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Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong (1981)
subdirectory_arrow_right Radar Scope (Game)
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Some concepts considered for alternate games to use unsold Radar Scope cabinets for if Donkey Kong couldn't be developed were a Jack & the Beanstalk game, a fishing game, a space shuttle construction game due to space shuttles being a hot news topic at the time, and a game about fighting a disease in the human body, based on a movie (likely Fantastic Voyage).
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Cancelled Release, Development, Early Idea, Inspiration, Unreleased Content
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month December 13, 2023
comment Comment (0) | link Source
Company: Nintendo
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Nintendo's development philosophy is often described with the quote "a delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad," which is generally attributed to Shigeru Miyamoto. However, there is no evidence that he actually said the quote: a 2022 investigation by video game researcher Ethan Johnson revealed that it was first documented as "an industry catchphrase" in a November 1997 issue of Gamepro magazine. The quote was first tied to Nintendo in the June 1998 issue of Edge, in which an article about the protracted development of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time alleges that Nintendo saw it on a poster in a developer's office and took it to heart.

Over the next three years, the quote circulated among Usenet forum members when describing a variety of game developers, Nintendo included, and in 2003 it started being attributed to Miyamoto specifically. Johnson speculates that this came from people conflating it with comments Miyamoto made in a 2001 interview looking back on the making of Ocarina of Time, where he stated that "the entire staff starts to feel like 'if I let the game be released in this state, I will be ashamed.' Because if the development team doesn't end up feeling like craftsmen, artisans... then it won't be a good game." Johnson attributed the quote's longevity to the emergence of modern hype culture and growing public awareness about the significantly longer development periods needed for 3D games.
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Development, General, Magazine, Misconception, Real Life
person VinchVolt calendar_month December 13, 2023
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Article about Johnson's findings:
https://gamerant.com/miyamoto-famous-quote-delayed-games-good-misattributed/

Johnson's original Twitter thread, including a correction about his statement regarding the poster Nintendo allegedly saw:
https://twitter.com/GameResearch_E/status/1504850248107188234
Alan Wake II
Alan Wake II (2023)
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Reportedly, Alan Wake II's budget stands at €70 million: €50 million was spent on development, while the remaining €20 million was spent on marketing. This makes the game one of the most expensive cultural products in the history of Finland.
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Development, Financial Affairs, General, Real Life
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month December 12, 2023
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[Both sources are in Finnish.]

Budget:
https://www.hs.fi/talous/art-2000009952209.html

Most expensive cultural product statement:
https://yle.fi/a/74-20057197
Company: Ape
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Ape Inc. was founded as an outlet for new talent in gaming, born out of Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi's concerns that the video game industry was at risk of stagnating in its current form. This belief additionally influenced Yamauchi's decision to pitch the idea for the company to celebrity copywriter Shigesato Itoi, who he was fond of. Itoi previously became acquainted with Nintendo when he was tapped to help out with marketing the Famicom Disk System visual novel Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School, and used the founding of Ape Inc. as an opportunity to start work on Mother.
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Corporate Affairs, Development, General, Inspiration, Real Life
person VinchVolt calendar_month December 12, 2023
comment Comment (0) | link Source
Alan Wake II
Alan Wake II (2023)
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During the mission "Initiation 4" (also known as "We Sing"), Alan goes through a surreal set while his psyche Mr. Door and other characters sing "Herald of Darkness", a musical summarizing Alan's story up to that point. Notably, the music for this sequence was provided by Poets of the Fall as the fictional band "The Old Gods of Asgard". According to director Sam Lake, the idea was inspired by both the first Alan Wake's concert standoff and the Ashtray Maze level from Control, both of which were set to Poets of the Fall's music. Lake knew that both Michael Porretta and David Harewood (the actors behind Alan Wake and Mr. Door, respectively) could sing, and Poets of the Fall helped with the choreography.

During development, however, developers questioned the need of the musical sequence due to both the strangeness of the sequence in a horror game and the difficulties that came with pulling it off. Despite this, Lake insisted that the sequence be kept. The sequence proved to be highly popular, so much so that "Herald of Darkness" was performed live at The Game Awards 2023 by Poets of the Fall, with Ikka Villi, Matthew Porretta, David Harewood, and Sam Lake all reprising their roles from the game during the performance.
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Awards/Awards Show, Backstory/Lore, Celebrity, Development, General, Inspiration, Music, Real Life, Reference, Voice Acting
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month December 12, 2023
comment Comment (0) | Source
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Star Fox Adventures
Star Fox Adventures (2002)
subdirectory_arrow_right Dinosaur Planet (Game)
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Attachment The original Dinosaur Planet storyline had Sauria, the namesake Dinosaur Planet, a part a group of eight planets dubbed the "Majestic Eight". Said to be the first planets created when the universe began, the seven other were, as described by the Krazoa:

• Animus, the home world of Sabre, Krystal and Randorn
• Aleminach, the home world of the Krazoa
• Eridal, the home world of Drakor's race, the Kamerians
• Nibiru, the home world of the "Nephilim", and "a land of giants"
• Earth, the home world of the "newest universe members, a very evil race, the humans"
• Melqua, a planet of water with rings of gold
• Selaf, the home world of the "Anunnaki"

Interestingly, in place of Animus, the voice lines for the Krazoa in Warlock Mountain instead mention Corneria. Obviously, this was to accommodate the presence of Fox McCloud in the leaked December 2000 build of Dinosaur Planet, as it was beginning to transition into Star Fox Adventures.

Some of these reference actual myths and conspiracies, such as the Nibiru Cataclysm, a doomsday theory that states that Earth will catastrophically collide with another planet, typically believed to be an object known as "Planet X" or Nibiru. The "Annunaki" are a group of deities in ancient Sumerian myths that are theorized by some as aliens from a planet called Nibiru that came to Earth to harvest gold, and also were reptilian humanoids. The myths surrounding the "Nephilim" tend to vary: some say they were giants (as mentioned by the Krazoa in DP) while others say that they were fallen angels or the offspring of humans and angels.

