Fox McCloud

Fox McCloud (, Fox McCloud) is the main protagonist from the series and leader of the Star Fox team. The son of James McCloud, Fox is an expert pilot and has saved the Lylat System from numerous threats. As a member of the "perfect-attendance crew", Fox has been featured as a playable character throughout the entire Super Smash Bros. series. His voice actor in Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee is Shinobu Satouchi during the fights, and Steve Malpass during the cutscenes in Adventure Mode and the Star Fox Smash Taunt. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he is voiced by Jim Walker and Kenji Nojima. However, in Super Smash Bros. 4, his voice actor was replaced by his voice from Star Fox 64 and its 3DS remake, Mike West.

Origin
Fox McCloud made his appearance in  (Starwing in PAL regions) for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993. Fox is the son of James McCloud, renowned pilot and leader of the original Star Fox team. He also has a mother, who he has been estranged from following the death of James. Wanting to follow in his father's footsteps, Fox joins a pilot's academy as a teenager. Around this time, team Star Fox is hired to investigate the planet Venom after rumors of Andross returning. However, team member betrayed the team, and James was presumed to be killed by Andross. The final member, Peppy Hare, managed to escape to warn the galaxy about Andross and tell Fox that his father is gone. Seeking to avenge his father, Fox formed a new Star Fox team, which consisted of himself, Peppy, Falco Lombardi, and Slippy Toad. Fox would lead his team through the Lylat System to save it from the evil Andross. At the end of Star Fox 64 (Lylat Wars in PAL regions), a retelling of the original Star Fox, Fox independently fought and killed Andross at the end of the adventure.

Although Star Fox 2 was completely finished, it was canceled because of the Nintendo 64's impending launch and said system being more cost-effective in regard to developing polygonal games.

Fox would then be featured in Star Fox Adventures. Initially sent on a mission to survey a disturbance reported on Dinosaur Planet, he eventually gets wrapped up in stopping a plot involving an insurrection of the planet by, and later Andross. Fox is joined by dinosaur prince Tricky and Krystal, the latter would officially join the Star Fox team and replace Peppy as a pilot.

In Star Fox Assault, Fox once again leads his team to save the galaxy, this time from the. The relationship between Fox and Krystal slowly bloomed into love, which concerned Fox as he was afraid to lose another loved one. He decided to let Krystal go from the team. By the events of Star Fox Command, the team had fallen apart and unoffically disbanded. However, the Anglar empire invades the Lylat system and Fox has to get whoever he can to help him fight the empire off. Depending on the actions of the player throughout the game, Fox will either go against the army alone, team up with one or more of his former teammates, look for Wolf and team up with him, get back together with Krystal and have a child with her, drive Krystal away again, or abandon his former life and become a G-Zero racer instead.

Fox has been compared to Luke Skywalker of the Star Wars franchise several times, including Nintendo Player's Guide for Assault. Fox is often depicted as outspoken and righteous in his actions, putting the wellbeing of the innocent above all else. Nothing will get in his way of completing the mission, even if it means fighting. Fox likes to be in control of the situation at all times and becomes uncomfortable to the point of complaining when things don't go according to plan. This can be seen in Adventures where he expresses disappointment when General Pepper forbids him from bringing a blaster to a mission. Despite his reputation as a confident leader, Fox does have secret insecurities about not living up to his father. Still, he managed to save the galaxy several times and learned to trust himself over time.

Physical appearance and traits
Fox has green eyes which sometimes appear to be blue and orange-brown fur. His golden-brown white-highlighted hair is cut into a crew cut. The rest of his skin is a cream-colored tone. He additionally has a bushy white-tipped tail which appears to be very short in Star Fox 64 and Command, implying that it might have been cut off at a certain point. Fox is of medium/short height and medium weight, which is present in the original "Super Smash Bros.", but future games have him as a mid-sized target, but very light.

Before Star Fox Adventures, Fox's eye color was inconsistent. In-game, it was yellow-orange in Star Fox, but blue in puppets and most artwork (and infrequently green). It is also blue in Star Fox 2, which was originally in development for the SNES. It was black in Star Fox 64 (along with the other characters) and given a consistent green afterward.

Fox is an overall vigorous and loyal bellwether. Albeit scarcely of a cocky rogue with a propensity to disregard rules and regulations (and to repine if he's not being paid enough), he is ultimately, according to Star Fox Adventures, "pure of heart". Fox is shown to be very protective of his friends, as visually perceived in the games, of his team. Fox's countenance is always either a stoic look or cocky smile. In contrast to his personality and traits portrayed in Adventures, Star Fox: Assault depicts Fox as a professional and decisive mercenary.

As a playable character
Fox McCloud's debut as one of the four characters chosen by Masahiro Sakurai for the proof-of-concept of Super Smash Bros. as a crossover party-fighting game, along with Mario, Donkey Kong, and Samus Aran.

He appears in the original Super Smash Bros. as one of the starting eight playable characters. He is based off his appearance in Star Fox 64. Fox McCloud is a nimble and fast character. His neutral special move is the Blaster Shot, which sends one powerful energy beam at his opponents. His up special is the Fire Fox which envelops Fox in flames and sends him flying in any direction. His down special is the, which serves as both an offensive and defensive move (it reflects any projectiles that come in contact with it). Fox ranks 4th on the tier list.

