#did the aparoids kill them??

[bakfoo]

I forgot that Star Fox was a thing until today and in some weird stupor I wrote a 1.4k word fic surrounding the first skirmish between SF and SW heavily influenced by @rainboopz 's Krystal is Kursed AU

This is a totally self-indulgent hurt/comfort fanfic and I won't apologize for it because I didn't realize how weird star fox command gets and I need to fix it before I explode

Krystal couldn't believe it. Her ship's HUD blared all kinds of damage reports in her face. With no choice, she wrenched the stick and turned away from the battle. She flew back in tatters.

"Days... Weeks... Months of training and flight hours and I still can't down him," Krystal whispered to herself, gripping the joystick so hard she swore she heard it creak.

She used every trick in the book and more. Even when she pulled out all the aces she had up her sleeve, she was countered at every turn. She held up against the rest of Star Fox just fine on her own, but their leader was different. It was cold. It was surgical. For someone who only knew her previous captain as a squadmate, this was the harsh reminder:

Fox McCloud was the deadliest pilot in the Lylat System.

Was he holding out on me?! Did I get weaker? Did he get stronger? How...?

Krystal slammed the canopy with her fist through tears of frustration. As if on cue, Wolf's face showed up in a small monitor. From the red glow on his face, it was clear that his ship was also no longer combat effective. A bit behind, her other squadmates were returning from battle, not faring any better.

"Well, Princess? How does it feel?"

Krystal quickly wiped tears of frustration from her face, too scared to say anything in fear that a sob would come out. Losing wasn't new for her, but this loss had so much more at stake. She glared at the screen without saying a word.

"It fucking sucks," Krystal choked out bitterly, not seeming to care that the entirety of Star Wolf was now fixated on her response. Eavesdropping, Panther begrudgingly smiled, Leon huffed and twisted his face into a frown. She was only a part of the team in name, but this was their unofficial induction ceremony.

Wolf grinned, knowing the exact feeling. He saw it reflected all over Krystal's face.

"Welcome to Star Wolf."

--

During the Lylat Wars, the Arwing was considered a next generation fighter. It was so above and beyond the competition that it boasted a higher kill count than the entirety of the Cornerian Militaty during the war. Even after the Arwing was reverse engineered by the Venomians, even after battles against the supernatural, and even after another war against the Aparoid invasion, the Arwing towered above the rest.

The gap, however, has decreased over time. The Arwing was a successful proof of concept, and everybody in Lylat wanted it. Its newest G-Diffuser system was now commonplace around the most basic cargo haulers. Its nano laminate armor was on all commercial shuttles. Gimble cannons were spacecraft standard issue. Even the Wolfens had all of this and more.

The only edge above the competition was the pilot. The Arwing boasted a 99.9% survival rate, with the near perfect record broken by none other than James McCloud. The reason why Star Fox is where they are is because their trusty spacecraft kept them alive and forced them to learn from their mistakes. Given their track record, Star Fox has learned everything and more when it comes to ship to ship combat.

None of that experience didn't make it any less awkward when Fox met his ex for the first time months and immediately shot her down.

Battles between ace pilots were always one or the other: decisive or extremely drawn out. When the first blasters were fired, from Krystal nonetheless, all moments of hesitation flew out the window. Further chatter included the usual battle call outs and insults, but it was over almost as soon as it started.

Fox peered over the side of the canopy. He watched as four Wolfens flew away from them, heading away from the now-empty battlefield.

"... All ships, turn to solar bearing 0-3-0. Return to base."

"Copy that." "Roger."

Damages were almost a guarantee when facing off against Star Wolf, but it's been a while since Slippy and Falco danced on a razor's edge in a dogfight. Landing on the Great Fox wasn't this tense since wartime.

"Damn. She got me good," Falco scoffed, a bitter sense of pride in his former teammate-turned-enemy. When he left his cockpit, He ran his hand along scorch marks on the main fuselage, scoring near critical hits to the space frame.

"Yeah, no kidding! It's going to take a week to get all of our ships in working order," Slippy sighed as he scratched underneath his cap. His Arwing was in worse condition with a wing tip blown off and a hole where one of its cannons used to be.

Wordlessly, Fox stumbled out of his cockpit and headed immediately to the Great Fox's mess hall. Slippy and Falco's gazes followed him until the doors were closed, and they exchanged a wordless look of concern over their captain, then peered at the last remaining starcraft.

Fox's Arwing was practically spotless minus a single scorch mark over the Star Fox insignia.

--

Following Peppy's retirement and the reduction of the squadron, it meant that Fox had to be on top of his game in every level. Thousands of hours were logged in the simulator, mock battles were held weekly between his squad mates, and he even learned basic engineering from Slippy. Star Fox no longer held the technological edge, and with the increasing pressure from fulfilling new roles and staying relevant in the Mercenary world, it was no surprise that Fox was at his wit's end.

He slumped forward on his chair, watching as the ice melted in his glass of bourbon.

"Hey Slip." He murmured, catching Slippy off guard as he tried to tiptoe around his moping boss. Slippy looked around for Falco, but realized he probably hit the showers (or whatever else the birdbrain was up to). He wasn't too experienced with relationships, so he let Falco do all the talking with anything to do with Krystal. After seeing the rough shape his captain was in, maybe it was time for a lighter touch.

"Heyyy," Slippy said slowly as he sat down next to Fox. His captain's eyes were sunken, his hair was a mess, and once he looked close enough, his inner shirt was inside out. It didn't take a genius to realize that even after all this time, he wasn't quite over her.

"What's up, Fox?"

"Slippy, am I a bad person?"

Slippy's physically recoiled from the question. He may not be the most sociable person around, but he even knew that this was one of the questions that you just don't ask your friends. Still...

"Are we talking legally or morally?" Slippy laughed. Fox returned with a look that would rival the unsettling gaze of a dead fish's eyeballs.

"Oh God."

"Let's talk about something else!" Slippy forced a laugh and pat his hands on the table, stepping yet into another conversation taboo, this time between Mercenaries. But when Fox saw that Slippy was trying to avoid the subject, he sighed.

"I'm sorry. Everything is just... A lot." Fox took a small sip, his face scrunching a little. Alcohol wasn't something he usually partook in, which made his attempt at calming down all the more pathetic.

"Everything including... everything and Krystal?"

Slippy took Fox's flinch as a physical "yes."

"Did I make the right call?"

Slippy took a moment to look at his friend and didn't see his captain, he saw a friend who needed help. He threw rank and hierarchy out the window. This conversation was friend-to-friend now, and he leaned in.

"Look, Fox. I know that you did what you think was right, and... Uh, I don't know. Most of the breakups I see on holo-tv have people not liking each other over time. But, like, it seems like you had too much responsibility to give her any attention she needed and that caused a breakup neither of you wanted."

"That is... Spot on, yeah," Fox sighed at the astute observation. He swirled his drink, this time more alive at the simple act of being heard out and validated.

"Not having Peppy is a lot harder than I thought. He always has an answer for everything."

Slippy smiled at the sound of his friend's name.

"Hey, how about we wash ourselves up, give Peppy a call, and we make ourselves proper drinks? How's that sound?"

"Sounds good, Slip." Fox smiled. Slippy returned the smile, sure in himself that he defused the delicate situation.

"Yo, is your ex a crack shot, or what?" Falco chimed in from behind, coming back from a quick rinse donning shorts and a plain white T-shirt. Slippy glared at him, worried that all the work just went down the drain, but Fox gave him a nonchalant shrug and downed the rest of his drink.

"Yeah. She sure is."

[fagcrisis]

ok so starfox as a series is about furries in spaceships doing space battles. fox mccloud (fox) falco lombardi (bluebird) slippy toad (frog) and peppy hare (rabit) are merceneries working on employ for the government of a planet called corneria. specifically a bloodhound named general pepper. theres a pepper and a peppy yeah. anyway theyre going to stop this evil dude called Andross (some kind of monkey) whose trying to take over the galaxy. the first game is basically a visual demo for the FX chip, 64 is the one everyone likes and introduced Star Wolf. wolf o'donnell (wolf) who is fox's main rival, pigma dengar (pig) who helped kill fox's dad james mccloud (fox in sunglasses), leon (chameleon) who likes to be creepy and andrew okionny (andross' newphew). it also introduced bill (dog?), fox's old friend from the academy, and katt monroe (cat) who knows falco somehow. then there's adventures which introduced krystal (blue fox empath) and also isnt a starfox game in anything but name and characters. it's just ocarina of time and majora's mask but weird and worse. it also used to not even be about star fox until it was absorbed into the ip. i dont think the 3d on the ground style is a bad idea but they way did it just did not fit the starfox universe. theres also assault, command, zero, and 2. i havent finished rewatching those games tho so theyre not fresh in my mind for whats going on in them, but in either assult or command there's aliens called aparoids that are a biomechanical hivemind seeking to absorb the galaxy. panther caroso (panther) is in one of these games. also dash bowman (he's a small monkey?). in the other there's fish aliens called anglars. idk anything about zero it might be another reboot. the one with anglars has multiple endings and some of them are weird but it also has krystal joining star wolf in some endings which is swag. 2 was supposed to come out ages ago but was cancelled until release a few years ago on the switch and has no characterization, but has faye (white purse dog) and miyu (lynx) who are women. also once upon a time dropout was gonna do a claymation starfox tv show but it was cancelled. anyway these r the basics of star fox. sorry this is so long

no im like nodding and taking notes also dropout should do their claymation starfox show.... i wanna see that....

