Update: It's not just Star Fox's creator who's getting in on sharing art for the GameCube game's anniversary.
Former Rare artist and magazine cover designer Wil Overton reveals that he managed to get the Star Fox crew — with Fox McCloud, Krystal, Peppy Hare, Slippy Toad, and General Pepper — on the company's 2001 Christmas card!
One to get reprinted for the 2022 festive season, then?
Original article: Too many GameCube games are turning 20 at the moment, and it's making us feel old. But, on the plus side, it's also making us feel nostalgic. Star Fox Adventures is the latest GameCube game to hit the big two-zero today, 23rd September, in North America. And Star Fox's character designer Takaya Imamura is celebrating with some brand new art.
The Nintendo legend — who retired from the company last year — shared some new art of Krystal, one of Star Fox Adventures' new characters who would go on to join Fox McCloud and the team in later space-faring journeys.
We would've loved to have seen Krystal get her own game, but alas. We haven't seen a new Star Fox game since (technically) 2016's Star Fox Zero, though for all intents and purposes, Starlink: Battle for Atlas in 2018 was really a Star Fox game, wasn't it? Here's Imamura's rather wonderful art from his Twitter:
Imamura joined Nintendo in 1989 as a graphic designer and is responsible for creating many of the bosses in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, acting as Art Director on Majora's Mask (we can blame him for the Moon and Tingle, then) and working on F-Zero and Star Fox on the SNES. Imamura eventually became producer and supervisor for both of these Nintendo.
Since leaving Nintendo, Imamura has expressed pride in the Star Fox series, saying that Star Fox 64 was "the game of my life", as well as hoping that Nintendo would bring Zero to Switch. Our friends over at Time Extension charted the history of Rare's Star Fox Adventures, which was once known as an unrelated IP — Dinosaur Planet.
Are you a Star Fox Adventures fan? Will you be busting out the game today and playing through it in celebration? Tell us in the comments!
Further reading
[source twitter.com]
Comments 54
Imamura has expressed pride in the Star Fox series, saying that Star Fox 64 was "the game of my life".
I’m glad. One of the best games ever made, and Majora’s Mask, too.
Oh, Star Fox Adventure 20th Anniversary today ?
I have the game since March 2021, bought from my local online shopping website.
I think I will continue the progress this night.
Yesterday I read an interesting making of article on Time Extension about this game. I really should play it.
I actually really enjoyed this game when it came out despite the general opinion being more mixed. I may have to do a re-play.
You know what would be a really great way to celebrate this?
I’ve never had the chance to play this and it looks like something a lot of people would still buy.
If you treat Star Fox Adventures as a Zelda style game, then you will enjoy it more. Otherwise, just go and play Star Fox Assault.
That means 20 years of furry fandom, then, or thereabouts. Time flies...
Probably my least favourite Rare game from their time at Nintendo. Not that it's completely terrible, but really uninspired. Basically a traditional Zelda without anything that made traditional Zelda good.
I don't care what anyone says its so underrated I enjoyed this one through my childhood.
they should remake the original game
Absolutely obsessed with this series as a kid. It is still a crying shame that the company which has 0 problems creating epic & innovative new installments for each and every one of its series, just couldn't do so for Star Fox alone. I just wanted the story to be advanced but after Assault they kept on struggling, first with Command and its 50+ endings making you have to head canon the real one, then a completely unnecessary reboot with questionable gimmicks in Zero.
I hope this series will come back with a great installment one day, I 100% believe there's room to do epic things with planet exploration akin to Adventures on the one side and great space exploration/combat akin to 64 on the other. Basically, Assault but better. Or Mass Effect Andromeda but actually good.
Ugh, one can dream. Like a new F-Zero it's never gonna happen.
Star Fox 64 is one of my all time favs. I’d kill for a modern sequel.
Star fox adventures got a bad rap. Mostly for not being a traditional star fox game which is what i think most people were expecting after star fox 64. That and because people knew it didn't start out as a star fox game at all. Yeah it's basically a zelda clone with star fox characters but that is one big reason why i love it! As a zelda fan that was right up my alley! This was a good game. If you didn't like it you were probably too wrapped up in the fact that's it's not like traditional star fox.
Really never at all cared for it. Even kind of taken as what it is and not really expecting a Star Fox game it's kind of just a mediocre Zelda clone that spends a lot of time meandering and then at the end of the game just very abruptly and anticlimactically rushes past the actual established main villain to get to a poorly tacked on different one. Get it was a rough, rushed production but while that explains it it doesn't really make the game better.
I am one of 5 people who asked for Krystal to be added back in the smash bros brawl and wii u days. They could've done so much more with starfox 🤔
Star fox adventures was Amazing !!!