In-game description:
 * Following his dead father's footsteps as the young leader of the Star Fox Team, Fox McCloud's piloting of the super-high-performance combat ship ARWING for the Lylat System is still fresh in our memories. His one weakness may be his difficulty earning the trust of his teammates.


 * Works:
 * Star Fox (Starwing (PAL)) (SNES)
 * Star Fox 64 (Lylat Wars (PAL)) (N64)

In single-player
In the game's single-player mode, Fox is fought on the third stage, the battle being on his "home stage", Sector Z.

As a playable character
Fox McCloud returns in Super Smash Bros. Melee, retaining his role as a starting playable character. He is based on his appearance in Star Fox 64. His moveset has not changed much, but his blaster has been given new properties to be faster but with no flinching power. His side special move is the Fox Illusion, which causes Fox to rush ahead in a blur and can be used as a recovery move. He is currently ranked 1st on the tier list due to countless shine techniques (such as the shine spike which can easily gimp characters, and the waveshine which can combo and rack up damage), and amazing matchups, lacking any negative ones.

In single-player
In Melee's Adventure Mode, Fox is fought on the Corneria stage. After he is beaten, the player will then have to battle Fox again, this time with back-up from his wingmen. However, if Fox is beaten quickly and has unlocked, the player will battle Falco instead of Fox.

Fox is featured in the following event matches:
 * Event 13: Yoshi's Egg: As, the player must protect a Yoshi Egg from Fox, , and on Rainbow Cruise for 55 seconds.
 * Event 20: All-Star Match 2: Fox is the final opponent the player must fight in this series of staged battles. The player's character battles him on the Corneria stage, and the player's character has 2 stocks while Fox has 1. With a timer of four minutes, the player must defeat him and the other four characters with the overall time and life the player has:, , , and.
 * Event 23: Slippy's Invention: The player must battle Fox and on the Venom stage, but they are both equipped with a permanent Cloaking Device. Each character has 2 stocks each.
 * Event 36: Space Travelers: As Ness, the player faces Samus,, Fox, Captain Falcon and Falco. Ness battles the first three on the Fourside stage while fighting the last two on . Each character has one stock.
 * Event 43: Birds of Prey: As Fox, the player faces Falco and Captain Falcon on the Big Blue stage (friendly fire turned off).

Trophies
Fox, as a playable character, is given three trophies. His normal trophy is acquired by beating the Classic mode with Fox on any difficulty, and Fox's Smash Red and Smash Blue trophies are acquired the same way by beating the Adventure and All-Star modes, respectively.

As a playable character
Fox McCloud is a starting playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. His design is a mix between his Star Fox Assault and Star Fox Command appearances, but his fur has its color scheme from Star Fox 64. It is also the first Super Smash Bros. game where Fox's eyes are their proper color (green). His special moves are unchanged. Fox additionally now has a Final Smash, in which he summons the Landmaster tank. Fox gets in and the player directly controls the tank to hover, fire shots, roll, and move. The tank is treated like a platform, so characters can actually stand on top of the tank.

Jim Walker, his Star Fox Assault voice actor, voices Fox in English; while by proxy, his new Japanese voice actor Kenji Nojima voices him in Japanese.

Fox was nerfed in Brawl, but is still relatively high on the tier list - ranking 15th place in C tier.

As a playable character


Fox was confirmed as a playable character during the E3 2013 Nintendo Direct. Like his appearance in Brawl, Fox's appearance is primarily based on Star Fox Command, but he appears to have higher quality fur visuals, similar to Donkey Kong. Contrary to his appearance, Mike West, his Star Fox 64 and Star Fox 64 3D English voice actor, now voices Fox. However, he is still voiced by Steve Malpass in Corneria and Jim Walker in Lylat Cruise.

Fox was slightly nerfed from Brawl to Smash 4, with weakened finishers, increased lag on his aerials, and the removal of auto-canceling with his Blaster. Yet, to compensate, his recovery options were improved, with Fox Illusion no longer leaving him helpless, and Fire Fox gaining more distance. He also benefits from Smash 4's general changes, such as the removal of hitstun canceling and chain-grabbing. Fox still retains his key strengths from past games, and thus ranks 7th out of 55 on the Smash 4 tier list (being tied with ), having noteworthy representation and results in tournaments.

As a costume
Outside of his role as a playable character, Fox's design serves as the basis of a downloadable content costume for s. The costume is based on Fox's appearance in Star Fox 64 3D.

As a playable character
Fox returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. His design is now based on his appearance from Star Fox Zero. He has a new Final Smash which involves an Arwing strike with his Star Fox Team. Mike West returns again as Fox's voice.

As a costume
Fox's outfit from the previous game returns, now being unlockable from the Vault shop.

Trivia

 * Fox and Pikachu are the only characters who have been at the top of a tier list before, and are currently ranked at least in the upper portion of the mid-tier in established tier lists of every game in the series.
 * Fox is the second character in the series to ever be ranked in SS tier, after Meta Knight.
 * Fox is the only member of the "perfect-attendance crew" to receive entirely new voice clips in every installment in the Super Smash Bros. series.
 * He is also the only playable member of the Star Fox cast to have never had a voice actor specific to a Smash game.
 * In the official one-shot manga The Nintendo All-Stars Free-For-All! Smash Brothers, Fox assumes the role of a henchman to Phantom X, the main antagonist of the manga. He, along with Link and Samus Aran, decided to create these alter egos so the other characters can stop bickering and unite as friends against a common enemy.