Star Fox Zero: The Battle Begins is a short ONA based off of the Wii U game. It was handled by Wit studio and designed to advertise the game. Which was a kind of pointless move given that it was on a system very few people bought. Don't get me wrong, the Wii U was a solid system with some really good games. It just flopped. Either way, let's check out the animation. Story: We open with Andross planning revenge against General Pepper. This is quickly followed by our introduction to the Starfox team aboard the Great Fox and enjoying some leisure. This isinterrupted when Corneria is attacked and they have to sortie to stop the invaders, protect General Pepper & "accidentally" shoot Slippy's Arwing. Just kidding about that last part. They aren't every gamer who played basically any game in the franchise ever.

The biggest problem with the ONA is simply that it has a lot of set up that doesn't get explored or otherwise extrapolated on because they're trying to sell the game and they probably figured giving viewers some intrigue would draw them in. The problem is no one buys Star Fox games for the story. You buy it to pilot an Arwing, shoot hordes of enemies and find secret routes.

I will give the ONA credit for a few things. First of all, it is nice to see Fox and his team just hang out and interact as friends. You normally only see them banter during battle. The ONA also has some legitimately funny moments. And a lot of the battlefield banter strikes the right balance between game faithful dialogue and more character-driven banter.

Characters:

The cast is enjoyable. At least, if you're a fan of the Star Fox franchise and you already like these characters. There's not really enough of the ONA that you're going to get attached to them from it alone. But for those of us who already know and like them, it's a solid little look at them.

Art:

The characters can look a little odd when they talk, but the ONA looks really nice, overall. The Arwing combat looks good. The establishing shot where you see the solar system is very cool. The characters are nicely drawn overall.

Sound:

Ohara Takashi, Takaguchi Kousuke, Sakamoto Kunpei and Hayama Kei all deliver strong performances as the Starfox team. I also like the music. It sounds nice.

Ho-yay:

There is none.

Areas of Improvement:

1. The ONA could have benefited a lot from being closer to the thirty minute mark. More time for some nice character interactions. More time to flesh out some details. More time for some quick japes.

2. Don't try to sell the game on plot intrigue. If you really want to get your viewers interested in the game, spend more time showcasing some really good aerial combat. Ultimately, that's what the audience for the game is looking for.

3. A bit more characterisation. Like I said, the characters are enjoyable if you already have an attachment to them. But if this is going to be someone's first Star Fox game, I don't think the character portrayals in this are going to cut it.

Final Thoughts:

Truth be told, I rather enjoyed this ONA. I've been playing this game franchise since '95 and, for me, it's an enjoyable little teaser. I like seeing the characters in a context that I don't normally see them in. And I can appreciate the effort that went into the animation. That being said, it's not very effective as an advertising tool. If you aren't a fan of the franchise already, it's not going to be compelling enough to get you to give it a try and it's probably not going to be that interesting of a watch in and of itself. For myself, I'll give it a 7/10 but I don't recommend it unless you're already a Star Fox fan,