Dylan Cuthbert Shares Star Fox Development Stories with Nintendo Legends

Dylan Cuthbert Reflects on Star Fox Development and Nintendo Culture Dylan Cuthbert, the highly respected founder of Q-Games and renowned lead programmer for the original Star Fox, recently took to Twitter to share intimate, first-hand stories from his time at Nintendo in the early 1990s.

Star Fox, originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in 1993, broke new ground as the first Nintendo console game to use polygonal 3D graphics, thanks to the innovative Super FX chip co-developed by Argonaut Games and Nintendo.

Cuthbert’s reflections provide rare insight into a pivotal era for game development and Nintendo’s collaborative culture, highlighting industry legends such as Shigeru Miyamoto. In a detailed Twitter thread, Cuthbert recounted a particularly cold December night spent at Nintendo’s headquarters in Kyoto, as he and his team worked late to finalize one of the last builds of Star Fox.

Contrary to the extensive stories of crunch culture prevalent in modern game development, Cuthbert recalled that the Star Fox team endured only "a few late nights" during the creation of the groundbreaking title.

One memorable evening saw Cuthbert accompanied by key Nintendo figures Katsuya Eguchi, Hiro Yamada, Takaya Imamura, Tsuyoshi Watanabe, and Shigeru Miyamoto himself.

Visiting a convenience store, the group shared anecdotes and snacks—a moment when Miyamoto fondly reminisced about his student days, expressing an appreciation for McVitie’s chocolate biscuits that he used to eat during intense study sessions.

This lighthearted recollection underscores the camaraderie and human side behind the intense technological achievements of the time; the group purchased several boxes of the British treat and continued debugging their title into the early morning hours. Cuthbert also shared another noteworthy conversation with Miyamoto, Nintendo’s legendary game designer and creator of Mario.

Following the cancellation of Star Fox 2, which remained unreleased until its inclusion with the SNES Classic Mini in 2017, Miyamoto reportedly expressed regret at being unable to hire Cuthbert due to an anti-poaching agreement between Nintendo and Argonaut Games.

This clause had been implemented after Nintendo recruited Giles Goddard, another Argonaut developer, who would later contribute to major projects like 1080° Snowboarding. During the conversation, Miyamoto suggested the possibility of a position at HAL Laboratory, another prominent Nintendo-affiliated studio.

However, Cuthbert wished to find employment locally in Kyoto.

Miyamoto jokingly advised him, “Just don’t join a company that begins with S,” referencing the then-recent discord between Nintendo and Sony, following the failed Nintendo PlayStation collaboration—a significant event known to many in video game history. Although Cuthbert did ultimately join Sony several months later, he continued to collaborate with Nintendo on various projects.

His legacy remains integral to the Star Fox series, and his pioneering work with the Super FX chip helped pave the way for future Nintendo hardware innovations, including technology later seen on platforms like the Nintendo Switch.

For a deeper dive into the creative process behind classic Nintendo titles and an authentic view of development life during the 1990s, Cuthbert’s Twitter threads are essential reading for anyone interested in gaming history and the evolution of the industry.

Dylan Cuthbert Star Fox Nintendo Q-Games Shigeru Miyamoto Argonaut Games Super FX chip HAL Laboratory Star Fox 2 SNES Classic Mini Katsuya Eguchi Hiro Yamada Takaya Imamura Tsuyoshi Watanabe Giles Goddard 1080° Snowboarding