Star Fox Creator Talks DSiWare

Of all the DS games we saw back at the Nintendo Media Summit earlier this year, X-Scape was the most intriguing. A 3D, very old school looking flight combat/shooter game that looks like Tank Wars married Star Fox and had a baby that was raised by a Virtual Boy. We got the chance to chat with Dylan Cuthbert, President of Q-Games and director for X-Scape.

X-Scape takes place in the future, and stars the main character from the first game, X (a Game Boy game never released in the US). The significance of X is that it was the first 3D game on the Game Boy, and also served as the precursor to Star Fox. The game has players traveling though a system of planets that are connected by warp tunnels The player has to unlock the tunnels by finding power crystals on the planets themselves, and destroying the enemies there.

Q-Games is probably best known among Nintendo fans as the developer for Star Fox Command. Cuthbert is also one of the original designers for Star Fox on the SNES. According to Cuthbert, X has a bigger nostalgia factor than the more recognizable franchise.

"X was a very special game for me. It was the first game I made for Nintendo. Star Fox is very much a Miyamoto group game. X's themes are a little more adult, a little more science fiction based. It's a bit of a self challenge, to go back to something you made 20 years ago and going through all the old ideas and trying to remake them with the experience I have now. As a challenge that was more fun for us than doing another Star Fox. It let's us explore more themes because it's not a major franchise title."

Nintendo is excited about X-Scape, calling the visual style a good opportunity to showcase the power of DSiWare. The game is very unique for the handheld, evoking a lot of old school gaming memories. Cuthbert borrowed a lot of visual clues from classic retro vector gaming on the Amiga.

"This is the first title I've given myself the title of Art Director on," he said. "There are some obvious influences, like the original Tron movie. But there are some more obscure references too."

X-Scape isn't just a successor by name either. Q-Games has made the game a true sequel, and fans of the original can expect a lot of the same things, including a soundtrack by now famous composer Kazumi Totaka.

"When I made the original X, it was a guy named Totaka. It was his debut title," Cuthbert said. "So 20 years later we went and tried to persuade him to come back and make this small DSiWare game. He's used to making music for Zelda and Animal Crossing now. But he agreed to do it and it's the best soundtrack in a DS game that I've ever heard."

Looking at the game, it seems like X-Scape would be an obvious choice for a 3D makeover once the 3DS hits shelves, but Cuthbert doesn't see that happening.

"X-Scape, in its current state, is everything we wanted to put into the game. We made it everything we wanted to make it."

And Q-Games also said they're open to doing full retail games still, as opposed to downloadable titles. So could a 3D Star Fox game be a possibility?

"We're willing to do any game for Nintendo," said Cuthbert. "It's up to them."

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