StarFox characters were initially going to be human, animal designs based off real-life dev team members

Coming from the SNES Classic Edition Developer Interview: Vol 1, featuring Shigeru Miyamoto, Takaya Imamura, and Tsuyoshi Watanabe.

Imamura: I originally considered making the characters human, but Miyamoto overturned that and suggested making them animals. We made the main character a fox because of its association with the Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine near the head office, and then for the other characters, we chose from among the types of animals that appear in Japanese folk tales, but there’s something I still haven’t talked about. The faces of the characters on Team Star Fox are based on staff members at the time.

Interviewer: Huh? Really? (laughs)

Imamura: Fox has a fox-like face like Miyamoto.

Miyamoto: (laughs)

Imamura: Falco is Watanabe. At the time, we laughed over how his nose sticks out like a beak! (laughs)

Watanabe: (laughs)

Imamura: Director Katsuya Eguchi has a mouth like a hare’s, so he became the hare, Peppy. Planner Yoichi Yamada has large, round eyes, so he became Slippy Toad.

Miyamoto: Yamada’s personal mascot has always been a toad anyway. (laughs)

Imamura: And the villain Andross is…I shouldn’t say. (laughs)

Miyamoto: Yes, you can’t say this one! (laughs)

Imamura: (softly) Andross is my boss at the time. (laughs)

from GoNintendo