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Wolf O'Donnell
Star Fox character
Wolf O'Donnell (character)
Wolf O'Donnell, as he appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
First Episode AppearanceStar Fox 64 (1997)
Created byShigeru Miyamoto[1]
Takaya Imamura[1]
Character played by
  • Hisao Egawa (Star Fox 64) [2]
  • Mahito Ōba (Star Fox: Assault, Super Smash Bros. Brawl)
  • Kōsuke Takaguchi (Star Fox 64 3D, Star Fox Zero, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Starlink: Battle for Atlas)[2]

Wolf O'Donnell (Japanese: ウルフ・オドネル, Hepburn: Urufu Odoneru) is a fictional character in Nintendo's Star Fox video game series. He was created by both Shigeru Miyamoto and Takaya Imamura. In the Star Fox series, Wolf O'Donnell is an anthropomorphic wolf who is both the leader of the Star Wolf mercenary team and rival to Fox McCloud. He first appeared in Star Fox 64 (1997), in which his team, Star Wolf, was initially hired by Andross to take down the Star Fox team; although unsuccessful in doing so, the dogfights between the two teams results in Wolf developing both grudging respect for Fox and a desire to defeat him in a rematch.

Wolf has featured as a supporting antagonist in several Star Fox games, as well as appearing in other game franchises including Starlink: Battle for Atlas and the Super Smash Bros. series. In addition, he has received mostly positive reception from critics, specifically regarding his addition to Super Smash Bros.

Character development[]

Wolf was originally planned to debut in Star Fox 2 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Although Star Fox 2 was completely finished in 1995, it was canceled in 1996 due to various factors, such as the Nintendo 64's impending launch.[1] Some of Star Fox 2's features (including Star Wolf) were carried over to subsequent Star Fox titles, including Star Fox 64, the release of which would serve as Wolf's official debut in 1997. Star Fox 2 itself would later be included as part of the Super NES Classic Edition, which was released in 2017.[1]

In the Super Smash Bros. series, Wolf's initial inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Brawl in 2008 was highly requested by fans due to his popularity, according to series creator Masahiro Sakurai.[4] Although Krystal, another highly requested Star Fox character, was considered as a candidate by Sakurai, the combination of time constraints and using Fox and Falco as source materials resulted in Wolf having much better potential to be a fully realized fighter.[4]

Appearances[]

In the Star Fox series[]

In Star Fox 2, Star Wolf is introduced as a mercenary group consisting of its leader Wolf and his wingmates Leon Powalski, Pigma Dengar and Algy.[5] Due to the team's tenacious and unscrupulous methods, they have become feared throughout the Lylat System, the setting of the Star Fox games, with Wolf in particular being noted as someone who is willing to betray anyone for the right price.[5] In order to ensure that his second attempt at conquering the Lylat System would succeed, Andross hired Star Wolf to eliminate Star Fox.[5]

Wolf made his first canonical appearance in Star Fox 64 (1997). Like in Star Fox 2, he is the leader of Star Wolf, and his team is hired by Andross to kill Star Fox. Unlike in Star Fox 2, Wolf sports an eyepatch on his left eye instead of a large scar on his right eye, while Algy is replaced by Andrew Oikonny, Andross' nephew. Throughout the game, the player can battle Star Wolf up to two times, though there are three possible battles with them overall, depending on which routes are taken on the map. In the game's story, Wolf and company harass the Star Fox team, with Fox being pursued by Wolf specifically. If the player encounters Star Wolf by going through Venom's second route, Wolf's team members boast of their upgraded Wolfen ships. Compared to the rest of his team, Wolf himself appears with only an additional facial bandage, whereas his team member sport cybernetic implants. Shortly after Andross' defeat on Venom, Star Wolf abandoned Andrew's Army and resumed being mercenaries willing to take on any mission regardless of legality.[6]

Nine years after the events of Star Fox 64, Wolf reappeared in Star Fox: Assault (2005). During these intervening years, Wolf assumed control over the Sargasso Space Zone, an illegal hub for criminals and former members of the Venomian Army, and recruited Panther Caroso to replace Andrew and Pigma. When Star Fox arrived at the hub in search of Pigma, Star Wolf proceeded to face Star Fox in a dogfight over what Wolf presumed to be an invasion of his territory. Star Wolf would later come to the aid of Star Fox in subsequent battles against the Aparoids, the game's antagonists, but disappeared after the Aparoids' ultimate defeat.[7]

Star Wolf resumed their status as illicit mercenaries in Star Fox Command (2006). As a result, the Cornerian Military placed a bounty for each member, with Wolf having the highest bounty set at $30,000. To avoid attention, Star Wolf set up a base on Fichina before seeking to simultaneously remove their bounties and improve their reputations. Soon after, Wolf recruited Krystal into Star Wolf, following her expulsion from Star Fox over Fox's fear of her losing her life while on the team, like his father James McCloud. Although Command features multiple branching storylines that see Star Wolf having varying degrees of success in their bid to stop the Anglar Empire, Command's director Dylan Cuthbert stated that the game is non-canon because of said storylines, rendering it as an alternate timeline-style game.[8][9]

