Great Fox
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The Great Fox is a fictional space aircraft carrier / battleship used in the Star Fox series of video games as the mothership of the Star Fox team. It was officially introduced in Star Fox 64 as the base of operations of the team when in space.
According to the Star Fox 64 Player's guide, James McCloud placed the order to Space Dynamics to build the original Great Fox, which is described as a Dreadnought-Class space battleship. The ship was not cheap, as James had to take out an eighty-year loan. Unfortunately, James was captured before completion.
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[edit] History
[edit] Mothership in Star Fox 2
The idea of Star Fox having a mothership was started in the unreleased Star Fox 2. The mothership, though nameless, slightly resembled the Great Fox, though there are glaringly obvious differences such as the side-mounted docking bays. It is most likely that this Mothership Design was inspired by the Pegasus-Class Assault Carrier from Mobile Suit Gundam.[citation needed]
[edit] Great Fox in Star Fox 64
The Great Fox is relatively new at the time of its official debut in Star Fox 64. The primary purpose of the ship is that of a carrier and repair facility for the team’s Arwings. In addition, it also acts in a logistical capacity when needed to transfer supplies to the combat zone. The ship also possesses weapon systems in the form of two powerful laser cannons that can fire in a limited arc ahead of it, and are powerful enough to blow apart asteroids and seriously damage the massive Venomian battleships that guard the Area 6 access corridor to Venom.
In addition, the vessel can survive in a variety of environments. The Great Fox is able to enter a planetary atmosphere and even land at a planetside spaceport. Furthermore, it has a limited aquatic capability as shown during the mission to Aquas where it lands on the surface of the ocean to deploy the Blue Marine.
Despite its tendency to stay on the sidelines and support the team when it can, the Great Fox has come under direct attack. During the battle in Sector Z, the ship comes under threat from a volley of Venom missiles. If the team fails to save the Great Fox from the missiles, the result is the destruction of one of its four wings.
Note that during that same battle, the Great Fox acts as a quick-repair station in the heat of battle. If a player aligns his Arwing with the rear docking bay of the ship, the Arwing will fly in and subsequently fly out the frontal, lower docking bay, with both wings and shields fully repaired.
[edit] Great Fox in Star Fox Adventures
In Star Fox Adventures, the Great Fox is mostly seen from the inside, serving as somewhat of a home for the team members. It has fallen into disrepair over the past years due to insufficient funds, and its exterior armor has begun to deteriorate. The engine's are not so powerful anymore, they only allow the ship to drift, and produces a flame ring effect.
[edit] Great Fox in Star Fox: Assault
In Star Fox: Assault, the team used the money received from the Sauria mission to overhaul the Great Fox into a much sleeker looking ship, inside and out. It is now equipped with a long-range transfer system that can send down Arwings and Landmasters when needed. However, during the final battle over the Aparoid Homeworld, the Great Fox becomes infected by the Aparoids. It is soon destroyed when Peppy Hare heroically sacrifices the ship (and nearly himself in the process) to destroy the anti-laser shield blocking the main entrance to the Homeworld Core. It is then shown that the bridge is intact, as it seemingly has an escape pod function. The Great Fox is also one of the multiplayer stages, only allowing players to fly outside it for air battles.
[edit] Great Fox in Star Fox: Command
In Star Fox: Command, the Star Fox team has to get a new mothership after the Great Fox gets destroyed in Assault. However, the new ship looks totally different from the Great Fox's past models, resembling more of a spacefaring aircraft carrier than a battlecruiser. It is also significantly weaker in terms of defense than the original Great Fox. The original Great Fox could survive a simultaneous direct hit from three missiles and come out with only one wing destroyed, while the new one can't even withstand an assault by even the weakest of enemies. But its redeeming quality is the ability to carry up to three missles which can be used to attack clusters of enemies from afar rather than attack them directly with a pilot.
[edit] Appearance in other games
The ship was also featured in the Super Smash Bros. series as an arena. In Super Smash Bros., the Star Fox 64 stage Sector Z is featured as a stage where the Great Fox acts as the platform on which the players fight each other. The players can only traverse the ship length-wise. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, the Great Fox is greatly reduced to a smaller, unrealistic size. It is featured on two stages; In the Corneria level, the Great Fox acts as a platform as in Super Smash Bros. (while it flies over the planet Corneria from Star Fox 64), while in the Venom level, the player traverses the ship width-wise as it flies over the planet Venom from Star Fox 64. It also briefly appears in both's introductions, in Melee shown along with the Blue Falcon and Samus Aran's Starship while in SSB, it is shown very briefly before the camera zooms into the bridge to show Fox. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a recent trailer revealed at the Nintendo World Tour on November 3rd, 2006 revealed a newer Star Fox stage based on the Great Fox as seen in Star Fox Command, flying in orbit above Corneria. However, the original Great Fox can be seen flying in the distance.
[edit] References
- Star Fox 64 Players Guide
| Star Fox • 64 • Adventures • Assault • Command Characters |