I miss this game. Maybe I’ll try and play it my Steam Deck when it arrives…
After Star Fox: Assault, Star Fox Adventures is my favorite Star Fox game. Yeah, it may not play like the original SNES game, or like 64, and was retooled from another Rare game, but it has a charm all it's own.
And I'll be honest, Krystal is my favorite video game character of all time, narrowly beating out Samus Aran. She is the one character I want to see, more than any other, appear as a playable character in Super Smash Bros.
I've been a longtime lurker on the Krystal Archive for many years now (since the late 2000s), and there are actually quite a few projects that center around Krystal, one of them using the FreeSpace 2 game engine.
And we're beginning to see Estelle Ellis, the original voice of Krystal (although I am more familiar with Alésia Glidewell's take on the character) embrace the character more, even lending her voice to a Half Life 2 mod that replaces Alyx Vance with Krystal and the aforementioned fangame using the FreeSpace 2 engine.
And no joke, the background wallpaper for every one of my devices (even my smartwatch) is a piece of Krystal fanart made by the extremely talented CakeInferno (formerly known as GreyFireFox) made in Autodesk Maya, with her in a forest and holding her staff.
His Krystal rig is easily the best Krystal rig out there, with incredible detail of a cinematic quality, and looks just like the character (compared to other Krystal rigs out there, like the Warfaremachine rig or the CharleyEcho/Little_Dragon rig).
I'd love to see Nintendo and Rare partner up to remake Adventures, hire CakeInferno as the character designer, and have Krystal be playable in more than just the beginning of the game, similar to how she was originally intended to be (a lot of content was cut from the final game due to Rare's impending sale to Microsoft).
That art is... Umm.....
Kev Bayliss dropping a sketch too
https://twitter.com/Kev_Bayliss/status/1573039182074740736
Loved GCN, a system that was underrated when it was new that became overrated with time. Funny how that works. Star Fox Adventures was my first game when I bought the system and it was excellent. Kind of surprised me so many people seemed to dislike it for a while. Now, people seem warmer to it. Much like the aforementioned console it appeared on.
I loved this game. Might have to get my Gamecube set up again and re-play this
My favorite star fox game, I hope somewhere in the future I'll be able to play it on the switch or switch 2 via NSO
This game should have been just Dinosaur Planet. If that happened, Krystal would have become one of Rare's cooler female lead characters such as Dixie Kong, Kazooie, or Kameo, instead of the sexualist damsel in distress she is now.
I get why Nintendo did this, so that they can keep the Dinosaur Planet IP (and never use it again), but it still blows.
I replayed it a few years ago. I loved it as a kid, but I don’t think it has aged well. Combat is just really simple lol. Like half baked.
Very charming though. Lot of cool world building.
One of my favorite games when it released. The graphics I thought were the best for like a decade still after that, everything just looked so solid.
One of the things that I never see get mentioned for this game was the amount of voice acting. When you compare it to most other GameCube games it really stood out. Most Nintendo games, still to this day 20 years later, still go for the gibberish. 😝
Probably still 1 of my top 5 action adventure games. May not hold up today, but on a 27" color CRT I bet it still !Oops pretty good. Who needs HD when you have a Gamecube?
@Sculptor Yeah. I think there’s a huge amount of potential but it has to be more than an on-rails shooter in this day and age. I would like to see Platinum do another Star Fox game but not under the direction of Nintendo. I think they can do far better than Namco.
Funny the most love Krystal is getting is a mod on another game involving her voice actor. Which is probably more love than Star fox as a whole is getting this year.
Still have my copy. It was a good Zelda-like game, would love a remaster along with Assault.
I fell in love with Star Fox Adventures the moment I first played it; I had no idea there were people out there who hated it and I couldn't have cared less, to be honest. The score by David Wise is part of what makes it such a classic too.
First starfox game. Its still the best to me. Wish nintendo would let more companies devlop sequels to thier games as they did in the 2000’s
I really loved Star Fox Adventures back in the day
Really would like to see it on the switch one day
So underrated this was the last game rare made on a Nintendo console and it was fantastic
Removed - flaming/arguing
@RareFan What an ignorant thing to say. You know about as much about Star Fox as Anita Sarkeesian does.
Krystal hasn't been a damsel since the first game she appeared in. Then afterwards, she took a supporting role alongside the other members of the Star Fox crew in Assault and Command. Outside of those other entries, would be nice if she appeared in a future Star Fox game that continues after Assault.
@russell-marlow
Don't ever compare me to to that left-wing, men-hating person again!
Wil Overton’s cover art for Future’s Nintendo magazines was as iconic as Oliver Frey’s for Newsfield’s 8-bit mags. I was just getting into anime back in 1994, and Super Play got the hooks in even deeper.