Each of the eight spirits Sabre and Krystal were told to collect by the Krazoa during their adventures were meant to represent these eight planets. The ultimate endgame of the Krazoa in Dinosaur Planet's original narrative was to align these Majestic Eight worlds by reuniting the eight spirits of Quan Ata Lachu (a deity the Krazoa worship) at Warlock Mountain in order to revive their people and bring "peace" to the universe. In reality, as Drakor describes it, this will result in the most deadly weapon in the universe, as the alignment of the Majestic Eight gives the Quan Ata Lachu (described by Drakor as being "a rare lifeform of pure evil") the opportunity to utilize the immense powerful energy that this will produce, and it will be focused through Warlock Mountain, creating the ultimate weapon of destruction that will allow the Krazoa to remold the universe into their image/liking, spreading disease, terror and chaos as they please. This is why Drakor has come to Sauria to revive the Kamerian war dragon that fell in battle against the Krazoa at the beginning of the universe, to prevent this from happening and exact revenge against the Krazoa.

This plotline would be revised and ultimately dropped in the final Star Fox Adventures game, as Dinosaur Planet is said to just simply exist in the Lylat System, and Krystal's home planet was renamed to Cerinia and was said to be mysteriously destroyed, hence why she's searching the galaxy for the truth of the death of her family (though this was omitted in the Japanese version). The plotline of Fox collecting the Krazoa spirits in promise of something good (in this case, saving Krystal from the top of Krazoa Palace and ultimately putting Dinosaur Planet back together) would in someway remain, but would instead result in Andross reviving himself as the true final boss of Star Fox Adventures.
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Backstory/Lore, Demo, Development, Early Build, Early Idea, Inspiration, Real Life
person Dinoman96 calendar_month December 11, 2023
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Majestic 8 lore:
https://out-of-this-dimension.tumblr.com/post/182184829753/majestic-eight-lore-giants-reptile-people

Dinosaur Planet condensed story:
https://rarethief.com/dinosaur-planet/

Ask Uncle Tusk - July 7, 2000:
http://web.archive.org/web/20010127012800/http://www.rareware.com/bites/agonyaunt/july700.html

Dinosaur Planet - Quan Ata Lachu cutscenes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpDKgmjko4Q
https://youtu.be/QcJMAL-SycI?t=180

Dinosaur Planet - Krazoa voice lines:
https://youtu.be/1-xAld46K8c?t=12

Dinosaur Planet - Krazoa Keeper/Guide of Krazoa Palace voice lines:
https://youtu.be/EutERirNXhg?t=16

Dinosaur Planet - The Countdown of the Majestic fan reconstruction:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfJvQRkes3I#t=10

Dinosaur Planet - The Majestic Eight Alignment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9GOY-NvFFA

Star Fox Adventures - Moon Mountain Pass:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2lwNn3z10Q?t=167

Star Fox Adventures - General Scales and Andross boss fights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coeDs2f-6N8
Star Fox Adventures
Star Fox Adventures (2002)
subdirectory_arrow_right Dinosaur Planet (Game)
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Attachment Cape Claw is another area that was considerably larger and more complex in Dinosaur Planet than it was in the final Star Fox Adventures.

Both versions of the stage include the same starting point, a beach/cliff area with a giant Krazoa head structure, but unlike in Star Fox Adventures, the gas room puzzle in the cave was blocked by a BribeClaw (called "GuardClaw" in Adventures) that Krystal needed to bypass by giving him shiny nuggets, which allowed her to partake in the aforementioned Poison Chamber puzzle. This would actually unlock the way to a massive SharpClaw fortress area, featuring a wide cliffside and a mountable cannon, which was to be used to blast away the metal doors on the left and right of its placement, allowing Krystal to enter Cape Claw's courtyard. This is where Krystal would free Princess Kyte, who would then accompany her for the rest of her campaign. By having Kyte perch on a series of levers, the towers surrounding the Courtyard would reveal a pair of torches which would need to be lit by Kyte's Flame command, which would open the way back to the entry way, letting Krystal and Kyte leave Cape Claw only to have a run in with the LightFoot tribe in SwapStone Circle.

Krystal and Kyte would have to later revisit Cape Claw after acquiring an artifact of the Krazoa found in Discovery Falls (another of Krystal's areas that was removed in Star Fox Adventures), which would allow them to access even more areas, such as Cape Claw's Village section. They'd first need to collect three Fire Gems hidden around the area, one of which requires defeating a mini-boss encounter with the Sand Snake enemy. They would also encounter a pair of robot scorpion enemies hidden within a cave in the Village area, discovered by detonating explosive barrels, where they would be rewarded with another Krazoa tablet after defeating them. Afterwards, they would place the Fire Gems they've found inside their Lighthouse Beacon counterparts, and once they've been lit, or a Krazoa tablet has been placed, the Courtyard Well will reflect this change and unlock further areas of CapeClaw.

This was where Krystal would come across another Krazoa shrine, which housed the Test of Character, which would pit her against an apparition of Sabre (or Fox in the leaked December 2000 build of Dinosaur Planet), who taunted her by claiming he never trust her and that Randorn should have left her to die with her tribe when he found her, and that now he must finish her off, perhaps as a way to foreshadow the truth about Randorn and her parents, while hinting at Krystal's inner fears of abandonment or betrayal. Krystal would have to fight this illusion and then be given the choice to spare or finish him off, and the former was the only way to pass the test and acquire the spirit.

Krystal and Kyte would make their third and final visit to Cape Claw after Sabre acquired the sixth spirit, which would open the mouth of the giant Krazoa Head. Going by the condensed story, they were to discover hidden caves containing a Krazoa translator, which allows them to read the ancient texts that have seen throughout their adventures and help open the gate into the Krazoa Palace, Krystal's final SpellStone dungeon.

Pretty much all of this would be entirely removed in the final Star Fox Adventures. The initial beach/cliff area with the giant Krazoa head would remain, as would the gas room puzzle, but solving the latter would only free the Queen CloudRunner (filling in for Kyte) from her prison within a nearby cave, and the Krazoa head would now lead into the Ocean Force Point Temple. There also exists a sidequest involving a finding a HighTop's stack of gold.

