Fox McCloud

Fox McCloud
Star Fox character
Fox McCloud, as he appears in Star Fox Command.
First appearance	Star Fox (1993)
First game	Star Fox (1993)
Created by	Shigeru Miyamoto
Designed by	Takaya Imamura
Voiced by (English)	Dan Owsen (1994) Mike West (1997, 2011-present) Steve Malpass (2001-2002) Jim Walker (2005-2008)
Voiced by (Japanese)	Shinobu Satouchi (1997-2001) Kenji Nojima (2005-2008, 2014) Takashi Ōhara (2011-present)

Fox McCloud (Japanese: フォックス・マクラウド, Hepburn: Fokkusu Makuraudo^?) is an anthropomorphic fox video game character and the chief protagonist of Nintendo's Star Fox series. He was created and designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takaya Imamura. In each game, the player controls Fox in his Arwing, with a few exceptions, such as Star Fox Adventures and Star Fox: Assault, where he is controlled on the ground. He is the leader of the Star Fox team and is joined by his wingmates on various missions.

In 1992, Nintendo and Argonaut Software collaborated to produce a 3D space shooter for the Super NES, provisionally titled 'SnesGlider'. The development team, led by Shigeru Miyamoto, redesigned what had been a tech demo into a rail shooter, with Nintendo designing the game and Argonaut handling the programming aspects. However, without a story, it lacked incentives to play beyond flying and shooting. Miyamoto sketched out a fictional universe, but could not decide on a natural hero to convey a sense of an epic space saga. Names under consideration included "Star Wolf", "Star Sheep", "Star Fox", "Star Sparrow", and "Star Hawk". Miyamoto finally settled on having a fox as the main character after visiting Fushimi Inari-taisha in Kyoto, the head shrine of Inari, a Japanese kami associated with foxes. Inari is portrayed as being able to fly, and its shrines, particularly the one in Kyoto, are surrounded by red arches (torii), giving Miyamoto the idea of a fox that could fly through arches. Fox's face was modeled after Inari's, and usually wears a "red turtleneck" or "red scarf" around his neck, like the statue, with the exception of his design from Star Fox: Assault. Fox McCloud's personality is heavily based on Shigeru Miyamoto's personality, with the surname 'McCloud' being suggested by Dylan Cuthbert, one of the Argonaut team.