10 Things You Won't Believe Inspired Iconic Video Games

While designing the game, Shigeru Miyamoto wanted the Starfox team to have a striking appearance that would stand out on the box art and so, asked the developers to make them look like puppets. Miyamoto was an enormous fan of the 1965 puppet-oriented television series, Thunderbirds, and thought that style would be fitting for this game.

Although the player flies around different worlds and asteroid fields, the characters were supposed to travel through the levels in tanks. However, Miyamoto thought the player would have more freedom if they could fly in weaponised planes like in Thunderbirds.

Another big part of Starfox is the rings that your character must fly through. Passing through rings causes the player to gain health, power ups, or warp to a secret area. Miyamoto was inspired by this concept from the Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine near Nintendo’s headquarters in Kyoto. To enter the area, one must pass through many gates called torii. Passing through a torii symbolises that one is entering a sacred place. Miyamoto loved the idea of and so, incorporated it into the game.

It’s also worth mentioning that this shrine is dedicated to the fox deity, Inari, who was the inspiration for the game’s protagonist, Fox McCloud.