Curiously, the Dinosaur Planet globe map made for Star Fox Adventures does actually include the SharpClaw fortress area, which possibly indicates that Rare had intended on bringing Cape Claw in its entirety over to SFA before heavily cutting it down.
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Backstory/Lore, Development, Early Build, Early Idea
person Dinoman96 calendar_month December 11, 2023
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Dinosaur Planet condensed story:
https://rarethief.com/dinosaur-planet/

Dinosaur Planet - Cape Claw:
First visit:
https://youtu.be/ifEK8K6vKlM?t=65
Second visit:
https://youtu.be/wEg50JUI1wY?t=1

Dinosaur Planet - Test of Character:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56nNKICDguI

Animated fan recreation of the Test of Character using unimplemented voice lines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84FbGYNppHQ

Dinosaur Planet wiki article on Cape Claw explaining the mechanics and levels:
https://dinosaurpla.net/Main/World/Areas/Cape-Claw/

Star Fox Adventures Dinosaur Planet map with Cape Claw fortress area:
https://i.gyazo.com/a92be8f3cfa7b140989e2968920d06c1.png

Star Fox Adventures - Cape Claw:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjYXiHJOqrM
Star Fox Adventures
Star Fox Adventures (2002)
subdirectory_arrow_right Dinosaur Planet (Game)
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Attachment Diamond Bay, along with Willow Grove, was one of the precious few areas from Sabre's campaign from Dinosaur Planet that ended up being scrapped entirely in the final Star Fox Adventures. A massive coastal area with cascading water falls, Sabre (or Fox in the leaked Dinosaur Planet build) and Tricky would access this area by swimming down the river in SwapStone Hollow.

This was the original home of the Volcano Force Point Temple. It was also home to a single, seemingly last standing member of the PointBack tribe, a race of Stegosaurs. This individual would help Fox/Sabre by providing them the key to access the Volcano Force Point Temple, and would provide them with different tasks every time they returned from Diamond Bay with a SpellStone, such as preventing her eggs and nest from being raided by thieves, or being swept away by a flood. Completing each of these tasks would reward Sabre another key into the Force Point Temple.

It was also home to Sabre's first Krazoa shrine test, the Test of Strength. After depositing his first SpellStone, Sabre would be able to find a pathway that leads to a temple containing this shrine that was being guarded by a group of floating droids.

Diamond Bay was completely removed in the final Star Fox Adventures, and the Volcano Force Point Temple and the Test of Strength would be relocated to Moon Mountain Pass and SnowHorn Wastes respectively. Though absent in the final game, early design documents and concept art indicate that Rare did plan on bringing the PointBack back, but relocated to ThornTail Hollow (originally SwapStone Hollow).

It is worth pointing out that in the final game, there exists a mother ThornTail whose eggs and nest are similarly being raided by thieves and thus requests Fox for help. Bumping the contrast on Kevin Bayliss' early Star Fox Adventures cutscene sequence document reveals "The PointBack's eggs" on the next page, which makes it clear that this role was originally intended for the PointBack before she was dropped entirely in favor of the ThornTail.
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Artwork/Illustration, Backstory/Lore, Development, Early Idea
person Dinoman96 calendar_month December 11, 2023
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Dinosaur Planet condensed story:
https://rarethief.com/dinosaur-planet/

Dinosaur Planet (N64 Dec. 2000 Build) PointBack Voice Lines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOMTDfiGW20

Diamond Bay - Dinosaur Planet:
https://youtu.be/OGlbpbIsmlI?list=PL4DL2YQ4hzDUJ2MjfUXapxnuYDJeHsRcA&;t=408

Early Star Fox Adventures cutscene sequence that features the PointBack in ThornTail Hollow:
https://twitter.com/Kev_Bayliss/status/1651842011492646913

Early Star Fox Adventures PointBack concept art:
https://imgur.com/a/OtnVRSg#ZaUTRtz

Early Star Fox Adventures cutscene sequence withed bumped contrast, revealing "The PointBack's eggs" on the next page (provided by user Banjeoin in the Dinosaur Planet discord):
https://i.gyazo.com/cbcb5e335bfb46a8cd82887eadae62a1.png

Fox helping the mother ThornTail in Star Fox Adventures:
https://youtu.be/AlU7XBmF70k?t=182

Star Fox Adventures Test of Strength, relocated to SnowHorn Wastes:
https://youtu.be/D8Y-T-GgbqM?t=508

Star Fox Adventures Volcano Force Point, relocated to Moon Mountain Pass:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovgnk8K-Ums&;t=38s
Star Fox Adventures
Star Fox Adventures (2002)
subdirectory_arrow_right Dinosaur Planet (Game)
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Attachment In the E3 2002 Kiosk version of Star Fox Adventures, CloudRunner Fortress contains a handful of elements from the Dinosaur Planet version that got scrapped in the final game, some of these being:

• The level is set on a stormy night in this version of the game, just like in Dinosaur Planet. The weather changes to daytime in the later areas of the fortress after Fox is captured.

• Certain sections of the stage use the "Sound Test 09" and "Sound Test 28" music tracks which go unused in the final version of Star Fox Adventures outside of the jukebox. Both music tracks were originally composed for Dinosaur Planet, and one of which is played while Krystal makes her approach into its version of CloudRunner Fortress.

• Interactive Krazoa-pattern-framed info screens appear throughout the fortress, which are also in the N64 version. In Dinosaur Planet, these info screens would provide advice and also occasional lore, one of which mentioning the Kamerian Dragon, which the CloudRunners thank for providing their wealth.

