20 Times Star Fox Appeared in OTHER Games

20 Times Star Fox Appeared in Other Games

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today, we’re taking a look at 20 times when “Star Fox” barrel-rolled its way into other video games.

“Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition” (2012)

Though it would launch first on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, “Tekken Tag Tournament 2” featured a special version on the ill-fated Wii U. In this version, you could unlock a small handful of costumes based on various Nintendo characters. Along with the Mushroom Kingdom’s usual suspects, you could dress up some of “Tekken’s” badass brawlers as Fox McCloud. Honestly, Steve and Hwoarang fit Fox’s persona quite a bit in personality and moveset.

“Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga” (2003)

“Superstar Saga” features four different bean types for you to collect during your journey across the Beanbean Kingdom. Collecting a certain number of different beans will allow you to create drinks at the Starbean Cafe, and you get a special reward for making each drink. Once you’ve brewed a drink for the first time, Professor E. Gadd will give Mario and Luigi a special accessory that grants unique buffs. Each accessory you acquire is actually an item from other Nintendo games, and among these is the golden Bonus Ring seen throughout various “Star Fox” games. With this, you can get additional XP from fights if you manage to win without taking damage. There were plans to have Fox and his cohorts make an appearance, but those were scrapped.

“Starlink: Battle for Atlas” (2019)

This may be one of the most bizarre and alluring crossovers in “Star Fox” history. Likely as a means to sell more units, Ubisoft collaborated with Nintendo to bring Fox McCloud and company to their newest original title. The Switch version of “Starlink” featured an exclusive portion of the campaign where the main cast help the Star Fox team track down Wolf O’Donnell. Switch owners even got exclusive figures of Fox and the Arwing to play with in the game. Alas, this crossover was not enough to push units out the door, and it wasn’t long before retailers were marking them down for absurdly low prices.

“Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff” (2014)

This one may not be tied to “Star Fox” specifically, but Fox’s impact on competitive “Smash Bros” makes this worth mentioning. “Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff” tasks players to rebuild Quahog, and in one of the games limited-time events, you could obtain characters from the movie “The Princess Bride”. In one of the quests involving Fezzik, the giant asks Sir Peter “what do you do if you get into a melee?”, to which Sir Peter responds, “I pick Fox, turn off items, and select Final Destination. Sorry, I only know the word ‘melee’ from ‘Super Smash Bros.’” This is, of course, referencing the constant hardcore “Melee” fans that only find fun with this ruleset. At least our boy Fox got a shoutout.

“Mario Kart 8” (2014)

Sometime after the launch of amiibo, Nintendo rolled out a sizable update for “Mario Kart 8” where the amiibos made for “Super Smash Bros.” would unlock special costumes when used in their flagship kart racer. Not only could you unlock Mii outfits based on Mario and the gang, but also other Nintendo franchises as well. Using the Fox amiibo would allow you to dress your Mii up as our favorite pilot, complete with jacket, metal boots, and head gear. Unfortunately, even though Falco and Wolf got amiibos later on, Nintendo never updated the game to include costumes based on them.

“Super Mario Maker” (2015)

Continuing the amiibo train, “Super Mario Maker” approached integration with the plastic toys in a similar manner as “Mario Kart 8”. By scanning any of the “Super Smash Bros.” amiibos, you could transform Mario into a wealth of different characters. Of course, scanning the Fox and Falco amiibo would unlock costumes of them, but beating the 100 Mario Challenge had additional rewards for “Star Fox” fans. Conquering this challenge would unlock costumes of Peppy and Slippy, and yes, each of the four team members would speak in their classic Lylat language just as they did in the original “Star Fox” game. Bonus detail: beating a mission with any of the costumes would play the Mission Complete tune from the SNES classic. Oh, and lest we forget that you can unlock a costume that turns Mario…into an Arwing.