Starfox Adventures is one of my favourite GameCube games ever, and I really hope it gets a remaster or a remake for Switch. I remember absolutely LOVING it back in the day and I didn't care that it strayed so far away from the Starfox gameplay we all knew and loved. It was a great game in its own right and I love seeing it finally getting the recognition it deserved!
I really liked Star Fox Adventures. I’d like to see them try that type of spin-off with another IP… like an F-Zero Adventures that could expand the lore, characters & settings of that world and Captain Falcon.
… Wun can only hope.
Is it weird that is actually my first Star Fox game? Whatever; this is a classic. It may not play like Star Fox but I had a good time with Adventures. It looked great and the soundtrack is beautiful. I’d love to be able to play it again someday if this and other GameCube games can ever officially be made available again.
I really enjoyed this game! Though that doesn't mean I don't lament what Rare lost with the original Dinosaur Planet. Still, I wouldn't mind seeing them and Nintendo collaborate on a re-release one day. Maybe with Krystal playing a role more hero than damsel?
Here’s what I’d like to see from Star Fox in the future:
An action adventure that makes us explore a vast planet with the main character and some other sidekicks, and then they could mix things up with some Starfox 64 style stages. Spaceship shooting, exploring and baton wielding in equal measure.
I feel like another traditional Star Fox game on its own wouldn’t use the franchise’s full potential for incredible world building.
Great to see so much love for Star Fox Adventures today. Would love to see Nintendo do something with the Gamecube titles someday
Absolutely loved this game. Impressive graphics, incredible music, magical world. Loved it!!
@DrJoson Now you mention it, this could be the title to win me over for a subscription when they add GC games to NSO.
Ofc they cut off her lower half in the thumbnail pic...🙃
@Truegamer79 yup it was going to be dinosaur planet with a similar looking character to Fox McCloud. Then Starfox Assault wasn't bad either.
@UA1001
Yeah but by the time assault came around it was like No one cared anymore and the star fox name had already been tainted by the poor reception of SF adventures. I actually have assault for my GameCube but i never got around to playing much of it. It seemed okay.
I'm also one of the very few who enjoyed SF zero on Wii U. I think that game got a bad reputation and it really didn't deserve all the hate.
20 years old already? Time sure flies.
Putting aside the flaws I kinda enjoyed the game back in its day, its really sad Adventures hasn't aged well at all.
On the one hand Star Fox Adventures was actually a visual feast when it was released; I still recall admiring that rain coming down in the first area (the GameCube could pull off some nice stuff!). On the other hand, it fell victim to Rare's design tropes of incredibly mundane fetch quests meant to stretch out the process of achieving meaningful goals (EGM's reviews for the game at the time averaged around 5 out of 10, and this was their biggest criticism). Case in point: the mammoths you must help early on. When you stop for even a moment to consider just how inept and plain stupid the NPCs are to be in their situations in the first place (let alone their inability to get themselves out), it kind of kills any feeling of actually being heroic, but more like being a babysitter. And the tasks aren't FUN; they're chores, right from the get-go.
And I'll readily admit that's why I left Star Fox Adventures early on; it simply couldn't hope to hold my interest. The "Rare formula" didn't mesh well with Star Fox, honestly, even setting aside fan expectations of a space shooter-centric experience.
The first Star Fox game I've owned. Played it 6 times I believe. Use to love it back in the day but really mixed on it now. I do still like the locals and some UI choices like the item select being done with the left joy stick is something I wish modern Zelda would do. Also best looking Star Fox game in the series. But I find exploring tedius and I no longer enjoy the puzzles or bosses except for the T rex at the walled city. I also don't like that we get scolded for revisiting the floating islands or can't get Krazoa's and spell stones together.
Maybe because I've played it so much that I know it too well that the game is predictable or that Zelda games exposed me to more challenging puzzles and a more engaging over world, with a better pacing in the story.
I don't want to say like everyone else that it would've been better off if it stayed as rare''s own Dinosur Planet because. Because 1) The Star Fox universe would not be the same and 2 the game by standards now would've either been overshadowed by the N64 Zelda's as Adventures already looks in adequate next to them now. Also I'm not sure Star Fox would've continued back then given that Miyamoto was already making DP as Adventures on a whim being that Saber and Fox look alike.
I do love the fan remake project done by esphirian. If that was an official project on the Switch, I'd definitely get it.
This was a fun game when I played it 20 years ago.
I rebought Star Fox Assault recently for nearly 50 pounds. So worth it. That is still great fun to play still.
@Truegamer79 you even pick up Star Wolf as an ally in the game. It was a great game impo.
@Archius9 its stutters too much on steam deck. And crashes too.
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