Curiously, the demo contains an unused map of the interior of General Scales' galleon separate from the one used during the intro. Its internal name is "insidegal"; Dinosaur Planet also has this map and it can be visited while the galleon is docked at the back of CloudRunner Frotress, which makes it seem that General Scales' galleon was at one point planned to appear here in Adventures, too. In 2024, an account named
Jeebs' Game Shack was finally able to access "insidegal" (as well as various other older SFA maps that seem to be circa mid-2001), fully confirming this to be the case. Hidden warp zone objects exist floating where the lower deck doors would be positioned if the ship was docked there, even in the retail version.
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Demo, Development, Early Build, Early Idea, Music
person Dinoman96 calendar_month December 10, 2023
comment Comment (0) | Source
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Star Fox Adventures
Star Fox Adventures (2002)
subdirectory_arrow_right Dinosaur Planet (Game)
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Attachment The Kamerian Heart was the original intended boss fight for Dragon Rock in Dinosaur Planet. It represented the Frankenstein remains of the last great Kamerian war dragon that fell in battle against the Krazoa over Dinosaur Planet's orbit, and became something of a god figure to the dinosaur inhabitants, who believed that they were spawned from it. One of the dragon's descendants, Drakor, becomes aware of its presence on Dinosaur Planet and seeks the assistance of General Scales and the SharpClaw to take over the planet and begin channeling all of its magical energies into the Kamerian Heart within Dragon Rock using the Force Point Temples, in order to revive it and thus allow Drakor to use its huge destructive powers to destroy the planet and seek vengeance against the Krazoa, as well as conquering the entire universe. Inside the Kamerian Heart was where the area's SpellStone resided, and thus Sabre had to defeat the heart in order to acquire it, and after an encounter with Drakor, would need to escape from within Dragon Rock before he is trapped there forever.

The Kamerian Heart is noticeably the only boss fight present in the leaked December 2000 build of Dinosaur Planet to be entirely absent in the final Star Fox Adventures. Drakor, whose role was repurposed as General Scales' mutant bioweapon, would take over its role as Dragon Rock's boss that Fox must defeat in order to obtain the SpellStone. In turn, Andross would take over Drakor's role as the final boss of Star Fox Adventures.
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Backstory/Lore, Development, Early Build, Early Idea, Unused Content
person Dinoman96 calendar_month December 10, 2023
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Dinosaur Planet condensed story:
https://rarethief.com/dinosaur-planet/

Dinosaur Planet - Kamerian Heart boss fight and Drakor cutscene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUsE9RBdrCI&;t=114s

Star Fox Adventures - Drakor boss fight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAH9JiNRLQE
The Elder Scrolls: Arena
The Elder Scrolls: Arena (1994)
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Attachment In a 2018 interview with designer Ted Peterson, he revealed that the spirit of Ria Silmane was portrayed by of one of the game's developers, who can be seen to be programmer Jennifer Pratt.
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Cameo, Development, Easter Egg, General, Real Life
person MehDeletingLater calendar_month December 10, 2023
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Ted Peterson interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzjvWQCND54#t=2220

Photo of eight developers who worked on The Elder Scrolls: Arena including Jennifer Pratt:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ElderScrolls/comments/4je5kz/developer_team_of_tes_i_arena/
Star Fox Adventures
Star Fox Adventures (2002)
subdirectory_arrow_right Dinosaur Planet (Game)
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Attachment Every time Fox collects a Krazoa spirit from partaking in a Krazoa shrine test, he must use the WarpStone to return to an area called Krazoa Palace, where he can deposit the spirits. Krystal also visits this area in Star Fox Adventures' prologue where she partakes in the Test of Observation, the only time she's ever playable in the story (outside of hacking), as she's soon imprisoned within a crystal by an unknown force. Collecting all of the Krazoa spirits at the end frees her, but also inadvertently resurrects Andross, who had been manipulating Fox the entire time.

In Dinosaur Planet, this area was known as Warlock Mountain, and was the only location that both Sabre (or Fox, in the December 2000 build of Dinosaur Planet) and Krystal could visit in their otherwise two completely separate adventures, though it's worth noting that the characters that their own sides of the map that were separated by the main chamber room. Like in SFA, every time they completed a Krazoa trial, they'd have to return to the mountain by using their respective SwapStone to deposit the spirits they've collected. Each trek back to the mountain would result in another encounter with their father and mentor, Randorn, as well as other lore dumps such as the Quan Ata Lachu (the "god" of the Krazoa).

Surprisingly, Krazoa Palace also exists in Dinosaur Planet, but as a completely different location than the one that appears in SFA, in this case being Krystal's final SpellStone dungeon that she could access through the giant Krazoa head structure in Cape Claw, after depositing enough spirits. Unfortunately, just like BlackWater Canyon, there appears to be zero design work done in the leaked December 2000 build.

Going by the unused voice lines and also the Dinosaur Planet condensed story, it is here where Krystal and Kyte, with the help of a Krazoa guard who was awoken by Drakor's activities on Dinosaur Planet, would travel back in time to acquire the area's SpellStone. First, they'd head to the future to see that Drakor had succeeded in his plan in resurrecting the Kamerian Heart and thus has destroyed everything, including Sabre, and the now dying Krazoa would hand them the Mind Read spell page and encourage them to go to the past to prevent this from ever happening. From there, they'd time travel to the past, right when the Krazoa and Kamerians (Drakor's race) were having their universe spanning war, and see the Krazoa for who they really are, an extremely evil warmongering race that started the Great War against the Kamerians. They would retrieve the SpellStone from one of these evil Krazoa (who also seems to be a spy working for the Kamerians) and return to the present with questions for the Krazoa, who claims that they have changed since the Great War and promise to bring peace to the universe with the alignment of the Majestic Eight planets. Of course, the leaked voice clips for the last scenes in Warlock Mountain reveal this to be a lie, as the now revived Krazoa reveal they plan on using the power of Quan Ata Lachu to devastate the universe.

