furry mass effect
I've always said that being a rail shooter was of limited novelty. I don't think it's something they can continuously make unless these are $20 eshop games. most people now know Fox from Smash Bros, so they should be leaning into that moveset. Assault has a good starting point in the fact that it has on-foot missions. modernizing that somehow instead of the arcadey style Assault had would be a step in the right direction. some exploration like Adventure, but more open? Furry Vanquish? since the characters are the biggest draw of SF, something that allows for interaction with them, like the banter the games usually have, but more involved. maybe some in-between mission stuff.
honestly, hard to say what it should do, but easy to say what it shouldn't do for the sake of longevity. by dumping the rail shooting (or just make that supplementary gameplay), you are pretty much left with a blank canvas
I stand by furry mass effect. The series has a lot of the bullet points that Star Fox can hit and has done better than mass effect
- Linear on-foot shooting. Hell, can even be fitted with arcade replayability like ME3 did with its multiplayer mode
- Vehicle combat. Star Fox can easily trump this as this was always ME's weak point. Landmaster being a better Mako, Arwing can be both linear and arena combat
- Great Fox being the Normandy equivalent. Self explanatory, no need for changes here
A little something for everyone (though more balanced towards some gameplay modes than others) and you got a stew going
I just don't see any basis to the claim there's simply a limited market for linear shooters but somehow people will just innately love the Star Fox characters if you could just plug them into the Mass Effect WRPG/action adventure format and that will sell?
1) Kid Icarus Uprising sold 1 million+ as a rail shooter - with a completely hobbled control scheme on unsuited hardware, based around a completely dormant franchise. Because even with those disadvantages, Sakurai was smart enough to add elements that encourage replayability
2) We already have evidence of StarFox games that insert the characters into the action/adventure format, which has partially led to a franchise that is constantly veering between "let's do something new" and "something new failed, let's overcorrect and offer literally no progression beyond StarFox 64"
I don't believe, in an environment where games with extremely opaque, punishing or "retro" mechanics are thriving in other genres, that rail shooters are somehow a hard sell. I think StarFox would easily break 3 million sales as a linear shooter with just the following additions to the original formula:
-Dump Andross and replace with a completely new villain and selection of enemies, just to double-underline that the game is new
-Absolutely stuff the game with unlockable squadmates who will offer different chatter and alternate routes in certain stages
-Similarly, offer lots of alternative vehicles and cosmetics. Let the player customise who they fly with and what everyone is piloting
-Add some kind of PvE element where you and 3 friends/randoms can fly in formation and do a mini-campaign together in your customised vehicles. Sessions don't need to be any longer than a grand prix session in Mario Kart
You could obviously go way beyond this in terms of modernising the game structure to add more non-linearity, but I think the above elements on their own hit all of the core appeal of the series:
-lots of chatty characters
-cool spaceships
-combination of arcade shmup gameplay + bombastic 3D presentation
-alterative routes and secrets for observant/skilled players