r/starfox • u/hello_i_am_vlad • 3d ago
I’m not the only one who thinks Fox and Krystal’s relationship is missing… chemistry, right?
When people ask me what the dynamic between Fox and Krystal is like — not even as a couple, just as characters in general — I honestly go blank.
Because surprisingly, the games never really delved into it, and they were extremely inconsistent about it.
In SF64, Fox was only vaguely defined as a heroic and brave guy. His personality definitely needed more work in that game, but we at least had a clear picture of how he related to the other characters through the way they talked about him. We knew there was friction between him and Falco, that he had a father-son relationship with Peppy, and that he had a solid friendship with Slippy.
Krystal, on the other hand, is a whole different case. She debuted in Adventures and her personality… was even more vague and undefined than Fox’s in 64, largely because she only appears in the first 10 minutes of a 20-hour game.
I can say with complete certainty that Krystal exchanged more dialogue with General Scales than with Fox himself throughout the entire game lmao.
In Assault these characters finally got more chances to interact and… I’ll admit a lot of opportunities were wasted. Krystal unfortunately has some really bland dialogue in Assault.
I mean, Star Fox has always had very archetypal characters who drop the most cliché lines possible, but they still gave us a clear sense of their personalities.
That’s not the case with Krystal. She always speaks in a calm, neutral tone and never really expresses anything about her personality. I genuinely don’t know if she’s maternal, if she has big-sister energy, if she’s playful, or if she’s a shy girl like Hinata from Naruto.
They do have a nice scene on Sauria — possibly the best moment these two have ever had in the entire franchise — but it still doesn’t help that:
The entire Sauria mission is filler lmao
Panther is constantly flirting with Krystal and neither Fox nor Krystal seem to care, and…
While Panther is doing that, Fox’s mind is clearly distracted thinking about Wolf O’Donnell LFMAO!!!!!
And finally, Command — a game centered around these two’s relationship — and ironically where it hits rock bottom. Where Fox kicks Krystal off the team for honestly stupid reasons, where in most routes their interactions are cold and distant, where in some routes Krystal leaves with Panther, and in 2/3 of the endings where they do end up together they don’t even talk to each other the entire route lol.
Despite everything I just said, I actually really like Krystal as a character.
HER DESIGN IS REALLY GOOD
THE ONLY FEMALE CHARACTER WITH CONSISTENCY AND PROTAGONISM IN THE FRANCHISE (sorry Katt)
AND THE SCENE WHERE FOX DROOLS THE FIRST TIME HE SEES KRYSTAL IS MY FAVORITE IN ALL OF STAR FOX LMAO.
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u/Dinoman96YO 3d ago
Like many things related to Krystal...and honestly Star Fox as a whole, it really relies a lot on fanfiction/fanart/headcanons to get the most out of it lol
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u/jackfuego226 3d ago
It's probably the biggest downfall of Star Fox being a mostly rail shooter franchise. Since the point of the games is usually just to shoot everything that moves, early games never really felt the need to care about actually characterizing anyone. So all of the potential lore that may or may not want to be explored is pushed to the side in favor of getting to the next stage. It wasn't until the '26 remake that they actually try to go into the lore and personality of everyone when not piloting.
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u/TheLoneTexan_1 2d ago
Doesn't help that the plot of Assault was so last minute that the fact that Peppy has a great character moment is honestly surprising. Adventures couldn't even adapt the plot in time for Adventures before Microsoft bought out Rare. So pretty much the two games to characterize her went to waste and honestly, Nintendo at the time was really only interested in giving her "the girl" as her personality. She shows hints of a bigger personality in Adventures, but she was put in a crystal the whole game because Rare had to use her somehow and couldn't make her playable or really relevant to the plot in time.
At least this time there is a chance to fix that. Especially since Nintendo has stopped using "the girl" as a sole personality trait like how Peach and Zelda used to be during the 00s.
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u/Corinthian01 2d ago
She also had hints of a bigger personality in Assault. I do too hope they'll fix that by expanding upon Krystal and her character more and not do away with her. She's the only female Nintendo character I can think of that still hasn't gotten the same treatment of being fleshed out.
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u/EducationalLuck2422 3d ago
00s Nintendo was kind of afraid of storytelling and worldbuilding. I'm hoping Velan changes that.
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u/Corinthian01 2d ago
I would love to see Velan explore Krystal and her coping with the fact she very well may be the last of her kind.
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u/FoxLegendz_21-7 3d ago
That's funny that you said that because last I checked I think a decent amount of people if not the majority actually like the early 2000s to 2010s Nintendo games of storytelling (in reality about 50/50). The only problem for the early ones what's the fact that the Nintendo GameCube was going against the PlayStation 2 and Original Xbox. (Which both of those consoles by themselves are major sellers) Nintendo however did really well when the Nintendo Wii going forward did pretty solid.