This stage was removed in the final Star Fox Adventures, and its name would be repurposed for the reworked Warlock Mountain. Interestingly, early design documents posted by Kevin Bayliss show that even early on SFA's development on GCN, they had still intended on it's version of Krazoa Palace still being called Warlock Mountain, even after its namesake warlock (Randorn) had been scrapped by this point. An early version of SFA's Dinosaur Planet map would even clearly have what is Warlock Mountain at the south pole, though of course this would be revised in the final map.
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Backstory/Lore, Development, Early Build, Early Idea
person Dinoman96 calendar_month December 9, 2023
comment Comment (0) | Source
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Franchise: Sonic The Hedgehog
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In a post titled "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG: One Year Later...", Karl Bollers (a former writer for Archie's Sonic the Hedgehog comics) revealed numerous plans that he had intended to include in the comics following Issue #134 that were never used, such as:

• Sonic and Amy becoming a couple after being stranded at sea together, keeping it a secret from Sally.
• Tails reuniting with his parents by traveling into space on a modified Tornado.
• Amy's origins being explored in a fuller adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog CD.
• Knuckles departing Angel Island after learning that his presence exposes the location of the Master Emerald, going on a global pilgrimage to learn martial arts and battling a Dr. Eggman controlled-Monkey Khan while himself under the control of the Iron Queen before discovering the Master Geode.
• Sally being a pawn in a villainous plot by the corrupted Source of All and Ixis Naugus to prevent the future first previewed in "Sonic In Your Face!".
• Bunnie and Antoine breaking up due to a change in Antoine's personality, with Bunnie's origins later being explored and her true name being revealed as "Scarlette O'Hare" (which may have served as the inspiration for Scarlette Rabbot from Sonic Universe's "Fractured Mirror" story arc, and Bunnie's codename when she was in the Metropolis Egg Army in Issue #255).
• Antoine gaining his scar due to an accident with a knife and becoming a villain after allowing himself to be possessed by a corrupted Source of All in hopes of winning Bunnie back.
• Rotor retiring from field duty in order to pursue a role analogous to that played by "Q" from the James Bond franchise.
• The Source of All surviving Robotropolis' destruction and reconstituting itself in a remote mountain range, where it began to exert control over King Max, brainwashing the Arachne Clan and another group of Spiders known as the Strand, and possessing Antoine while under the control of Ixis Naugus.
• Locke and Lara-Le putting aside their previous disputes to help raise Kneecaps after his father Wynmacher ends up in the Egg Grape Chamber.
• Dr. Robotnik kidnapping Hope Kintobor under the pretense that he is the only correct choice to be her legal guardian, while using her as bait to lure in Shadow.
• Ixis Naugus attempting to return by transforming Max's body into a duplicate of his own, only to be thwarted by the destruction of the Crown of Acorns.
• Mammoth Mogul beginning to age rapidly due to his original Chaos Emerald running out of energy, forcing him to seek out alternative sources through illicit archaeological expeditions and hiring mercenaries like Nack the Weasel. The Master Geode, a powerful gemstone that would fulfill Mogul's needs, would be contested by him, the Iron Queen, Robotnik, and Rouge the Bat.
• Nate Morgan surviving the destruction of Robotropolis and being de-Roboticized by the Bem, returning as Coconuts' amnesia-addled ally, who creates a new Metal Sonic, Metal Amy, Metal Knuckles, and Tails Doll that are mistaken for Robian versions of the heroes.
• Snively taking up a fifteen foot-tall mechanical battle suit and the alias "Skarkus" in pursuit of revenge against Robotnik for leaving him alone against the Xorda, leading to an alliance between him and Shadow.
• A.D.A.M. and Nicole becoming romantically involved, leading to A.D.A.M. seizing control of the Shadowbot army and leading them from New Megaopolis to Knothole.
• A new Dingo Regime leader named Colonel Mange being introduced, with Croctobot, Jack Rabbit, and Gala-Na being reintroduced as Robotnik Sub-Bosses over Downunda, the Great Desert, and Albion. This would have led to the disappearance of the Downunda Freedom Fighters and a confrontation involving the Mercian Freedom Fighters.
• Evil Sonic coming to enjoy impersonating Sonic and enjoying the love of his parents and adulation of his people, leading him to plan to eliminate Sonic and permanently take his place.

Additionally, in the aftermath of Ken Penders' lawsuit against Archie Comics, Bollers has confirmed that he now owns the rights to all the characters he created for the comics, such as Mina Mongoose, Ash Mongoose, and Hope Kintobor.
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Early Idea, General, Legal Affairs, Multimedia Adaptation, Real Life, Reference
person chocolatejr9 calendar_month December 9, 2023
comment Comment (0) | Source
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Star Fox Adventures
Star Fox Adventures (2002)
subdirectory_arrow_right Dinosaur Planet (Game)
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Attachment One of Star Fox Adventures' most infamous scenes is within the final Krazoa Shrine at Krazoa Palace where Fox McCloud is about to engage in combat with General Scales, seemingly the game's antagonist and final boss, only to be suddenly interrupted by Andross' spirit, who forces Scales to give the last Krazoa spirit to Fox, abruptly ending the fight. Per admitted by developers of Star Fox Adventures during a February 2008 edition of Rare's Scribes, Scales was meant to have a proper boss confrontation, but this was scrapped entirely due to the impending Microsoft buyout that was announced in September 2002, forcing the team to focus on only the Andross boss fight.

However, looking further into Dinosaur Planet and Star Fox Adventures' development cycle, one can see a more complex story going on in regards to the notion of General Scales having a boss fight. The Dinosaur Planet condensed story promises a true final confrontation between Krystal and General Scales within the Desert Force Point Temple, as she places her final SpellStone. After Scales' defeat, the King EarthWalker would barge in and tell Krystal to take his belt (that was provided by Drakor), but then it would turn into stone, resulting in the player into having to swap over to Sabre's story, who takes it to the mutant Shabunga in Willow Grove to help reactivate it, which allows him to enter Dragon Rock unharmed.

However, the leaked December 2000 build of Dinosaur Planet features no such boss fight for Krystal's final visit to the Desert Force Point, instead having a cutscene where Krystal, Scales and Kyte are teleported outside of the temple after the former places the final SpellStone. Krystal plummets into a nearby pond safely, but Scales falls onto a rock and breaks his back, completely incapacitating him. Instead of the King EarthWalker, it's the BoneHead SpellStone guardian who first appeared in CloudRunner Fortress that instructs Krystal to take the Kamerian belt to Sabre so he can have Shabunga revitalize it, as Scales whispers that he'll have his revenge as he passes out.