[fairyhaven13]

@rainboopz has been making some AWESOME Krystal/Kursed art lately, which you should all go look at! It made me remember my own Starfox OC and how little I’ve actually developed her at all. So, I wanted to revamp her while the inspiration kicked in. She didn’t even have a name before. (It’s pronounced Terra) I really like how this came out! I’ll put some more information about her story under the cut.

When I made this OC, I wanted her to be in Starwolf, but that’s pretty much all I figured. Originally I was going to pair her with Leon, but I just... really like Wolf. So, I went with that instead. I named her Ptera Chiro because Chiroptera is the scientific order bats are in. This goes with the general naming scheme in the games, like Fox and Panther and Leon (chameleon), etc. But, I didn’t want to just name her Batty or something like that, so.

Just like most of my other OCs, she’s--you guessed it--someone from our world. Yayyy! Ptera was walking home one day and found a weird looking, hexagonal puddle on the ground. When she poked it, it fused itself to her arm and dragged her through a hole. This was a puddle of Aparoid matter, and the hole was the hexagonal thing the Aparoids use to teleport in the games. Haven’t worked out how it got to her universe yet. Maybe its hexagon portal glitched out when all the Aparoids died.

Because Slippy’s family virus killer made the Aparoids inert, it doesn’t actively infect Ptera. It just binds to her arm. (hence why her sleeve totally covers that arm in the picture) She lands in the middle of the Starwolf gang while they’re doing an illegal deal and everyone’s like WTF, and they take her thinking she was eavesdropping or something. Then they realize what’s on her arm, and, well, they can’t exactly let her go now that she knows where they were and what they were doing, so they decide to work on stabilizing the Aparoid gunk so it doesn’t take Ptera over and kill them all. In doing so, they discover the matter gives her some neat abilities that make her useful for their jobs, and she becomes part of the team.

Ptera is a loud, awkward, very unskilled nerd. The outfit she came in got ripped up by her new wings and it sucked anyway, so the gang works together to get her some non-ugly duds. Panther bonds with her first, accepting her awkwardness with casual flirting and helping her be confident. Wolf teaches her ballistic defense so she doesn’t shoot her own eye out and Leon teaches her balance and martial defense because, as much fun as it is to laugh at her, if she gets him killed then everyone will be laughing at him.

Wolf and Leon intimidate her at first. But, she has a ton of fun blowing things up and laughing at chaos, which helps her befriend Leon. Wolf finds her nerdy chattering and stumbling both annoying and charming, and tolerates it with a halfhearted glare. She’s very eager to please and grins so wide when he tells her she did a good job, but doesn’t hesitate to put her foot down when he pushes it. Panther thinks she’s going to get shot the first time she yells at him to stop berating her, but instead Wolf laughs and ruffles her hair. It helps break the ice, and eventually turn into something more. She likes dancing to silly music with Panther, rambling with Leon about knives and what organs to stab them into, and watching sports games and crime shows with Wolf while he explains the details to her. While she’s not the most talented of the bunch, she’s just as eager to cause destruction, and so over time they’re glad to have someone so enthusiastic to hang out with.

[out-of-this-dimension]

I know it’s implied that the King and Queen EarthWalker are probably dead after Assault but in my heart, I will never accept that.

[spacenintendogs]

@furryboxingandmore asked for Wolf & Fox w/15 and i accidentally posted it privately before i even finished it so here's a re-do:

"Wolf, answer the question." Fox said. "Tell me the truth."

Wolf swallowed. He knew the answer. He immediately knew the answer. But whether or not Fox would believe him, despite it being the truth, was what made his stomach tighten.

"No, I didn't kill your father."

Fox's face shifted from anger to something Wolf could only describe as mild surprise.

"But I was there the day he disappeared."

Fox's eyes narrowed as he clearly examined Wolf's face, looking for any trace of what Wolf said being a lie. Wolf had a feeling Fox was disappointed he hadn't killed James McCloud, because he would have had some form of closure finally knowing exactly what happened.

"Star Fox arrived at Venom, and I was still new to the Venomian army. I had already shown my skill... I thought I had been helping a noble cause, my hatred for my own home planet eating at me..." Wolf realized he was getting off topic and being more open about his own self than he'd have normally preferred.

"So of course, my squadron is one of many sent out to ambush Star Fox. That was the first and only time I fought your father." It felt so long ago, like a distant memory. Wolf sometimes questioned if he had actually fought James McCloud. It was hazy.

"You told me before you'd never had so much fun in a fight since you'd fought my father." Fox said, crossing his arms.

"Yes, I did, and it was true. The adrenaline, the amount of thrill I had felt hadn't been matched until I fought you... well, and then you turned out to be even better."

Fox couldn't help but smirk as his rival admitted that he was better. Wolf was more alluding to Fox being better than his father, but Fox had a feeling that also meant he was better than Wolf.

"So, we all fought for quite some time, I didn't even notice your father looping around me and nailing a perfect shot right on my engine. I crashed into a nearby hanger, knocking into so many boxes and supplies and mechanic's equipment I didn't realize I'd slammed into the wall."

Wolf licked his lips. He hated this, he would hate this moment for the rest of his life. Nightmares would be a plague on his mind as he slept for years until the Aparoids replaced it. "And your father shot that part of the base and caused it to collapse. I don't know if it was a part of the wall or the ceiling or one of the metal beams for support... but something broke through my cockpit window and went right into my eye."

Wolf heard a soft gasp. He knew Fox was looking at him with nothing but pity and empathy. Wolf hated that.

"I was stuck for... who knows how long. I eventually blacked out from the pain and exhaustion from screaming for help to get all the rubble off. I woke up in the hospital bay, my eye completely gone, to hear two nurses talking about how Pigma Dengar betrayed Star Fox, and the only one to escape was Peppy Hare."

Fox blinked, mouth agape as he took in all of this information, clearly overwhelmed. Wolf decided to finish it off quickly.

"I don't know what happened to your father exactly. Rumors circulated, and then when it got out I had survived James McCloud, the only one from all of the squadrons they had sent out, I was sent to Andross where he deemed me the leader of his new personal team Star Wolf... but of course I didn't realize it was really Pigma who was in charge."

"How old were you?"

Wolf was shocked by the question, the softness in Fox's voice. "I was 19."

"You were so young, and that was the beginning of the Lylat Wars."

"May I remind you that you were around the same age when you ended it six years later?"

Fox paused. Both of them sighed, weary and exhausted. The Lylat Wars, the Aparoid Invasion, the Anglar Invasion, all within such a short span of time. They looked at each other, seeing time had not been kind of either of them, looking older than they really were.

"I'm sorry I couldn't give you the proper closure you need." Wolf murmured.

"I don't think I ever will have closure about my father. But I have my closure about you."

"I was young and stupid."

"And now you're old and stupid." Fox laughed at his own joke, Wolf sneering at Fox.

"I would tell you to get in your ship and we'll duke it out right now but... I'm exhausted."

"Wolf, we both are."

They looked beyond the cliff they had landed on, towards the ocean. Wolf remembered Leon's awe upon seeing Corneria's oceans for the first time and Wolf, blinded by his hatred for it, had failed to understand. But now, looking out at the calm waves...

He understood.

"Then maybe it's time we all rest, McCloud. Enjoy some peace and quiet."

"I've been thinking about taking my team to Papetoon." Fox admitted. "Honestly, at this point, you guys can come with too."

Wolf nodded. "That would be nice..."

"Wolf?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

"I am, too."

[rita-from-the-foxskull]

Name: Blossom (O'donnel)

Age: unknown (22-27)

Gender: female

Species: Wolf

Family: General Scales (adoptive father)

Personality:

+ helpful, loyal, trustful, good listener, good friend

- stubborn, sassy, vengeful, serious, gets angry easily

Statusthen) sharp claw soldier - Loner

(now) Member of the starwolf

Team: Starwolf

Friends: the starfox team (sort off), the starwolf team (she is best friends with Leon)

Foes: Pigma Dengar, Star Drill , Anglar army, the wanted ones she captures with her team, Starfox (sometimes... especially krystal)

Sexuality: straight

Love Interests: Wolf O'Donnel

Clothings:

Her main clothing, the purple Jumpsuit

Her alternate clothing several versions of the Jumpsuits and the outfit she had as she lived in the dinosaur planet.

BG: as War broke in cerenia, her parents decided to bring their 3 Years old daughter Blossom to Planet Sauria, just like krystal's parents did to their daughter. They died in the war as Blossom's ship arrived In the Moon Pass Area. She was very young and she didn't knew any better. Her helpless cries took the sharp claw's attention during their Patrol.

