Super Smash Bros. Fighters – Star Fox series – 01 Fox 

Debut

In the Star Fox series: Star Fox (1993)
In the Super Smash Bros. series: Super Smash Bros. 64 (1999)

Boxing Ring Title: Leader of Star Fox

Theme Song: Main Theme – Star Fox

Fox McCloud is the main protagonist of the Star Fox series, and is the leader of a band of mercenaries called Team Star Fox.

In the original "Star Fox" game released for SNES, Fox and his team - consisting of his best friend Slippy, the hotheaded Falco, and the experienced pilot Peppy - were given a mission from General Pepper to stop the evil ambitious of a rogue scientist named Andross. Fox was eager to answer the call, especially since Andross was responsible for the disappearance of his father. To help them get to Andross's base, which was located on the planet Venom, General Pepper gave Fox and his team experimental flying vehicles called Arwings to assist them in their mission.

Their missions would see them travel to various planets, tackling Andross's forces as they tried to make it to the planet Venom. Upon arriving, Fox would fly in to face Andross alone, where he discovered that Andross had uploaded his mind into a cube, which would go into a weird robotic mask looking thing. Upon taking enough damage, the face would reconstruct itself to resemble a bull, and would constantly attack Fox. Despite the constant projectile fire, Fox manages to defeat Andross, though his defeat triggers his base's self destruction. Luckily, Fox manages to escape back to his teammates. They then head back to Corneria to collect their reward.

The game's story would be followed up in "Star Fox 2", though it would take about 22 years for it to be officially released. Notably, Fox would add two new members to his team - Miyu the Lynx and Fay the Dog - who have only ever appeared in this game.

Andross has survived his previous defeat, and has rebuilt his army, even hiring the notorious Star Wolf to assist him. Along with his new stronghold called Astropolis, Andross launches an all-out assault to conquer the Lylat System. General Pepper once again hires Star Fox to not only stop Andross's schemes, but to also defend Corneria.

The series would get its first reboot with "Star Fox 64." While some elements from the SNES game were kept, others were changed, such as Fox going from 25 years old to 18. The game would also get a remake for the Nintendo 3DS called "Star Fox 64 3D".

As told in the game's intro, Fox's father James McCloud was the head of the original Team Star Fox. The members consisted of him, Peppy Hare, and Pigma Dengar. James and his team were constantly out on missions while Fox was attending a pilot academy. One day, James and his team were sent out to deal with Andross, an insane scientist who was slowly rising in power. Unbeknownst to everyone, Pigma had betrayed James's team and helped Andross set up an ambush on Star Fox. The only survivor of this disaster was Peppy Hare, who was given the heavy burden of informing Fox of what happened.

Now being tasked to take on the burden of leadership, Fox would form a new Star Fox team. Along with himself as leader, he would recruit his friend Slippy as his mechanic, the hotheaded flying ace Falco, the wise and experienced Peppy Hare, and a friendly AI called ROB 64. And with that, they take off as a mercenary-for-hire group, working to improve the safety of Corneria.

When the mad scientist, Andross, began his assault and conquered planet after planet, General Pepper called in Star Fox to not only stop Andross's invasion of Corneria, but also free the other captured planets and stop Andross once and for all. Fox eagerly agreed to do so, and thus his adventure begins.

They are many paths Fox can take throughout the adventure, which leads into different planets and scenarios. For example, Fox can potentially meet up with an old friend of his, Bill Grey, who is fighting off Andross's forces at Planet Katina. If Fox is success in helping him, Bill will show up at Sector X to repay Fox. Fox can also potentially encounter Team Star Wolf on three of the planets in the story. Star Wolf is a mercenary group hired by Andross to fight off the Corneria army, and they serve as personal enemies to Team Star Fox. Star Wolf's leader, Wolf O'Donnel, serves as Fox's main enemy.

Arriving at Venom after dealing with the crisis at Area 6, Star Fox manage to arrive at Andross's front door without him even knowing! Before they begin their assault, Star Wolf ambushes them in their brand new Wolfen II space ships in a last ditch effort to stop them. Star Fox manages to defeat them, after which Fox decides to face Andross alone.

Flying deep into Venom's base, Fox confronts the mad scientist, who is now a giant floating head with arms. Fox begins to fire away at Andross's face and arms while trying to avoid Andross's attacks. Fox manages to emerge victorious as Andross explodes...

Which reveals his true form: a brain with two eyes! Switching to All-Range Mode, Fox flies around the battle arena, targeting Andross's eyes. Once they're taken care of, Fox focuses on attacking the medulla of Andross's brain. Once Andross has taken enough blows, he decides to blow up the entire base, taking Fox with him. Just as hope seems lost, Fox's father suddenly shows up to lead Fox to safety.

