios' current project, rumored to be Starfox Grand Prix. From the rumor archive:
On top of that many other outlets claimed to hear similar things, including Kotaku:
(Emphasis added)
For a while now some people were claiming these rumors were probably just people confusing a new Star Fox game with Star Fox being in Ubisoft's title, Starlink. To me, those claims never made sense because Starlink was not a racing game, and had no indications of any sort of racing mode or racing elements at all. So how could anyone mistake that game for a racing game?
Enter yesterday's Direct:
Would you look at that, Starfox racing!
Okay, so yes, Starlink has a racing mode (or minigame?), how does that prove anything?
I don't necessarily think this proves anything, but I believe it makes a rather strong case that the Starfox GP could have been a misinterpretation of leaked Starlink footage. Here's the scenario:
- Person or persons get access to footage from Starlink. They do not know what game this comes from, and don't know many details about the game or the developers.
- In this footage they see an Arwing on a race track.
- After that segment, they then see some of the standard flying gameplay, including shooting down enemy ships, fighting bosses, and maybe some HUD info showing the current mission
- They also see some cutscenes from the hub ship, including character interactions
Why Retro? Well perhaps the source these people got this footage from is not based in Japan, so they naturally assume it is one of Nintendo's western developers. Almost every other western studio is accounted for, and this looks to be a bit too impressive in scope and visuals for it to be made by such a small team at NST, so these people with the footage make the logical leap assuming this might be Retro's game. They don't consider that it could be a third party game, and when you think about it who would have guessed that Ubisoft would make two different games with two different Nintendo IP in back to back years (the other being Mario + Rabbids)? That probably seemed unlikely at the time.
So where did the name and logo come from? Pardon my french but I would guess they came from someone's ass. Maybe whoever saw this footage just made a guess about the name and mocked up a logo.
------------
Now, there are a couple of possible holes in this theory.
- Starlink was revealed at E3 2017, close to a year before these rumors became public. The Starfox info was not revealed until the following E3, but still, footage of this game was public and it was known to be a Ubisoft game. If someone saw footage of Starlink with Starfox would they not make the connection to the existing footage of Starlink from E3? Maybe not.
- The racing mode is a late addition (~6 months after launch), was it possible people saw this over a year ago with the rest of the Starfox content of the game? Maybe.
But as of now I think the theory makes a bit more sense than the game being real, which would require that Nintendo greenlit Starfox content for a Ubisoft game that includes a racing mode while also developing their own Starfox racing game. That just seems extremely unlikely and out there, even for Nintendo. Or maybe it's just the mother of all coincidences.
Anyway, assuming this theory is accurate, what does that mean for Retro? Well, it means we can throw out all of these Starfox related rumors. Including the rumor from Kotaku stating that another previous game was potentially cancelled. So basically they could have been up to absolutely anything over the past 5 years.
Again mods, if you feel discussing a rumor like this isn't worth a thread then feel free to close it but I feel that it might be an interesting case to talk about and I feel that I've made a decently compelling argument in the OP.
Edit: Here are Emily's most recent thoughts on the game
https://www.resetera.com/threads/ni...read-ot2-new-year-new-mii.90098/post-17308012
https://www.resetera.com/threads/ni...read-ot2-new-year-new-mii.90098/post-17309063
https://www.resetera.com/threads/ni...read-ot2-new-year-new-mii.90098/post-17316903
Edit2: Jason Schreier with an update:
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