I think that this "desire" to have Starfox remain an 100% on rail shooter is what killed( or is killing) the franchise. I like on rails shooters, but there is so much more to do with the franchise, that this desire to remain true to the roots is what is holding it back.
And that's what so good about this pitch: It seems that it wanted to blend the on-rails segments of 64 with a more open ended structure through "missions", in which not only you would be able to tackle a lot of them in different orders(So the structure wouldn't be so rigid) but also the missions themselves seemed to vary between different structures/types themselves. The dev said in the pitch that he wanted for players to invade, Dark Souls style, other people games. Well, if all missions were on rails, that wouldn't be possible. The ones that would be possible, however, would be the ones that you could control fox in a fully 3D enviromemt.Like the All Wings mode segments of 64. This meant that the pitch meant for these missions to be a way more even split between on-rails, fully controllable dog fights, or even a big open area in which you would explore, fight, and do objectives. In which the last 2 mission structures would be were the multiplayer angle of this pitch would come in(probably).
I am of the personal opinion that Starlink was an excelent blueprint for a future Starfox game.The problem with that game was that it was an Ubisoft game(And all the generic and structural problems that comes with it) and that Starfox was tackled in. If Nintendo copied the core idea behind Starlink(Free roaming space with explorable worlds, seemingly flying into each one) and made everything between them(Combat, structure, story, music) up to Nintendo's standard.... God, we would have an 10/10 game right there.
Starfox needs its BOTW moment. Otherwise it will be forever shackled to its glorious past.
