On Saturday, I was doing some maintenance. Some of you may have seen the site go down briefly. I just wanted to let you know that I've finished some research and now I'm confident that I can fully backup the Krystal Archive at the database level. This means we will never have another hacking incident on the scale of the one we had last March. Every single feature on the site will now be restorable with relatively little trouble. It's now just a matter of getting everything back online. More on that later tonight.

The Krystal Archive has always had the goal of being completely family friendly and appropriate for all ages (or at least teen-friendly). We have quite a few pre-teen readers of the site, believe it or not. When it comes to fan-made content, there's always a judgement call. Fanart can be judged appropriate or not with a mere glance, and fanfilms just take 5 or 6 minutes tops. Fanfiction, however, takes a really long time to read and review.

Here on the Krystal Archive, we've always accepted incomplete fanfiction, reviewing only the parts complete at the time. This should generally be ok, but there's always the chance that the author could create later chapters that go against our guidelines. After thinking hard on this, and discussing this with Kat the Leopardess (who is helping with the KA Restoration Project), I've decided that a change is in order.

As soon as I can do so, I will be removing any fanfictions from the list that are not complete, including my own. If a fanfiction has become complete since it was reviewed, I'll try and get those final chapters reviewed quickly so the stories can be put back on the list. For those fanfictions that are still incomplete, I will attempt to contact the authors and work out a solution. Newly submitted fanfictions will not be reviewed until they are complete.

RamTheDragon, aka Sofia, dressed as Krystal at ConComics 2012, about a month ago. Like Kat the Leopardess and Bridgette Rockette before her, RamTheDragon's costume is bodypaint-based. She has a facial prosthetic created by Northfur FX and a staff just like Krystal's. She really enjoyed herself and has been wanting to cosplay as Krystal for a long time. More photos and info coming soon.

• Photo 1
• Photo 2
• Photo 3

Thanks to Kat The Leopardess for the info.

In my ongoing efforts to restore the Krystal Archive to its former self after the March hacking incident, today I proudly announce the restoration of the Images section. You can find it in the navigation. It's been simplified a lot. The images are now broken up into pages not based on the game, but on the type of image. The types are...

• Promo Images - Usually pre-rendered images to be used by magazines and websites
• Screenshots - Screenshots of Krystal from her various appearances in games
• Wallpapers - Official computer wallpapers
• Sprites - Star Fox Command's Krystal-related sprites
• Boxart - American and Japanese box art that features Krystal

Enjoy!

Retro Studios is working on something unannounced, and has been since at least December 2011. Their track-building and asset creation for Mario Kart 7 finished with its release that month. However, new evidence posted today seems to indicate that some employees were working on something else during and after the development of Mario Kart 7. Actually this is very reasonable. Retro Studios only contributed art and design assets for a significant portion of the courses in Mario Kart 7. This begs the question: what were their programmers doing...?

Through various news reports in the past few months, and some from today, we're fairly certain that their current project...

• Is not a Zelda game (source)
• Is for the Wii U, a game "everyone wants us to do" (source)
• Has enemies and bosses (source)
• Has cutscenes (source)
• Has dynamic environment and weather effects (source)
• Very likely to have a non-photorealistic style (hand-drawn textures specifically) (source)

It's a game "everyone wants [them] to do", so it's not a new IP. It's not Zelda. It has bosses and enemies, so it's not a racer, but an action game of some kind. Could be a new Donkey Kong game, but they just finished one, and I haven't seen any major demand on that front, quality though it was. All the other IPs are either already well covered by other studios or don't match well with what we know. I think it comes down to either Metroid or Star Fox. There are a large number of people wanting a new Retro Studios game for both those IPs, myself included.

Then there was that major rumor from just before E3 about a Metroid/Star Fox Crossover game. In the end, it was retracted with the statement that, though they aren't working on a crossover game, it was considered for a time.

All of the evidence we've seen could apply equally well to Metroid or Star Fox, except one: the non-realistic style. That doesn't seem to fit either series too well. Since their beginning, with minor exceptions, both Metroid and Star Fox games have traditionally pushed graphical boundaries in realism. I'd like to propose a possible solution to this quandary.

Watch this video. It's a trailer for a game I've been keeping tabs on called EX Troopers.

See that? This game features cell shading, edge rendering, anime-styled characters, and effect and cutscenes inspired by manga panels. It looks fantastic in my humble opinion. What's great about this art style is that it's relatively cheap from a programming standpoint, which means you can have more enemies on screen and have larger environments you wouldn't be able to do if you spent more time making your rendering highly realistic. Non-photorealistic styles also have the advantage of never looking dated like more realistic games do. Wind Waker still looks just as good as it did the day it came out, but Ocarina of Time is looking pretty dated these days.