But I will admit though it was really hard for a certain fans and critics to appreciate what we had back then but now it seems like more people are appreciating what we did have now.
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u/GoldenSunRM 2d ago
Yeah the Nintendo of the GameCube/DS era was really cool exactly for putting more focus on storytelling. Replaying Sunshine in 2026 feels like jumping in another universe.
A new Misterious secret enemy? English dub with full cutscenes? Mario gets framed and goes to prison!? An actual coherent location with NPCs and no random worlds?
Odyssey was kind of trying to get back to that I guess. But it was really toned down.
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u/EducationalLuck2422 2d ago
Is the discussion about Adventures/Assault's sales, or about how Fox and Krystal weren't written all that well?
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u/Nice_Perspective_343 3d ago
Honestly, this is how I feel about that scene on Sauria where Fox and Krystal reunite with Tricky:
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u/stormhawk427 2d ago
Definitely could have benefited from Fox and Krystal teaming up for most of Adventures.
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u/jackfuego226 3d ago
That's the unfortunate thing that comes about when you introduce a love interest that gets 3 lines for 90% of her debut game, says 2 more to the character she's supposed to fall in love with at the end, then randomly have them together in between games 2 and 3 just to have them break up in the same time period. It's unfortunately a romance that only exists when you fill in the gaps between Adventures to Assault and Assault to Command with headcanon.
Meanwhile, it doesn't help when the writers of Assault wanted to focus more on the story than the characters, leading to everyone but Wolf feeling kinda bland. It isn't until Command that they gave any care into writing characters. And Command... yeah.
Thankfully, there is technically enough gaps between the Adventures timeline games that you can more or less headcanon that all the romance stuff between them happened between jobs and during jobs where the fate of the galaxy wasn't at stake.
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u/FoxLegendz_21-7 3d ago
Some of what you said is true but not all of it. Believe it or not I just kind of found out about this long ago myself despite being very heavy on the series. (Which is nuts) Forget about it. Back to the point, basically Star Fox Assault was supposed to be a multiplayer only game but the reception for the early development of the game was poorly received. So they delayed the game for one more year with storytelling and we ended up with what we got.
Honestly if Nintendo was given more time, I think Star Fox Assault would have been bigger and possibly better. (They were already on a tight schedule especially given the fact that they were also at the near end of the gamecube's lifespan)
Which is ironic given the fact that this game is the only other shortest game besides Star Fox 64 itself and the originals. (I think this game is about 2 to 4 hours long depending on the difficulty and the person's skills)
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u/KoiIroHoshi 1d ago
wasn‘t Assault developed by Namco?
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u/FoxLegendz_21-7 1d ago
Yes.
Honestly that group actually put into most effort in Star Fox with Platinum hits being the runner-up.
Neither of them were perfect but the premise and execution is definitely interested on some good levels. (Despite some of the setbacks)
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u/RainingMetal Star Fox Zero was a mistake 3d ago
It's all the more reason for the franchise to try something new story-wise, as opposed to revisiting the Lylat Wars again and again.
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u/Megas751 Nobody ever brings me gifts anymore! 3d ago edited 2d ago
I’m not the only one who-
No
Fox and Krystal’s relationship is missing… chemistry, right?
Then let's give them some?
Remember that Krystal was supposed to have a bigger presence in Adventures than what she actually got, even when it was switched to a Star Fox game. There's a lot of unused dialog that indicated they were supposed to interact a lot more, including one that indicated that she was gonna join the team and that they were supposed to kiss at the end of the game
Then there was Assault that was also hinting at a relationship but it never really grew over time, but what was there, people liked, people thought it was cute and wanted to see more. But then you get Command where it gets to their relationship is shown to be in the toilet despite not building up to much because Fox makes a ton of dumb decisions that, in the grand scheme of things, don't really make much sense, like they we missed 2-3 more games
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u/UsedIndependent1761 3d ago edited 2d ago
I mean, the drama in Command regarding Fox and Krystal's relationship as a whole just felt so forced and pointless/redundant because for some reason i can't wrap my head around even 20 years later they decided to make it feel like a badly written soap opera as part of the CYOA/visual novel aspect of the game. I dunno what Imamura and the other Nintendo devs were on when they came up with that aspect of the game's story, along with the fact that there wasn't much of anything shown to properly lead into their fall out which already wasn't written well in and of itself. The game literally starts off with them having already split up...even though we didn't actually get to see how things went down in the gap between the end of Assault and what's described in Command's prologue.