When Dinosaur Planet was being transitioned into Star Fox Adventures over on GameCube, unused voice clips and also hints found within the 2002 E3 kiosk indicate that Rare planned on revisiting Scales having a boss fight by essentially doing a rematch against his flying galleon like in the game's prologue, though instead of playing as Krystal flying on the CloudRunner, it'd likely would have been Fox in his Arwing. The voice lines reveal that Falco Lombardi would actually appear earlier than in the final game and assist Fox in taking out Scales and his galleon. After Scales' defeat, Fox would land in Krazoa Palace and partake in the Test of Sacrifice, which is where the General Scales "boss fight" occurs in the final game.

Curiously, the 2002 E3 kiosk shows that the dev team had later hoped to include a 1-on-1 fight on-foot against Scales. The fight is very incomplete and Scales is strangely smaller in size than usual, but he will actually attack the player in this version instead of simply walking towards Fox and assuming a fighting stance. He has a number of unique attack animations which aren't used in the final game, though these attacks don't connect with the player. He can be attacked without immediately activating his defeat cutscene here, and will block most of the player's attacks and recoil when an attack is successfully landed on him. His health doesn't seem to decrease, so there doesn't appear to be a way to end the fight.
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Backstory/Lore, Corporate Affairs, Demo, Development, Early Build, Early Idea, Unused Audio, Unused Text
person Dinoman96 calendar_month December 9, 2023
comment Comment (0) | Source
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Dinosaur Planet condensed story:
https://rarethief.com/dinosaur-planet/

Dinosaur Planet: Desert Force Point Temple Final Visit:
https://youtu.be/P2Ayhp06k7Y?t=407

General Scales 1-on-1 fight in SFA E3 Kiosk with unused animations:
https://youtu.be/x-Kh5OiO0jE?t=14
https://youtu.be/RQirn2H0qYU?t=42

The Cutting Room Floor article:
https://tcrf.net/Proto:Star_Fox_Adventures/E3_2002_Demo#Sub-Pages

Unused SFA voice clips:
https://youtu.be/lMe05NE8Ock?t=85

Star Fox Adventures General Scales "boss fight":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEQ4Wd1CCvE&;t=1s

February 13th 2008 Rare Scribes:
https://www.raregamer.co.uk/scribes-february-13th-2008/
Star Fox Adventures
Star Fox Adventures (2002)
subdirectory_arrow_right Dinosaur Planet (Game)
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Attachment The SpellStones and Force Point Temples served a difference purpose lore-wise in Dinosaur Planet than in Star Fox Adventures. After their huge intergalactic war with the Kamerians, the Krazoa, too weak to return to their home planet, settled on the world that would become known as Sauria (or Dinosaur Planet), which apparently housed the richest supply of magic in the universe. From there, they would create the Force Point Temples to concentrate this magical power, helping the Krazoa to sleep and heal as they would soon enter stasis for the next billions of years. The dinosaurs on Sauria would then use the Force Point Temples to power their world.

Right around the time the last great Kamerian war dragon fell onto Dinosaur Planet, a special group of dinosaurs known as the SpellStone guardians were formed. Each guardian were a given a SpellStone to protect, and this secret would be passed down from generation to generation. If the planet were in trouble, the Guardians were to take the SpellStones to the Force Point Temple and shut them down using their power, preventing any magic energy extraction.

A Kamerian, Drakor, was aware of the remains of his ancestor lying on Dinosaur Planet. He secretly invades and helps General Scales and his SharpClaw take over the planet by providing them powerful weapons and technology, which allows them to take over the Force Point Temples and begin extracting all of Sauria's magical energies and condensing it into the Kamerian heart within Dragon Rock, which would in turn revive the Kamerian warrior and let Drakor enact ultimate revenge against the Krazoa who dwelled there. Thus, Sabre and Krystal were to find and activate the six SpellStones to shut the Force Point Temples down and prevent Drakor from extracting any more magical energies from the planet.

Going by the condensed story and also leftover DP data found within Star Fox Adventure's files, the original idea was for there to be five SpellStone guardians:

• Garunda Te, the leader of the SnowHorn Tribe.
• Shabunga, the Willow Grove mutant.
• The leader of the ShadowHunter Tribe from BlackWater Canyon.

And two additional unknown guardians found with in the Walled City and CloudRunner Fortress.

However, by the time of the December 2000 build, it seems that this was already reduced to four guardians; Garunda Te and Shabunga retained their guardian status, but there were only two others: the King EarthWalker (or "Albada") and the BoneHead (or "Gradabug" as he's called in Star Fox Adventures) imprisoned within CloudRunner Fortress. Going by unused voice lines, the ShadowHunters were rewritten to be scavengers living in BlackWater Canyon who happen to come across the SpellStone and initially claim it as their own, and it would seem that Krystal and Kyte were to use the Tree of Souls to activate the area's SpellStone in place of a proper guardian. For Krystal's final SpellStone, the two head to Krazoa Palace to discover that it already has disappeared, due to several tears in time and space occuring because of the huge quantity of magic energy being extracted, and thus Krystal and Kyte have to visit both the past and future to acquire it before it disappears.

In Star Fox Adventures, this was also completely rewritten. The Krazoa were still said to have constructed the Force Point Temples and SpellStones, but their purpose was to now prevent the powerful dark magical energies within Dinosaur Planet from continually pushing the world apart. As General Scales had invaded the temples and took the SpellStones back to the sacred lands that they were originally forged in (DarkIce Mines, CloudRunner Fortress, Walled City, Dragon Rock), this undid the seal and broke away the four lands away from the world. In place of the SpellStone guardians were the SpellStone GateKeepers, who were meant to protect the aforementioned sacred lands. They were, respectively:

• Garunda Te, retaining his role from Dinosaur Planet.
• The Queen CloudRunner, taking over the BoneHead/Gradabug's intended role.
• The King EarthWalker, retaining his role from Dinosaur Planet.
• A generic quiet ThornTail, taking over Shabunga's intended role.

