ninjahmos

I’d like to talk about James McCloud, the father of Fox McCloud.

As many of you know, James McCloud was presumably killed by Andross, but Nintendo has often iterated it differently.

In the original SNES game, there’s a secret black hole level where, before the level starts, General Pepper tells Fox that the black hole was created by Andross and it was where his father disappeared. However, Star Fox 64 tells the story a little differently.

Before the events of Star Fox 64, Andross was once a respected scientist on Corneria, but due to his mad search for power, Pepper banished him to Venom. After noticing strange activity coming from Venom, Pepper sent the original Star Fox team - James McCloud, Peppy Hare and Pigma Dengar - to investigate. But as soon as they got to Venom, Pigma betrayed the team, and James and Peppy were captured by Andross. It turns out Pigma had secretly been working for Andross.

Peppy escaped, but James didn’t seem to be so lucky. He may have either been killed by Andross himself, or shot down by a Venom fleet… or by Pigma.

Then you get to Venom and face Andross. If you fight him by going down the Hard Route, after destroying his hands and head, his true form will be a giant brain with eyes. If you defeat that version of Andross, he’ll blow up his lair and Fox along with it. Suddenly, after several seconds of silence, a voice is heard saying "Don’t ever give up, my son." It's Fox's father James. After defeating Andross, there’s an escape sequence revolving around his self-destructive lair, and you see James guiding Fox out. After they both escape, James disappears, Fox wistfully looks for him, and nobody else (except Peppy) acknowledges it.

Now, some people believe that James may still be alive, while others say that he may truly be dead and what Fox saw was a vision of his father.

So, is James McCloud truly dead?