They decided to kill her but their boss in their Patrol decided to bring her to General Scales.

He adopted her. stating she will be a good use in his plan to take over Planet Sauria. So he raised her to his best soldier. Blossom realised Fear are brought as General Scales got known quick, his sharp claws beated up the dinosaurs, the Krazoa spirits got scattered. She decided Enough is enough and she STOLE a Sharp claw ship and flied off the Planet. Without ketting them know where she went.

Until the Aparoid invasion she was a loner flying around until she had seen the Starwolf team having trouble with the alien insects, destroying their wolfens. She opened her ship and let the three get in. She Landed them on corneria after she talked with the team and beated up panther for flirting with her.

She joined the star wolf team. She is best friends with Leon and has secretly a crush on Wolf. Only Leon knew about it

As the Anglar team threatened the lylat system. She got a special Mission to chase them off with her Cloudrunner Wolfen Model while Wolf and his teams fled from the possible Bounty hunters. This is why she never was with the starwolf team and she never knew Krystal was in the starwol team.

In the ending starwolf returns she was the one recommanding krystal to go to a far away universe since she hate to see the hatred on her in the lylat system.

After the ending pigmas revenge (wich is where my AU is) she joined in the new operation to take down Drill's army and save the lylat system. She got more along with Rita who is Leon's Love interest and played as a match maker.

After they could defeat the Monkeys things get downhill Leon threatened Rita to kill her family if he didn't joined starwolf, abused her and malipulated her and Rita let it all happen. She confronted Leon with this as she noticed Rita's scar on her lip. Making him realise what he had done. He set her free in the end. She got suprised as she heard she returned.

She got to be best friends with the sassy vixen.

(Yet I have no Idea where she confesses her feelings to Wolf )

Starfox ©️ Nintendo

Blossom is my character

Funfact: blossom is actually Sakura from my W-girl-Sakura Account just in starfox AU

[androsswannabe]

who cares

I was ranting to Rob (Aka @selfish-swine / @cat-captain-cowboy / @venom-mercenaries ) when I realized the Sharpclaws were all wiped out in Assault and I remember now why I dislike the game so much. I’m rereading the script/watching a play through and all I can think the following.

Why is Ronald McGoddamn Donald with Big Red Shoes (Andrew) a threat to Corneria’s military with his comical incompetence, but not something Star Fox takes seriously?

How is Andrew a ‘Black Hearted Ape’ when he’s not treated as a serious thing and something to mock and laugh at?

Why was Andrew shot down and not absorbed by the Aparoids like every other damn character in game? Did they fear he was too functionally stupid that he would actually drag them down? 

Why did Pigma get the idiot ball consistently throughout the game?

Why did Star Fox get the idiot ball and think he went to Sargasso Space Zone?

While cool as hell,  why did Star Fox run into Sargasso Space Zone when the ruffian monkey guy said they didn’t know shit about Dicks McGee (Pigma) and told them to get out of the territory?

If Andrew was kicked out of Star Wolf almost immediately after the Lylat War, why is there a lot of Androssian Military equipment similar to Andrew’s symbol he uses. Did he actually strike a deal saying if he failed in his mission that Wolf would take in his followers? Did after the inital kicking out of Star Wolf, Andrew and Star Wolf eventually get back on good enough speaking terms? I assume it’s his gorilla warfare (pun intended) because the Andross symbols are different from the Lylat Era. Because they aren’t now if he finds out about what happens next.

Star Wolf flies in obviously pissed that you were shooting up their place and shit, but they choose to fly away after they got beaten instead of checking up on the followers. What the fuck. You are absolutely shitty leaders. In game, it’s mentioned the numbers are extremely thinned by Star Fox and they’re no longer considered a threat. The aparoids never invaded there. This means Star Fox went in on a wild goose chase, guns blazing and killed a whole ton of people for naught.

What did Pigma do to get kicked out of Star Wolf? Why isn’t this important to talk about?

Fichina, Pigma claims he has been pulling the strings. How? It’s never explained, he thinks he can somehow sell this. What was he planning to do with it? That is some pig. 

How did Pigma get infected? If he was infected just by the memory core, why isn’t Beltino infected later? Aparoids can infect machines, fabric, skin alike. This logically means you can’t wear gloves to stop it. Did it infect Pigma when he fall asleep?

Why does Pigma, the backstabber of the Star Fox Team die and nobody give a shit? Why is someone that important to the lore not given the time of day?

Why the divergence to Sauria just because Krystal has a 6th sense? How accurate is she? Why isn’t this shown off more in the game other than her mentioning an enemy is behind somewhere right as they come out.

Why did Assault kill the Cloudrunners and Sharpclaw Tribe?

Why is Star Wolf totally okay with defending Corneria, giving sage-like advice to Star Fox after they came in and slaughtered their mooks? Why aren’t they more pissed? Were they not their actual cronies? Is it actually my dumb theory that they were another part of Andross’ Armada? I’m not against them working together and I like the fact they care about Corneria, but it in retrospect it’s like. What the fuck. Why you acting like this? 

Orbital Gate. Cool as fuck. But isn’t this what Andross got his banished for researching this type of technology in the first place? Andross is rolling in his grave at the Cornerian hypocritical dogs. THIS IS CONSISTENT IN THE ZERO, 64, AND SNES CANON TOO.

Star Wolf is back and they haven’t went back to check on the Sargasso Space Zone. Are they hiding from the fact they pussied out on being back up for the guys who were slaughtered there?

Aparoid Homeworld. When they fight the Aparoid Queen, is she reading minds or is she actually absorbing memories of other people? Where did the aparoids actually come from? This is the definition of space fleas from nowhere. The Anglars have more development than this, because at least they have characters to connect to. 

Star Wolf: Disappearing, the Origin. ( Because the monkey mooks are pissed for being left with their shit attempt of defending Sargasso. ) 

How did Fox have a sixth sense to know Peppy and ROB didn’t die? Why did he pull up the stupid dramatics not hinting the rest of the team? 

How does he have a sixth sense to know General Pepper isn’t dead?

How does he know that Star Wolf didn’t die? 

How does he know all these people didn’t die? Krystal is the goddamn telepath, not you Fox. 

How the hell do they get back to Lylat? They don’t have another Orbital Gate out there. I don’t think they have that much food in the emptiness of space. I can accept people can go search for them but we don’t know how far away the Aparoid Homeworld is. They can be searching for ages.

In summary - The Good Shit:

The Star Fox Team Dynamic. (Except for Fox. Holy shit, you douche.)

Panther Caroso added to canon.

Beltino Toad.

Sargasso Space Zone.

Monkey and Dog Friends concept art.

Mutliplayer was fun, too bad it wasn’t online like the original concept.

This is nonsense I think about when I’m discussing deep things with Rob. 

[evajellion]

Replaying Assault, part 4

Holy fuck, I love Corneria in this game.

No, really. In my opinion, it’s the best level in this game. Seriously, it looks like an actual, futuristic city in Assault, as opposed to being the building block city in 64 (which was still comfy, mind you).

There’s shit going on here, like you see the damage that the Aparoids have done, which includes a news broadcast. Cornerian soldiers are corrupted, and you have to shoot them down. Nothing is safe from these things, not even General Pepper.

You know what? The Aparoids, have gotten closer to victory than Andross ever has. Seriously, in terms of threat level?

Aparoid Queen > Andross > Anglar Emperor > General Scales = Captain Shears

All Andross did was attack Corneria’s city. The Aparoids? They take control of the army, and their General. They may not have the best design to some people, or the greatest backstory, but between Pigma’s transformation and this level, this is where you started seeing how awful the Aparoids were. 

And I love that.

Anyway, the first half of this level is dealing with gimmick-y enemies that are jamming the radars. If you get too close to them, they’ll vanish, so you have to time your shots just right and snipe them. Thankfully, other enemies don’t completely clutter around you like they did in Sauria, so it was a challenge that didn’t feel unfair. You also have buildings in the way, which make it hard to save your allies when you can’t see them, so you have to make your shots count.

After that, Fox gets his Arwing dropped down, but the Aparoids destroy it and corner him. Surprise, surprise, Wolf comes in to help, and you get to do the same thing you did on Fichina, with that sweet Star Wolf theme playing.

Actual banter will go on as your shooting down enemies, which is good, because like I said�� Star Wolf just wasn’t very interesting in Sargasso, so this helps them a little bit. However, their Wolfens in Meteo are still unexplained.

General Pepper shows up in his ship, corrupted by the Aparoids, and it’s horrifying for everyone (though, Falco and Slippy’s reactions don’t seem serious at all). Yes! Good, where the hell was this reaction when Pigma was twisted into that… thing!? Again, I know that General Pepper is the one that people value, but there should have been a reaction like this one!

You have no choice but to shoot down General Pepper, and he’s the only boss who puts up a fight so far. I actually died to him, because I wasn’t too sure how to avoid certain attacks. (is there a proper “dodge” button with the on-wing sections..?) After you defeat him, and it seems like he’s gonna crash and burn, Peppy flies in with an Arwing, just so the General’s landing isn’t so rough.