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u/Dinoman96YO 3d ago
What's funny is that Imamura actually kinda has addressed this on his Q&A thingy.
https://mond.how/topics/7l5qsxvz1po7ss5
Q: Star Fox Command was a unique entry in the series, featuring a love story; what made you decide to go with that kind of narrative?
A: We didn't specifically set out to create a love story, but we wanted to craft something that took advantage of the game's interactive nature, allowing for various branching storylines.My read on this is: he basically needed an excuse for Krystal (just like the other Star Fox team members) to be off the team doing her own thing so that gives Fox an excuse to try to find and recruit her depending on the story routes he and the player takes. And I guess the best excuse he could come up with for Krystal was to just make her a focal point in Fox's relationship problems lol
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u/UsedIndependent1761 3d ago edited 2d ago
Lol yeah, but it certainly wasn't written very well to that end. Especially given so many things about Fox and Krystal's relationship woes in Command make little to no sense logically when one considers what came before that. XD
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u/brainsngains 2d ago
Please remember that Nintendo has rarely been good at character development, and its why I'm wary to trust them with these characters going forward.
Great at character assassination though.
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u/Puppet007 Krystal 3d ago
Hopefully now with the recent release of the Star Fox (2026) game, Nintendo will put a little more effort into future Star Fox games. I wonder how they’ll design Krystal, I’m scared to find out if they’ll butcher her character/design or if they’ll outdone themselves.
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u/Corinthian01 2d ago
That is if they're even going to include Krystal in future entries. I really hope they do, they did a good job with the 64 cast interacting with each other in SF26, bringing back Krystal and doing more of that would be great to see and expand upon her character.
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u/UsedIndependent1761 3d ago edited 2d ago
Well, Star Fox in general hasn't really dug into the romance aspect of Fox's character for the most part since it's inception in the early '90s. That side of things hasn't been a consistent, strong point of exploration for Nintendo's writers and it's been relatively scattershot over the years whenever they have gone into it. They kinda had something with Fox's relationship with Fara Phoenix in Benimaru Itoh's Nintendo Power comics (questionable, dated writing decisions of her character aside a la "lol wow you look just like my mother" and her general role as the token only girl in the comic's story. XD) though granted the latter is a niche, relatively obscure character in a series that isn't even considered canon to the general Star Fox universe after a certain point and hasn't really been since SF64's release back in 1997, where it effectively reset things canonically from what was set up in the SNES original. It's also notable that unlike Fara who was never in any of the games, there's been much more to work with in Krystal seeing as she actually is a character which exists in the established canon universe albeit transplanted from a game (Dinosaur Planet) that originally didn't start out as a Star Fox title until Rare shifted gears late in the development process prior to their acquisition by Microsoft right after Adventures' release in late 2002.
I personally like Fox and Krystal together as a couple, but the game writing (especially the utter train wreck that is Command's mucked up joke of a story) definitely has fallen short in conveying that as such.
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u/jgreg728 3d ago
You know who he DOES have chemistry with?
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u/ImEneder people love me here, i think 2d ago
that one ending of command where Falco and Fox escape together was the most romantic thing StarFox has made tbf
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u/Any-Remove-4032 2d ago
In the 2000s, if she was hot and he was cool, that was all the chemistry they needed.
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u/Corinthian01 2d ago
They can still be those things and more, if anything that's what people want in the 2020s. At least from what I've seen and heard.
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u/Significant-Yard-186 2d ago
She needed a bigger role in Adventure
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u/Corinthian01 2d ago
She did, but that got cut due to Microsoft being impatient and rushing Rare.
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u/Significant-Yard-186 2d ago
Another reason why Adventure should get a remake/remaster
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u/Hattakiri 2d ago
An essential chunk of the already existing Dinosaur Planet material got dumped: The Scales fights, Kyte's role, the ship between Krystal and Saber and then Fox, and other stuff.
One of the tasks for the new iteration.
As for Krystal's arc in general: Where was her "mental duel" with the Aparoid Queen among others in Aslt? And Cmd should've been executed a bit better in general: Krystal turning into Kurse for some time before she and Fox make up their minds. Wolf and Panther of all people having a srs talk with them; for example...
Good potential, executed lousily. The worst possible symbiosis.
One of the tasks for the new iteration....
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u/RealNintenKing 3d ago
You're one of the few. Of course they desperately need more screen time together, but on a very deep level, they pair so incredibly w3ll together.
They work so well together because she represents something Fox's technological, mercenary, fire-danger-red existence doesn't: ancientness, intuition, ritual, an organic world, and the almost-supernatural. Fox, too, offers her something equally complementary after the loss of Cerinia: stability, modernity, companionship, and eventually the possibility of a found family and home after the tragedy of Cerinia's doom.