“The Henry Stickmin Collection” (2020)

The “Henry Stickmin” games are packed with all kinds of references to video games, many of them referencing the same games you see on the internet again and again and again. “Star Fox” is, unsurprisingly, one of those frequently mentioned games. In the “Completing the Mission” episode, the Jewel Baron route starts off with Henry flying towards a satellite. When the satellite starts firing at him, you are given three options on how to avoid death. One of these options is to perform the famous “barrel roll” technique Fox uses to deflect enemy fire. Alas, this logic does not work out in Henry’s favor.

“Bayonetta 2” (2014)

Much like “Tekken Tag Tournament 2”, “Bayonetta 2” featured some costumes that made every Nintendo fan gush with excitement. This sequel to the 2009 hack-and-slash gem took advantage of having Nintendo as its publisher and gave players the ability to dress up Bayonetta in different outfits based on Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Link, Samus, and Fox McCloud. When equipped with the Star Mercenary outfit, all four of her guns turn into Arwings with a keychain of each Star Fox member attached. You even get to pilot the Arwing itself during the on-rails flight segment in Chapter 16. And if you equip this outfit onto Jeanne, your pistols’ sound effects will go from sounding like “Star Fox 64” to the SNES original.

“F-Zero X” (199“F-Zero GX” (2003)

We all know who James McCloud is: Fox’s dad, former leader of Star Fox before dying to Andross, lazy face swap of Fox but with sunglasses. Well, he may be living a double life as he’s made appearances in the “F-Zero” series. Here, James McCloud is the leader of “Galaxy Dogs” and pilots not an Arwing, but a machine named “Little Wyvern”. So, did James really die at the hands of Andross? Or did he figure out some way to travel to another dimension, become human, and establish a second life for himself? It’s a conspiracy, man!

“The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask” (2000)

If you’re super into “Zelda” and Nintendo in general, you likely already know about this one. But for those of you who didn’t see it the first time, there is a super subtle reference to “Star Fox” within “Majora’s Mask”. Because of the way they’re assembled, people believe that the Keaton Mask, the Bremen Mask, the Bunny Hood, and Don Gero’s Mask are supposed to represent Fox, Falco, Peppy, and Slippy respectively. Might be a bit of a stretch, but the Mask of Scents? That is absolutely none other than that rat Pigma Dengar.

“Animal Crossing” series (2001-)

Those familiar with the older “Animal Crossing” games will recall the games used to feature a wealth of different items to collect based on various Nintendo franchises. The original “Animal Crossing”, “Wild World”, “City Folk”, and “New Leaf” each feature the iconic Arwing as a piece of collectible furniture. While the Arwing is interactive, three of the four games make the Arwing play a different song from the original “Star Fox”. “Wild World” has it play an excerpt of Corneria while “City Folk” has it play the Training music. Meanwhile, “New Leaf” simply has the Arwing play the main theme.

“Mario Golf” (1999)

As you’re playing on the greens and raging over the B-S ball physics of “Mario Golf”, you’ll see a plethora of names shuffle around the scoreboard after every course. Many enemies and allies from Mario history are also participating in the king’s game, but a certain someone from Star Fox is slacking off. You may spot Slippy Toad’s name on the scoreboard from time to time. He doesn’t show up super often, but it’s still often enough to make us wonder why he isn’t on the Great Fox doing his usual repairs. Fox, get your kid on a leash.

“Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars” (1996)

This is the last Mario game of the list, and this was actually the first time “Star Fox” had any kind of appearance in the Mushroom Kingdom. When exploring Barrel Volcano, you can find a special shop called Hino Mart where you can get items, gear, and more. Behind the counters, you can spot a set of figurines perched atop a stack of boxes. Two of these are the Blue Falcon and Fire Stingray, piloted by Captain Falcon and Samurai Goroh respectively in the “F-Zero” games. To the left of them, the legendary Arwing from “Star Fox”.

“Pokemon Stadium 2” (2000)

“Pokemon Stadium 2” features a neat, cozy corner you can decorate called My Room. Here, you can arrange and furnish your room with different Pokemon plushies, furniture, decorations, and the like. Among the items you can acquire are different Nintendo consoles, namely the NES, SNES, Virtual Boy, and the Nintendo 64. Setting these consoles up will make the TV display one of several different Nintendo games. Should you place the N64 in your room, there’s a good chance the next time you visit, you’ll catch a glimpse of “Star Fox 64” on your virtual room’s TV.