See Miyamoto? That’s how you show how important General Pepper is to the Star Fox team. Not that morally ambiguous, pointless portal shit that led to nothing in Zero. Peppy made a sacrifice that could have injured him, just to make sure his old friend wouldn’t die.

Great level. Alright, as for the Orbital Gate… well… it’s literally Sector Z, but with the Cornerian Army helping out like in Katina, and Star Wolf eventually joins in. There are missiles threatening the Orbital Gate, while Slippy’s dad works on a self-destruct device for the Aparoid Queen, you have to defend it like you had to for the Great Fox in 64.

I hated Sector Z in 64. It’s easily the worst level in the game, and unless I’m going for the medal, I usually prefer to go to Macbeth instead. The Orbital Gate is a bit less annoying, since your allies aren’t going to actively steal your kills, and the missiles are easy enough to take out.

Well, except for the big, “fuck you” missile at the end, which I… guess is the boss? It splits into three sections, and I died about 2-3 times, because I didn’t know where to shoot, and I kept running into the damn thing. This would have been the one time where I would have preferred if my allies helped out.

So… after this, is the Aparoid Homeworld, and the queen herself. Then, the game is done with pretty much. I’m aware of that one thing that happens in the Aparoid Homeworld, so I’m probably going to complain about it.

[out-of-this-dimension]

Hypothetically Rewriting Assault’s Story + Some General Assault Opinions

There’s a game my husband and I like to play when we watch a movie, play a game, or read a book that has a story that we don’t really enjoy or we enjoy certain parts of but not others.  We look at things we’d keep and things we’d change and we build a story from there-- sort of like an AU but we don’t really go into the writing part, we just stick to theorizing and mapping a general story.

I decided to play that game with Star Fox.  Not because I think Star Fox has a bad story but because sometimes I think the stories could have been handled better.  Note: for the rewrite game, I only really look at story, even for video games, I don’t really look at gameplay mechanics, but I do understand those have a lot to do with story potential so I do take it in as a factor... I just don’t bother to “rewrite” the mechanics, if that makes any sense at all.  Some of my list today will include boss encounters but I wouldn’t necessarily say those are mechanic-related... more like “event-related”.

I’ve mused a bit in the past about rewriting Adventures and Command and I do have plans to do a mock up of an Adventures remake eventually.  However, today I was thinking about how I would go about handling an Assault re-write in particular.  Much like Command and Adventures, I don’t have any beef with the core story but I do think there’s a few things that could’ve been better about Assault’s storyline-- like they had good ideas rolling but they didn’t quite refine them.

Under the cut because SUPER long.

My basic feelings on Assault are pretty positive.  I think the game is generally just fun and I like that it feels like the natural progression from SF64.  I liked getting to see planets we haven’t seen since the N64 era in better graphics and I liked seeing Star Wolf return.  I also just thought the aparoids were neat enemies. 

Generally speaking, though, when it comes to Assault, I think it suffers from the thing it tries to push the most-- the story.  I think a lot of people get caught up in thinking the story is better than it is because it’s the first game since SF64 that really follows the same Star Fox vibe without retelling the Lylat Wars.  Don’t get me wrong, the overall plot is great but the execution and pacing are... wonky.  Certain characterizations also take a hit in some regards but no one really talks about that when Command exists. That’s something we’ll talk about later on with this post.

That being said, Assault really does have a lot good going for it.  An absolute banger of a soundtrack, some great dialogue, a neat story synopsis, the introduction of cool characters like Panther and Beltino (who existed but was always off-screen), and just good levels.  

So, here’s what I would add, I suppose, if I were to somehow have the ability to rewrite Assault.  Originally I had this in paragraph form, but I’ve made it into more of a list under topic segments with main points bolded for your viewing pleasure.  Some of these points might be considered nitpicky and while I do understand that yes, this is a game about space animals, I do hold the developers in high enough regard to make a game with a continuity that makes sense.

The Story Changes

- Reduce Pigma’s storyline in Assault.  This is the biggest one for me because a bulk of the plotline feels like a giant chase to just get at Pigma and it feels like it derails from the actual plot with the aparoids.  We only go to Sargasso because of Pigma.  We only go to Fichina and then back to Meteo again, because of Pigma.  That’s 3 levels in a 10 level game devoted to just tracking down Pigma and chasing him.  While it makes the build up to fighting Pigma kind of nice, I personally feel like the plot could be reduced to 2 levels.  If Assault overall was a longer game, I could see them making it 3 levels.  Overall, though, in its current state, I feel like the side plot overstays its welcome and the aparoids promptly get shoved to the side in favor of “Oh no, we gotta get to Pigma!” And I get the main motive here is to show how the aparoids affect people and because of the build up, it does a good job at showing how utterly terrifying the aparoids are.  But it’s still too long given the length of Assault’s story. The only alternative to this is make Assault longer, which... honestly, it should be.  

- Revise the scene with Tricky.  I’m obviously not well-versed in dinosaur biology but I’m pretty sure dinos didn’t grow that fast from what studying I HAVE done.  And why is he suddenly king now?  Did his parents die?  He seems not affected by this at all?  Like it’s a funny scene with him, Fox, and Krystal, but it’s odd if you really look at it.  Give us, as players, more context because I’m still not even sure what happened to make Tricky suddenly the leader and... big.  As a note, you’re gonna hear me gripe a lot about the Sauria level in this post.

- The Star Wolf + Peppy sacrifice is a low effort way to raise tension/stakes and then cop out.  Oldest trick in the book, imo, is to act like you’re going to kill off important characters only for them to be alive miraculously.  And let’s face it, as an audience we all know they aren’t going to kill those characters because it’s Nintendo and those characters are too beloved.  I would’ve forgiven them for only doing this with Peppy or Star Wolf, but when you tack them both together and throw in the fact they make it seem like you’re going to have to kill General Pepper too... yeah, it’s just a bit much of the same trope over and over again.  I wanted to put a note in here about how I’m fine with the Great Fox being “sacrificed” but overall, it needed to return to the series because of it’s icon status, but I think that’s more of a gripe at Command instead of Assault.

- Keep Pigma alive.  This will conflict with a point I have later on about the game consistently having characters cheat death for easy drama points but with Pigma, I would’ve kept him fully alive... but maybe with some physical damage from the aparoids.  I understand he’s semi-alive in Command and tbh I don’t know where I stand on that.  Why keep Pigma alive, you might ask?  I feel like his character has a lot more potential than being “just the greedy guy”.  Like he’s got good potential future villain material for future games and... if I’m honest?  I just don’t see Nintendo wanting to keep Pigma dead so why even bother killing him off?  They couldn’t even commit to him being dead in Command anyways so it seems very moot.

- Bring Bill and Katt back.  Assault is acts a bit like a big reunion of all of our SF64 favorites but our two favorite side characters are suspiciously missing.  Wouldn’t Bill be out on the front lines fighting against Andrew in the beginning?  Or maybe back in Katina?  And wouldn’t Katt inevitably show up in the midst of the invasion, maybe to pointedly check in on Falco?

- Bring Andrew back for the final fight. I think Andrew being defeated early into the game is fine overall but I think bringing him back in for a reunion final fight against the aparoids would serve to really solidify that it’s really everyone vs the invading aparoid force.  It would show that not only is Star Wolf willing to put aside their differences but so is basically everyone in the Lylat System in the name of survival.  Imagine the Venomians and Cornerians working together against an aparoid fleet, giving Star Fox and Star Wolf time to attack the queen?  I just think it’d be neat and it’d open up the potential for some fun banter mid-mission.  I do understand that quite a few people consider Andrew canonically dead after Assault but personally, I feel that his defeat left his fate questionable (I’m a staunch believer that unless there’s a body, they’re probably alive, especially for Nintendo games because, again, they never like to kill people off) so him returning in Command never really bothered me.  

- In general, reconsider some of the character portrayals.  Unfortunately, when a series has a different studio for each game, character portrayals will inevitably have inconsistencies.  While I give Namco a lot of credit for putting in oodles and oodles of detail into the game (particularly the levels), I think they failed in their portrayal of Fox, at the least, and Wolf is a considerable offender as well.  While it’s obvious that Fox in Adventures was effectively modeled off of Sabre even in terms of personality, Rareware was at least able to justify Fox’s newfound jaded attitude with the passing of many years and a distinct lack of steady income, resulting in the team being in disarray.  Assault’s Fox is a stark contrast to his cynical interpretation with seemingly no explanation other than maybe “Oh, I have more money and a gf, maybe I should behave myself”.  As if the sudden change in personality wasn’t random, Fox also just seems very blah, like a blank slate stereotypical shooter game protagonist dude with little to no emotion.  Wolf is less obvious but gets slated into a mentor-like role midway through the game and ends up in a respectful rivalry with Fox... which there’s nothing inherently wrong with that except for it happening abruptly (and, I mean, Peppy is right there).  But I take less issue with this and more of an issue with the fact that there’s an entire level establishing that Wolf now runs a crime den with effectively what seems to be an army and no one bats an eye at this.  He doesn’t even call on them to help with the aparoids.  Did they all die when the aparoids attacked Meteo?  Are they safe somewhere else?  Where do they go?  How was Sargasso able to operate without the CDF being on their doorstep with warrants for arrests?

