In early 2000 (around March and April), Rare announced that it would be producing a third-person action/adventure game named Dinosaur Planet for the Nintendo 64. Over the next few months, it continued to develop. Those who got to play demos were very impressed with the graphics and scope of the game, but noted that the play mechanics and controls were virtually identical to those of the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Then, in August 2000 at Spaceworld, Nintendo announced the Nintendo Gamecube. Nintendo needed some launch titles and were working on a Star Fox game. However, it was apparently behind schedule. They pressured Rare to adapt Dinosaur Planet to the Star Fox series. The reason that Dinosaur Planet was chosen over other projects was that Dinosaur Planet was almost complete and one of the main characters, Sabre, resembled Fox McCloud.

There were two main characters in the Dinosaur Planet, Krystal and Sabre. Back then, Krystal was an orphaned, 16 year old cat girl raised by Randorn, the wizard. Krystal was simply carried over through the transition, but made into a vixen so as to be a love interest for Fox McCloud. She was almost cut from the game entirely during the transition period, but later was re-added at the request of Nintendo.