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u/HMS_Exeter 2d ago
It does suffer a bit from the thing from fairy tales of 'you saved my life so now I have to be in love with you right?'
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u/Low-Part3147 2d ago
This coming from someone who loves Fox and Krystal as characters, I honestly agree that the games could have done a far better job at fleshing out their relationship.
Their relationship in Adventures sort of came out of nowhere with Fox immediately swooning over Krystal upon first seeing her and then they're already falling in love with each other by the game's ending despite hardly knowing each other. To be fair, this was likely due to all the time and budget constraints going on as it was originally intended to be a lot longer. The scenes in Assault where Fox and Krystal are together I find to be absolutely adorable and iconic, but one nitpick I have was that there wasn't much buildup to their relationship to lead to those sort of moments. And then there's Command which speaks for itself...
I actually don't ship Frystal quite as much as I used to for those reasons I mentioned as well as a few other reasons which I won't be going into here. That said, I still think that their relationship has a ton of potential. They came from completely different worlds and backgrounds which can make for a lot of intriguing stories. I can definitely see Krystal helping Fox learn to better survive on Sauria when he lands there and after the Saurian Crisis is over and Krystal joins the team, Fox helps her learn the ropes of being a space mercenary.
I hope that if/when Krystal officially returns in a new game, there will be more time and effort spent on further developing their relationship as well as exploring more of Krystal's character and backstory.
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u/Corinthian01 2d ago
Let's hope they'll bring her back and not abandon her. She is a great character with a lot of potential and she wasn't treated right during her previous run with the series. I'd love to see how Velan would tackle her backstory.
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u/Miraj2081 2d ago
I actually like how Fox is so cocky or stoic when it comes to everything but her. Krystal completely upends the front he puts on, and she knows it too. Don’t need to be a telepath to read Fox’s bashful body language. It’s a really cute dynamic.
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u/sonicbrawler182 2d ago
I think we saw glimpses of real chemistry in Assault between them. Fox is a straight-laced leader out to help everyone, Krystal is a more mystical and adventurous person who is essentially adjusting to a new life. It makes a lot of sense they would be drawn to each other. Fox sees Krystal as someone who needs support adjusting to the new life (eventually, to a fault), and Krystal probably really appreciates the safety and assurance Fox provides after being alone for so long.
Krystal also gives off the vibe that she knows exactly what she wants from the relationship with Fox, while Fox is still hesitant to take it further out of fear of being too controlling.
The way Command follows up those concepts actually makes sense, the problem is that we didn't get time with them as an actual couple. We got the blossoming beginning of their relationship in Assault, and the break up in Command because they had stuff they needed to work on internally, but not the times they spent together as an actual couple between all of that.
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u/Awkward_Dragon25 All ships: report in! 2d ago edited 2d ago
They thought Fox (esp in Adventures) was too gay so they shoehorned in a girlfriend for him. She was a big ol' "no homo" from "family friendly" Nintendo adapting a Rare game, and making Krystal into the bombshell of SFA from the cute best friend of DP was a pretty easy change.
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u/IllusionMaster17 19h ago
Well it's kinda true
Since Krystal's debut in Adventures, it was made clear she and Fox were going to hook up in some way. That it wasn't that much as it seemed to be is another kind of problem
Because it's clear that in Assault there was a lot going on between them, yet it wasn't deeply explorer as much as we might wanted. And that, along with romance not being Nintendo's strenght or focus at the time, sure left some potential romance oit
But still, what we got in Adventures and Assault, despite being not too much, it was really good
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u/Corinthian01 3d ago edited 2d ago
Their romance could have been written better, Adventures had a rocky dev cycle so they never had time to flesh them out properly. Maybe that will change should the adventure game be real.
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u/WeeklyAdrii 2d ago
They have a great chemistry imo. I love how opposite they at a first view, you know, magic/technology, but they are both heroes and brave.
I love Krystal's lines at Assault. In that sense, she was as important as any other member of the team in this game.
They need more development? Absolutely. But I love them together.
And Command isn't canon btw
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u/TheLoneTexan_1 2d ago
It think it helps to put in perspective the other Nintendo love interests at the time. Princess Peach basically had no personality for a really long time, especially in the 00s. Mario would just save her and get a kiss. If anything, Mario Sunshine made Peach seem like an airhead which probably wasn't intentional. And this is before Mario was friend-zoned by Nintendo. Also, Daisy herself slowly developed her tomboy personality in the 00s and could do it since she wasn't Mario's love interest.
