Wolf O'Donnell

Wolf O'Donnell
Official artwork of Wolf O'Donnell from Star Fox: Assault.
Universe	Star Fox
Debut	Star Fox 64 (1997)
Smash Bros. appearances	Melee Brawl SSB4 Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	Star Fox Zero (2016)
Console/platform of origin	Nintendo 64 (Originally planned for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System)
Species	Anthropomorphic wolf
Gender	Male
Place of origin	Unknown
Created by	Shigeru Miyamoto
English voice actor	Jay Ward
Japanese voice actor	Mahito Ōba
Article on Lylat Wiki	Wolf O'Donnell

Wolf O'Donnell (ウルフ・オドネル, Wolf O'Donnell) is a character from the Star Fox series. He is the leader of Star Wolf, the rival mercenary team of Star Fox. He is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Wolf made his first canon appearance in Star Fox 64. Very little is known about Wolf's past, or how he received his eyepatch. Wolf is a secondary villain taking orders from Andross, though since his appearance in Star Fox: Assault Wolf has had occasional stints as an anti-hero somewhat similar to Wario.

Character description

Wolf was originally going to appear in Star Fox 2 for the SNES. Although the game was completely finished, it was canceled due to the upcoming release of the Nintendo 64, but some of its features were used in Star Fox 64 (Lylat Wars in PAL territories), including Star Wolf.

Wolf made his first canon appearance in Star Fox 64. He, along with Leon Powalski, Andrew Oikonny, and Pigma Dengar, formed Star Wolf and were hired by Andross to destroy the Fox McCloud-led Star Fox. Throughout the game, the player can battle Star Wolf up to two times, though there are three different battles with them overall depending on which routes are taken on the map.

Nine years after the events of Star Fox 64, Wolf reappears in Star Fox Assault and has become known as Lord O'Donnell among criminals at the Sargasso Space Hideout. When team Star Fox went looking for Pigma (who stole a Core Memory earlier in the game), Star Wolf (now consisting of Panther Caroso, Leon, and Wolf) went to destroy team Star Fox for invading Wolf's organization. Star Wolf was defeated in the battle. When the threat of the Aparoids was rising, Wolf arrived on Corneria to save Fox from the Aparoids (Wolf said the only reason he saved Fox was so he could destroy Fox himself). After that event, Star Wolf provided backup to Team Star Fox two more times in the game, including the final battle. Because of all of this and his respecting attitude towards opponents he deems to be on his level of skill, many have viewed Wolf to be an anti-hero. After the Aparoid Homeworld exploded, team Star Wolf was nowhere to be found, although Fox speculated they were alive. This was later proven in Star Fox Command.

After the events of Star Fox Assault, Star Wolf was confirmed to be alive and continued their lives of crime. However, they were noticed by the Cornerian Military. As a response to their crimes, a bounty reward was set for each member, with Wolf having the highest bounty set at $3,000,000. To avoid attention, they set up a base on Fichina. After this, they sought to remove their bounties and were tired of being seen as villains. Star Wolf then began to plot out a way to defeat the Anglar Empire. Afterward, the team split up. While Leon and Panther went to Katina, Wolf presumably researched a device that Andross built which would neutralize the toxicity of the Venom Sea allowing them to infiltrate the enemy base. Star Fox found the device on Titania first, but Star Wolf made the enemy units flee from Venom, allowing Star Fox to finish the enemies off. Star Wolf was not seen again until the ending, where Krystal requests Fox to remove their bounties.

In Star Fox 64, Wolf spoke in an English accent and had a tone of voice that sounded somewhat refined. However, his speech pattern noticeably changed in Star Fox Assault, as he spoke in a gruff tone of voice with no discernible accent. Wolf's speech pattern once again changed in Star Fox Command, due to its usage of garbled sounds in place of actual voice acting. Despite this, Wolf would also act bestial by occasionally howling and growling. For Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Wolf's speech pattern is effectively a combination of the ones in Assault and Command, with his tone of voice being very similar to the one in Assault and two of his taunts seeing him howl and growl like he would in Command.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

Wolf makes a cameo appearance in Melee in a dogfight with Fox during the opening scene.

