Development:Star Fox 64/Graphics

This is a sub-page of Development:Star Fox 64.

Demo

assets\en\gfx\nigen_i\multigen\DEMO contains assets for the intro cutscene.

DEMO_Rogox4.c

An early logo that lacks the "64" in favor of a subtitle ("The Cosmic Crisis").

Great Fox

assets\en\gfx\nigen_i\multigen\GF contains early assets for the Great Fox's exterior.

GF_Rogo.rgb

An unused logo that was meant to be part of the Great Fox.

GF_64.rgb

A 64 texture, using the same design as the game's logo.

Title Screen

assets\en\gfx\nigen_i\multigen\TITLE contains assets used for an early title screen.

TITLE_Team.rgb

What seems to be an early title screen render with Arwing models reminiscent of the SNES games. The artwork can also be found in the same folder separated into 32 different images.

TITLE_Rogo.rgb

Possibly an environment texture map used to create a shiny metal effect.

TITLE_Rogo.c + TITLE_Rogo.rgb

A .c file contained vertex information for the above model, and the pixel information for drawing the accompanying texture. The above is an attempt at creating it, though the UVs were guessed, and the metal effect would look different in-game. The fact that the letters were modelled rather than pre-rendered suggests the text would have moved to show off the metallic effect.

Combined

A mockup using the combined title screen assets.

Map Screen

assets\en\gfx\nigen_i\multigen\MAP contains assets for the early Lylat map.

Lylat

• 
• 

  Early version of Meteo's icon

• 

  "Maru" ("Circle") Maybe for planets' orbits.

• 
• 

  Corneria

• 

  Titania, oddly brown

• 

  Aquaria (Aquas)

• 

  Venom

• 

  Fortuna, surprisingly

• 

  Sun (Solar)

• 

  Zoness

• 

  Macbeth

• 

  Dotted lines between planets

• 
• 
• 

  "Ya." 2D "you are here" arrow

• 

  Battleship icon's textures

• 

The above assets are used to render the Lylat System and the player's path through it. Notable differences include Meteo having its own icon, a possible orbit indicator for planets, a 2D rather than 3D "you are here" arrow, dotted connecting lines rather than solid, and the textures and model for the scrapped Battleship level's icon. Sectors X, Y, and Z were in the folder as well, but they were final and dated much later. Icons for Bolse and Area 6 were not present.

fox_map.c in Source lists these assets while providing their names. Aquas is called "Aquaria," and Solar is called "Sun." The green planet resembling Zoness is surprisingly labeled Fortuna, suggesting it was once a jungle planet during its development similar to its SF1 and 2 incarnation. The pale blue planet is actually labeled Zoness, matching its description as a vacation destination and the Shoshinkai footage of it with clear waters. The white circle is labeled Macbeth, perhaps indicating it was another placeholder, or that it was swapped with Solar. In SF1 and 2, Macbeth was the lava planet, while the white disc resembles Solar's center on the final Lylat map.

MAP_Icon_01.rgb

A crude drawing of Peppy. Later replaced by the two halves of Meteo's map icon.

MAP_fox01.rgb and MAP_fox02.rgb

An animation of Fox McCloud talking, potentially during the mission briefing sequence. The final version was from a lower angle.

MAP_pepper01.rgb and MAP_pepper02.rgb

An animation of General Pepper talking. It is similar to his animation on the level introduction scenes, only framed vertically instead of horizontally.

Versus

assets\en\gfx\nigen_i\multigen\VS\VS contains assets for the versus mode.

• 

  Replaced with blue Cornerian sky

• 
• 

  Replaced with Pepper's face

• 

  Replaced with Cornerian-looking pyramid

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

The first row is visible in Shoshinkai footage, belonging to a stage which resembles SF1's Hard Corneria. The textures and background also resemble the first version of Titania seen at E3 1996, around when their nin files were dated. The level was later turned into the Corneria versus stage. The night and city textures possibly from a second stage resemble Eladard from SF2. The bottom three icons were replaced with simple silhouettes in the final game. The "a" appended to Fox's icon suggests they may have planned the other teammates to have their own as well.

Ending

assets\en\gfx\nigen_i\multigen\END contains assets for the ending sequence.

END_ENDING_02.rgb

END_ENDING_02.rgb	END_ENDING_02.rgba

A higher resolution render of the background for when General Pepper speaks during the ending.

