It’s time to take a look at the little Star Fox special that Nintendo came out with to promote the new game. Unfortunately, the game was rather underwhelming, but the special is fairly good. It’s short so there is only time for one real battle, but this was more of a promo than anything else. It’s only around 15 minutes so there is naturally not much of an opportunity for it to drag on or have any real negatives while its potential is also limited as well. It’s a double edged blade in the end.

The Star Fox team must try to protect Corneria from the invaders or all hope will be lost. Luckily Fox is here and when he is around the group knows that everything will ultimately be okay. Unfortunately, the government is keeping secrets from Fox. Gee, what else is new right? He’s saving their lives on a daily basis and that’s how he is repaid. The secret is explained in the game and you have to wonder why it was kept a secret the whole time. Naturally, the special ends abruptly since you are meant to play the game to see how it all unfolds.

The animation looks fairly sharp, but unfortunately that only really applies to the backgrounds and lasers. The actual characters use very odd designs that really don’t work very well. They clash with the rest of the effects on screen. Maybe the animation company was experimenting with a new animation strategy, but I can safely say that it did not work. Sometimes going for something new and original is simply not the smartest strategy. Sometimes you just need to play it safe.

There’s not a whole lot more to discuss from this advertisement. There is a “This villain’s too cool!!!” moment that the special tries to sell you, but it will all depend on whether or not you can take the guy seriously. The villains are mostly comic relief so it’s safe to say that you won’t find them to be all that intimidating at this point. Slippy’s new voice actor isn’t quite as epic as the old one, but he still tries his best. At least he is likable unlike the old pal from Fox’s dad’s crew. Fox and Falco are easily the two best members of the crew even if there isn’t a whole lot of differences in their personalities. That will come with time I suppose. When you get down to the nitty gritty of it all, this special has all of the aspects that you want in a short. It has a nice battle scene and a decent background theme with no really bad characters. I definitely give it a pass and would recommend checking it out. After all, it’s not very often that Nintendo steps into the animated world. I still long await the day that we get a proper Super Smash Bros TV show or movie. That could have the potential to be one of the all time greats after all. Well, until then I suppose!

Overall 7/10