Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma announced that the new ‘Star Fox’ game for the Wii U will be releasing sometime next year in 2015.

During their  pre-recorded video segment at ‘The Game Awards 2014’, Miyamoto and Aonuma confirmed that the newest entry in the classic franchise will be releasing before the upcoming ‘Legend of Zelda’ for the Wii U, which is also expected to launch in 2015 as well. However, Aonuma affirmed that ‘Star Fox’ will not be releasing before ‘Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D’ in Spring 2015. From those clues, the game seems like its will most likely lined up for an early Fall release.

“The way it uses the gamepad is really starting to feel good.” said Miyamoto about gameplay of the upcoming ‘Star Fox’ during the video segment.

In terms of what has been revealed about its gameplay so far, ‘Star Fox’ (working title) for the Wii U will be taking full advantage of the console’s gamepad. Players steer their Arwing ship using the control sticks while they aim their fire using the gamepad’s gyro sensors.  The game also uses a dual-screen mechanic that shows the perspective of the Arwing’s cockpit on the Wii U gamepad and the view behind the Arwing on the TV.

‘Star Fox’ originally came to light when the game’s existence was confirmed in a TIME magazine interview with Shigeru Miyamoto published on June 10, 2014 two hours before the game’s intended announcement later that day during the Nintendo E3 2014 Digital Event. The article appeared briefly before it was inevitably pulled by TIME at Nintendo’s request.

The new ‘Star Fox’ title for the Wii U is definitely a huge deal for hardcore fans of the classic Nintendo series. While the most recent ‘Star Fox’ game to come out was the 3DS remake of Nintendo 64 classic ‘Star Fox 64’, it has been over eight years since an actual brand new installment of the series has been released. To say the least, it has been a bit of a long time coming.

‘Star Fox’ will release for Wii U sometime in 2015. 

Sources: Nintendo, Time Magazine