The hype just keeps escalating! Nintendo has made a Star Fox short film (using cell-shaded graphics) to promote the coming launch of Star Fox Zero. They will show off the full film April 20th at 6PM Eastern (3PM Pacific). Right after, there will be a live Nintendo Treehouse event where Nintendo staffers will talk about Star Fox Zero and Star Fox Guard.

Watch here on April 20th!

Sadly, I might not be able to catch the livestream as it happens. Otherwise I would have loved to do a watch-chat with you all. But I hope all of you will watch and enjoy.

Abdallah, Nintendo Brand Ambassador and avid fan, contacted the Krystal Archive for a collaboration that I think you will all enjoy. He gets access to Nintendo's games early to provide reviews and walkthrough game videos. He also does special classic videos including this Choose Your Own Adventure for Star Fox 64.

As you can probably guess, he already has his copy of Star Fox Zero and has put more than 20 hours into the game, discovering all of the secret paths and missions, and recording videos for each route and sector. You can start watching from the first sector and then, using YouTube links, jump to different videos for the different routes to see every branching path, choose-your-own-adventure-style. Along the way, Abdallah will provide commentary and tips for how to complete each mission successfully.

Beginning on April 22nd at 12AM EST (April 21st at 9PM PST), Abdallah's videos will go live! I will make another post shortly before to provide the video embed, though the video will be private until he flips the switch. He can't post them earlier (nor can anyone else) due to press embargoes.

He is also running a Star Fox contest. By entering, and optionally doing other stuff, you can get one or more chances to win a copy of Star Fox Zero, Prima strategy guides for the game, and Star Fox Amiibo figures. We're working on a way for you guys to get an extra entry or two by visiting the Krystal Archive or tweeting about it (still working on those details, stay tuned). If you want to enter right away, here's the Gleam contest.

Lots of news and videos are popping up now that some of the press embargoes have been lifted for Star Fox Zero. I know you guys have seen some of it, but I'm posting it here for completeness. Also, there's tons more that I haven't had a chance to post yet. Be on the lookout for new stuff. Until then, check this stuff out!

Star Fox Zero American Ad

Nintendo's super cheesy Star Fox Zero ad! "He's Foxy! Fox McCloud! It's his sky, you're just flying in it!" Love it! (reported by ChickyBoy37)

Star Fox Zero Framerate Test

DigitalFoundary shows off a bunch of Star Fox Zero footage with a framerate indicator. Except for some explosions and areas with high particle counts, the game runs at a very stable 60fps with v-sync, and never dips below 30. The screen view is running at 720p, while the gamepad is running at 480p, at the same time, at 60fps. Very impressive. (source)

GameStop Star Fox Zero Sweepstakes

You could win a Star Fox Zero prize pack including real dogfighting training, a Star Fox Zero flight jacket, the game and a Wii U, and a bunch of other stuff. There's only one winner, but you don't have to be a PowerUp Rewards member to enter, and apparently you can enter up to 510 times (I checked the official rules). Anyway, I plan to enter tomorrow just for fun. (reported by dragonstar731)

LOTS OF SPOILERS BELOW! You have been warned.

Brian managed to find Ayano Krystal cosplay footage in a cosplayer montage from the Tokyo Game Show 2015! She appears right at the beginning at 0:23. Video by cOs Plaza.

Nintendo has started up a Star Fox art contest on the Miiverse to celebrate the upcoming release of Star Fox Zero. There will be 40 winners of $10 of eShop credit. For those of you artistically inclined, you could post some awesome Star Fox art (and/or some of our favorite blue vixen). Check out the latest art here. Be warned, though. Some people are expressing ... joy ... that Krystal is 'gone'. As Wolf would say, "NO WAY! I DON'T BELIEVE IT!"

Thanks to GoNintendo and AngelFoxDreamer for the heads up.

The UK Trailer

Japanese Star Fox Zero Trailer

Japanese Star Fox Guard Trailer

Two new Japanese trailers and a UK trailer show off multiple new levels, bosses, and gameplay mechanics for Star Fox Zero and Star Fox Guard. They also reveal (officially) the Black Arwing when scanning a Falco Amiibo, and that Star Fox Guard will use the Fox Amiibo to call in an airstrike.

The Japanese Star Fox Guard trailer is particularly funny because Falco is asked to run the cameras and defenses. He quickly gets overwhelmed and fails as he freaks out.

In a another video interview this morning, Mr. Miyamoto revealed a new play mode when asked about fan reactions to the upcoming Star Fox Zero. To his surprise, the amount of fan requests for certain characters to return was simply overwhelming, with the vast majority of fans demanding Krystal's return in some form, as well as a playable Wolf character.

"To be honest, I am just a little bit disappointed," Mr. Miyamoto said, laughing, "I have spent over a year polishing every aspect of this game, along with dozens of other team members. However, many players focus almost exclusively on the character roster. I think it is something we also see with Super Smash Brothers and the excitement of predicting who will be the next revealed fighter. Because of that, I think we are partly to blame for how much our players focus on our characters." Mr. Miyamoto went on to explain that he can somewhat empathize with players' interest in specific characters. He lamented that one of his favorites, Slippy Toad, is almost always looked down upon by players.

To address these demands, Mr. Miyamoto explained a plan he hopes will satisfy fans for now: "I think most of all they want to play as Krystal and Wolf. They want them very strongly. We were unable to add unique story paths for these characters, or any others, due to scheduling and development resources. Instead, we have added a special mode to Star Fox Zero." In this mode, players will be able to choose their favorite Star Fox character from any game in the series. During the various missions, every character and NPC in the game will be replaced with the character the player picked.

Mr. Miyamoto also volunteered a bit of information about how the voice acting of the 'favorites' mode will work. Only Falco, Slippy, Peppy, Wolf, and Krystal will be fully voiced with all the dialog. Any other character the player picks will simply use the existing recorded dialog for the character they are replacing. Fox McCloud, who was already the main character, will not have his alternate dialog when chosen in the favorite mode. The sheer amount of dialog required to allow every character to voice every other character was too great to accomplish in a reasonable timeframe or budget. However, visually, every character will be fully modeled in 3D, ready to step into any and all roles in the game.

Watch Full Interview - Favorites Mode discussion starts at 04:01

Happy April Fools Day everyone!

Thanks for all your comments! I thought no-one would be fooled after such a silly picture at the top of the post. For those of you fooled, be careful of believing things when they happen to be what you want to hear.

This was released today. I suspect it will be used as the short trailer they show on the Nintendo product pages and perhaps in the Wii U eShop.

Looks like Ayano attended another event recently, and a bunch of photos are getting tweeted at her Twitter account. Head over there to see more shots of her Assault and Command suits with outer cosplayers and fursuiters.

Photo by Dream☆Characters, who also posted a ton of photos of Ayano.

The official Star Fox Zero websites, both the American site and the Japanese site, have been updated. The American site gained an amazing Story Trailer in which Fox narrates the history of the "Lylat Wars".

The Japanese site gained a list of the sectors in Lylat, which, if you can read Japanese, are:

• Planet Corneria
• Meteo α
• Area 3
• Planet Zoness
• Sector β
• Titania
• Sector γ
• Planet Fichina
• Planet Fortuna
• Sector Ω
• Venom

The American site will gain a page like this too, but it is currently listed as "Coming Soon", along with a page to contain "Media".

Sector names translated by GoNintendo.