Shigeru Miyamoto knows about Star Fox's infamous amputation theory according to ex-Nintendo PR lead, and his reaction was somewhere between "wait, what" and "are you nuts"

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Miyamoto has said the team just wanted them to feel more human

Box art for Star Fox Zero.
(Image credit: Nintendo / Platinumgames)

Nintendo's former PR lead Kit Ellis recalls telling Star Fox creator Shigeru Miyamoto about the popular fan theory that all of the Star Fox pilots had their legs amputated.

Back in the early 2010's a fan theory emerged based on an old Nintendo Power cover artwork for the original Star Fox back in 1993. In the art, Fox appears to have no feet, instead replaced with a metal prosthetic – a look that is also seen in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Star Fox 64. This was paired with a note that pilots who do not have legs can apparently stand more Gs than others due to there not being legs to force blood into (most famously it is thought RAF pilot Douglas Bader used this to his advantage), and thus the Star Fox pilots would willingly amputate their legs.

And while a Twitter user posted about the theory in relation to Fox McCloud's appearance in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Ellis recalls: "I was with Mr. Miyamoto when he was asked about this and the look on his face was a combination of 'wait, what?' / 'get me out of here' / 'are you nuts.'"

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Later entries in the series showed Fox wearing regular boots, presumably debunking this theory, but Miyamoto was actually asked about the question by YouTube channel The Game Theorists back around the launch of the Nintendo Wii U's Star Fox Zero, to which he responded (via an interpreter) "when we were first working on the game, really all we were looking at was: how do we take these animal characters and make them seem more human." He added, "we designed them in a way that would make them feel the most human," and that "at the time we actually didn't know anything about the problems that pilots can have with bloods."

But more crucially, Miyamoto notes that " the thing I always worry about more than his legs is what's happening with his tail when he's sitting"

"Thank you, Miyamoto-san": Star Fox designer reacts to Super Mario Galaxy Movie reveal

Scott McCrae
Scott McCrae
Contributor

Scott has been freelancing for over four years across a number of different gaming publications, first appearing on GamesRadar+ in 2024. He has also written for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, VG247, Play, TechRadar, and others. He's typically rambling about Metal Gear Solid, God Hand, or any other PS2-era titles that rarely (if ever) get sequels.

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