Star Fox 2 is a rail shooter game developed by Nintendo and Argonaut Software for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was completed in 1995, but was not released until 2017 on the Super NES Classic Edition. Like the original Star Fox (1993), the player controls the Star Fox team as they battle Emperor Andross, who seeks to destroy the Lylat system. Star Fox 2 introduces semi-real-time gameplay, new ship types, new playable characters, and a more advanced 3D game engine.
The development began after Star Fox release, with Katsuya Eguchi, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Dylan Cuthbert returning as director, producer, and lead programmer. Like the original, Star Fox 2 pushed the SNES's graphical capabilities with Argonaut's Super FX chip. The team experimented more than they had with Star Fox and incorporated platforming and roguelike elements. Star Fox 2 was set for release in August 1995, but 3D technology was advancing quickly, with competition from the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Concerned that Star Fox 2 16-bit graphics would compare poorly against newer games, Nintendo canceled the release to prioritize its upcoming Nintendo 64 console.
Concepts from Star Fox 2 were incorporated in subsequent Star Fox games, including Star Fox 64 (1997), and ROM images of incomplete builds were leaked online. In September 2017, Nintendo released Star Fox 2 as one of the 21 games included in the Super NES Classic Edition. In 2019, it became available for the Nintendo Switch through the Nintendo Classics service. Star Fox 2 received generally positive reviews, with praise for its depth, design, and strategy elements, but criticism for its controls, short length, and technical performance.
Gameplay
thumb|left|The overworld map with Corneria at the bottom-left
Unlike the pure rail shooter structure of the first Star Fox, Development began shortly after work was finished on the European and competition versions of Star Fox. The team was overseen by the designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Katsuya Eguchi, with Eguchi as the director. Edge reported in December 1993 that development on a sequel to Star Fox had begun.
right|thumb|The Super FX 2 chip developed by Argonaut Software, seen here in [[Yoshi's Island]]The team decided early on to use the Super FX 2 chip in the game cartridge. The original chip was designed to calculate 3D math quickly and was first used in Star Fox. These enhancements enabled the chip to manipulate more polygons and sprites and to map textures more quickly,
Eguchi wanted to explore a more roguelike game system and use similar game mechanics to Star Luster (1985). The version demonstrated was significantly different from the final version. Electronic Gaming Monthly also liked the shift to free-roaming and felt the non-linear gameplay and ship morphing abilities were major improvements. Nintendo Power named it the best SNES game of the show. All three magazines thought Star Fox 2 was better than the original.
Cancellation
By mid-1995, Star Fox 2 was nearing completion, Cuthbert said that Star Fox 2 would be "compared directly against games such as Ridge Racer, which felt like you finally had an arcade machine's power in your home". The Super FX 2 chip also raised the cost of production, which would have made Star Fox 2 an expensive release. Cuthbert said there may have been no official announcement of the cancellation, while Electronic Gaming Monthly wrote that it had been canceled in their September issue. Nintendo Power wrote in their September issue that "rumors of the demise of Star Fox 2 have been greatly exaggerated", and that it would likely be released in the first half of 1996.
Release
Beta leaks
thumb|A screenshot from a prototype build, depicting [[Leon Powalski being shot down and exclaiming "Aah! Boss Wolf, I'm leaving the rest to you!"]]
In the years following the cancellation, ROM images of incomplete builds of Star Fox 2 were leaked anonymously online.
The first ROMs, leaked in the late 1990s, were early test builds with numerous bugs.
All leaked ROMs are beta versions. Some gameplay features do not work correctly, are incomplete, or hampered by bugs. According to Cuthbert, the ROMs lack the final few months of QA work. They were also all set up in debug mode, so the encounter systems and randomized gameplay elements do not work correctly. In 2015, Miyamoto told journalists he recalled enjoying Star Fox 2 but would prefer to release new games.
In 2017, Nintendo announced the Super NES Classic Edition, a miniature version of the SNES with several games installed, including Star Fox 2. The announcement came as a happy surprise to Cuthbert.
The Super NES Classic Edition was released on September 29, 2017, in North America and Europe and on October 5 in Japan. The version of Star Fox 2 is the localized English ROM that was completed in the 1990s, Star Fox 2 was also added to the Nintendo Classics service for Nintendo Switch on December 12, 2019.
Reception
Star Fox 2 received generally positive reviews on the Super NES Classic Edition. Destructoids Chris Carter complimented the constant swap between viewpoints and playstyles, minimal "RPG-like" exposition between levels and the introduction of Star Wolf, stating that they added character into the game but noted its short length and criticized the low framerate. The Verges Andrew Webster called it "a fascinating experience". GameSpots Michael Higham gave positive remarks to the land vehicle sequences, freedom of approach to manage an incoming threat and off-rails 3D dogfights in space, but criticized its technical performance, short length, and lacking sense of adventure compared to the first Star Fox, among other aspects.
Legacy
Star Fox 2 inspired the design of later Star Fox games. as was the Star Wolf team. Nintendo and Q-Games played Star Fox 2 to gather inspiration for the strategic gameplay elements for Star Fox Command.