Early Level Textures

Most of the following textures were extracted from .o files found in nshape\US. s1.o, s2.o, s3.o, and s4.o appear to be early versions of Corneria, Meteo, Titania, and Sector X respectively. The "s" might stand for "stage" or "Shoshinkai," given these levels were shown off at Nintendo Space World '96, and at least some were playable.

Below is an effort to compare the early textures to the final ones in the game:

Corneria

s1.o

Early Corneria textures. There is no water, though it may have been in another object file. There is an extra brown rock texture. The snow-capped mountain may be leftover from earlier versions where Granga covered the city in snow. The rainbow is not in the final game; perhaps it accompanied the waterfall.

Pepper's portrait was originally a Cornerian sigil. The sigil resembles the one on the mothership's hull in Star Fox 2, and the one on the Mission File Printout cover from Star Fox 1. There were two bill-boarded buildings that likely stood in the background. Similar bill-boarded assets can be seen in Corneria's earliest footage from Shoshinkai '95. Notably, there are identical Cornerian fighter textures in both versions (not shown), suggesting they would have flown in the city. This is corroborated by Peppy and Slippy's lines in the developers' dub.

The final blue projectile that Granga launches is named CN_Boss_ice.rgba, another holdover from when he was meant to cover the city in snow.

Early portraits of Granga and the Attack Carrier boss. More of their outfits and surroundings are visible, while being at a higher x64 resolution than the final x44. Granga had glowing red eyes instead of yellow.

Meteo

assets\en\gfx\nigen_i\multigen\TITLE\AS

Early Meteo textures, likely sometime after E3 '96. They were grouped with the title screen's graphics, perhaps on accident. At the time, this early bluer version of Sector X was the stage's only background; there was no planet. The sprite is visible in magazine screenshots on the Lylat map. The file is named AS_Spacekumo.rgba (AS for asteroid, kumo meaning cloud, so "space cloud"). Footage from E3 '96 showed Meteo with an orangish-pink nebula in the background, suggesting Sector X's sprite likely started as a generic background for Meteo. Titania however was between Meteo and the Sector X bioweapons lab at the time. Could also be an early warp zone background.

The Meteo Crusher had cleaner, silver metal and brighter orange paint.

Early portrait of the Meteo Crusher boss, uncropped and at x64 resolution rather than x44.

s2.o

More recent Meteo textures. This background is visible in footage from Shoshinkai '96, behind the Meteo Crusher boss. It is likely either Titania (which originally came after Meteo), or Fortuna (which was a jungle planet in the previous games). In the early map, both of these levels came after Meteo: Fortuna on the normal path, and Titania on the easy path. Note that Fichina was originally Fortuna during development; it was not just a translation error on Nintendo of America's part.

The object file also included a more yellow version of the worm enemy's projectile, and a red "A" spray-painted on a metal texture, similar to Granga's (though it is unknown where it would have fit on the Meteo Crusher's model, or even if it was supposed to).

Early portrait of the Meteo Crusher boss, cropped but still at the larger x64 resolution, and with glowing eyes.

Titania

s3.o

Titania's early textures. The lighter sand and orangish sky are visible in early footage.

There appear to be at least four unused enemy textures, some of which may belong to the cut snake enemy seen in early footage.

Early Goras textures seen in Shoshinkai '96 footage.

Sector X

s4.o

Early Sector X textures. There seems to be no warp gate texture. The gray planetoid (Titania minus the ruddy filter) is also missing, as Titania would have been the previous stage. There is no rubbish texture, either.

Early enemy textures. Spyborg has no portrait.

Early Vulcain textures. According to a developer, he was originally the secret weapon boss of Sector X, as the level started out as the "Androssian Army's Biological Weapons Development Factory". In Japan, he is named "Sanger," not Vulcain, possibly a reference to the Nobel prize-winning biochemist Frederick Sanger. In the source code, he is simply referred to as the Sector X boss, while Spyborg is referred to as "hand boss," suggesting he was created first. One boss likely lay at the end of each route. Since Vulcain had no lower body, perhaps it was obscured by the wreckage of the shipping container he was carried in.

Texture Test

In nshape/US, the object file tt.o contains four pictures of Japanese food. The initials "tt" could stand for "texture test." No other RGB textures share their 64x48 resolution. They are grouped with other precompiled asset banks belonging to levels and vehicles. Related code names each specific dish:

"Gyouza"	"Gyumesi"	"Karaage"	"Yakimesi"
Pot stickers	Beef on rice	Fried chicken	Fried rice