Toby Fox facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Toby Fox
Born	Robert F. Fox (1991-10-11) October 11, 1991 (age 34) Manchester, New Hampshire, US
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 on October 11, 1991, is an American video game creator. He is a talented developer, composer, and voice actor. Toby Fox is famous for making the popular role-playing games Undertale and Deltarune.

Toby started making games using RPG Maker and creating special versions of existing games. One of his early projects was the EarthBound Halloween Hack. He also began composing music, including for the webcomic Homestuck in 2009. In 2015, Toby released Undertale. This game became a huge success and a big part of pop culture. It was nominated for many awards, like the British Academy Game Award.

After Undertale became so popular, Toby composed music for other independent games. He also helped create music for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the Pokémon games. Starting in 2018, Toby began developing Deltarune. This game is released in parts and takes place in a world similar to Undertale.

Toby Fox's Journey in Gaming

Early Life and Creative Beginnings

Toby Fox was born on October 11, 1991, in Manchester, New Hampshire. When he was a child, he learned to play music, including the piano and trumpet. In middle school, he started playing piano again. He would learn game music just by listening to it. Later, he studied environmental science at Northeastern University and finished his studies in 2014.

Toby's first steps into making games happened in high school. He used a tool called RPG Maker with his three brothers. They created role-playing games and special modified versions of other games, known as ROM hacks. One of his first big projects was the EarthBound Halloween Hack, a fun Halloween version of the game EarthBound, released in 2008.

He also started composing music. In 2009, during his last year of high school, he created music for the webcomic Homestuck. The creator of Homestuck, Andrew Hussie, noticed Toby's talent. Toby had been sharing his piano covers of the webcomic's music online. Toby helped coordinate the music for Homestuck. He even composed a version of the famous song "Megalovania". This experience taught him a lot about making music with computers.

Creating the Hit Game Undertale

The "Annoying Dog" from Undertale, a character that represents Toby Fox.

Toby Fox is most famous for his 2015 role-playing video game Undertale. He also created all the music for the game. Undertale sold over 3.5 million copies. It quickly became a huge success and a popular part of gaming culture. The game was nominated for many important awards, including the British Academy Game Award.

Toby worked on almost the entire game by himself. He only brought in artist Temmie Chang to help with the artwork. He designed many of the characters for Undertale while he was in college, sketching them in his notebook.

After Undertale came out, it gained a very large and dedicated group of fans. Toby once said that it was okay if some people didn't like the game, because it's "not for everyone." In 2018, Toby Fox was recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for his work on Undertale. By then, the game had sold more than 2 million copies.

Toby's Music in Super Smash Bros.

Because Undertale was so popular, especially in Japan, Toby Fox got to meet Masahiro Sakurai. He is the creator of the famous fighting game series Super Smash Bros.. Later, a character from Undertale named Sans was added to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Players could get a Sans Mii costume and a new version of the song "Megalovania". Toby Fox helped arrange this new music track.

The Ongoing Story of Deltarune

The official logo for the game Deltarune.

On October 30, 2018, Toby Fox surprised fans by asking them to check his official Twitter account. The very next day, he released the first chapter of Deltarune for free. This game is a follow-up to Undertale. Toby shared that he started working on Deltarune back in 2012. He also mentioned that the idea for Undertale actually came from his work on Deltarune.

Toby hoped to finish the rest of Deltarune and planned to build a team to help him. He said he was "slowly writing and drawing it all out." He had already created about 50 songs for the chapters after the first one.

On September 17, 2021, Toby released the second chapter of Deltarune for free. He did this because he knew many people were going through a difficult time. Chapters 3 and 4 were released together as a paid game on June 4, 2025. These chapters were bundled with the first two. Future chapters will be added as free updates for those who own the paid version. Toby is currently working on Chapter 5, which is planned for release in 2026. The Deltarune story will have a total of seven chapters.

Music and Voice Work

Toby Fox has composed music for many other games. These include the 2017 Homestuck game Hiveswap and artist Temmie Chang's game Escaped Chasm. He also created music for Game Freak's 2019 RPG Little Town Hero. He contributed music to the Pokémon Sword and Shield games. He also made several songs for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Toby even remixed the song "Celestial" by Ed Sheeran for a Pokémon expansion. In 2024, he worked with Japanese game developer ZUN. They created a track for Touhou Danmaku Kagura Phantasia Lost that mixed two popular songs.

Toby has also lent his voice to different TV and web shows. In 2023, he made his voice acting debut in the cartoon series We Baby Bears. He played a skeleton character named Jared. Toby shared that being a voice actor in cartoons was a dream come true for him. In 2025, he voiced the character John Egbert in the animated pilot for Homestuck.

Toby Fox's Inspirations

Toby Fox has said he was fascinated by the music and feeling of Final Fantasy VI. Other Japanese role-playing games like EarthBound, Secret of Mana, and Super Mario RPG were also big inspirations for him. He especially admired the work of composer Yoko Shimomura. Her song "Megalomania" from Live A Live was very inspiring. Toby originally wanted to use a cover of this song in a game. However, he ended up creating a new song called "Megalovania" instead.

Toby discovered the Touhou Project game series when he was very young. In middle school, he downloaded demo versions of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil and Perfect Cherry Blossom. He even played a piano version of a Perfect Cherry Blossom song at his church's summer camp. Toby has also mentioned the Ace Attorney series as an inspiration, especially for how it creates characters.

About Toby Fox's Life

Toby Fox prefers to keep his personal life private and doesn't often do interviews. He experiences ongoing wrist and hand pain. This pain sometimes makes it hard for him to program games or compose music. He often uses special software that turns his speech into text to use his computer. In September 2020, he mentioned that this pain was one reason for the delay in developing Deltarune's second chapter. Toby can also speak Japanese.

Toby Fox's Projects

Video Games

Upcoming Games

Guest Composer Work

• Hiveswap Friendsim (2018)
• YIIK: A Postmodern RPG (2019)
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2019) – DLC only
• Pesterquest (2019)
• Pokémon Sword and Shield (2019)
• Omori (2020) – jukebox music only
• beatmania IIDX 30 Resident (2022)
• Mr. Saitou (2023)
• Touhou Danmaku Kagura Phantasia Lost (2024)
• Fields of Mistria (2024)
• Chunithm Verse (2024)

Other Creative Contributions

See also

In Spanish: Toby Fox para niños