As Fox emerges from Andross's exploding base, he's greeted by the rest of his team, happy to see that he's alive! However, Fox is somewhat solemn, wondering if that was truly his father he saw, or some hallucination. Regardless, he and the team head back to Corneria to collect their reward from General Pepper. Pepper offers them a position to join the Corneria military, but Fox refuses and heads off to new adventures with his team.

4 years later, Falco would leave Star Fox after he and Fox had an argument, which was explored in the manga "Star Fox: Farewell Beloved Falco".

In "Star Fox Adventures", which takes place another 4 years after Farewell Beloved Falco, Star Fox was looking to earn some money to repair the Great Fox. As they began to approach Dinosaur Planet, General Pepper contacted them, telling them that chunks of the planet are drafting apart, and if this continues, Dinosaur Planet could explode and devastate the Lylat System. If Fox could stop it, he would forward him a huge sum of money. Fox agrees, and heads down to the planet to try and save it.

As Fox heads to the Thorntail tribe - during which he finds a staff that belongs to a blue fox girl named Krystal - he finds out that the Queen's son, Tricky the triceratops, had been captured by the Snowhorn Tribe. Upon rescuing him, Fox would then save Tricky's mom by finding some White GrubTub to cure her of her poisoning. Queen Earthwalker then explains that the reason the planet is falling apart is because of General Scales, ruler of the Sharpclaw tribe. He's always wanted to rule Dinosaur Planet, and has tried to invade the Karzao Palace for some time. Normally, the Thorntail tribe has always been able to stop him, but thanks to new powers he's obtained, he managed to defeat them and enter the palace.Scales then broke the seals of the Force Point Temples to obtain the four Spellstones. Without the Spellstones, the planet will break apart, due to a massive amount of magical energy contained within it.

Fox is then tasked with retrieving the stones with the help of Prince Tricky, who's breath would be able to reactivate the Spellstones, Thus, the adventure truly begins, which takes Fox and Tricky to various areas on the planet. Some time after they obtained the first Spellstone, Fox meets the Krazoa God, who informs Fox that another girl named Krystal had attempted his trials before getting captured by General Scales, and that the only way to save her was to complete the trials in her steed to collect the other 5 Krazoa Spirits and take them to the Krazoa Palace, where Krystal was being held.

At the end of the game, Fox and Tricky manage to retrieve the four Spellstones and obtain the five other Krazoa Spirits. Arriving back at the Krazoa Palace, General Scales ambushed Fox, though the battle was short-lived as a mysterious voice ordered Scales to release his Krazoa Spirit to Fox. As Fox collects the final Krazoa Spirit, he notices that the mysterious voice sounds familiar, but can't place it. Regardless, he returns the final Krazoa Spirit and frees Krystal from her prison.

Just then, the head of a giant stone statue of the Krazoa God emerges, claiming that all must serve him now that he's reborn. Fox jumps into his Arwing to chase after it as it flies into space, where he finds out that the "Krazoa God" is nothing more than Andross, who wanted to use the Krazoa Spirits to revive himself! Getting into a massive battle, Fox would receive some unexpected assistance from Falco, and together they manage to defeat Andross once more.

With Andross gone, the Krazoa Spirits return to the Dinosaur Planet to keep its magic under control. Fox flies back to the planet and sees that the SharpClaw tribe are even celebrating Fox's victory over both Andross and their fallen Commander, Scales. Back on the ship, General Pepper gives Fox his full payment, and says that Tricky and his parents are grateful for Fox's assistant. Falco decides he wants to rejoin the team, and Krystal arrives as well to personally thank Fox, as well as join his team as a new member.

Taking place at least one year after the events of Star Fox Adventures, "Star Fox Assault" occurs. Fox and his team are initially called in to stop Andrew Oikonny, Andross's nephew, who was kicked out of Star Wolf 8 years ago. Andrew had begun to rebuild his uncle's empire, and was planning to launch an assault on the Lylat System once more. Team Star Fox had him on the run, only for a mysterious moth-like creature to arrive and destroy not only Andrew's ship, but also Andrew himself. At first Fox thought that maybe the mysterious alien was on their side, but that thought didn't last long when it turned to attack them! Fox and his team manage to defeat it and obtain its memory core before retreating back to the base.

Back at the base, Slippy's father, Beltino, told them that the mysterious alien was called an "Aparoid." The Cornerian Fleet encountered one of them 17 years ago, and it managed to wipe out the entire fleet by itself before going down. While they're trying to find out how to stop it from the memory core Fox obtained, research would go quicker if they could find an undamaged one. General Pepper than receives a distress signal located at Planet Katina, and Star Fox is sent out to investigate.