After initially being teased to appear in Star Fox Zero during its reveal at Nintendo's E3 2015 digital event, Star Wolf was later confirmed by Zero's director, Yusuke Hashimoto, to appear in the game.[10][11] Due to Zero being a re-imagining of Star Fox 64,[12][13][14] Wolf and his team reprise their roles as illicit mercenaries hired by Andross to stop Star Fox by any means necessary.[15] Like Star Fox's Arwing, Star Wolf's Wolfen also became capable of transforming into an all-terrain configuration.[16]

In other media[]

Wolf's first appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series was a cameo in the opening cutscene of Super Smash Bros. Melee, while his first playable appearance was as an unlockable character in the subsequent title Super Smash Bros. Brawl.[17][18] Wolf was not part of the playable roster in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, but returned in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.[19][20] Unlike in Brawl, Wolf no longer has a slightly modified version of his design from Star Fox: Assault and Star Fox Command; instead, it became a combination of his appearance in Star Fox Zero with attire unique to Ultimate.[19][21] In addition, several of Wolf's moves were updated in regard to both aesthetics and mechanics;[21] most notably, his Final Smash now consists of piloting his Wolfen alongside the rest of Star Wolf before proceeding to bombard the opponent with laser fire, mirroring that of Fox and Falco's versions with the Star Fox team.[19][22]

The Nintendo Switch version of Starlink: Battle for Atlas features exclusive Star Fox content, including a crossover story that occurs some time after the events of Star Fox Zero. In Starlink, Wolf decides to fly solo in search of additional firepower to use for himself in the power vacuum caused by Andross' defeat.[23] He fled to the Atlas star system to acquire a Spin Drive for his conquest of the Lylat System. Soon after arriving in Atlas, Wolf forged alliances with several Outlaws, most notably Cash Guavo, Zonna Vangore and Koval Grimm. However, Wolf's hideout is eventually discovered by Star Fox and their allies from the Starlink Initiative, and his plot to transport weaponry over to the Lylat System is stopped. After Wolf's initial plan is foiled, he later returns alongside Leon, Pigma and Andrew in order to gain revenge.[24][25]

Reception[]

Wolf has received mostly positive reception from critics. He was featured in GamesRadar's "The Top 7... Bestest Frenemies" list at seventh place, with the staff saying he "was notable mainly for looking and acting like Fox McCloud would if he were gray and also a bastard."[26] UGO Networks remarked that he was "cool" because he was "a walking, talking fox [sic]", however they criticized the fact of three Star Fox being playable characters in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, saying he should be replaced by another franchise character.[27] Sharing the sentiments, Joystick Division ranked him fourth on it article about what Brawl characters should be replaced, with his substitute being Simon Belmont from Castlevania.[28] While agreeing with UGO and Joystick Division, saying Fox "now has TWO clones"—the other being Falco Lombardi—, IGN said "[i]t's not really all that bad", remarking how Wolf played "slower and stronger than Fox", differing him to the other series characters in Brawl.[29] WhatCulture said Wolf's obsession to destroy Fox "leads to some of gaming's most exhilarating and challenging dogfights", and ranked him fifty-first on its "100 Greatest Video Game Villains Of All Time" list.[30]

