Developed by Nintendo with help from PlatinumGames, Star Fox Zero was released in 2016 for Wii U in its final year of life. Commercial failure (13.7 million units distributed), the Wii U nevertheless received big titles during its lifetime and which have all been successfully ported to its little sister, the Nintendo Switch. All ? No ! Star Fox Zero is one of them and is only available on Wii U. A finding that Atsushi Inaba (President of PlatinumGames) laments in an interview with VGC :
It’s not cool not to let gamers enjoy old games just because they’re on old consoles. Of course, if that was possible, we would love to bring each of these old titles back to the new platforms.
Regarding these old games precisely, Star Fox Zero was the subject of debate. Mario Kart 8, Pikmin 3, Super Mario 3D World and even Hyrule Warriors have all been ported to Switch and have all met with relative success on the hybrid console. This is not the case with Star Fox Zero, but Atsushi Inaba says he is interested in a potential port. :
It depends on what is currently possible, but yes, if the chance presents itself it is something to think about.
Nevertheless, the director of PlatinumGames recalls that the Star Fox license is a Nintendo license and that the ideas come from Shigeru Miyamoto (Mario Bros, Zelda, Pikmin, Donkey Kong too). Therefore, if a port of Star Fox Zero is to see the light of day on Nintendo Switch, Miyamoto’s guidelines will have to be respected on this subject.