Fox was to find these GateKeepers, utilize their powers to open the way to the floating lands and retrieve their respective SpellStones and return them to the Force Point Temples to get the planet back together again. This was all very likely done as a way to justify there being Arwing stages in the established Dinosaur Planet gameplay framework, as otherwise Fox would just spent almost the entire game on-foot.
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Backstory/Lore, Demo, Development, Early Build, Early Idea
person Dinoman96 calendar_month December 9, 2023
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Dinosaur Planet condensed story:
https://rarethief.com/dinosaur-planet/

Dinosaur Planet (N64 Dec. 2000 Build) Princess Kyte Voice Lines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYDXD9w4Qk4

Dinosaur Planet (N64 Dec. 2000 Build) ShadowHunter Voice Lines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK6CKH_WlTY#t=9

Dinosaur Planet Garunda Te cutscene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSUXq4YjPps

Star Fox Adventures Garunda Te cutscene:
https://youtu.be/uc6qD1y9STk?t=410

Dinosaur Planet Force Point Temple lore cutscene:
https://youtu.be/eHiRUfhUfqI?t=1018

Unused Dinosaur Planet text found within SFA files mentioning there being five guardians originally:
https://tcrf.net/Star_Fox_Adventures/Dinosaur_Planet_Leftovers#Unused_Text

Star Fox Adventures Force Point Temple lore cutscenes:
https://youtu.be/60y6IMXSiKY?list=PLTDqh88fUJas6iolKJuzWvA52MNHPUOIz&;t=787
https://youtu.be/hzlEqDqNk6o?t=408
Star Fox Adventures
Star Fox Adventures (2002)
subdirectory_arrow_right Dinosaur Planet (Game)
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Attachment Star Fox Adventures contains a peculiar character named the WarpStone, a living stone creature that has the ability to warp users to the top of Ice Mountain and also Krazoa Palace, where Fox will need to deposit all of the six Krazoa Spirits he acquired through partaking through the Krazoa's trials in order to save Krystal, who is imprisoned at the top of the Palace. Underneath the WarpStone also lays the Game Well Maze, where Fox can deposit any of the Cheat Tokens he's collected from Scarab Wells hidden in the map throughout his Adventures to unlock extra features and also cryptic messages.

In Dinosaur Planet, the WarpStone was originally meant to be two different characters, the SwapStone twins known as Rocky and Rubble. Hence their name, their original purpose was to let the player be able to switch back and forth between Sabre and Krystal's adventures. Sabre would utilize Rocky in an area called SwapStone Hollow, while Krystal would utilize Rubble in her equivalent, SwapStone Circle (which is also where the LightFoot Village was situated). Both characters would also retain the ability to warp their respective character to Warlock Mountain (the predecessor to SFA's Krazoa Palace) where the characters could similarly deposit the Krazoa spirits they acquired from the Krazoa shrines. Underneath the SwapStones was the only in-game store where Sabre and Krystal could purchase items, maps, etc. Curiously, their bio claims that they were created during the age of the Krazoa, by being mined from the magic rock of Warlock Mountain, and that they assisted in the creation of the Force Point Temples and the Krazoa shrines.

As Krystal's playable co-protagonist role was scrapped in SFA outside of the prologue, the SwapStones were merged into one character, the WarpStone, and SwapStone Hollow was renamed to ThornTail Hollow. SwapStone Circle would be effectively removed, but the LightFoot Village segment was heavily expanded into its own distinct area. In place of being able to swap to Krystal, Fox could be teleported back to the top of Ice Mountain where he could replay the jet bike race against the SharpClaw. While early design documents, leftover data from the E3 2002 kiosk build, and as well as an unused audio file found within the retail release of SFA indicate that the store was still planned to be located underneath the WarpStone, in the final game it was relocated to the middle of ThornTail Hollow as its own distinct establishment, the ThornTail Store, and the alformentioned Game Well Maze took its original intended spot.

Diving in to the game files, it seems Rare had also intended on letting the WarpStone teleport Fox over to additional areas such as Cape Claw, Moon Mountain Pass, and the Force Point Temples, but this was scrapped and currently, the WarpStone can only warp you to Ice Mountain and Krazoa Palace.
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Demo, Development, Early Build, Early Idea, Etymology, Unused Code, Unused Content
person Dinoman96 calendar_month December 9, 2023
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Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl (2021)
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2
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Originally, Reptar was going to spit cereal from his mouth, but Nickelodeon insisted that he shoot fire instead.
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Development, Early Idea, Moveset
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month December 9, 2023
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Bug!
Bug! (1995)
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1
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A well-known claim relating to Bug! is that legendary film director Steven Spielberg endorsed the game as "the character that is going to do it for [the Sega] Saturn." This claim is somewhat dubious however, as both the 2009 IGN article the quote was popularized by and the internal pitch video for the game's sequel that the quote originated from cite the origin as being from his visit to the 1995 Consumer Electronics Show, which was in January, 5 months before Bug! would be revealed to the public at E3. Bug! creator David Warhol has stated that he was not there to actually see Spielberg approve of the game, but did know that he approved of the game.
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Celebrity, Development, General, Misconception, Pitch Bible/Proposal, Rumor, Unsolved Mystery
person Rocko & Heffer calendar_month December 9, 2023
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Twitter thread researching quote history:
https://twitter.com/PandaMoniumGR/status/1637489008950362117

IGN article the quote originated from:
https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/02/02/what-hath-sonic-wrought-vol-10

GameFan magazine Volume #3, Issue #7 (Page 52):
https://retrocdn.net/images/d/db/GameFan_US_0307.pdf
Star Fox Adventures
Star Fox Adventures (2002)
subdirectory_arrow_right Dinosaur Planet (Game)
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Attachment Much like how Prince Tricky of the EarthWalker Tribe accompanied Sabre (or Fox McCloud, in the leaked December 2000 build of Dinosaur Planet and of course the final Star Fox Adventures), Princess Kyte of the CloudRunner Tribe was meant to be Krystal's partner when was she was the playable co-protagonist of Dinosaur Planet. While sharing many of the same command abilites as Tricky, the primary difference with him and Kyte is that the latter could fly, and pull levers.