Patrick Lindsey of Paste ranked Wolf O'Donnell as the third best video game wolf in 2014, calling him "ever the Boba Fett to Fox's Han Solo".[31] Jeremy Parish of Polygon ranked 73 fighters from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate "from garbage to glorious", listing Wolf as 54th, criticizing and stated that "Wolf is the Shadow the Hedgehog of the Star Fox universe: An edgier, angrier counterpart to the main character whose greatest legacy is that he’s largely been co-opted by the internet fan community to feature in saucy artwork."[32] In 2018, Tyler Treese of GameRevolution praised Wolf's role in Starlink: Battle for Atlas as an antagonist.[33] Gavin Jasper of Den of Geek ranked Wolf as 38th of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate characters in 2019, stating that "Wolf O’Donnell is the evil version of Fox McCloud, which automatically makes him better than Falco because he’s able to act on his bad attitude."[34] Like in Brawl, Wolf has enjoyed both popularity and tournament success since returning to the series as a part of Ultimate's roster.[35] Some journalists, such as Michael Derosa of Screen Rant, ranked Wolf as one of the best characters to use in Ultimate.[36]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Sao, Akinori. "Star Fox & Star Fox 2 Developer Interview". Super NES Classic Edition. Nintendo. {{cite web}}:
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Wolf O'Donnell Voices (Star Fox)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 23 November 2020. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of the title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information. {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  3. "Star Fox Voice Cast Interviews". Geek Melee. Retrieved 27 November 2020. Interviews with the English voice cast of Star Fox 64 & Zero {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Sakurai answers some (old) questions – about Brawl!". Source Gaming. August 17, 2015. {{cite web}}:
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Star Fox 2 Manual: Characters". Super NES Classic Edition. Nintendo. {{cite web}}:
  6. "Star Fox 64 (Game)". Giant Bomb. {{cite web}}:
  7. Navarro, Alex (February 14, 2005). "Star Fox: Assault Review". GameSpot. {{cite web}}:
  8. Harris, Craig (September 7, 2006). "Star Fox Command Interview". IGN. {{cite web}}:
  9. "I'm Dylan Cuthbert and I worked on four versions of Star Fox and our new game PixelJunk Monsters 2 is out NOW! I'm old and wise :) AMA". Reddit. May 29, 2018. Canon is something the fans like to try to follow but Command was meant to be an alternate timeline kind of game, hence the choices you make. It let us have a lot more fun with the characters. {{cite web}}: - Dylan Cuthbert's Reddit username is dckyoto
  10. Hashimoto, Yusuke [@yusuke8shimoto] (June 17, 2015). "Star Wolf WILL return in StarFox Zero!" (Tweet) – via Twitter. {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. Seedhouse, Alex (June 18, 2015). "Star Wolf confirmed to return in Star Fox Zero". Nintendo Insider. {{cite web}}:
  12. McFerran, Damien (June 16, 2015). "Star Fox Zero Marks An Explosive Return To Form On Wii U". Nintendo Life. {{cite web}}:
  13. Star Fox Zero - Miyamoto's Developer Story. June 16, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYPKHbOD_xg. 
  14. "#StarFox Zero is not a prequel or sequel to Star Fox 64, hence the name. #NintendoLive" (Tweet). June 16, 2015. Retrieved October 22, 2015 – via Twitter. {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. "Story". Star Fox Zero. Nintendo. Archived from the original on April 9, 2016. {{cite web}}:
  16. "Vehicles". Star Fox Zero. Nintendo. Archived from the original on April 12, 2016. {{cite web}}:
  17. "Wolf". Smash Bros. DOJO!!. Nintendo. March 31, 2008. {{cite web}}:
  18. East, Tom (March 31, 2008). "Smash Bros. Secret Character Profiled". Official Nintendo Magazine. Archived from the original on November 10, 2013. Retrieved July 27, 2013. {{cite web}}:
  19. 19.0 19.1 19.2 Mejia, Ozzie (January 23, 2019). "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Character Profiles: Wolf". Shacknews. {{cite web}}:
  20. "Fighters - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Fighter #44: Wolf". Super Smash Bros. Nintendo. {{cite web}}:
  21. 21.0 21.1 "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - E3 2018 - Nintendo Switch". Nintendo via YouTube. June 12, 2018. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. {{cite web}}:
  22. "Super Smash Blog - Today's Fighter - #44: Wolf". Super Smash Bros. Nintendo. August 30, 2018. {{cite web}}:
  23. Fahey, Mike (October 15, 2018). "There's A Lot More Star Fox In Starlink Than We Expected". Kotaku. {{cite web}}:
  24. Alvarez, Daniel (February 14, 2019). "Star Wolf Is Taking Over Starlink In New Update". TheGamer. {{cite web}}:
  25. Fahey, Mike (May 3, 2019). "Starlink's Latest Update Confirms Star Fox Is Still The Best Part Of The Game". Kotaku. {{cite web}}:
  26. Reparaz, Mikel (September 19, 2011). "The Top 7... Bestest Frenemies". GamesRadar. Retrieved July 10, 2013. {{cite web}}:
  27. "Wolf — Super Smash Bros. Brawl Characters". UGO Networks. February 12, 2008. Retrieved July 10, 2013. {{cite web}}:
  28. Hodges, Gary (April 1, 2008). "5 Super Smash Bros. Brawl characters that suck, and the 5 that should've been in it instead". Joystick Division. Archived from the original on November 10, 2013. Retrieved July 27, 2013. {{cite web}}:
  29. Thomas, Lucas M. (February 1, 2008). "Smash It Up! - The Final Roster". IGN. p. 2. Retrieved July 26, 2013. {{cite web}}:
  30. Giles, Adam (January 28, 2013). "100 Greatest Video Game Villains Of All Time". WhatCulture. p. 10. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved July 10, 2013. {{cite web}}:
  31. Lindsey, Patrick (July 23, 2014). "10 Best Videogame Wolves". Paste. {{cite web}}:
  32. Parish, Jeremy (2018-12-03). "We rank the Smash Bros. (and friends)". Polygon. Retrieved 2020-11-05. {{cite web}}:
  33. Treese, Tyler (October 22, 2018). "Starlink: Battle for Atlas Review – Star Fox Done Right". GameRevolution. {{cite web}}:
  34. Jasper, Gavin (March 7, 2019). "Super Smash Bros. Characters Ranked". Den of Geek. {{cite web}}:
  35. Gach, Ethan (January 4, 2019). "Wolf Is One Of Competitive Smash Ultimate's Most Popular Fighters So Far". Kotaku. {{cite web}}:
  36. Derosa, Michael (April 1, 2021). "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: The 10 Best Characters To Use". ScreenRant. {{cite web}}:
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