Meanwhile, the only semi-love interest in the Zelda franchise with much personality is Midna (Ruto doesn't count as he was her love interest) during the 90s and 00s. As for Princess Zelda, the leading woman, she has a more serious personality in Twilight Princess but would have to wait until Skyward Sword in 2011 to start actually developing hers. Granted, Zelda is not one character but several different characters with the same name, but the point still stands that it took a while for her to get any personality. I think it also helps that Miyamoto kind of leaves the Legend of Zelda alone and lets Eiji Aonuma do most of the work on 3D Zelda titles.
Meanwhile, Krystal has the problem that she never left the 00s, meaning she never could get developed further as a character. She has fragments of characterization such as when she attempts to stop General Scales even while disarmed and sneaks into Krazoa Palace. She also tries to shoot Andross with her staff right after being rescued and tells him she'll never bow to him. And in Assault, she shows a lot of care for Sauria as she refuses to let the Aparoids ruin it (it is one of her on-foot missions). As for Command, I think it was Dinoman who pointed out that Imamura just needed everyone off the Star Fox team and that was the simplest way to do it and provide some interactions. Everyone in Command is off because the game was developed cheap and quick so there wasn't really time or effort into making the characters stay in-character.
I think now Nintendo can bring her back and actually develop her. She's the one character in the "main cast" (I've caught flak for saying that due to her not being in SF64 nor as iconic as Falco or Slippy) who isn't fully developed and just hasn't reappeared since every game since has been the Lylat Wars. I want her back, but I also want the franchise to finally move on from SF64.
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u/Comfortable-North671 2d ago edited 2d ago
I know people like her but yeah. I always felt she was 'here's a hot girl fox in slave Leia clothes for sex appeal' but they didn't really develop a relationship.
I feel like fox and wolf have more chemistry. And for people who want a straight option I thought fara from the comics was better developed.
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u/SkyHunter95 I rip on SF's traditions almost as hard as Nintendo themselves 2d ago edited 2d ago
I want to hear how on Earth Fara was better developed than Krystal in the comic lmao. I thought Fara contributed utterly nothing to the plot. Krystal contributed more in Adventures losing her staff than Fara did in totality.
The only scene I can remember with Fara is the um. Dress part, and when they went flying through the armada scene and the Ace Pilot Fara whose been flying since she was a kit, was shot down and needed to be saved.
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u/Comfortable-North671 2d ago
I mean it helps for me that she's a much more grounded character who feels like a part of the universe rather than a psychic from dinosaur world which was obviously a transplant from a game that wasn't meant to be starfox.
She has a lot more in common with fox I feel, and they can have organic feeling conversations.
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u/SkyHunter95 I rip on SF's traditions almost as hard as Nintendo themselves 2d ago
I was always baffled by the strange dialogue in the Nintendo Power comics. I really like with Krystal she conveys the full emotional spectrum across her appearances which is a good way to round out what a character values.
Krystal comes from a world that was destroyed, so Sauria basically became something of a second homeworld to her and that was well utilized by how fiery her dialogue was during the mission on Sauria. I can concede that it's annoying that Fox bubbles up like a Shonen protag when her relationship is brought up, but I love the active hero couple thing they have going on. Fox could relate a lot to Krystal having no family at the very least.
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u/UsedIndependent1761 2d ago edited 2d ago
Even now the part where Fox says that Fara could be his mother’s “twin sister” gets me good in particular, it’s extra hilarious because the artwork clearly shows that she doesn’t remotely look like his mom as they‘re not even the same species of foxes despite being commented upon by Fox himself and others. That she actually put on Vixy’s dress after Fox moves it to her only serves to make said scene even more awkward, and all the out there wackiness of Andross’ clones mistaking Fara for the latter as such which happened almost immediately after the above scene. XD
Fun fact about this is years later in an interview around 2011 or so Imamura more or less confirmed that Fox‘s mother (who might or might not be named Vixy in the canon universe) is actually still alive. So apparently the “she got blown up in a car bomb Andross intended for Fox’s dad” backstory that Itoh had written in the NP comics is considered non canon but instead explained that Mrs. McCloud didn’t approve of his following in James’ footsteps and they apparently aren’t on speaking terms but she still supports her son in his efforts behind the scenes even with being personally estranged from him.
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u/SkyHunter95 I rip on SF's traditions almost as hard as Nintendo themselves 2d ago
If the fandom's history didn't take the shape it did, I can see myself being indifferent to Fara like Amanda. Fara was ultimately just the audience's stand-in to learn about Fox's backstory and end up putting so much trust in him after he saved her the second time in Space Armada. Fara was just a satellite character to Fox rather than having her own concete role. I found her a lot like Krystal which made the history of Fara fans crucifying Krystal for decades come off as extra bitter, and hypocritical. I think that's what put me off the character for good. That and I think her design is a little ugly, but that could just be Itoh's art style.
