Toby Fox facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Toby Fox
Born	Robert F. Fox (1991-10-11) October 11, 1991 (age 33) Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S.
Other names	Radiation FwugRadiation
Education	Northeastern University (BS)
Occupation	Video game developer composer
Years active	2008–present
Works	Undertale Deltarune
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Robert F. "Toby" Fox (born October 11, 1991) is an American video game developer and composer. He is famous for creating the role-playing game Undertale. This game became very popular and won many awards.

Toby Fox also created Deltarune, which is a follow-up game to Undertale. It features many characters and ideas from his first big hit. Before making games, Toby Fox mostly wrote music. He composed music for the webcomic Homestuck. After Undertale became a success, he also wrote music for other games. He even contributed to the soundtracks of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the Pokémon video games.

About Toby Fox

His Early Life

Robert F. Fox was born on October 11, 1991, in Manchester, New Hampshire. He grew up with his three brothers. As a child, Toby Fox took music lessons, learning to play the piano and trumpet. When he was in middle school, he started playing piano again. He enjoyed playing music from video games by ear. He later studied environmental science at Northeastern University and finished his degree in 2014.

How He Got Started in Games

Toby Fox loved the music and atmosphere of the game Final Fantasy VI. Other Japanese role-playing games like EarthBound, Secret of Mana, and Super Mario RPG also inspired him a lot. He especially admired the music of Yoko Shimomura. Her song "Megalomania" from the game Live A Live was a big inspiration. He even made his own song called "Megalovania" after trying to copy it.

In middle school, he found the Touhou Project series. He liked that these games encouraged players to keep going just to hear the music.

His First Projects

Toby Fox started making games early on. He used a tool called RPG Maker 2000 with his brothers. He also created special versions of games called ROM hacks in high school. His most famous early project was the EarthBound Halloween Hack. This was a Halloween-themed version of EarthBound, released in 2008.

After that, he began writing music for Andrew Hussie's webcomic Homestuck in 2009. He became the production coordinator for Homestuck's music until 2016. This work helped him gain experience with music software. He also said that some unused Homestuck songs inspired themes in Undertale.

His Famous Games

Creating Undertale

Toby Fox's most famous game is Undertale, released in 2015. He also wrote all the music for it. The game sold over a million copies and became a huge hit. Toby Fox worked on almost the entire game by himself. He only asked Temmie (Tuyoki) Chang for help with the art. He came up with the characters and ideas for Undertale while he was in college.

Close-up of the face sprite of the "Annoying Dog" from Undertale, which is a self-insertion of Fox

Undertale quickly gained a huge fanbase. Toby Fox said he didn't mind if some people didn't like the game, as it's "not for everyone." Even with all its awards, he personally felt the game was "niche" and deserved an "8/10" score.

In 2016, Toby Fox released some unused music tracks from Undertale. By 2018, Undertale had sold over 2 million copies. This success led to him being named one of Forbes magazine's "30 Under 30" in Games.

The popularity of Undertale, especially in Japan, allowed Toby Fox to meet Super Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai. They talked about games and even played Super Smash Bros. Ultimate together. Later, Sans, a character from Undertale, was added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Players could get a Sans Mii costume and a new version of the song "Megalovania".

Developing Deltarune

On October 30, 2018, Toby Fox surprised fans by releasing the first chapter of Deltarune for free. He called it a "survey." He later shared that he had been working on Deltarune since 2012. He also mentioned that the idea for Undertale actually came from Deltarune during its creation.

He planned to release the rest of the chapters all at once. On September 17, 2021, he released the second chapter of Deltarune for free. He said this was because "the world has been really tough for everybody recently" due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The third and fourth chapters were released together as a paid game on June 4, 2025. He is currently working on Chapter 5, which is expected to be released in 2026.

His Music Work

Toby Fox has composed music for many other games. These include the 2017 Homestuck game Hiveswap and Undertale artist Temmie Chang's game Escaped Chasm. He also wrote music for Game Freak's 2019 RPG Little Town Hero.

He composed a track for Pokémon Sword and Shield and multiple tracks for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. He even remixed Ed Sheeran's song "Celestial" for a Pokémon Scarlet and Violet expansion.

In 2024, he worked with Japanese game developer ZUN for the game Touhou Danmaku Kagura Phantasia Lost. This project included a song that mixed a Touhou song with the "Battle Against a True Hero" song from Undertale.

His Personal Life

Toby Fox is a private person and doesn't often do interviews. He has chronic wrist and hand pain. This pain sometimes stops him from programming and composing. He often uses special software that turns his speech into text for his computer. In September 2020, he mentioned that this pain caused delays in making Deltarune's second chapter.

Games Toby Fox Has Worked On

Games He Directed or Wrote For

Upcoming Games

Games Where He Was Only a Guest Composer

• Rose of Winter (2016)
• Hiveswap: Act 1 (2017)
• Hiveswap Friendsim (2018)
• Escaped Chasm (2019)
• YIIK: A Postmodern RPG (2019)
• Little Town Hero (2019)
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2019) - DLC only
• Pesterquest (2019)
• Pokémon Sword and Shield (2019)
• Dweller's Empty Path (2020)
• Hiveswap: Act 2 (2020)
• Omori (2020) - jukebox music only
• beatmania IIDX 30 RESIDENT (2022)
• Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (2022)
• Mr. Saitou (2023)
• Touhou Danmaku Kagura Phantasia Lost (2024)
• Fields of Mistria (2024)
• Chunithm Verse (2024)

Other Projects and Contributions

See also

In Spanish: Toby Fox para niños