- Don’t kill all the dinosaurs.  A bit of a dramatic statement but the ending screen that showed all the damage to Sauria really bothered me.  While I understand that the dinosaurs had less of a chance against the aparoids than a more technology-focused society like Corneria, I was a bit disappointed that the decision was made to just state that a lot of tribes had been wiped out.  I know this could easily be retconned in a future game and I feel like it should be.  “But why, Amalia?  Why are you disappointed by that?”  1) It’s a little too grimdark for my tastes.  2) The fact it all happened off-screen felt very hand-wavy.  And 3) It brings into question the entire point of Adventures.  Why did we bother to save this planet if it was going to be reduced to rubble and ash 1 year later?  Where were the Krazoa in all of this?  Why did they not make an appearance at all to try to stop the invasion with their alleged powers?  It just raises too many weird questions and I feel like Namco didn’t think it through too much.  Which I mean, sure.  Family, kiddo game.  I’m not asking for bigbrain plot and lore but I’m squinting at this bit because it does feel very contrary to the lore from the previous game.

- Make the aparoids more relevant.  As nice as it is to have a random bad guy from another galaxy, I feel like there was more that could be done with the aparoids in terms of their origins.  Tiny things, mind you, not huge revelations.  Off the top of my head, they could have been tied into Krystal’s backstory to help alleviate some of the complaints that she was too random to be added to the series’ main cast.  Alternatively, they could have been a product of Andross or even a weapon prototype from Corneria that fled the lab (I actually thought the game was leaning in that direction for a bit then just Nothing Happened).  I get that the vagueness of their origins leaves room for people to speculate and speculation is nice but... when you leave too many things unknown, it starts to feel less like giving fans room to interpret and more like just doing random things for the sake of it.  I think a lore tidbit here or there would work wonders for the aparoids instead of leaving them as just borg/zerg clones.

Level-Based Changes

- Add either Aparoid RedEye or Aparoid General Scales as a boss to Sauria.  Given that this level mysteriously lacks a boss, which is just weird compared to the other levels, I think that they had the opportunity to add something cool to go along with the cinematic feel they were going for with Assault.  Assault’s cutscenes do play in a movie-like fashion and it’s clear they’re trying to make the game as epic as possible.  It’s a shame they had so much fodder for a great boss here but they failed to go through with it.  Alternatively: Add a Krazoa-Aparoid fusion.  Why?  Because Star Fox is about cool epic sci-fi and that would be cool epic sci-fi incarnate.

- Add a boss to the Aparoid Homeworld Level, aka the penultimate level.  Another one I felt was personally weird that there was no “final defense system” to challenge the team.  Would be cool to do an aerial battle over the aparoid planet with some giant flying aparoid.

- Be kinder to Sauria.  The level had some good homages but overall was incredibly small and incredibly short.  It felt like a bone tossed to Adventures fans but was not entirely true to the setting built by Rareware.  I’m... not even sure where the Sauria level is supposed to take place?  I presume it’s Walled City but it doesn’t really have the same color scheme or aesthetic?  Also where is my revised Adventures music?  Why do all the other levels get it but Sauria doesn’t? 

- Put some of those funky items from the multiplayer into the main campaign.  I don’t know why some of these things, items especially, were omitted unless it was purely due to time constraints.  I remember having missile launchers and jetpacks in the multiplayer and was a bit sad that they were not in the main campaign.  Retuning the levels and adding those in would be a nice breath of fresh air for the more tedious on-foot missions.

- More levels.  Self-explanatory.  Still sad we didn’t get the Zoness or Titania levels in the single-player mode.  

I think all of the above changes would improve the game, though I recognize all of this is being said 16 years later after lots of time to contemplate Assault’s weaker points.  I’m not entirely certain how long Star Fox Assault took to develop but given that there’s obviously quite a bit scrapped from the game (an entire arcade mode was scrapped as well), I’m going to assume that the studio felt pressured to shove the game out the door and into the hands of customers.  It’s a shame, really, because I think a little bit longer in the oven would have done a lot of good.  Still, the product we got was good in its own right and a game that many people look back on fondly.  I haven’t gotten to replay it in years but I hope to quite soon.

You might wonder why I bothered typing this all out and I guess my point was this-- Assault was great but it wasn’t perfect, and while a lot of other games fall under a crushing amount of scrutiny, Assault seems to dodge it.  And don’t get me wrong-- I adore Assault.  But given that not many takes exist out there about rewriting it, I decided to give it a shot.  For variety’s sake.  

I do want to a mock up of a revised Assault story, which I think I will get to work on after completing this while all my ideas are still fresh in mind.  So stay tuned for that sometime in the near future.  I will also be doing my Adventures mock up at some point but probably not for a little bit as I do wanna focus some of my free time on actual fic-writing.

Anyways, if you stuck around this long, thank you for reading!  Have any changes you’d like to see to Assault if you could time machine your way back to the early 2000s?  Feel free to post in the comments, I’d love to read your ideas!

[out-of-this-dimension]

Snippets - Unnamed Multichapter Project

No AO3 Link or description available at this time.  The project will be post-Star Fox Assault and pre-Star Fox Command with a focus on Fox x Krystal.

COMMAND DECK, THE GREAT FOX II, SOMEWHERE IN THE LYLAT SYSTEM --

“INCOMING MESSAGE FROM CORNERIA CITY…” ROB declared.

“Open comms and hit us with it, ROB,” Fox said, walking over to the android’s side.

“Oh please tell me they’re not under attack,” Falco whined.

“Falco,” Krystal chided him.  “ROB, go ahead.”

ROB leaned over the dashboard that hosted all of the Great Fox II’s controls.  A few button clicks later and a hologram appeared in the middle of the room.  It was Peppy, donned in his crimson general’s attire.  Krystal was not sure she would ever get used to the sight of him like that.  The hare adjusted his spectacles then his hat, trying to adjust it.  Evidently, the hat they had given him was a tad too small, crunching his ears at the base and making them flop over comically.  Krystal held a hand to her muzzle, trying not to giggle too loudly.

“Er… is this thing on…?  H-hello, Star Fox team!  Er… or just Fox,” Peppy said.

“They’re off-screen for you, I think,” Fox replied with a grin.  

“Hey Peppy!” Slippy called.

“O-oh!  Wonderful to hear.  Sorry, I’m still getting used to all this fancy tech… they really do reserve the best for the General!  Er… and acting General, I suppose,” Peppy said.  “Right, where was I?  The Cornerian Defense Force would like to formally request the assistance of the Star Fox team in aiding us in a very important mission.  I don’t suppose you’re busy?”

“Not at the moment, General,” Fox answered jovially.  “And you’re just in time, really.  We got everything fixed up around the new mothership.”

“She’s treatin’ ya well, I hope!” Peppy beamed at him. “Right, onto business.  After the aparoids did us the honors of gettin’ rid of Andrew Oikonny, we knew that his troops would be on the run.  I’m pleased to report that’s mostly the case but we do have a certain individual who is proving to be problematic for my boys.”

“We’re all ears,” Fox said.

“Speak for yourself,” Falco snorted and when Krystal shot him an unamused glare, he shrugged.  “What?  Does it look like I even have ears?”

“Falco…” Peppy sighed.  “Well, the person in question is one of Oikonny’s commanders. Let me pull up what our database has on this guy for ya.”

The hologram of Peppy disappeared and in its place, Krystal could see a mugshot of a chimpanzee.  He had a skeevy look about him; a bloom of blond hair sprung from his scalp, contrasting with his sleek black coat—dyed, if Krystal had to guess. His blond bangs ran on either sides of his smirking face like crushed flower petals, thick with grease.  His pupils were mere dots, ringed with swampy green irises.  Some data wrote itself out next to him, small enough that she could not see from where she sat.  The azure vixen rose, setting her book down in her seat and wandered over, taking in the information.  It read:

 Name: Nathaniel Galaxicos.

Age: 36

Race: Cornerian Simian

Gender: Male

Homeworld: Corneria

Occupation: Crime Lord, now a General for the Venom Restoration Front

Notable relatives: Charlie Galaxicos (deceased) and Eva Galaxicos (deceased) – cousins.  An unknown cousin that served as one of Andross’s generals.  Note: Named cousins killed in conflict post-Lylat Wars after attempting to assassinate General Pepper.

Extra Information:

-          Considered highly dangerous

-          Currently leads a squadron of insurgents

-          Last known location: The Titanian Redsands

  “Titania, huh?” Fox asked and Krystal heard Slippy groan. The vulpine did not react at all. “And this guy’s one of Andrew’s, huh? What’s the situation planet-side?”