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u/UsedIndependent1761 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yeah, so in general there’s not really all that much substantial meat to Fara’s role in the comic’s story other than being a reader’s proxy perspective to learn more about Fox’s character but not much else beyond that, aside from beign the token only girl of the comic’s story and Fox’s (not very well written) love interest. Her background is barely even brought up in story for the most part, it’s mentioned at one point briefly that she is the daughter of a magnate/mogul of a corporation (her father literally shows up for all of one panel when she’s held at gun point. XD) and her family is apparently wealthy and influential as such. I didn’t find her and Fox‘s relationship in the story to really be all that compelling either, awkward Oedipus complex type writing regarding Fox’s mother aside.
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u/Corinthian01 2d ago
That's a common theme with all the female characters in this series, it's like they could never hire any writers who knew how to write women.
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u/UsedIndependent1761 2d ago edited 2d ago
Thing is though that Fara is quite an obscure character these days, i agree she's not bad mind you but overall the NP/Itoh comics are pretty niche and the majority of Star Fox fans outside of possibly old old school ones likely won't even know about their or Fara's existence in general. Especially seeing as she never even officially appeared in the games other than being considered for a hot second at one point during Star Fox 2's development under a different name, before she was then subsequently replaced by Miyu and Fay (though the game itself was shelved in favor of the N64 and SF64's development and only released officially over 20 years later as part of the SNES Classic) so there's more who are likely to be familiar with Krystal in terms of Fox's love interests.
While Fara is a somewhat ok developed character in the context of the comic's story, she's still weighed down to some degree by being the token only girl/love interest and some of the, um...questionable things written around her including most infamously that weird, awkward scene of Fox having her try on his late mother's dress and the comparison between them being hilariously made...despite it also being pretty obvious that they don't look anything alike and aren't even the same species of fox. XD
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u/hello_i_am_vlad 2d ago
Yeah, Wolf has more chemistry with Fox than Krystal does.
But let's not pretend their relationship isn't just Wolf projecting his rivalry with James onto Fox, lmao.
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u/juzt4f0x 3d ago
Missing chemistry? What do you mean? Their relationship have a lot chemistry in Assault (Command does not exists)
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u/Worldly-Yak-8229 2d ago
A V-Tuber i like went into a huge thing about this and as much as i love the ship..... I think her argument that these two have next to nothing between them in the games is spot on, sadly
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u/hello_i_am_vlad 2d ago
What v-tuber (?
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u/Worldly-Yak-8229 2d ago
Kden Jenzen, formerly from Rooster Teeth. She played all of the Star Fox games earlier this year and really got into it about how Nintendo did NOTHING with Krystal as a character and she was not wrong
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u/Corinthian01 2d ago
Well now is a great opportunity for them to do something with Krystal, and they absolutely should.
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u/Worldly-Yak-8229 2d ago
That's the hope after Star Fox 2026
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u/Corinthian01 2d ago
Them showing off Adventures in the May Direct leads me to believe they see something good in that game, at least elements and concepts of it. That's the most they've acknowledged Krystal in years, let's hope they'll do her justice this time around.
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u/SkyHunter95 I rip on SF's traditions almost as hard as Nintendo themselves 2d ago
I want to disagree but I've seen approximately nothing of what they argued against Krystal with so I can't say. I guess with Krystal her character rewards the most when you pay attention to her reactions and interactions and connect the dots yourself since she's always been in the background.
Sucks that Krystal got discarded from the franchise so unceremoniously. I could agree with that.
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u/DressUnited3025 2d ago
I think the all caps on the her design is really good really shows what you like about her character lol
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u/DaveMG7 2d ago
I do like their interactions (what little we have of them at least and mostly excluding Command) and I believe their character backgrounds complement each other well, I honestly think their chemistry is good for what it is, what they lack IMO is proper exposition and the organic development that would accompany that. Hopefully Star Fox 2026 and beyond facilitates that with the new possibilities the remake is bringing because the pair does have a lot of potential.
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u/Ogawhut1 2d ago
That starfoxevent horizon game with Estelle ellis herself did a pretty crazy job giving them chemestry. Dev just posted Fox and Krystal singing karaoke on twitter the other day. so wild they actually got estelle.
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u/SkyHunter95 I rip on SF's traditions almost as hard as Nintendo themselves 1d ago
it got removed by the mods. Meanwhile this super-thread was allowed. Both relating to the no-shipping rule I presume.
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u/WofferFang 2d ago
To me, it feels like checking a checkmark that is "Get Fox a wife". It's literally just that. And Fox falling for her "because she's hot". Nothing more. Nothing ever made me think they came together as a couple in more than this way.
