Benimaru Itoh Star Fox comic: How the 1993 Nintendo Power manga introduced Papetoon and the G‑Diffuser
Background
Benimaru Itoh’s adaptation of Star Fox for Nintendo Power appeared in 1993 and remains one of the most distinctive early expansions of the franchise’s lore.
The original Star Fox video game was a 3D shooter for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System that used the Super FX chip to push polygonal visuals; Itoh was invited by Nintendo to craft a narrative companion in the magazine format.
The resulting comic introduced new names and concepts — some later reused by Nintendo — and helped cement elements of Star Fox’s extended universe beyond the game cartridges.
How Itoh got involved
Itoh says his assignment grew from earlier work: Nintendo producer Shigeru Miyamoto and other Nintendo staff noticed Itoh’s stylized Mario illustrations for Shogakukan’s Nintendo guidebooks and selected him to develop a freeform story around the game.
Itoh was given wide creative license to expand on in-game concepts such as the Arwing and the Lylat System, and he developed additional worldbuilding to fill in story gaps the game left open.
Rewriting key statements
Itoh described the original assignment as an opportunity to build narrative where the game had little: he recalled that Miyamoto asked him to develop the story freely, so he extended core game concepts and created new material to populate the comic.
On the planet-name Papetoon (originally “Puppetoon” in Itoh’s proposal), he said the name was a deliberate homage to filmmaker George Pal and the puppet-based advertising used in the game’s early commercials; Itoh chose the term to reflect Pal’s transformable-puppet techniques.
He also explained that, while Nintendo’s modelers assembled the Arwing for the SNES game, Itoh spent significant time imagining the craft’s internal construction and coined technical-sounding terms — including the G‑Diffuser anti‑gravity device — to lend the comic a sense of mechanical authenticity.
Legacy and credits
Not every element from Itoh’s comic became series canon — storylines such as certain family fates for characters were not retained — but Nintendo did later credit Itoh on Star Fox 64 for the Nintendo 64 and the Star Fox 64 3D remake for Nintendo 3DS, reflecting the enduring influence of names like Papetoon and the G‑Diffuser.
Itoh has since worked at other Japanese developers, including Creatures and HAL Laboratory, on projects tied to Pokémon and Kirby.
For readers interested in the full interview and additional context, Time Extension published the complete conversation with the artist and writer.
Background
Benimaru Itoh’s adaptation of Star Fox for Nintendo Power appeared in 1993 and remains one of the most distinctive early expansions of the franchise’s lore.
The original Star Fox video game was a 3D shooter for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System that used the Super FX chip to push polygonal visuals; Itoh was invited by Nintendo to craft a narrative companion in the magazine format.
The resulting comic introduced new names and concepts — some later reused by Nintendo — and helped cement elements of Star Fox’s extended universe beyond the game cartridges.
How Itoh got involved
Itoh says his assignment grew from earlier work: Nintendo producer Shigeru Miyamoto and other Nintendo staff noticed Itoh’s stylized Mario illustrations for Shogakukan’s Nintendo guidebooks and selected him to develop a freeform story around the game.
Itoh was given wide creative license to expand on in-game concepts such as the Arwing and the Lylat System, and he developed additional worldbuilding to fill in story gaps the game left open.
Rewriting key statements
Itoh described the original assignment as an opportunity to build narrative where the game had little: he recalled that Miyamoto asked him to develop the story freely, so he extended core game concepts and created new material to populate the comic.
On the planet-name Papetoon (originally “Puppetoon” in Itoh’s proposal), he said the name was a deliberate homage to filmmaker George Pal and the puppet-based advertising used in the game’s early commercials; Itoh chose the term to reflect Pal’s transformable-puppet techniques.
He also explained that, while Nintendo’s modelers assembled the Arwing for the SNES game, Itoh spent significant time imagining the craft’s internal construction and coined technical-sounding terms — including the G‑Diffuser anti‑gravity device — to lend the comic a sense of mechanical authenticity.
Legacy and credits
Not every element from Itoh’s comic became series canon — storylines such as certain family fates for characters were not retained — but Nintendo did later credit Itoh on Star Fox 64 for the Nintendo 64 and the Star Fox 64 3D remake for Nintendo 3DS, reflecting the enduring influence of names like Papetoon and the G‑Diffuser.
Itoh has since worked at other Japanese developers, including Creatures and HAL Laboratory, on projects tied to Pokémon and Kirby.
For readers interested in the full interview and additional context, Time Extension published the complete conversation with the artist and writer.