Much like how Sabre/Fox would be sent to save Tricky from the top of Ice Mountain, Krystal would be sent to rescue Kyte from General Scales' galleon and eventually finally free her from within a SharpClaw fortress situated at Cape Claw, and from there she would accompany Krystal for almost the majority of her campaign, helping her solve puzzles and fight enemies. For example, in SwapStone Circle, Kyte would help Krystal fend off the LightFoot villagers (who had tied the latter onto one of their totem poles, mistaking her as an associate with the SharpClaw who stole their spell page) with properly timed flame commands.

Soon afterwards, the two head would toward Kyte's home, the CloudRunner Fortress, which would be overrun with SharpClaw forces with robot sentinels (given to them by Drakor), where they would have witnessed General Scales brutally interrogate Kyte's mother, the Queen CloudRunner, for the area's SpellStone, which results in Scales murdering her in front of Krystal and Kyte, much to the latter's horror. Both would get captured, but Krystal would break free and eventually rescue Kyte again, who then go onto find the latter's siblings hiding throughout the fortress with the use of Kyte's new Distract command. Going by voice lines found with in the leaked Dinosaur Planet build, Kyte would also accompany Krystal to her additional two SpellStone areas (both of which were cut in the transition to Star Fox Adventures), Krazoa Palace (which was actually an entirely seperate area from the Krazoa Palace in SFA which was reworked from Warlock Mountain in Dinosaur Planet) and BlackWater Canyon, and in the latter they would come across a ghostly apparition of Kyte's mother, who encourages them on to find the area's SpellStone and beware of the angry spirits that dwelled within the Canyon.

In the final Star Fox Adventures game, with Krystal's playable co-protagonist role scrapped entirely outside of the prologue, Kyte would unfortunately be removed entirely as well, leaving Tricky as the only dinosaur companion accompanying Fox throughout his adventure. Other CloudRunners would fill in for the roles that were originally earmarked for Kyte back in Dinosaur Planet:

• In LightFoot Village, Fox is protected from the LightFoot villagers by a generic CloudRunner, who similarly fends off the LightFoot with properly timed flame commands.

• In Cape Claw, Fox instead rescues the Queen CloudRunner after partaking in the gas room puzzle in a nearby cave (the fortress area that Krystal rescues Kyte in was removed entirely, leaving only the beachside with the giant Krazoa head). He later meets up with her again at CloudRunner Fortress where she's similarly interrogated by General Scales, but unlike in Dinosaur Planet, she actually survives the ordeal, and Fox rescues her from the same room Kyte was meant to be imprisoned. She gives him the CloudRunner Flute which helps him locate the Queen's children which in turn opens the way to the CloudRunner's treasure room, essentially filling in for Kyte's Distract command.

• On board General Scales' galleon within the prologue, there lies a caged generic baby CloudRunner in the place of where Kyte was in Dinosaur Planet, who instructs Krystal on what using the A button does, and also instructs her to explore the bottom deck to acquire a key she will eventually use in Krazoa Palace. Some fans think that this individual is meant to be Kyte, however, an unused voice clip pertaining to this character reveals it to have a clearly masculine voice, which combined with the fact that it uses the same model as the Queen CloudRunner's children at the CloudRunner Fortress, makes it very clear that this is not Kyte and merely just a generic small CloudRunner.
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Asset Reuse, Backstory/Lore, Development, Early Build, Early Idea, Unused Content
person Dinoman96 calendar_month December 8, 2023
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Dinosaur Planet condensed story with Kyte bio:
https://rarethief.com/dinosaur-planet/

Dinosaur Planet prologue:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_KVnYeTJBE?list=PLrXlEm4MgsbOJtMuHh0ydYUbAU3VnBPDK&;t=104

Dinosaur Planet Cape Claw and LightFoot Village battle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM-yUSvGKEs&;list=PLrXlEm4MgsbOJtMuHh0ydYUbAU3VnBPDK&index=3

Dinosaur Planet CloudRunner Fortress:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixH71i5HojQ&;list=PLrXlEm4MgsbOJtMuHh0ydYUbAU3VnBPDK&index=8

Dinosaur Planet Audio Reconstruction: Kyte encounters the CloudRunner Queen at the Tree of Souls:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxSh9aZxYFQ

Star Fox Adventures prologue:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI3INorpo8w?t=274

Star Fox Adventures Cape Claw:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjYXiHJOqrM?t=665

Star Fox Adventures LightFoot Village battle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KMw_aQmxTw?t=95

Star Fox Adventures CloudRunner Fortress:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW-Hr-uYMiU?t=4

Unused voice line from the Small CloudRunner on the galleon in SFA:
https://tcrf.net/Star_Fox_Adventures/Unused_Voice_Clips#Misc._Unused_Clips
Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts (2002)
subdirectory_arrow_right Kingdom Hearts (Franchise)
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1
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In each Dive to the Heart segment in almost every game in the series, there is a disembodied voice that can only speak through text that guides the characters (and thus the player as well) through the tutorial of each game. The identity of these voices has been unidentified in every game but Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (where it is obviously child Sora) and the first Kingdom Hearts. For the latter, in the Kingdom Hearts Ultimania, Nomura was asked who the voice is for the opening of the first game and he finally gave it's identity as being none other than King Mickey. However, this interview was done in the early 2000's before most of the sequels were produced, so it's unknown if this explanation was retconned or not.
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Backstory/Lore, Cameo, Early Idea, Hidden Message, Magazine, Misconception, Retcon, Secret, Suggested, Theory, Unsolved Mystery
person PirateGoofy calendar_month December 7, 2023
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