“Not good,” Peppy sighed.  Nathaniel’s information vanished and the hare reappeared. “Though Titania is not formally a part of the Cornerian Alliance, we still have several bases on its surface. Most of them are research centers, filled with more scientists than soldiers.  It seems as though Nathaniel has taken one of the bases captive for his own. The CDF forces were completely and utterly blindsided.  No one thought any of Oikonny’s men would go to Titania.  It’s… not exactly a desirable location.”

“That’s understating it,” Falco snorted.

“I hate that place,” Slippy huffed.

[out-of-this-dimension]

Song - Leon & Panther

10 ALW, SARGASSO SPACE STATION, METEO

It had been a year since they had nearly escaped the destruction of the Aparoid Homeworld with their lives.  Sargasso was thriving once more, as if all of their lives being in mortal peril from an alien invasion had never happened.  They had even seen an increase in members after the destruction of Andrew’s rebellion on Fortuna.  Leon and Wolf had tried to reach out to the simian to see if he was fine.  They had received no word back and Leon knew Wolf was getting antsy about it.  Leon had scoured the TV channels and news reports daily for any update.  But it seemed that as soon as the aparoid invasion had begun, Andrew’s rebellion had pretty much gone forgotten.  Leon only hoped if the young emperor had died, he had died quickly.  

The Venomian sat in the lounge on the highest floor of Sargasso’s living quarters-- where Star Wolf stayed during their downtime or while their mothership was being repaired.  He had turned off the TV for now, savoring the quiet of the lounge.  A mug of tea sat nearby, steam still billowing from it and the bag still draped within.  Leon had taken to tea over the past few years.  It reminded him of a warm concoction his mother would brew when they were ill and needed strength.  

As Leon leaned back on the couch, the door opened.  The Venomian cracked an eye open at Panther as he walked in.  There was something thrown over his back.  Leon’s other eye opened and he apprehensively glared at the feline.  Panther pulled the object around his muscled torso and Leon quickly realized it was a stringed instrument of sorts.  The lizard ran his hand down his face in aggravation.  Couldn’t even get a bit of quiet for a few minutes… just a few minutes…

“Hello, Leon,” Panther grinned.  “You look positively radiant today.”

“Stop,” Leon grumbled. “What is that in your hands?”

“An old thing I never thought I would see again,” Panther said, sitting down in a chair across the room.  

The instrument was wooden with small blue and white triangle designs around it.  It reminded him of the white tattoos on Panther’s body.  Leon’s gaze narrowed for a moment, then he leaned back, resting his head against the cushion.

“Do your worst,” the lizard sighed, not wanting to get up.

Panther began to pluck at the strings.  They were a soft trickle of sounds, not unpleasant to listen to.  Leon closed his eyes.  It was a soft but medium-tempo tune.  Somehow, it reminded the lizard of the feeling of the warmth of sand beneath him.  It reminded him of a clear sky… a day without fear.  A day without killing.

He had not expected Panther’s voice but when the lyrics began, Leon found that he was pleasantly surprised.  The feline sang in a language that Leon was not familiar with.  The sound of Panther’s rich, bass voice and the gentle melody was soothing.  What the words meant, Leon could not say.  It sounded as tender as a love song and as passionate as a dirge.  

Yet eventually, the song came to an end.  Panther’s vocals ended and he strummed along for a few more minutes until the last note sang out.  He lowered the instrument, wistfully glancing out the window to the asteroid field outside.

“I didn’t know you could sing,” Leon remarked quietly.

“My mother taught me,” Panther replied. “Singing was a big part of our culture.  She would wake me every morning with a song.  And still rubbing my eyes from slumber, I would sing along.”

“That sounds… nice,” Leon commented.  “What was that song about?”

“It was about two lovers… as most songs are,” Panther replied.

“Not on Venom,” Leon remarked and Panther quirked a brow at him.  The lizard glanced up and said, “Not much room for love when you’re fighting for your life constantly.  My mother had a great song about a giant monster that ate an entire city.  It ends with the monster choking on a bone and dying.”

“Sounds… wonderful,” Panther retorted with a smirk as he plucked a few calm notes. “Sometimes I think to myself ‘Maybe Venom is not that bad’ and then I hear your stories of it and I second guess that thought.”

“It is a land of exiled prisoners sent to die and locals that only have survived through killing,” Leon replied. “It is… awful.”

“And yet, Andross was able to make it not so,” Panther said, looking at the lizard.  “Why is that?”

“Andross had something about him that not many people do.  It was… a level of charisma beyond belief,” Leon answered. “His promises of a better life.  I do believe he could have fulfilled them all.”

“And then Star Fox came,” Panther said.  “Sometimes, it makes them seem a little less like heroes when you think of the progress they halted on Venom.”

“Such is the way of life, Panther,” Leon replied. “Wars are won or lost and the losers don’t get to decide what happens after.”

“Do you regret helping them with the aparoids?” Panther asked. 

“No,” Leon said at once. “That was a matter of… extinction.  To a level that no one could even comprehend.”

“I would like to hear the song about the monster eating the city,” Panther said, looking to the lizard with a smug grin.  “The more I contemplate it, the more I want to hear it.”

“You’ll have to remain disappointed,” Leon retorted.

“Perhaps then… if we are to ever stop by Venom, you could introduce me to your mother,” Panther suggested.

“I would be introducing you to a grave,” Leon said coolly and Panther fell quiet for a moment.

“Something we share in common,” lamented the feline quietly.  

Silence fell upon the two, interrupted only by Panther picking up another melody once more.  This one was noticeably more sad and melancholy.  He did not sing this time but Leon knew he did not need to in order to get the song’s meaning across.  They sat together as Panther played.  Outside, the stars glittered and gleamed.  The world seemed peaceful for once.  But if Leon knew anything, there was always trouble coming.  

[out-of-this-dimension]

My Thoughts On the Star Fox Questline in Starlink

I just finished the Star Fox questline last night as I mentioned previously and hooo boi, do I wanna talk about my feelings on it.  Spoilers below!

Here’s what I felt the questline did right:

Good renditions of SF music -- especially the Star Wolf music.  It was an interesting take to not just remix everything and I really, really thank the composer for taking the route he did.  We have enough SW theme remixes to last for basically forever.

Really top quality banter with the SF team.  I actually adore who wrote this dialogue because it was really friggin’ good!

Good voice acting on everyone’s parts.  

Good fights, which felt like a callback to SF games with a Starlink flare.  Granted, the fights weren’t super diverse or anything, but they felt “bigger” than some of the fights in the Starlink quest, which I appreciated because I feel like boss fights are what Starlink is lacking as a game.

Overall, it just felt like a good incorporation of the SF universe into another universe.  While I was nervous that Fox being in the game would feel jarring and weird, it.. really isn’t that bad?  It’s certainly not seamless, but it’s not as awkward as I was scared it would be. 

What I did not feel the questline did right:

Literally anything with Wolf O’Donnell, bar his voice acting.

The ending?  Holy crap, why did we chase Wolf across multiple galaxies to just shoot him down?  Weren’t we supposed to catch him?  Weren’t we supposed to bring him back to Corneria?  Where did any of that go?

The henchmen felt like Walmart brand replacements for the rest of the SW team.  Kind of built up but not as well as they could have been and definitely not too memorable.

It was too short for what I felt was advertised.  Teasing basically all of the cutscenes except for Wolf being defeated was a poor decision on Ubisoft’s part.  I understand the need to hype Wolf by showing off the cutscene with him and Cash but I was left disappointed that that was it. I understand that this was a cameo and not meant to be a huge part of the game, but it felt... too brief, if that makes any sense.

Overall, I would give the questline a solid B- ranking.  It had some really great moments, especially the part where Fox is trying to navigate the lasers with the missile in tow and Peppy is freaking out.  I love the Papetoon shout out as well and the music was 10/10.

But let’s move onto my biggest complaint, which I feel is grievous enough of a mistake on Ubisoft’s part to make Star Fox’s cameo in Starlink very questionable when it comes to canon. Because while a lot of people probably don’t really “care” about this in favor of how it feeds into the Wolf/Fox bro-rivalry-maybe-romance-depending-on-who-you-are, Starlink’s SF questline heftily derails Wolf O’Donnell’s character.  And while you could argue “Well, this is a “new” timeline, so anything with Assault or Command is out the window!”, I’d also like to remind you that while that could be the case, the rest of the cast seems relatively unchanged from their motives, so I’m thinking this is more or less fanservice meets poor decision making on Ubisoft’s part.

My biggest complaint is this: Since when has Wolf O’Donnell ever cared about taking over or taking down Corneria in the history of the SF franchise?  Because that is what this entire questline hinges upon and as someone familiar with the SF universe, that’s where the questline fell to absolute pieces.  I kept waiting for something to happen where Wolf was secretly using the Legion to power up/revive Andross or something, which I still felt was a bit of a stretch given how much Wolf seemed to be in the Lylat Wars for money, not necessary for patriotism or dedication to a cause. But, no, somehow, Ubisoft settled for something worse, which was Wolf suddenly having ambitions to take over Corneria with... giant machines he couldn’t control.  O....kay.