In the opening sequence to the game, there is a short moment where Fox, piloting his Arwing, crosses paths with Wolf in his Wolfen. A mugshot of the two characters in their cockpits is briefly seen. In early days of the game's release, this led to much speculation of Wolf playing a role in the game, perhaps as a playable character. However, this was not the case, and Wolf makes no appearance in the game outside this opening sequence, not even as a trophy (though he is mentioned in the Wolfen's trophy description).

The aircraft of choice for team Star Wolf, the Wolfen, appear on the stages Corneria and Venom, seemingly doing battle with Star Fox in their Arwings.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Wolf's artwork from Brawl

Main article: Wolf (SSBB)

Wolf is a secret character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl who can be unlocked by playing 450 VS. Mode matches, clearing Boss Mode with Fox/Falco, or a secret door in The Ruins stage of Subspace Emissary. His look is based on his appearances in Star Fox Assault and Star Fox Command.

Wolf seems to be very based on his rival pilots Fox and Falco, but despite his general perception as being another Fox clone, his attacks are mostly new, with the exception of his Final Smash. All of his standard attacks are different, which involve the use of his claws or legs. While his special moves follow the same basic format of Fox's, they still have significant differences. Wolf's Blaster has a different appearance, it's shot in a different animation and shoots a different projectile. Also, Wolf's Blaster has a bayonet attached that deals melee damage. His Wolf Flash attack is like Fox's Fox Illusion, but it moves diagonally rather than horizontally. Wolf's starts weak, but ends in a powerful sweetspot that can meteor smash. Fire Wolf, while it has an identical name to Fire Fox, is a kicking attack that scores multiple hits on the opponent, and lacks any fire damage. His Reflector has some notable differences, such as the significant intangibility frames it produces that give it capability as a pseudo-counter, and it sends all projectiles back at twice the speed of their initial pitch, but with a smaller power multiplier. Wolf's Final Smash is a carbon copy of Fox's, being a Landmaster that is colored red, and functions identically, just having much greater power at the expense of less duration.

Wolf's physical attributes are also quite different from Fox's, being a rather heavy character, with great air speed that gives him superior mobility.

Wolf ranks 14th on the current tier list, in C tier. Wolf is a borderline viable character, who has the tools to take on any character in the game, including Meta Knight, with his great mobility, fast and far reaching attacks, and a plethora of options. However, Wolf has a severe weakness to chain throws, including multiple zero-deaths, which leads to him being countered by a few characters that can exploit this, most notoriously King Dedede.

Trophy

Wolf's Brawl trophy.

A pilot whose real name is Wolf O'Donnell. He leads a group of mercenaries called Star Wolf. He's crossed paths with Fox many times, and each acknowledges the other as a competent rival. Wolf's constant interference with Fox is a result of Wolf's history with Fox's dad, James. Wolf's long history of criminal enterprise has resulted in a large bounty on his head.

: Star Fox 64

: Star Fox: Assault

Stickers

Name	Game	Effect	Character(s)
Wolf	Star Fox Command	Attack +27
Wolf	Star Fox: Assault	Attack +15

Wolf (Star Fox Command)

Wolf (Star Fox: Assault)

In Super Smash Bros. 4

Wolf's trophy in Super Smash Bros. 4

Unlike Fox and Falco, Wolf did not return as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. His only appearance in the game is as a trophy in both versions of the game using his design from Star Fox: Assault.

Music associated with the character is also present for both Orbital Gate Assault and Lylat Cruise Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

One of Fox's alternate costumes highly resembles Wolf's color scheme. As Lylat Cruise returns, Wolf makes a cameo by reappearing in its Star Fox Smash Taunt.

Fox himself also has Wolf's Wolf Flash move as one of his custom variants for his Fox Illusion.

Trophy

Wolf

Wolf used to fight in Andross's army, tangling with Star Fox in battle after battle. After Andross's exile, he went his own way and formed a mercenary team called Star Wolf. He and his eternal rival, Fox, have even fought on the same side from time to time...but inevitably, they always meet again as enemies.

Wolf used to fight in Andross's army, where he tangled with Star Fox in many a dogfight. After Andross's exile, he went his own way and formed a mercenary team called Star Wolf. He and his eternal rival Fox have even fought on the same side from time to time...but inevitably, they always meet again as enemies.

: Star Fox 64 (07/1997)

: Star Fox: Assault (02/2005)

Trivia

• Wolf is the only Star Fox character to have a different English voice solely for his Smash appearance.
• He also is the only character from the Star Fox universe to be cut.