In the past, I posted a 5 part series on Star Fox Alternatives in the form of movies, anime, and TV, to get your Star Fox fix in the absence of new games. But you know, there are actual games that you could be playing that can, in one way or another, inspire that feeling of Star Fox games in your heart. Nothing will quite replace the original, but these might give you something to play in the meantime. Of course, you know about the fangame Star Fox: Event Horizon, and the recently posted development of the indie title EX Zodiac, but what about games that are finished and playable NOW? Well, in the coming weeks, I'll be providing some possibilities for you to explore.

Today's entry in the Star Fox Alternative category is Aaero, an indie rhythm-based shooter released for the Nintendo Switch earlier this year (and also available on Steam). Featuring gorgeous low-poly style graphics, an intense soundtrack, and tight controls, the game looks interesting and challenging. The gameplay involves a lot of precision movement to match beats, as well ask shooting down enemies in time with the music for bonus damage. The boss fights are well-integrated into the levels. You'll spend about half your time doing tricky dodging and maneuvers, and the other half focused on fighting enemies and defending yourself from incoming shots. Check out the in-depth review from SwitchUp.

Oh, and they're working on Aaero 2 as well.

Krystal almost gets the payback she owes General Scales, except that a mysterious voice stops the fight. The weird ending of the General Scales fight from Star Fox Adventures is now modded to show Krystal instead of Fox. As with other Action Replay codes from BvqR zxi5, Krystal's eyes are a little messed up and she doesn't have her Staff. That's how this mod works.

Since I missed a post on Friday, you get two today!

Kigurumi cosplayer Elh Melizée finished a Krystal cosplay about one year ago. I never got around to posting about his costume, but I'm making up for it now!

The costume was completed in stages, with the initial mask being worked on at least as far back as August 2015. The mask was made using papercraft techniques, then smoothed using resin and fiberglass, before eyes and fur were applied. The costume also included a custom made staff and tail. I'm not sure how those were made. I'm also not sure if the Assault suit was made or bought, but I suspect it was purchased.

It's not yet finished, but Elh is also working on a full-size replica of the gatling gun from Star Fox Assault to go with the cosplay.

The cosplay was first shown off at Madrid Games Week 2018, probably on the 20th of October, 2018. There, Elh hung out at the Nintendo Booth, got a copy of Starlink from Ubisoft, and played some Taiko (the drum-based arcade game).

Elh Melizée plans to go to Madrid Games Week 2020, and appear on the cosplay catwalk.

Photos and Videos

• Fox and Krystal Base Masks
• Mask Eyes WIP
• Gatling Gun Progress 1
• Gatling Gun Progress 2
• Gatling Gun Progress 3
• Mask Progress 1
• Mask Progress 2
• Mask Progress 3
• Suit Ready
• Completed Mask
• Whole Costume Unworn
• Posing with Cosplayer
• Posing with Candy
• Starlink Booth 1
• Starlink Booth 2
• Nintendo Booth
• Video: Finished Costume
• Video: Playing Taiko Game (Twitter)
• Video: Playing Taiko Game (YouTube)
• Video: Posing with Candy (YouTube)
• Video: Walking Around Convention
• Video: Starlink Unboxing In Costume
• Video: Under-The-Mask Reveal with Krystal WIP Mask In Background

In today's video by BvqR zxi5, Krystal confronts General Scales in the CloudRunner Fortress Mines, the "boss" area that's actually a race.

This is a fantastically produced, long-form history of the development process of Star Fox for the SNES by strafefox. I really enjoy the custom 3D animations to go along with this mini-documentary. I can only imagine what he would do with the development story of Star Fox Adventures and Dinosaur Planet.

Here's another video by BvqR zxi5. Krystal (as Fox) and Tricky encounter an unlucky meteorite strike in Moon Mountain Pass. This is done with Action Replay codes to swap Fox's model for Krystal's and warp to different parts of the game.

Using the custom character creator of Soul Calibur VI, which we've covered before, Gothic Gaming Geek created a new matchup: Krystal vs Knuckles. Who will win?

Just a quick message about how I plan to make posts here on the site. As you have been seeing for the last few weeks, I intend to post about one thing per weekday, hopefully around lunchtime. On the weekends, I may post only once, or not at all.

Behind the scenes, I'm trying to create posts in advance so it's just a matter of publishing what I already have worked out on any given day. Doing all the news gathering and posting at the same time can result in me missing days due to lack of time. Obviously, if there is big or official news, I try to post that right away. But generally, this is how I'm trying to approach things now.

I hope you've been enjoying the somewhat more regular posts. If you have suggestions for what you want to see more of (or less of), and have comments about how the site is run, please post a comment, or email me.

Krystal takes over Fox's own chair in the Great Fox. This cutscene is difficult to mod Krystal into, but BvqR zxi5 has managed it. Once again, the eyes are a little wonky, as is the size difference between Krystal and Fox's models, something I noticed before when working on my own videos.

Using the Garry's Mod version of our very own WarfareMachine Krystal Rig, YouTube user HaydeeTheGame demonstrates Krystal running around and exploring a map in Garry's Mod. Nothing super special, but I thought I'd show it off. Maybe if you wanted to make a Krystal-focused 3rd person shooter or puzzle game, these free assets will give you a big head start.