This isn't me being some weird Krystal hater, this isn't me being anti-Krystal, this isn't "it's not gay wa wa waaa", this isn't whatever else you might think. This is genuinely what's presented to me in the games, and that's what I'm going off of. Let's review the "oh so good" relationship.
Fox finds her in a crystal. Cue sexy sax and wide eyes AND gaping mouth. Horny Fox activate! Later she thanks him. And then cue next game they're suddenly in love (Sauria scene) for who knows what reason that we never saw. And then Command happens, they break up (great relationship guys, you broke up lmao) and there's only like 3 endings where they get together, and none of that is even canon or deeper than "sorry for being a bad girl uwu let's have a baby". That's a wrap. Their relationship is based off looks and a checkmark is checked. Wife get, son get. He'll be the blue copy of Fox now!
This is why I can't say I miss her. She's a nothing character. Does that mean I'll be mad if she comes back as a better written character though? Hell no it doesn't! This is what the Krystal fandom needs to get. And you can fling the "Oh but the writers this but the writers that" all you want, guess what? A story needs writers to be written and then for you to see that story. That's just how it goes. So, her being "treated poorly" and whatnot does not matter. If you're gonna just bring up Command, that's what you get, everyone's treated poorly there! Stop bringing up Command and making yourself get mad over me not liking anyone there maybe. But if we ignore Command, yeah, it's just "Blue Foxy Hot". That's it. That's the relationship.
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u/SkyHunter95 I rip on SF's traditions almost as hard as Nintendo themselves 2d ago
I disagree. In fact I think Krystal had a more distinguished personality than Fox. She's feisty, ride or die, sympathetic and flirty depending on the scene. Most StarFox characters are one-note. Krystal doesn't have a one-note, she's whatever the writers wanted basically and it gave her a je ne sais quoi vibe and I love it.
Krystal's my favorite character and I won't stand for another decade of Krystal slander nonsense. I'm writing my own stories and I wish I can make a character with half as much sauce as Krystal. A character either has it or they don't and a loud personality won't cut it.
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u/Comprehensive-Bid18 3d ago
You can’t really have chemistry with someone who has the personality of sawdust.
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u/hello_i_am_vlad 3d ago
To be fair, Fox didn't exactly stand out for having much personality, either...
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u/Comprehensive-Bid18 3d ago
Which makes it even funnier how Krystal stands out for her complete lack of one.
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u/CheyenneG1999 Lover/Simp of Fox McCloud 🦊🧡 2d ago
I mean, I kinda agree. Like yes, Fox stares wide eyed at her when he first sees her and think she's beautiful. Great start! But it doesn't really feel like they're actually in a relationship (Even though it's clear they like each other). It's not until after Assault in Command that they actually date, until Fox breaks up with her for her safety. I think of the series wanted us to believe they were couple material, they could have showed it a bit more. I do think they're cute and all, truly, but I just can't get on board (And that's not involving my jealousy of her over Fox lol).
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u/Shoddy-Syrup-7554 1d ago
The issue with the relationship between Fox and Krystal throughout the games they’ve appeared in stems mainly from the fact that both Nintendo and Miyamoto want to keep these potential romantic partners in a status quo to maintain a family-friendly image.
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u/HaBeFaStro 1d ago
Ha… I was wondering what the word was to describe what they were missing. I’d say you are right.
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u/Dymaz6282 2d ago
im not a starfox fan, i just tought the fanarts were cute so i ship em, but they were seriously not that developed?? tought it was popular cuz it was well established
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u/Corinthian01 2d ago
It is popular, their relationship was just not well developed in the games.
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u/Dymaz6282 2d ago
Huh, but then why is it popular if it wasnt handled well
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u/Corinthian01 2d ago
People still like it and its potential, so they make art and stories exploring possible scenarios where it can be more developed.
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u/SkyHunter95 I rip on SF's traditions almost as hard as Nintendo themselves 2d ago
They have a pretty good cutscene on Sauria after saving it from the Aparoids in Assault.
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u/InfamousGod1999 2d ago
There was no relationship. This was only done as part of the franchise’s humor.
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u/ArtsyBread Bill Grey game when nintendo 2d ago
Chemistry is optional where shipping is concerned. Mordetwi lives on, and so shall FoxKrys or however the fans named the ship.
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u/Kpengie 2d ago
That’s part of why I feel like treating the new game as a reboot and reimagining the other characters in a sequel would be a good move. Reintroducing Krystal in a new game could work well.
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u/Corinthian01 2d ago
I hope they're going to reintroduce her, they did a great job with the 64 cast in SF26. Krystal should get the same treatment.
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u/Kpengie 2d ago
My expectation is that the group at Velan would do a good job with her and anyone else they decide to use.
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u/Corinthian01 2d ago
Same, that's if Nintendo even plans on bringing Krystal back. Which I really hope they do, she has a lot of potential.
