History VideoGame / StarFoxZero

* BonusBoss: Most of the secret levels have their own bosses and are generally Boss Only Levels. The secret bosses are [[spoiler:the aquatic Aquarosa, a two-on-one fight with Pigma and Andrew near Sector α (Alpha), the Cosmic Dodora in the Great Fox stage, the giant warship Salvadora fought by Peppy, and a duel between Fox and Wolf on Fichina]].

*** It even has Bladewolf's attack from ''VideoGame/MetalGearRising''!

* SpaceStation: Area 3 conatains a space colony in the shape of a ring, with a functioning city inside it.

* TranslationConvention: Averted regarding English: Unlike other continuities, when its heavily implied they are speaking in an alien language all the time, in this continuity it's implied, taking into account all the on-screen text in the ''The Battle Begins'' animated short, the language spoken in-universe is ''English'', albeit's it's still played straight in Japanese and other languages.

** One of Andross' last lines [[spoiler:confirms that this game's version of James is ''not'' a hallucination]]:

* ArtShift: Once again, the main cast gets a new coat of art over them. This time, they are much less cartoony-looking and have more realistic fur, looking much like their puppet forms on the [[VideoGame/StarFox original game]]'s box art.

** On Titania, Falco says "Personally, I prefer the air!" Which is the line he said in ''Super Smash Bros'' when calling on the Landmaster.

''Star Fox Zero'' is an installment in the ''VideoGame/StarFox'' video game series, released for UsefulNotes/WiiU on April 22, 2016. For the first time since ''VideoGame/StarFox64'', it is directly developed in-house at Creator/{{Nintendo}} EPD (formerly EAD), in partnership with Creator/PlatinumGames.

* ArtShift: Once again, the main cast gets a new coat of art over them. This time, they are much less cartoony-looking and have more realistic fur, looking much like their puppet forms on the [[VideoGame/StarFox original game's]] box art.

** In ''The Battle Begins'', Falco is seen playing the Corneria stage from the original ''[[VideoGame/StarFox1 Star Fox]]''. The GameOver screen even references the game's competition edition, with Slippy as the GameOverMan.

* LegacyBossBattle: The iconic Attack Carrier from the original ''[[VideoGame/StarFox1 Star Fox]]'' as well as ''64'' appears once again as a boss fight in Sector Ω. Only this time, it's an all-range fight instead of an on-rails battle. It even has an orchestration of "Boss B" from ''64'' playing as its theme!

* RecurringRiff: Part of the Main Theme from the original ''[[VideoGame/StarFox1 Star Fox]]'' (not to be confused with the series' theme used in ''VideoGame/StarFox64'' onwards) can be heard mixed in several tracks, such as various stages and the level select screen.

* {{Retraux}}: Scanning a Fox Toys/{{amiibo}} or getting all medals provides the Retro Arwing, which look and sounds like the ones from the original ''VideoGame/{{Star Fox|1}}'' on the SNES. Corneria's track is also replaced with its original one, and the Walker mode even changes into the design from ''VideoGame/StarFox2''.

Included with retail copies is the SpinOff ''Star Fox Guard'', a TowerDefense game starring a UsefulNotes/{{Mii}} using armed security cameras to defend the precious metals of a mining company owned by Slippy's uncle Grippy from raiding robots. If either game is purchased digitally, the other game has its price lowered if it's also bought digitally, resulting in a combined price that matches the retail version.

* DoABarrelRoll: It's a ''Star Fox'' game, so this is a given. Both the Arwing and Landmaster are capable of performing a roll in both of their forms. Taken UpToEleven in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz8a-WctBS8 this secret mission,]] where you control Peppy (and he yells Barrel Roll every time you...well...DoABarrelRoll).

* FantasticRacism: While the topic of "racism" (or specism, [[WorldOfFunnyAnimals technically speaking]]) was normally used for jest, parody or comedy in previous continuities, this is definitely ''not'' the case here, [[spoiler:especially during the final battle with Andross, when he calls out Fox for working under the orders of General Pepper and the Cornerians, since they are dogs]]. The Japanese and European Spanish dubs raises this angle UpToEleven.

* BonusBoss: Most of the secret levels have their own bosses and are generally Boss Only Levels. The secret bosses are [[spoiler:the aquatic Aquarosa, a two-on-one fight with Pigma and Andrew near Sector &#945 (Alpha);, the Cosmic Dodora in the Great Fox stage, the giant warship Salvadora fought by Peppy, and a duel between Fox and Wolf on Fichina]].

* CuteMachines: Direct-i, a tethered scouting robot that is deployed from the new Gyrowing vehicle. He bears more than a passing resemblance to the classic [[VideoGame/RoboticOperatingBuddy R.O.B.]] accessory.

** After you disable the ''Granby'''s shield in Sector &#946 (Beta);, the Cornerian fleet will initiate a countdown to fire on the ship, giving you some time to escape before you go down with it (resulting in a NonStandardGameOver). However, if you escape from the ''Granby'' before the countdown even starts (both getting out of the interior and away from the ship itself), General Pepper will tell the fleet to skip it and fire immediately.

* BonusBoss: Most of the secret levels have their own bosses and are generally Boss Only Levels. The secret bosses are [[spoiler:the aquatic Aquarosa, a two-on-one fight with Pigma and Andrew near Sector α, the Cosmic Dodora in the Great Fox stage, the giant warship Salvadora fought by Peppy, and a duel between Fox and Wolf on Fichina]].

