Out of the Cockpit and into Star Fox Adventures 15th Anniversary

Hey guys quick update, you’re probably not going to like it but until further notice the blog will be posted once a week every Monday. I have some big things happening in the upcoming weeks and it's going to be consuming a majority of my time. No fret however you’re still getting a full fledged blog today and I'm going to be talking about one of my favorite games of all time.

What happens when you take a space fighting Fox out his cockpit and onto a Dinosaur roamed planet? You get RARE’s Final Nintendo console based game Star Fox Adventures which turned 15 years old last Saturday.

My actual original Star Fox Adventures copy from 15 years ago.

I know this game has had mixed reactions over the years so if you’re not interested in me reminiscing on one of my favorite games then scroll on down I got a few other things to talk about afterwards, this blog is purely my opinion.

Anyway Rareware have made some timeless gems of games ever the years from the Banjo Kazooie series to Battletoads and the more adult (Okay very VERY adult don’t let your kids play this game) Conker’s Bad Fur Day.

Out of these games they released Rareware was working on one more game around 1999/2000 for the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive by the name of “Dinosaur Planet” this game would star two protagonists by the name of Krystal and Saber which you would swap between using the Swapstone throughout the game as they traveled Dinosaur Planet to save the world from destruction. This game was shown off at a couple of events and even some footage has surfaced over the years but it never came into fruition, which was probably due to the N64 Disk Drive being a flop. (Floppy Discs, get it?) RARE hadn't given up on the idea however and was approached by Shigeru Miyamoto to retool the game for the upcoming Nintendo GameCube. Apparently Saber looked close enough to Fox McCloud so Miyamoto, the crazy man he is, suggested they replace Saber with Fox and retool the game to be part of the Star Fox series as Star Fox Adventures which released September 23rd 2002. Star Fox Adventures is my very first Star Fox game and to be honest it is probably my favorite out of all the Star Fox games despite how drastically different it is.

This change made way for Fox to take on a journey similar to his Green Tunic sparring partner from Super Smash Bros and the story goes as the following.

Dinosaur Planet, which lays on the edge of the Lylat System, is breaking apart due to the Spell Stones of the planet coming under siege from the evil General Scales of the Velociraptor… I mean Sharpclaw race. Receiving a distress signal a young Fox girl (Making this game part of the Star Fox universe makes this make just a little more sense) by the name of Krystal makes her way on top of a Ptero… Cloudrunner to answer the call and possibly discover the one who destroyed her home planet.

You start the game off as Krystal running around collecting a few things and after an encounter with General Scales you make your way to Krazoa Palace, home to the super natural gods and spirits of Dinosaur Planet. Sadly Krystal gets pretty much shafted and shoved into a Crystal for the remaining of the game which I can pinpoint as one of the flaws of this game. It would be been awesome to swap between her and Fox and from the looks of the unused content the idea of her having a stronger role was most definitely there but with the Microsoft buyout looming RARE seemingly rushed the completion of the game.

Back to the story after the whole getting trapped in the Crystal fiasco the story shifts to a seemingly run down Great Fox which is drifting along the Lylat System. The Star Fox team is running low on funds after the events of Star Fox 64 and a couple of canon comic books. (Farewell Falco is pretty good you should go read it.) With one team member AWOL it seems the Star Fox team is falling on hard times (Though they can still afford all those boxes of pizza, I wonder what intergalactic pizza tastes like) until a message comes through from General Pepper (Who seems to change Dog breeds every game) alerting them of the status of Dinosaur Planet and the hefty amount of cash awaiting Fox if he completes the mission of saving the world. Of course the team jumps at the opportunity and Fox jumps in his Arwing once again, flying into the unknown.

This game actually does have Arwing piloting segments similar to Star Fox 64 but they only occur when you wish to travel between the different segments of Dinosaur Planet and the final boss at the end of the game. Overall they can be pretty fun but I do wish they incorporated more Arwing action.

Landing on Dinosaur Planet Fox finds himself in Thorntail Hollow without a blaster (Fox tends to shoot first and ask questions later) and takes up a new weapon, a staff with magical abilities. He’ll use this staff to rescue the 4 stones and return the Planet back to its natural state. This staff actually belonged to Krystal but as she's currently trapped in her namesake and perhaps a little butterfingered Fox takes up the mantle. You use this staff for all sorts of things during the game and over the course of the game you’ll discover upgrades and new abilities. Actually the combat in this game can be pretty fun there are a few different combos you can pull off for defeating enemies quicker or flashier, I go for flashier because it looks cooler and I like to drag out the battle music.