“Stunt Race FX” (1994)

Just like the original SNES “Star Fox”, “Stunt Race FX” utilizes the Super FX chip to allow the SNES to render polygonal 3D visuals. The racing game was even developed by the same minds behind “Star Fox”, Argonaut Software. As tribute to the revolutionary on-rails shooter, Argonaut Software threw Fox into “Stunt Race FX”, though its one of those “blink and you’ll miss it” moments. Chances are you’ll pass by a billboard during your races, and these billboards show a picture of Mario, Kirby, and Fox McCloud. The Night Owl course specifically hides a special “Star Fox” Easter egg; knock down all four signs of the “Star Fox” logo, and an Arwing will fly by to deliver a handy power-up.

“Steel Diver: Sub Wars” (2014)

For the most part, “Steel Diver” has been largely forgotten by the gaming community, even by hardcore Nintendo fans. Its sequel, the free-to-play “Steel Diver: Sub Wars”, is even more obscure. These two games had players battling each other using a wide arsenal of submarines. In a post-launch update for “Sub Wars”, players could purchase and use the Blue-Marine. This submarine was only ever used once in the entirety of “Star Fox’s” story, having been deployed when Fox ventured deep into the waters of Aquas in “Star Fox 64”. But the love for the franchise didn’t end there as you could also unlock Peppy Hare as your crew member, which few seemed to manage to unlock him before the game’s servers were shut down in 2023.

“Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy+” (2015)

Despite the shared name with “Ace Combat: Assault Horizon”, “Assault Horizon Legacy” is instead a remake of “Ace Combat 2” developed specifically for the Nintendo 3DS. The re-released “plus” version of the game features some exclusive decals based on Nintendo properties to slap onto your planes and jets. If you want to use the ADF-01 FALKEN, you can decorate it with a slick decal based on “Star Fox”. The decal even uses the “64 3D” render of Fox to take up the back end of the FALKEN.

“Asterix & Obelix XXL 2: Mission: Las Vegum” (2005)

Unexpectedly, the “Asterix & Obelix” games pay a ton of tributes to the biggest franchises in video game history, Nintendo games included. We would anticipate a nod to Mario or even Link here and there. But “Star Fox”? And it isn’t the overplayed barrel roll bit? No, “Asterix & Obelix XXL 2” puts the spotlight on everyone’s favorite toad to hate. While exploring the Arc de Triomphe, look above to see a giant frog head sporting a red cap. If the sign is any indication, Slippis may very well be a distant relative of Slippy Toad.

“Donkey Konga 3” (2005)

Didn’t remember this game ever coming out? Well, that’s because this sequel was only ever released in Japan. It’s a shame that this game was region-locked as it does feature a track that most “Star Fox” fans could appreciate. “Donkey Konga 3” allows you to play the bongos and clap to the beat of a variety of tracks, one of those tracks being the main theme to “Star Fox Assault”. Odd to include a space opera-esque bit of music into a game that’s deep into more percussion-focused tracks. But this isn’t even the weirdest use of “Star Fox” we’ve seen.

“WarioWare: Smooth Moves” (2006)

The “WarioWare” series is no stranger to incorporating various Nintendo games into its massive microgame collections. I mean, that’s what 9-Volt and 18-Volt are there for; they’re the uber nerds of the franchise. But in “Smooth Moves”, their microgame collection contains a longer microgame that is a reconstructed version of “Star Fox”. Fly through a brief sequence of enemies before facing off against the Robotic Operating Buddy equipped with an NES Zapper. Honestly, we could go for a nonsensical iteration of “Star Fox” that pays tribute to various Nintendo products, but this is probably the closest we’ll ever get.

Have you spotted any of these cameos and references for yourself? Let us know down in the comments, and don’t forget to subscribe to MojoPlays.