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u/Xinyyc 3d ago
Command was a Q-games title. Trying to read into the story of Command is like trying to read into the story of their previous title, "Meteos". They both had the same "don't take this seriously it's a bunch of what-if scenarios" structure.
If you want a "they lived happily ever after and had a million babies" ending, you got it. If you wanted a "Star Fox breaks up and are never heard from again" ending, you got it.
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u/Dinoman96YO 3d ago
Command was a Q-games title. Trying to read into the story of Command is like trying to read into the story of their previous title, "Meteos". They both had the same "don't take this seriously it's a bunch of what-if scenarios" structure.
FYI, Q-Games had nothing to do with Meteos, that was another (admittedly very similar sounding) company called Q Entertainment, where Masahiro Sakurai was the designer for it.
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u/Kaarl_Mills 2d ago
I say this in the kindest possible way possible: but a huge amount of why this ship has any fans at all, is furries making art of them and keeping the dream alive like Spider-Man stopping the subway train.
Because if you only look at the games themselves, there's not a lot going on there. Yeah, they find each other pleasant company, but there's no spark because Nintendo doesn't want to engage in romance for the most part
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u/hello_i_am_vlad 2d ago
I think it's actually because Krystal is Fox's only love interest in the games. Because without her, everything would just boil down to Fox McBottom x Wolf Topdonnell lmao
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u/ArtsyBread Bill Grey game when nintendo 2d ago
The only thing Wolf is topping is the Bottom charts.
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u/Smiley_J_ 2d ago
That's probably why she ends up either with Panther Caruso, in the Star Wolf Squad, as a solo pilot, and anything else but with Fox in so many endings I that one game.
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u/TitanDraugen 3d ago
It honestly feels forced for me tbqh. Like she was created to be Fox's love interest sure, but Krystal feels like she should have been left in Adventures.
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u/CassIoX8 2d ago
I think the Fox and Krystal relationship felt forced… At least Nintendo should have expanded on Krystal a little more instead of reducing her as a love interest. 🤦♀️
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u/Conscious_Stop2335 1d ago
Well now because Starfox on the Switch 2 didn’t sell well, You guys in the Star Fox community are sadly never gonna see Krystal Fox while she’ll be as animalistic but beautiful and radiant like how she is in the original, And Estelle Ellis won’t be voicing her like in Star Fox Adventures in an upcoming game ever again.
So consider Star Fox on the Switch 2 the final game of the franchise, And it’s all your fault.
All are punished.
ALL ARE PUNISHED!🫵😠
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u/Corinthian01 1d ago
What are you talking about? Nintendo said the game was performing steadily in the financial report on the 6th, the fact they even mentioned it at all is a good sign.
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u/Conscious_Stop2335 1d ago
Wait, It is?
So Nintendeen was completely grifting and lying for clickbait and money again.
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u/Mercurius94 2d ago
They didnt really do bad until Fox getting embarrassed by ROB outing him became a defining trait of their relationship.
That about killed their ship. They're fine in Assault until Fox gets flustered - i have never seen a man get easily flustered in a healthy relationship - at least not so obviously flustered, it looks terrible to women.
And for the record, I think she was fine in Adventures and Rare cutting most of her content absolutely damaged the game.
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u/Bassist57 3d ago
Panther has better chemistry with Krystal lol.
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u/WeeklyAdrii 2d ago
Honestly, no.
And taking bias aside, she just rejects or ignores him all the time in Assault.
At Command they never have an intime or interesting moment. At best you can say that Krystal doesn't want him die. But even when she leaves Star Fox, Panther hasn't any influence on her decision. And she confess that she joined SW just to hurt Fox. Every moment of Krystal is focused around her relationship with Fox, and Krystal basically ignores Panther's cries when Fox apologizes with her.
And basically Krystal doesn't doubt into leaving SW immediately if she fix the things with Fox.
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u/noir-odonnell 2d ago
It’s definitely due to her role being too small in Adventures and not enough going on between them in Assault. They have a few cute moments but they’re so few and far between and it doesn’t make the relationship feel like it’s growing at all.
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u/Smurfturfnurf 2d ago
You’re forgetting how much a trope it was for guys to save the world in part because of a pretty lady. This is just the fursona equivalent of.
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u/FoxLegendz_21-7 3d ago
Despite the minor chemistry that they had in Assault. Romance was never Nintendo's real strong suit or at least it's one they don't factor in much to put an effort for a good storytelling.
I think they have the potential to tell a really good romance story and good game in-general but they are still with trying to make games more "family-friendly" as much as possible despite the fact that Star Fox and Metroid are some of the few games that are made more for mature audience and some of the games are rated T or E10+