Which reminds me the soundtrack of this game? I would be lying if I said this game didn't have one memorable soundtrack and to be honest I'm not sure if I should be surprised that a RARE game pre-Microsoft has an incredible soundtrack. Each song seems to fit each area of Dinosaur Planet to a key and can lead to some suspenseful action, including a certain part where you carry a bomb through a volley of barrels but I rather not talk about that.

Yeah this game does have some parts that have plagued me over the 15 years I’ve played it and funny enough it took me years to get anywhere near beating it. Barrels, Test of Strength and Cloudrunner Fortress in general are among the bits that really challenged me with the game over the years.

You know I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting someone… Oh yeah! Can't forget everyone's lovable Dinosaur sidekick, Tricky!

Okay so this guy can be annoying but you gotta hand it to him, he’s pretty adorable and comes in handy quite a lot over the journey of the game. Tricky is the Prince son of the King and Queen Earthwalkers so his status is quite important.

There are a lot of pretty useful, awesome and quirky characters throughout the game such as the Warpstone, a Stone Giant who sits in place in the top left corner of Thorntail Hollow and allows Fox to warp between Thorntail Hollow and Krazoa Palace as well as allowing Fox to enter the maze, which is where you take the Golden tokens you’ll find inside the various Wells throughout the world.

Another character you’ll meet is the Shopkeeper and oh boy this slithery dino is forever etched in my memory, especially with that sharp and scratchy voice of his. (Oh and the fact THAT HE'S FLOATING IN THE AIR) This dino is grumpy and will get pretty mad if you don’t have enough Scarabs. (Which is the currency in the game, if only bugs were a currency in real life I would be stinking rich right now where I live) In his store, which is conveniently in the center of Thorntail Hollow (It’s basically your hub for the game)  you can buy all sorts of items such as Health Replenishers (Which are actually fruit, nuts and eggs. Not the greatest diet for a Fox.) Maps (There’s a map for every area in the game) and other tools such as Tricky’s Ball which somehow ended up in the hands of the Shopkeeper.

Finally I want to point out one more thing about this game, the GRAPHICS! Oh my lord do you see those hair follicles on Fox? If you think Mario’s hair being massively detailed now is great just look back on this game. RARE put a lot of effort into this game despite the rushed ending (I blame Microsoft) and you can definitely see it in the graphics. This is probably the most gorgeous GameCube game hands down.

Now I know a lot of you are probably going to get up in arms when I tell you that I actually love Star Fox Adventures. Maybe it's nostalgia but I’ve replayed this game countless times so it has to be more than just silly nostalgia. The gameplay is similar to Legend of Zelda but it has it’s own differences to stand out as a great adventure game. No it’s not traditional shoot-em-up Star Fox but I’ve always been fond of games trying new things rather than just being the same old thing over and over. The Star Fox games that followed this one have all been more traditional Star Fox games so it’s not like the game permanently changed the formula. This game does have it’s flaws and the ending of the game does seem a little incomplete (General Scales really could have been more of a boss then he was) but I really cherish this game, it was a great part of my childhood and it still holds up to this day.

I will say I actually still wish somewhere deep inside for a sequel to this game, it feels bittersweet every time I beat this game because I enjoy it so much but it doesn’t seem to last forever. Maybe I just see more stories to be told within this part of the Star Fox universe.

Anyway whether you like this game or not it’s still a huge favorite of mine and I bet a few of you have some part in your heart for this game and with this anniversary I just can’t resist diving back into this game. Happy 15 years Star Fox Adventures! You're not the ideal "Star Fox" arcade shooting game but you're definitely a big favorite of mine. For those who have never played this game I'm not sure how to go about getting a copy, they're not super rare and I see them in stores like 2nd and Charles so check around you might find a copy for a good price!

You can read my blog about Star Fox 64 right here: https://zakentertainment.blogspot.com/2017/07/fighting-for-lylat-peace-in-star-fox-64.html.

So if you’re still here or scrolled past that topic I got a few more things to talk about that I didn’t get to discuss before. Yeah this blog is going to be long, expect them to be long in the upcoming future if I continue doing once a week blogs. You’re okay with that right? It sort of makes up for the fact I’ve gone from posting once a day to three times a week all the way to once a week. (Don’t worry this won’t end with me shutting the blog down I’m just extremely busy right now so one blog is all I can muster.)

First up is actually a follow up to last week’s blog. Remember that Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon poster? Yeah well typically they revealed a cleaner poster and a brand new trailer THE DAY after I write that blog and post it. Ohh well let’s go ahead and talk about it today. This new trailer reveals more about the games, characters and some new features coming to these versions.

