A Nintendo Dream Team decades overdue: Samus x Star Fox

Samus and Star Fox find themselves stranded on a strange planet after their ships crash. We join samus on a new adventure hunting a new bounty on an unexplored planet in a new area of a galaxy she has never traveled before. Cut to Star Fox and crew hanging out together in a base where they hang out in between missions. Fox receives a new communication from general pepper. An unknown wormhole has appeared 40 clicks away near area z where andross was destroyed go and recon. Star Fox accepts mission. the guys want to come along but says i got this one guys no need this is cake.

The planet is filled with dangerous creatures and treacherous terrain, and the only way to escape is to locate a rare and powerful energy source that can repair their ships. As they explore the planet, Samus and Fox must team up to overcome various obstacles, battle powerful enemies, and uncover the mystery behind their attackers. Along the way, they may encounter other Nintendo characters who can provide assistance or join the adventure.

Gameplay Ideas:

Cooperative Play: Samus and Fox can team up to navigate through the planet’s various environments and combat enemies. Players can switch between the two characters or have a friend play as the other character in local co-op mode.

Exploration/ Level Design: The game could have a Metroidvania-style structure, where players must explore a large interconnected world to find power-ups and upgrades that will allow them to progress further. The planet could have different biomes with unique hazards and creatures, such as a jungle filled with poisonous plants or an icy tundra with freezing winds. inspirations from Returnal and Elden Ring with links to examples of both.

Puzzle-Solving: To access certain areas, Samus and Fox may need to use their unique abilities to solve puzzles. For example, Samus could use her Morph Ball form to roll through narrow passages, while Fox could use his Arwing to blast open blocked paths.

Upgrades and Power-Ups: As they explore the planet, Samus and Fox can find upgrades and power-ups that will enhance their signature abilities, opportunites to combine abilities. These upgrades could also be used to access previously unreachable areas.

Boss Battles: The game could feature epic boss battles against powerful enemies, such as giant beasts or enemy spaceships. Players may need to use different tactics and strategies to defeat each boss, making each battle unique and challenging.

Overall, a game featuring Samus and Star Fox teaming up could offer a fun and engaging gameplay experience, with a mix of exploration, puzzle-solving, and action-packed combat.

A game where you pilot Samus and have air support from fox in some missions, some missions where fox and samus must explore on foot together and jump between playable characters actively a la Final Fantasy 7 Remake would make for exciting gameplay never seen or experienced before from a 1st party franchise let alone featuring 2 franchise heroes. There is a ton of upside and risk in navigating the balance between combat, exploration, gameplay and making sure the 1st attempt in combining flagship characters in a single game does justice to those characters and is something fans could approve of.

There is 1 Director who is no stranger to combat and working with multiple franchise heroes that could be up to the task and could put the exclamation on his already great career resume. Everyone say it with me. Sakurai!!!! A well known Final Fantasy 7 fan as well as kirby and Smash Bros Director Sakurai has the chops to lead the development on such an ambitious title. If your hungry and curious for more about Sakurai, his experience and perspective on keys to crafting games he has a youtube channel that goes in depth on these topics. https://www.youtube.com/@sora_sakurai_en

I want to close this by leaving you with a thought. Such a prolific one of a kind never before ambitious title would require a healthy budget and would be the perfect launch title to a next gen Nintendo Switch. This is how you launch a next gen console. It didn’t happen with Tears of the Kingdom and a mario game is just par for the course in nintendo’s history. This is a statement and might even be a stronger business sense launch title than mario. This title would most likely be able to bring in a larger audiences of all ages. The time is now.

An opportunity to give the fans around the world a taste of what they’ve been waiting for and expecting from nintendo with the graphics and CPU power that would be expected in todays console generation of PS5 and XBOX Series. Fans deserve a game of the caliber a Next gen Samus X Star Fox title with amazing combat at 60 FPS and level exploration at at least 1080P and an option to have a docked upscaled 4K experience option.

This, of course, is a long-shot dream… but long shots have happened before, provided by the same guy that brought us Sora, Sephiroth, and Sonic in Smash. Let’s send out the vibes in to the universe and hope Sakurai and nintendo hear us and take a chance. Just like they did with Mario going into the 3D world or everyone bowling with a wii remote in their hands.