The legendary Shigeru Miyamoto was on hand for Ubisoft’s E3 2018 press conference to celebrate a very special announcement. Fox McCloud, of Star Fox fame, and his beloved ship, Arwing, will be featured in Ubisoft’s upcoming space combat simulator Starlink: Battle for Atlas.
The Nintendo tie-in is only available in the Nintendo Switch version of the game, but boy, this gives us an excuse to get very excited about a plastic toy that attaches to our Joy-Con controllers.
The latest Starlink trailer showed Fox, his trusty Arwing, and even Falco. Switch users can play as Fox in the campaign, and there’s even exclusive Switch add-on content that’s designed specifically around the Nintendo hero.
Starlink was originally unveiled at E3 2017. While it initially presented itself as a somewhat generic spaceship combat sim, the neat twist is that you can attach model spaceships to your controller. The model shows up as your ship in game. You can then mix and match parts and watch your ship change in-game, corresponding to your adjustments. While you don’t need to attach ships to play the game, we imagine Nintendo Switch owners will want the Arwing. Ubisoft’s plan, as of last E3, was to release additional ships that you could buy in stores.
Starlink is an interesting experiment, as the toys-to-life genre has died down in recent years. Starlink‘s success will probably hinge on whether the game is more than just an elaborate gimmick. The game takes place in the Atlas star system, which is located approximately 400 light-years from Earth. Your job throughout the campaign is to eliminate a group of nefarious aliens.
The partnership between Ubisoft and Nintendo on Starlink has some precedence. Last year, Ubisoft released Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, a glorious and zany take on the Mushroom Kingdom, which featured piles of well-timed humor and excellent XCOM-style strategic gameplay.
Starlink launches on October 16 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch.
We know fans of Star Fox would probably prefer an actual Star Fox game. Let’s be honest, though, Star Fox Zero for Wii U wasn’t very good. Perhaps Starlink will scratch the Star Fox itch before Nintendo makes the next proper entry in the series.
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