Once there, they find out that Pigma Dengar, a member of Star Wolf, was the one who sent the signal. After being saved, he "thanked" Fox by stealing the Memory Core Fox was about to grab. Fox and his team head off to Pigma's last known location, Sargasso Space Zone - an illegal hideout for criminals - to get the Memory Core back. After a fight with Star Wolf, Fox and his team learn that Wolf kicked Pigma out of the team some time ago. However, Panther - a new member to Star Wolf - revealed where he last heard Pigma went, and Star Fox heads off.

At Fichina, Slippy learns that the Aparoids are able to assimilate machinery. They also manage to find Pigma, only for him to escape and leave Star Fox to deal with the Aparoids. After which, they would chase Pigma down to the Meteor Belt, where they learn that the Memory Core Pigma stole has assimilated him, turning him into an Aparoid monstrosity! After defeating him, they learn from Krystal that the Aparoids have invaded Dinosaur Planet, and head there to stop it.

Once they take care of that, they learn from General Pepper that the Aparoids have invaded Corneria! As Fox heads alone to deal with the situation, he gets some unexpected help from Star Wolf. After that, it turns out that the Aparoids have infected General Pepper's flagship. Pepper begs Fox to kill him before the Aparoids assimilate him. Before Pepper was about to die, Peppy managed to rescue him by stabilizing his crash through the use of his own Arwing. With Corneria in ruins and Pepper in medical care, Beltino took over as commanding officer and revealed to Star Fox that his team had managed to discover the Aparoid Homeworld. Beltino was also working on making an anti-Aparoid device that, if fired on the Queen Aparoid, would wipe out the entire race!

Unfortunately, the Aparoids managed to learn of the Cornerian Army's plan and launched an assault on their temporary base, the Orbital Gate. Fox and his team, along with Star Wolf, would head off to deal with the Aparoids, even managing to stopping a missile assault that the Aparoids used as a desperation measure. With the Anti-Aparoid device complete, Star Fox heads off to the Aparoid Homeworld.

Just before Star Fox could enter the planet, a self-defense barrier activated, preventing entry. The Great Fox came under heavy attack. As a last ditch effort, Peppy and ROB 64 decide to sacrifice themselves by steering the Great Fox into the barrier, allowing Star Fox and Star Wolf to enter. Inside, they are ambushed by various Aparoids. To ensure the mission would go well, Star Wolf decide to hold them off while Fox and his team head off to the location of the Queen Aparoid.

When they discover the queen, she tries to tempt Fox into joining her by taking on the false identities of his closest ally General Pepper, and his father James McCloud. (oh, and Pigma too.) Although Fox is about to surrender, he remembers some words Wolf gave him earlier and regains his resolve. After a tough fight, they manage to fire the anti-Aparoid device into the Queen! However, she seems to be resisting it, and tries to run away so she can create a vaccine! Star Fox chase after her, and with a couple of blasts, manage to activate the anti-Aparoid device and wipe the entire Aparoid race from existence!

As Fox and his team fly through space, they manage to find Peppy and ROB 64 in an escape pod. Assuming that General Pepper and Star Wolf also managed to survive the ordeal, they all head for home.

In "Star Fox Command" Team Star Fox had disbanded. Fox and ROB 64 were the only members left. Krystal stayed with him the longest as they promised to be together forever, but Fox eventually pushed her away as he didn't want to see her get hurt in this dangerous line of work. Fox spent most of his time flying through space, pondering his life choices while tying up loose ends.

However, one day an evil group called the Anglar Armada arrived from the depths of Planet Venom's toxic ocean and began to terrorize Corneria. Fox decides to tackle the threat head on. Throughout the course of the game, the player can make choices that could result in Fox getting the team back together, or only some of them. All of this leads into 9 different endings.

In the ending "The Anglar Emperor" - which players will obtain on their first playthrough - Fox reunites his team and they manage to defeat the Anglars. However, Fox is still troubled by complicated feelings, resulting in Krystal leaving him to join with Star Wolf, leaving Fox alone and unloved.

In the ending "Fox & Krystal", things are similar to the previous ending, except that Fox has come to value friendship and love, which causes him to apologize to Krystal and strengthen their bond. Slippy's fiancee, Amanda, also decides to join the team. Looks like Team Star Fox is back, baby!

In "Good-bye Fox", after defeating the Anglers, Fox and the rest of the team vote to retire and disband Star Fox. After which Fox decides to settle down with Krystal. They have a son named Marcus, who follows in father's footsteps by leading the next generation of Team Star Fox. This new team consists of Marcus as the leader, Slippy's son, Peppy's granddaughter, and returning member Falco Lombardi as their experienced mentor.

In "The Curse of Pigma," Fox becomes depressed from Star Wolf stealing both the fame and Krystal from him. He's left in massive slump until Falco suggest that the two retire from being pilots and join the G-Zero Grand Prix, which gives Fox a new lease on life.