First up we get to see the return of the Island Trials! To be honest I’m really happy this is the case, I love Gyms and all but the Trials were such a unique twist on the whole progression of the games that I can’t wait to see how the new trials are in this game, which we can see from the trailer they will be completely different trials to the ones we saw in Sun and Moon making this more than just a third version of the games. Mina will FINALLY have a trial in this game too. I always thought it was disappointing she didn’t have a trial back in Sun and Moon. Anyone else think that Sudowoodo trial looks pretty cool?

Lillie and Hau are back! We actually saw this in the poster last week but now we got to see a little confirmation from both the English and Japanese trailers. It seems Lillie is going to actually be a trainer, or at least work her way up and become one as the story progresses. She seems like a much more confident and stronger Lillie in this game. Hau, well besides his kind of angry looking artwork we don’t get to see much. I wonder how different Hau is going to be in this game.

Over 400 Pokemon will be available in this game and it looks to be a different selection from the ones in Sun and Moon, which makes sense as usually the second set of games in a generation usually allow you to collect and complete the National Dex (Which I really hope is actually in the game this time)  by offering the Pokemon not in the previous games of that generation. Anyway you can get Lavitar in this game so I’m pretty much buying this game for that alone, haha.

We get to see more of the Alola Photo Club but most of those details I discussed in an older blog.

Now onto probably my favorite part of this trailer… YOU CAN SURF ON A MANTINE!

Mantine is officially a PokeRide Pokemon in the game and he’s not just used for traversing water you can actually ride waves with him in a surfing Minigame similar to the surfing Pikachu minigame from Pokemon Yellow. Actually you can now surf between the islands of Alola instead of taking boats using this Mantine which is pretty awesome; I don’t think I’m ever going to use boats again.

There is still so much we don’t know about these games, which is a good thing because I was already way beyond sold on this game so I don’t really want to know what else is included until I actually experience it myself, no spoilers this year please. Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon release this November 17^th so get hyped everyone! Wait I really have to wait that long? Shoot. You can watch the US Trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47-xOiNGzgw and the Japanese Trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzd3c7ASejE

Until then you can now download Pokemon Gold and Pokemon Silver on the 3DS Virtual Console for $9.99 USD each on the Nintendo 3DS eShop! It also comes with a serial code for Pokemon Sun and Moon which will get you the awesome Celebi!

So this blog is pretty long at this point but you know what? Let’s make it longer!

I had key lime pie the other day for the first time. Yeah I’m not joking this was my first time ever having it my Mum decided to give it a go and bake one for us. The results?

It was absolutely delicious but man was it rich. Despite not ever having this before I can say Mum got this pretty spot on. It had a tart and sweet flavor richly packed inside each bite and the little bit of whipped cream on top made it perfect. So if you’ve never had this before I recommend you give it ago, I wasn’t actually around when Mum made it so I’m not exactly sure HOW she made it (It’s a mystery) but it was pretty good regardless.

Actually apparently Mum has just given me the recipe, it's completely free so I might as well give it to you guys right here!

Ingredients:

1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
3  cups sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup key lime juice
1 tablespoon grated lime zest

Directions:
Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, sour cream, lime juice and lime rind. Mix well and pour into graham cracker crust. Bake in preheated oven for 5 to 8 minutes, until tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface of pie. DO NOT BROWN! Chill pie thoroughly before serving. Finally Garnish with lime slices whipped cream if desired.

Sounds yummy? It definitely was so enjoy the recipe!

Well we’re at the end of the blog again, that means it’s time for the FREE knitting pattern… of the Week.

As October is right around the corner it’s time for SOCKTober! From now until the end of Socktober all of my knitting patterns I’ll be sharing will be of, well, socks. For today I’m sharing  a colorworks knitting pattern featuring probably the most iconic and my favorite colorworks pattern, this is “Simply Argyle Socks” by Anne Berk and Simply Socks Yarn Company!

Yes! I didn’t know there was an argyle sock pattern out there but here we are. This pattern can be used with any color you wish, you don’t have to use 5 colors total like Anne Berk does on this project but you will need fingering weight yarn in the colors you wish to use and US 1 – 2.25 MM needles. (Or whatever gets you the right gauge)

This pattern has all the instructions you need for the heel flap and toe so it shouldn’t be too difficult and leave you with a familiar and awesome sock. The actual argyle pattern is charted out for ease of knitting as well. I’m actually very happy to see Simply Socks Yarn Company is still around so be sure to check out her yarns at http://www.simplysockyarn.com/ because well they’re made for these patterns.

You can check this pattern out at: http://simplysockyarn.typepad.com/simply_socks_yarn_co/2011/08/simply-argyle-socks-by-anne-berk.html.

This was ZAK Entertainment

See you next week! (Yeah I’ve changed it again.)