Historically, when Wolf has power, he does not really choose to do much with it.  In Assault, when he’s running Sargasso with effectively an army at his back, he doesn’t seem to do much except... just exist as he’s always existed, only, with an army to guard his headquarters.  His ambition does not seem to extend past his own survival and money.  And lets not forget later on in Assault, he shows up to help Corneria against the Aparoids.  And then again in Command, he shows up to help against the Anglars. 

And the logic there makes sense-- Wolf was never really out to wreck Corneria for the sake of villainous-mustache-twirling-reasons.  There’s speculation he joined Andross to get back at James McCloud and his son (because Wolf seems to want to prove that he’s better than Fox), but the major motivating factor seems to be money.  With the Anglars and the Aparoids, there’s no profit to be made by joining them and being neutral seems to be the equivalent of getting killed, so Wolf opts to live and fight against them.  

This evil scheme to bring primes back to Corneria just felt wacky, OOC, and bizarre for Wolf.  In itself, it’s not a bad plot, just who they got to enact it was a bad choice.  In all honesty, I think the plot would’ve been better if the person leading the charge had been a character we knew to have such wild ambitions.  A character that has in the franchise’s history tried to take down Corneria and has failed spectacularly.  Yeah, you know who I’m talking about...

The entire plot feels very Andrew to me.  Go storm off to another galaxy, grab some big robots to smash Corneria to bits.  It feels like something Andrew would do, especially out of desperation.  But I think Ubisoft picked Wolf because of his status as a fan favorite (I mean, Wolf is pretty damn cool) and for his familiarity to the audience.  It’s just a shame they gave him Andrew’s storyline and not something that is truer to the character.  I would have rather preferred just chasing Wolf across the galaxy because he was trying to evade punishment for siding with Andross than what we got in Starlink.

I could see Nintendo trying to keep Starlink’s questline canon but I honestly hope they don’t, or at least choose to largely ignore it.  I’m struggling to see if I could fit it into my headcanon-verse, if I’m honest.  I know when interviewers asked Ubisoft if Starlink was canon to Star Fox, they said it was up to Nintendo.  I guess we’ll just have to see what Nintendo does.

[out-of-this-dimension]

Star Fox Assault and Star Fox Adventures

One thing I find super curious about Star Fox Assault is the Sauria level, because the level of detail that Namco put into the level to be at least somewhat consistent with Star Fox Adventures is actually kind of crazy?  Because it’s both consistent and then like... not. And I know Miyamoto and Imamura both had their hands in Assault’s development as well, but some of the choices they made are... interesting?

The fact that they used “Sauria” is one such case.  Sauria referring to Dinosaur Planet actually dates back to the transition from the N64 game “Dinosaur Planet” to “Star Fox Adventures”.  Voice clips of the Krazoa talking about Sauria were leaked in 2013.  Iirc, you can actually listen to the clips here.  Be forewarned, though, the video itself is very lengthy and I’m not sure where specifically on it is the Sauria line.  The video has a LOT of SFAdv/DP lore, though, so if you’re interested, please give it a listen!

Anyways, but since Assault came out in 2005, Sauria being used as Dinosaur Planet’s name was Deep Lore(tm) at this point and no one really even knew it.  I remember there were even people complaining they had changed Dinosaur Planet’s name when Assault was released. But then those leaked clips came out and it was a collective “Oh” moment.  Pretty interesting they chose to use Sauria, though, considering how much Miyamoto “supposedly” hates everything to do with Star Fox Adventures. (I actually don’t believe he ever said that, btw, just memeing.)

I also think it’s really interesting that they incorporated a lot of SFAdv elements into their level design of Sauria.  They did a very good job at keeping the planets very true to their previous incarnations, but I feel like they went the extra mile with Sauria.  Not only did they litter the entire main campaign with dead/infected dino bodies (which they could’ve just as easily done with levels like Katina or Corneria but chose NOT to-- probably to refrain from being ultra traumatic to any young gamers?  But dead dinos made me Big Sad anyways so rip) to really drive home the point that the Aparoids are winning and they are ruthlessly killing everything, but they added a lot of structural similarities.  Waterfalls, really similar ruins to areas such as Thorntail Hollow and Walled City, and even a Magic Cave!  I think that’s the part that really stood out to me-- they didn’t just go halfway with the Sauria level, they went all-out with it!  And I just think that’s really cool, especially since Dinosaur Planet is really the only planet in the Lylat System we’ve gotten to truly explore.  

Krystal’s telepath powers are another homage to Star Fox Adventures in a sense.  At the end of the game, after you beat Andross, it is mentioned by Fox that Andross was using Krystal’s channeling powers to revive himself. There is only like one line about this so her powers are kind of vague from the get-go.  I’m mostly mentioning this because telepathy is not entirely out of the question and I know some people got mad when Krystal “got powers” (she... she already had them in SFAdv... so that wasn’t really new...).  It isn’t like Namco pulled them out of nowhere, they just expanded on them and I think it’s cool that they did that considering it was mentioned in such an off-handed one liner at the very end of SFAdv.  I appreciate that they decided to go further into detail about it.

Anyways, tl;dr Namco did a pretty good job with their Star Fox Adventures references and I am pleased.

[out-of-this-dimension]

🔥last question! I promise! since I saw your post about the pilot of macbeth, some opinion of the bosses of starfox 64? or in general of the franchise? .

Honestly? I find most of the Androssian captains or whatnot really memey and not too intimidating.  Like I realize they probably have committed awful war atrocities, but I pretty much can’t take them seriously, especially Galaxicos with his funny hat.

Andross’s forces in general never felt really intimidating to me even when I played the game as a kiddo.  Andross himself was pretty terrifying, but his troops felt really silly so I didn’t mind them so much.

But like?  You know who is the scariest mofo in SF64? Because it’s not Andross, not even in his True Form(tm).

IT’S THIS GUY???  

Bacoon is arguably the scariest thing in the entire franchise, second only in threat level to the Aparoids themselves, who are noted as being the most successful enemies against Corneria (sure, Andross rekt Corneria City in every incarnation of Lylat Wars, but he didn’t possess the leader of the entire planet and fuse him to his ship).  Baccoon is definitely #2, scarier than even Andross because it’s just this evil primal entity that got really, really mad at other civilizations for existing.

From Lylat Datalink:

The ancient civilisation of Aquas once stood above the waves on a series of islands amidst the global ocean. There, people built great temples and made a living by harvesting sea life from the surrounding waters. But long ago, a monstrous entity known as Bacoon grew in the depths of the ocean, and it was jealous of the glorious civilisation on the land. Over many years, Bacoon grew powerful. It learned how to control the other aquatic lifeforms, like the explosive Starfish. When Bacoon commanded thousands of the Starfish to migrate to the ice cap and explode, the resulting heat melted the polar ice cap and all the islands were covered by the sea forever.”

Yes, you read that right. Baccoon mind-controlled thousands of other creatures into becoming living bombs and then made them all mass suicide into the ice cap to destroy an entire civilization that lived on the land because it was jealous. 

Like imagine being that level of petty.

And how did it control the other lifeforms?  Was it telepathic too?  Did Andross make it that way?  What would’ve happened if Bacoon had figured out how to construct a space ship?  

Tbh I’m of the opinion that if Fox hadn’t killed it in the Lylat Wars, Bacoon would’ve been the next biggest threat to the Lylat System.  I’m joking and also serious.  That thing is disturbing and the epitome of evil. I feel like the developers probably didn’t think too terribly hard on its backstory, but it’s... kind of freaky.  Definitely scarier than the other bosses.

[evajellion]

Replaying Assault, part 5 (final thoughts)

See you, evil space hag. And good riddance, so I don’t have to play those levels again.

Mission 9, the Aparoid City, is a boring drag. It looks beautiful, I won’t deny that. But the problem is we’ve seen everything this game has to offer on-foot at this point, so it feels like a longer, drawn out version of Sauria.

What could have helped it? Well, you start by hunting down four… what is it? Hatchers? Why not change the pace for the semi-final, and allow you to take control of the other pilots? Krystal could have taken one on-foot, Slippy could take one in the tank, Falco takes one in the Arwing, and then finally Fox takes the last one.

I dunno, it just felt… really boring. And that’s Assault’s big problem, the “hunt down X amount of enemies” can get boring for people if they’re playing it in one sitting. I played this in separate sittings, but I still found this level to be tiresome.

Oh, and yes, I might as well discuss… the Peppy sacrifice scene.

It’s really kind of moot, since he already risked his ass in Corneria, which could have killed him. I think instead, if he went “man there’s no way to break that barrier, I’m sorry Fox, I’m ruining your dad’s hard work” then forced the Great Fox to set course with the barrier, while Peppy and ROB64 escape, maybe it’d be less, uh, controversial?

… Or maybe, just not have Peppy do any of that, and have the level proceed as normal.

Also, I felt it made the entirety of the Aparoid City mission kind of pointless. You destroyed all the hatchers, but it’s not enough, so we gotta have a big sacrifice scene. It’s not a bad moment, in fact, it’s kind of emotional for the team, but I do think that someone should have proofread this story.

