Indeed, I was just about to quote you lol.  Well said.

I even specifically bolded me saying that valley mode, which is the on rails sections, shouldn't go. But there's no reason that the all-range-mode should be so confined. The N64 had a tech excuse. The GCN had a tech excuse. The Wii U has none.

With luck you will see larger scale "arenas" and maybe a little bit more variety in the on rails sections. But I don´t think Nintendo will pour much money, time or manpower into Starfox so you are better off to not expect a large universe to explore. Remember kids "No overhype-no disappointment"

They could quite easily have their own version of the Grox (Spore), that have a presence throughout the galaxy, but their planetary cluster is located somewhere very far away.  You'd have your basic story line which did whatever, but throughout it all you'd be spotting this unknown race of beings more or less frequently, depending on your proximity to their home cluster while you explore the SFU (Star Fox Universe lol).

I hope they make something really big. The all range mode can be really improved. Epic bosses. So many great things can be made to make star fox epic without radically changing their core mechanics

I can't wait to see the game

I don't know man, i have a lot of frustation from trying to control a spaceship in a 3D space. Mostly come of the fact that if i pass by a ship, i have to do a 180º, and then the ship is alreadly movingto another direction, then i have to start to wander trougth the empty space till i find it again. The on rails mode resolve much of those problems, because the enemy is aways i front of you, and even in all range mode, there is a clear limit on where he could be, and manuevers like U turns, full loops really helped to mantain the rithim of the dog figth chase. the fellin of "where did him go?" breaks totally the immersion of the game for me.

Of course, there are problems yet, like no easy way to do zig zag, and lack of control of your speed, but for me the game is about shooting airships, not about exploration of random planets, we are mercenaries after all!

But yeah, i'm worried about the vision that myamoto has about this entry on the franchise. It looks more like he really want to justify the gamepad instead of the game existence itself. But hey, i ddi not played it yet, will wait and see, but really hope that they postpone it till its no just great, but truly amazing.

I don't know. Maybe 2 gigs?

I think they could implement a large scale universe, while still incorporating hotkey maneuvers, and maybe a better tracking system for active encounters.  The rest, I dunno, if you're mercenaries, having a giant universe to explore, sounds like a larger customer base to me.  The more civilizations capable of paying you for services, the better.  Mercenaries aren't above salvage either, so finding wrecks, and the remains of old civilizations could pay well and bring you greater notoriety throughout the galaxy (this is all obviously a new facet that would be added to Star Fox)

I am very much in favor of letting devs create their own vision, so this is merely brainstorming on my part.

It... will be decent, I don't think it will be the Star Fox game people are looking for though and I sure don't see it being released this year... unless they rush it to hell and then it just becomes a sloppy mess...

Star Fox is an arcade shooter. They're meant to be played through in a couple of hours, so I don't see that changing. I wouldn't mind the episodic approach to be honest.

Like build the engine and give us new missions maybe every 8-12 months.

I'm fine with that.

Not every IP can work in the $49.99-$59.99 physical release/12 hours of gameplay minimum/high budget model.