Is it too much of a stretch to say that Star Fox would be the perfect fit for this? You've already got cartoon animals in space ships, why isn't this already a manga? If I were going to make a Star Fox game, this is how I would make it. Not the gameplay, the anime-like graphical style. I held this view long before today's new information about the non-photorealistic style and hand-drawn textures came out. Weeks ago, I personally looked into what it would take to make an anime-style Star Fox game using my skills as a graphics programmer, and I found it very applicable. So I'm sure it will come as no surprise when I say that more than any other, I hope Retro's project is Star Fox.

Starfox-Elite, a Star Fox fansite, has interviewed an incredible number of Star Fox character voice actors over the last few months. The voice talents behind Fox, Falco, General Scales, and our favorite, Krystal, are all represented here.

Did you know that when Ben Cullum and Steve Malpass (the Adventures Falco and Fox, respectively) meet in person, they talk in character? Mike West (Fox in Star Fox 64) tried to get in touch with his fans via Starfox-Online! Many thought he was an impostor and caused quite the commotion. You can learn these interesting facts and others in the interviews linked below.

• Estelle Ellis - Krystal (Adventures), Queen EarthWalker, Mother ThornTail
• Steve Malpass - Fox and Saber (Adventures), Fox (Melee)
• Ben Cullum - Falco, Krazoa, and several supporting Adventures characters, Falco (Melee)
• Jim Walker - Fox and James (Assault), Fox and Leon (Brawl)
• Mike West - Fox and James (Star Fox 64 and SF64 3D)
• John Silke - General Scales, the Warpstone, General Pepper, ROB the Robot, and several other Adventures characters

For several years now, many Star Fox fans have been working tirelessly on a project to create their own Star Fox game based on an existing engine called Freespace 2. This game was to be called Shadows of Lylat and would feature a huge battles, allow for free flight everywhere at any angle, and just generally be big and awesome. Unfortunately, development stalled out as project members became busy with life and other projects. That was back in June. Shortly afterward, in July of 2012, all assets associated with the game were released to the public. That's all the art, audio, code, scenarios, some playable levels, everything! It is their hope that someone else will take up the banner and make the game they were unable to. Are you up to a challenge?

Asset Download Page

This incredible Krystal-themed Morin Khurr is the creation of KLA member, Malstorm. This is a traditional Mongolian two string bowed instrument dubbed the Cerina. It features gold sprayed side bindings and fittings that resemble Krystal's armor alongside a golden swirl on the neck. This is a more modern version of the traditional instrument. The two pickups are a piezo electric under the strings and a magnetic. It uses flatwound strings and outputs to an electric amp. Sounds amazing!

Malstorm plays his Cerina as part of a multi-instrument piece in this video (Download Available).

Later this month, on September 23rd for North America, Star Fox Adventures will officially be 10 years old. Can you believe it's truly been that long? I remember the time very well. I was excited for the next Star Fox game after the smash hit of Star Fox 64. I got a pre-order from the now bankrupt Circuit City, where they provided the most amazing pre-order bonuses.

That's right! This is the Star Fox Adventures Survival Kit. It contains a Star Fox-branded Jones Soda, toilet paper with game hints on it, a Fox McCloud air freshener, a door sign, and a box to put it all in. Actually the air freshener was separate. I have two of those, one still hangs in my car's rear-view mirror to this day.

But of course, that's not the most important thing I got out of the release of Star Fox Adventures. Not by a long shot! First, I got to play a quirky, Zelda-style game with Star Fox characters, amazing graphics, and fun gameplay. Even more important, at least to me anyway, was that Star Fox Adventures gave all of us that wonderful, cute, blue vixen. A warrior with a kind heart. So compelling was she, even as a secondary character, that she inspired artists to draw, writers to create works of fiction, modelers and animators to create 3D graphics, and at least two groups to start websites devoted to her (the founders of the Krystal Lovers Association, and yours truly, the creator of the Krystal Archive).

Through the more than 6 years I've had the pleasure of running this site, I've gained so much from Krystal's existence. I've gained friends, learned many technical skills, and been on the receiving end of so much love and support from all of you, my fellow Krystal fans.

So here's to you Star Fox Adventures! The same goes to you, the entire team of engineers, artists, designers, producers, and all the rest responsible for bringing this game into existence. We know that the development was rocky to say the least, but in the end you produced a game with lasting effects and a small, but dedicated, group of dedicated fans.

All this month, the Krystal Archive will be bringing you news and stories specifically devoted to Star Fox Adventures and Dinosaur Planet (the game it originally came from), beginning with the previous post by VranceMovado about the lost Dinosaur Planet footage.

For our friends outside of North America, Wikipedia reports that Star Fox Adventures was released September 27th in Japan, November 15th in Australia, and November 22nd in Europe, all in 2002.

An hour long video of the original Dinosaur Planet was recently uploaded to YouTube, which includes the first 18 minutes of the game showcasing Krystal's first chapter. This footage shows 40 minutes of gameplay for both Krystal and Sabre.