So after that, we have a mission takes place entirely in the Arwing… and like the “easy” Venom route in 64, it fucking throws everything at you. It’s more entertaining than the last level, but everything is so fast-paced, which is the same problem I found in Meteo actually. Slow it down, Assault, the GameCube may run things at a faster rate than the N64, but I’d like to see the enemies I’m shooting!

Star Wolf is also here to help, but really, the most they do is just keep enemy Aparoids away from you at the final stretch, so you can tail the Queen.

So, we finally have the Aparoid Queen, who tries to trick Fox with visions of all who have fallen (though General Pepper lived, and Peppy’s fate is uncertain at this point) which includes James McCloud.

Everyone knows James is dead, and wouldn’t say to give up, so the ruse falls apart instantly when the Aparoid Queen tries to use his voice. I’m guessing the memories of all of those characters came from Pigma…? Or The Aparoid Queen is reading Fox’s mind? I really have no clue.

The boss fight with her is cool, although really easy because you can pick up Hyper Lasers by shooting down enemies that are flying around. Obviously though, she’s not finished, and has a second phase (just like Andross and the Anglar Emperor).

The second phase, after having the self-destruct sequence thrown in her, is… also really easy. I’m really not sure if it’s just the difficulty I’m playing on (god forbid I go through this clusterfuck of a level on Gold), but I’m pretty certain you can one-cycle the first half of her second phase if you’re fast enough with Hyper Lasers.

The next half of the phase, just avoid everything she flings at you, and fire at her. That’s it. That was the final boss. I only died a handful of times because of how fast everything moves, and if you keep Falco safe, he’ll give you health, so it shouldn’t be an issue if you do this and keep the Hyper Lasers.

Like, Andross wasn’t too hard either in 64 either, if you have Hyper Lasers. The robot form in the “easy” route is pathetic, while the brain one, as long as you avoid the tendrils and have well-timed U-turns, isn’t too hard.

But this is years after 64, and considering the hell you went through before, I’d expect a bit more of a challenge, rather than just “avoid things and shoot to win”.

… Would it be fair to say that, considering what a friend of mine said, that the Anglar Emperor buts up a better fight than both 64!Andross and the Aparoid Queen? Haven’t played Command, but people say the Emperor is a bitch to fight compared to those two.

I still like the Aparoid Queen very much as a villain. She came closer to victory than anyone else, like I said before. I love her design too, as well as her voice. I just wish it was a bit more.

And… that’s the end. The Queen was trying to take souls, but you have to be born with one, is what Fox says. What, are you saying you’re soulless? C’mon Fox, don’t be hard on yourself.

They did it, yaaaay, let’s all go out for some frosty, chocolate milkshakes. Roll the credits. 

The entire cast is shown off as well, minus Andrew, Pigma, Tricky, and the Aparoid Queen. I guess they aren’t important enough, or because they didn’t actually help Star Fox in any important way? Hell if I know.

It also shows the damage done to each planet, the ones taking the most were Corneria, Sauria, and the Aparoid Homeworld I believe. It’s a nice touch, one I wish was done more often!

Theeeen after all of that, it turns out Peppy and ROB 64 escaped in a pod, making the “big sacrifice moment” pointless.

“GEE FOX, IS THAT WHY YOU WERE SO CALM”

Bruh, he wasn’t calm at all when Peppy tried to kill himself. He also didn’t once say “Peppy will be fine, I know him, he’ll make it out of there”, Fox was just silent. No mention of what happened to Star Wolf, General Pepper, or Andrew Oikonny. Power of friendship, the end, for real now. 

Okay, so… what do I really think of this game, my nitpicks aside? Do I think it’s actually a good Star Fox game? Or do I still have the opinion on it I always did, where I just find it boring?

Well… I don’t know what my opinion is, really. I find it hard to form one, and the one I predicted I would have is “in the middle”.

I guess, that ends up being my verdict after all. It’s not terrible, it’s not perfect, it’s just… in the middle. It’s got great qualities, and bad ones. Though, I think my opinion is slightly better now. I definitely put this next to Adventures (which back then, I would have said I liked more than Assault), and probably place it above Zero, just for it being creative with the storyline along with some of the gameplay.

I’m not a professional game designer or some shit, so the only complaints I have are the enemy clutters, and on-rails sections been too fast.

Honestly, this reminds me of another game, where it changed things up a little bit, had a story that shifted between silly and rather dark, had a handful of plot holes, and was probably made for multiplayer more than single player…

I guess, the most fair comparison is Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. Both games have good moments, really irritating moments, not an awful story, but one that definitely had plot holes, multiple gameplay styles… and a final boss that had a very easy “second phase”.

I also disliked both games when I first played them, because I preferred their predecessors, and neither games went uphill from here.

What came after Sonic Adventure 2? Heroes, which isn’t too bad, some people really liked it… but then, Shadow the Hedgehog happened.

In Star Fox’s case? Command happened, and I think that was one of the big blows against Assault, and the whole series. Star Fox could have gone uphill from Assault. Heck, fish villains as antagonists had a lot of potential, as well as bringing back the branched paths, and multiple starfighters.

Buuuut between making it an early DS game, writing that mess of a storyline, and having even more repetitive gameplay, Command ended up putting the series in a coma. Years ago, I would have blamed Assault for this too, but that wasn’t the case-- it was all just shitty decision making at Nintendo. (things that they still do)

I definitely think Assault’s multiplayer leaked too much into single player, which was the big thing for everyone. It’s a shame that Nintendo decided against online, because this game would have been a hit otherwise, and they would try to experiment more with that.

Overall, I had fun with about… parts of the game? I liked Fortuna, Sargasso, Fichina, and Corneria. But I didn’t like the Star Wolf fight, Sauria, and the Aparoid Homeworld.

That’s it. It’s an alright game. Some people will love it, some will be bored by it. I can’t really say yes or no when recommending it, because this is a mixed bag here. It’s not the worst, but it ain’t the best.

… I am gonna try stuff on Silver difficulty though, maybe. Just to unlock stuff maybe, and see the differences.

[evajellion]

Replaying Assault, part 3

The game kinda stops pulling its punches for beginners upon reaching Meteo… or I’m just complete shit, because the amount of enemies and debris almost killed me, and I lost a wing. I even lost Slippy because I wasn’t fast enough, so I’m pretty sure I just need to git gud at this point, and actually practice using the Arwing in this game.

You think there would be more… reaction, to Pigma’s horrendous transformation by the Aparoids. They’re just like “oh he’s not listening and not really Pigma anymore”, like, what the hell.

I know Star Fox obviously holds a grudge against Pigma for being a traitor, and the other stuff he’s pulled, but they should have been more like “what have you Aparoids done to him!?”

And then when they defeat him, nothing is said about Pigma, they just take the Core Memory and head back to the Great Fox to talk to General Pepper. 

Also, there are Wolfens scattered around at the start of the level, but it’s… never brought up again. I think maybe it was to imply Wolf and his gang tried to fight Pigma, but failed, and the programmers forgot to mention it again later on.

So anyway, the level after this one is Sauria, AKA Dinosaur Planet (something that confused me when first playing), which… I’m gonna say right now, is my least favorite level in the game so far, for a handful of reasons.

It’s a distraction level, and not the good kind where they feel it’s that urgent. Literally right after this, Corneria is under attack by the Aparoids (something that could have been done during the Pigma search instead). They don’t acknowledge the fact Sauria’s plea for help was a distraction so the Aparoids could take over Corneria either.

Navigating this place is really ass. I get it was based off of the planet from Adventures, I respect they acknowledged it and made it one of the planets that could be visited… but they could have made it a little less crazy-looking, which leads to my next point.

Enemy placements here are god awful. I kept get attacked by those pillbug Aparoids in the cave, then on my way out, everything else tried to corner me. This is a pain, because I had to help Falco and Slippy in the sky.

The ThornTails, CloudRunners, and SharpClaw? Uhhh… probably wiped out by the Aparoids, and no one seems to care. Not even Tricky, we dunno what happened to the EarthWalker King and Queen either, since he doesn’t mention them.

There’s no boss after you destroy all the hatchers, like in Katina. The level just ends like that, very anti-climatic.

I think this map was tossed in for the multiplayer, and they just decided to make it part of the story as filler… Buuuut there were two things I did like about this level, besides the fact it acknowledged the Dinosaur Planet existing, rather than just forgetting about the place.

Slippy telling Falco to shut up. It really tells me that despite getting into trouble a handful of times in Assault, that he’s grown since 64, and he really doesn’t like being the butt of the joke. He’s probably one of the my favorite characters in this game because of that. (Heck, Slippy is one of the few likable characters in Command also)

The banter between Fox and Tricky at the end of the level. I complained about Tricky not acknowledging the other tribes, but I find this scene actually kind of cute. Tricky sounds like he’s hit puberty since Adventures, and he still acts childish, wanting to come with Fox or hoping he’ll return to Sauria with Krystal.

Anyway, now that the worst is out of the way, I’m hoping Corneria won’t be, well… like Sauria was, I guess.