He said he's disappointed in the reception, not the games. Not as bright a light as the title appears, but it's something.
I don't think there's a single person alive who doesn't find SF and SF64 to be the easy top two games. So, yeah, that ought to say something. And if it doesn't, the fact that Sakurai and co. went with the N64 Great Fox in Lylat Cruise ought to smack you in the face with it.
We like the N64 formula, we like the N64 ship style. Assault made everything look clumsier, stupider, and slower. Even if it axed the on-foot segments it still wouldn't have been enough. They need to focus on what Star Fox does best rather than on what it hasn't done (or done well).
Also, seeing SF2 on Virtual Console would be cool. It's no 64, but it's still pretty nifty, and it'd be nice to finally see it out there legitimately.
It's not that Star Fox's core can't be improved. Command's shpiel with personal ships was pretty cool. And yeah, co-op and wi-fi would be awesome. And if we do another full all-range game somebody needs to implement manual rolling (though I wouldn't mind corridors at all). The problem is that Adventures, Assault, and Command all tried to do something drastic, and that's what's ticking the fans off. Star Fox needs to stay closer to the old formula. Not Yoshi's Island DS close, but close.
Also on DeviantArt, Rumble, DLive.tv, and the Fediverse (@freespeechextremist.com and @bae.st)