Pleasant and warm Christmas wishes to you and yours from the Krystal Archive. I hope you all get to spend time with family and good friends. I am personally spending time with my family out of state, and it is going to be delaying my Krystmas present to all of you. Please be patient, it's in the mail. ;)

There's a lot of stuff coming up next year. The Krystal Archive will celebrate 9 years online on the 8th of January, which also happens to be the day I have (minor) surgery, so I'm not sure how well I'll be to post about it then. Other than that, I have lots of surprises to reveal at Furry Fiesta 2015. Tons of smaller news items are waiting in my inbox to be posted, so hopefully I can get to those this upcoming weekend.

Until then, be of good cheer! Go to bed early, dreaming of Star Fox for the Wii U, as Santa Paws comes to your home to leave Wii U's and copies of Smash Bros. Tis but a few days before the beginning of the Year of Star Fox. Let's start it out right!

In an AP interview yesterday, Mr. Miyamoto was asked about the new Star Fox game. He responded to say that the game would feature new kinds of gameplay only possible thanks to the set of two independent screens the Wii U provides.

AP: You're personally working on a new "Star Fox" game now. It feels like a long time since we've seen Fox piloting his Arwing. What's he up to now?

Miyamoto: I like to create gameplay mechanics more than I do stories. The story might not be too different from past "Star Fox" games, but the gameplay mechanics are going to feel very different because of the two-screen system of the Wii U with the GamePad and TV screen. It'll make for a very fun and unique way to play.

Source

Shadowlugia2009 has made a Krystal character mod for Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, a 2011 3D movement fighting game for the PSP featuring Final Fantasy characters. The character Krystal replaces in this mod is Prishe, a FFXII NPC, who has a lot of punch and kick moves, as well as mental energy energy attacks, from the looks of it.

Shadowlugia2009 went to the trouble of modding the mesh and textures to turn the Super Smash Bros. Brawl trophy into the Armada Fan-Based Flight Suit. He even replaced the character's profile picture. This is an excellent mod that fits well with Krystal's character!

Shadowlugia2009 posted the mod download on the YouTube video's description. I'm still attempting to contact him about it. He didn't provide instructions on how to use the mod, but there appear to be instructional videos for modding this game on YouTube if you're interested.

Here it is, the countdown to the next episode of the Krystal Archive Podcast. This is my first time using the YouTube streaming system, so there will be hiccups, please be patient with me.

Watch on YouTube to access the chat.

During last night's Game Awards 2014, there was a special segment where Mr. Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma showed off a lot of gameplay footage from the massive open world of The Legend of Zelda Wii U. You should watch the whole thing, because it's amazing!

During their conversation, however, Mr. Aonuma asked Mr. Miyamoto how Star Fox Wii U was coming along. Mr. Miyamoto replied that Star Fox development was coming along well. He said that the game's use of the Wii U gamepad really feels right, and that the game should launch before the new Legend of Zelda Wii U game. You can hear that part of the conversation at 3:18.

Thanks to Dogman15 and Kevin for the heads up!

Sunday evening, around 7PM Central (5PM Pacific), I'm planning to do the next podcast episode as a live YouTube event! I've got a few updates on what's been going on behind the scenes, site speed issues, and upcoming stuff for the Furry Fiesta panel. I need to do a bit of experimenting with YouTube's broadcasting system so I can be prepared, but once I know more details, I'll post them here. Looking forward to it!

I've noticed a huge slowdown in the site lately. I'm currently attempting to debug. I apologize in advance for any issues you run into.

UndyingNephalim commissioned FoxInShadow to paint the alternate costumed Krystal from his fangame, Star Fox: Event Horizon. It's been a while since we've had a nice speedpaint of Krystal, and the choice of music is very rousing and epic. You can check out the finished commission too!

GameExplain shows off a video of some (all?) Star Fox easter egg conversations on the Star Fox Assault: Orbital Gate level in Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U. Curiously, not only is Krystal completely absent from the level she should have been in, but there are only 3 Arwings flying around. In EVERY Star Fox game, there are ALWAYS 4 Arwings, unless one is in for repair, I suppose. The Star Wolf team didn't appear in this level either, even though they show up in the Assault level. It's more than a little curious that none of those characters show up at all anywhere in the game except for past references in older levels.

What does this mean? Krystal content blocked by embargo dates? Krystal DLC planned for later? An attempt to remove Krystal (and Star Wolf?) from series canon? LOL, ok, that last one was ridiculous. Smash Bros. has never been canon about anything.

As for the cameos themselves, there's positives and negatives...

Positive

• The dialog is designed to be more specific to what the characters are actually doing, rather than being super generic about the fact that there are brawlers on their ships
• It's got that corny sci-fi flavor
• Falco's voice
• ROB's voice
• Fox's voice (barely)
• Aside from the lack of Krystal, the level is surprisingly accurate to what happens in the actual Assault level

Negative

• Ok, maybe the dialog is a bit TOO corny sometimes :D
• No dialog from the Cornerian military (Dog Soldier) or Beltino
• Slippy's voice (barely)
• Peppy's voice (seriously, what?)
• WHERE'S KRYSTAL?!
• WHERE'S STAR WOLF?!

Thanks to Jordan who sent this in.

Update
These are not new voice actors. They are all returning actors from Star Fox 64 3D, see the comments.

UndyingNephalim has just published a video of his vision of the events prior to Star Fox and Star Fox 64: The betrayal of Pigma and the end of James McCloud (or so everyone thinks). This playable scenario looks good and feels very complete. UnyingNephalim also tells me he has an interactive tutorial for the game, which leads to his new needs...

At this time, the Star Fox: Event Horizon project needs five male voice actors (or at least five different voices). The roles yet unfilled are: James McCloud, Peppy Hare, Pigma Dengar, Andross, and General Pepper. If you think you can do any or all of these voices, please email UndyingNephalim with your samples. He prefers actual adult voices as these characters are well into adulthood.