* DeflectorShields: The ''Granby'' has a new shield that it uses in response to the WaveMotionGun on Pepper's flagship, preventing the weapon from having any effect. However, the ''Granby'' cannot fire through its own shield, so it must open small holes in the shield to fire its lasers through. The player has to slip inside these holes and disable the shield before the ship can be destroyed.

** After you disable the ''Granby'''s shield in Sector β, the Cornerian fleet will initiate a countdown to fire on the ship, giving you some time to escape before you go down with it (resulting in a NonStandardGameOver). However, if you escape from the ''Granby'' before the countdown even starts (both getting out of the interior and away from the ship itself), General Pepper will tell the fleet to skip it and fire immediately.
** The boss of Sector Ω [[spoiler:can be taken out either the traditional way or by shooting the parts of the turrets that connect it to the ship in its first phase. Doing so the new way awards more points]].

** [[spoiler:And after defeating Wolf at Venom, he expresses disbelief at suffering defeat at the hands of a fox, albeit only in the English version. In the Japanese version, he only points out he was defeated in plain words.]]

* TheJuggernaut: The [[HumongousMecha Gigarilla]]. When the player is introduced to their goal is reactivate it and use it against Andross' forces, and once activated they can't damage it and it can destroy them just by walking into them. [[spoiler: When fought as a boss later it isn't actually destroyed like other bosses by [[AttackItsWeakPoint shooting its weakspot]], it only gives the player an opening to cut its power.]]

** In Sector γ, there are three Copperhead Missiles which need to be shot down before they reach a portal. If one of the missiles reaches the portal, ROB will sacrifice the Great Fox to stop it, forcing you to restart the level.
* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: Just like in ''VideoGame/StarFox64'', the team takes a trip to Titania to save a teammate. Except this time, it's Peppy who needs saving, not Slippy. Thankfully, Peppy's there because he got outmaneuvered and shot down by an enemy ace during a massive space melee, rather than him [[LeeroyJenkins being an idiot and]] [[TooDumbToLive charging an enemy boss that]] [[CurbStompBattle wiped out an entire enemy fleet]].

-->'''Caiman (Aquarosa Pilot)''': You beat us again?! I'm never gonna live this down...

* RiddleForTheAges: Is James [=McCloud=] truly dead or did he somehow survive his battle with Andross prior to the game's events? [[spoiler:James [=McCloud=]'s appearance in Venom, particularly during the last segment of the final battle with Andross seem to offer evidence that points in ''both'' directions. While it was likely an apparition crafted by Venom's Corridor of Illusion, Andross' final words seem to imply that James ''is'' still alive in some form.]]

* WaveMotionGun: Carried by several of Andross' larger ships. Pepper's flagship has one large enough to destroy ships of similar size in Andross' fleet with a single shot, even the Granby.

* ArtisticLicenseEngineering: The series uses a unit of measurement called "space meter (sm)" which originated from an exclusive set of cards for Nintendo Power subscribers at the time of ''64'' and seems to be equivalent to real-life meters (two official height measurements for Fox, 5'8" and 1.73 sm. Meaning that 1 sm is ~3.28 ft). With this in mind, the official measurements of the playable vehicles are implausibly big. For example, the Arwing has a height of 5.5 sm (~18 feet) and a length of 28 sm (91 feet). If the listed length is actually correct, then Fox is flying, what is effectively, a small house! However, if the length is incorrect due to including the swept-back wings in the measurement, then it's probably shorter, which would be a more plausible explanation.

* LimitBreak: In their "secret" boss fights, each of the Star Wolf pilots (except for Leon, who doesn't have a hidden fight) has a unique attack they use when a portion of their health is depleted:
** Wolf's '''Lightning Tornado:''' Wolf's ship electrifies itself and he charges at opponents several times.
** Pigma's '''Pigma Bomb:''' Pigma fires a cluster of bombs that home in on enemies.
** Andrew's '''Plasma Shield:''' Andrew fires twin mines that will trap enemies in a net of electricity.

** The Mother Strider boss fight in Fichina plays out very similarly to Katina's aparoid ship boss fight in ''VideoGame/StarFoxAssault'', even using the Landmaster to get on top.
** Wolf's one-on-one rematch takes place on Fichina, complete with a time limit like in ''64''. The way to get to this stage is by investigating Star Wolf activity on Fortuna, which is the name Fichina was incorrectly given in the original ''64'' translation.

* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: Just like in ''VideoGame/StarFox64'', the team takes a trip to Titania to save a teammate. Except this time, it's Peppy who needs saving, not Slippy. Thankfully, Peppy's there because he got outmaneuvered and shot down by an enemy ace during a massive space melee, rather than him being an idiot and charging an enemy boss that wiped out an entire enemy fleet.

* RammingAlwaysWorks: The Wolfen has a new move where it glows red and tries to charge into the player at high speed repeatedly. Wolf calls this Lightning Tornado.

** Wolf O'Donnell is this in his first fight in Sector Beta. If he gets enough time to do so, Wolf will automatically KO Peppy. The poor rabbit loses control of his ship at this point, so he aims for Titania to avoid getting stranded in space, triggering a Mission Failure (although the player can still progress by beating the Titania stage, unlocking Sector Gamma).