Retro gaming publication Time Extension has been investigating what happened to the original Star Fox puppets used to promote the 1993 SNES classic. The team has finally found the answer – and it’s a sad one.
In the early ‘90s, Nintendo collaborated with a company to produce puppets of the SNES title’s main cast – Fox, Slippy, Peppy, and Falco – for Star Fox’s promotional campaign. They were used for the game’s box art, strategy guides, commercials, and promo videos.
I wish the star fox franchise had kept using the aestethics of these really expressive dark crystal-looking puppets (who made them, by the way???) from the SNES promo material instead of going closer to the stylized concept art in later entries pic.twitter.com/H4mLWCELNc
— 🐱ri-Warui (@oleivarrudi) November 13, 2021
The creator of the puppets went unknown for decades, until Time Extension traced their origins back to Japanese FX company Shirogumi and contacted it for clarification.
“The Fox puppets created at our company were made by gluing fur and feathers to natural rubber, so they deteriorate simply by being exposed to air,” the studio responded.
“Because of that, we had to destroy them after production was finished.”
As a callback to the iconic campaign, Nintendo used puppets again to reveal Star Fox Zero at E3 2015. Created by The Jim Henson Company, the new puppets were also used in a series of commercials.
Fox McCloud recently made a triumphant return in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, where he plays a major role and is voiced by Glen Powell. Rumors surfaced last month that a new Star Fox game is currently in development for Nintendo Switch 2.
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Written by Reece Heather
A veteran Zelda Universe editor and First-class journalism graduate, Reece emerged with a Nintendo 64 and a lifelong obsession after a narrow escape from Santa’s Naughty List in 1998. Outside of games, he’s reading Punisher comics, being bossed around by his cocker spaniel, and cornering innocent bystanders to rant about the importance of game preservation.