After which, the series would receive another reboot in "Star Fox Zero". It mostly follows the same story beats as "Star Fox 64" - James McCloud was the original leader of Star Fox, betrayed by Pigma, Peppy informs Fox who takes up the leader role - though some of the scenarios they take to stop Andross are a bit different.

Personality-wise, throughout the series Fox McCloud is characterized as a strong-minded and responsible leader, usually always seen with either a stoic look or a cocky expression. Though he tends to be a bit overconfident at times and tends to disregards rules and regulations, he is ultimately pure of heart, though he will occasionally fret and complain if he feels he isn't getting payed well enough.

In Super Smash Bros., Fox is deceptively quick and can quickly rack up damage on his foes! Even during the bleakest moments of a fight, never give up and trust your instincts! 

Special Moves 

Neutral Special: Blaster 

Fox pulls out his gun and fires a laser beam. By constantly pressing the Special button, Fox can rapid-fire the beams! However, the laser beams are incapable of making his opponent flinch, so Fox shouldn’t rely on it if they're close to him.

Inspired by the laser gun he wields in the multiplayer mode of “Star Fox 64”. The name for it, Blaster, was not used until “Star Fox Adventures”. 

Side Special: Fox Illusion

Fox stands still for half-a-second before boosting forward at incredible speeds! The move isn’t very strong, but those that get hit get sent flying upwards.

If Fox is on the ground and uses the move near a ledge, he'll halt his forward momentum so he won't fall off of it.

This move is original to Super Smash Bros., though it may be inspired by the Arwing's capability of flying at high speeds when using a warp in "Star Fox 64".  

Up Special: Fire Fox

Fox surrounds himself in flames. Anyone standing close to him will take damage from the flames. After a second, Fox fires himself off, engulfed in flames and flinging anyone away from him. Depending on which direction you’re holding will depend on where he fires himself, though the default is straight upwards if nothing is held.

This move is original to Super Smash Bros., though it’s possible that it's inspired by the scene of the Arwings entering a planet's atmosphere in "Star Fox 64". It could also be inspired by the pyrokinetic abilities of the Japanese myth, the Kitsune, a fox-like creature.

Much later in the series, “Star Fox 64 3D” would introduce a powerup in its multiplayer mode called the Firebird. When the player grabs the Firebird powerup, the pilot’s Arwing would surround itself in flames, allowing the user to ram into anyone and instantly defeat them. It may be a reference to the Fire Fox move. 

Down Special: Reflector 

Fox brings out his reflector, which surrounds him a hexagon energy shield. Any projectile tossed his way gets reflected back at the offender! Additionally, when you activate the move near a foe, the reflector will do some damage to the foe and fling them away.

This move is original to Super Smash Bros., though it may be inspired by how the Arwings can deflect enemy fire by doing a Barrel Roll.

According to Snake’s Codec Conversation in “Super Smash Bros. Brawl”, Fox’s friend Slippy is responsible for making the Reflector. The Reflector would make its first appearance in a Star Fox game in “Star Fox Zero”, though since all of the action takes place in the Arwings, it doesn’t see any use. 

Final Smash: Team Star Fox 

Fox shouts “It’s go time!” as a targeting reticle appears in front of him. Three Arwings – assumingly being flown by Falco, Slippy, and Peppy – fly towards it. Anyone that gets hit by the Arwings gets flung into space, where Fox, now in his own Arwing, joins up with the others. Fox then leads the charge while shouting “Star Fox-fire at will!!” as they blast away at the helpless foe(s).

If Wolf is part of the battle and the Arwings happen to hit him, Fox will shout “This is the end for you, Wolf!” instead.

Inspired by the main gameplay style in most of the Star Fox games, first introduced in "Star Fox" for the SNES. In those games, the player, who’s controlling Fox, flies the Arwing around various planets. They can also use the Arwing’s laser beams to fire at any obstacles and enemies that get in the way.

Additional Notes 

On the Corneria, Venom, and the Lylat Cruise stages, Fox can perform a special “Smash Taunt” by quickly tapping the “Down Taunt” button. Upon activating it, Fox will enter a crouch-like pose, during which he must not get attacked for a few seconds or else the it'll get cancelled.
After a few second pass, Fox will rise up and strike a pose, signaling the Smash Taunt was a success! Fox’s friends – Slippy (all stages), Falco (all stages), Peppy (all stages), and Krystal (Lylat Cruise only) – will then start commenting on the battle or the stage, or even something unrelated to what’s happening. Some members of Team Star Wolf will chime in during the Lylat Cruise “Smash Taunts” as well.
Fox can only perform a Smash Taunt once per battle, and only if Falco, Wolf, or another Fox haven't done one.

If Falco is present during a battle and Fox is the winner, Fox may say “Better luck next time, Falco.” instead of “This is Fox. Returning to base.” during this victory pose.

Out of all the characters, Fox is the one who has received entirely new voice clips in every installment throughout the Super Smash Bros. series.