After months of collaboration and work, RenaKunisaki has released a playable Krystal mod for Star Fox Adventures, along with dozens of other quality-of-life and debugging features.

More improvements to come in the future. Find out more at http://segment6.net/sfa/amethyst

Podcast Show Notes

Krystal Archive Podcast Episode 42
Recorded January 8th and 9th, 2020

Year in Review 2019
===================
See all site posts from 2019.
https://krystalarchive.com/2019/

Promises From Last Year
=======================
How did we do on planned projects:

* Launch StarFox.org
* Real progress on the Krystal Staff prop
* Edit and release 2017 Ayano footage
* Release the Project Kursed Soundtrack and other assets
* Edit and Release the remaining Assault cutscenes
* Automate daily Krystal fanart posting
* Restore lost posts
* Manage the 1000 emails in my inbox
* Prep and launch Miiverse Krystal Art
* Move all cosplay photos from Flickr to my own server
* Update the site design with cute Krystals

So there's that. Not so great, BUT! Some progress was made and some plans are in motion to do some of these more effectively.

Unpublished Progress
====================
In 2019, I managed to read write some new tools and went through all of DeviantArt to find ALL Krystal fanart I could find that was clean. In the end, I downloaded 16.86GB of art and files representing some 17,500 posts, having looked at something like 200 thousand posts. All this to re-create the fanart section. I will have to do this for FurAffinity as well, but that's a much smaller scale. Once that's done, I can start organizing, deduplicating, removing inappropriate posts (or posts that aren't actually Krystal), and preparing the data to be retrievable in the fanart section. I won't be uploading the art, that's illegal. But I will have a hopefully searchable fanart listing that will have more Krystal fanart than you can possibly imagine!

As I mentioned, I'm working on the Staff, albeit slowly. There's a local plastic supply place in town that I've been to before. In the coming days, I'll be visiting them to ask them about certain materials I need. It has to do with lighting the staff.

Over the Christmas break, I began work on the new Krystal Archive design. It will be a statica..

I noticed something interesting when reviewing cosplay footage from the Montréal ComicCon back in July 2019. Of course, Moonllita was shown off, but wait... there's someone in the background that looks familiar...

I was all geared up to have people help me hunt for who this cosplayer was. But then the other Krystal made an appearance and sent me information, so I will be posting about this new cosplay soon.

Investigations
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Montreal Comic Con ♦ Cosplay music video ♦ 2019 ♦ Fearless (2/2)
Mad Duck Props
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDW8WnJ3j4M

X-Files Theme
Mark Snow
Warner Music

Illuminati Image
https://meme.fandom.com/wiki/Illuminati

Podcast Show Notes

Krystal Archive Podcast Episode 41
Recorded January 9th, 2019

Year in Review 2018
===================

See all site posts from January 9th, 2018 to January 8th, 2019.
https://krystalarchive.com/2018/01/

Keeping Promises From Last Year
===============================

Ayano Harumaki was recovering intended to return to cosplay in 2018. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to. However, she will be trying to return in 2019, so that is promising.

It took half a year, but we did start up the Daily Krystal Fanart postings on Twitter and Gab. These have continued to this day.

StarFox.org was announced publicly on the Krystal Archive, but no content has been put there yet. However, I now have much better access to my archived Star Fox data, and have been doing some research on the site technology in recent weeks. I hope to have something there worth visiting within a month or two.

The Regressor's low-poly Krystal model and WarfareMachine's SFW model were both publicly released to much fanfare.
The third 3D animated model project fell through, unfortunately. Perhaps I will try again if I find a new 3D animator who can do good work like that.
There was effort to get a 3D printable Krystal model too, but that deal fell through.

I did some initial work on a Krystal staff 3D print, but then Krystal in Smash was announced and her new, higher resolution staff model became the desired base. So I resolved to wait until I could access that. The Smash Bros Ultimate model has now become available, so I can start looking into test prints of that soon.

None of the other video projects I mentioned have been started.

The 25th anniversary of Star Fox was celebrated, as I mentioned earlier.

So, about half of the projects came to fruition. Pretty good, I'd say.

Projects for 2019
=================

Launch StarFox.org, and post the materials I already have available.

Begin real progress on the 3D Printed Krystal Staff.

Edit and release my footage Ayano's cospla..

After fighting off a missile attack on the Orbital Gate, the Star Fox team and the remnants of the Cornerian Fleet prepare to warp to the Aparoid Homeworld.

Check the Original Resolution version of this video to see the subtitles.

The original prerendered cutscene frames were upscaled to 4K resolution using ImageMagick, ffmpeg, and Waifu2x-caffe.

The Star Fox team launches their ships into the fight above Fortuna.

Check the Original Resolution version of this video to see the subtitles.

The original prerendered cutscene frames were upscaled to 4K resolution using ImageMagick, ffmpeg, and Waifu2x-caffe.

The Great Fox arrives at the scene of a great battle between the remnants of Andross' Forces and the Cornerian Army.

Check the Original Resolution version of this video to see the subtitles.

The original prerendered cutscene frames were upscaled to 4K resolution using ImageMagick, ffmpeg, and Waifu2x-caffe.

Turns out most of the characters don't have legs during the briefing scenes. Falco and ROB are the exceptions. The bottom sections of the meshes certainly aren't animated (as seen with Falco's legs). However, I'm really impressed that the animation of the upper body looks as if they were animating the whole body.

Fox fires the self-destruct program into the Queen, only for her to suppress it and try to escape. The Star Fox team follow her even deeper into the planet in this final showdown.

Star Fox Assault does not support widescreen. So, instead this video was uploaded at higher than 4K resolution (3840 x 2948 to be precise). Textures and characters look stretched if the video is formatted to widescreen.

A small glitch that 1PupSuits found back in the distant past. They told me how they found it, and I did some experiments. They said it had to do with the sniper rifle, but I found it had to do with angles.

This video was recorded at massive resolution on the Dolphin emulator so that I could crop one fourth of the four player split screen video and still get a large image.

Podcast Notes
Krystal Archive Podcast #40
Recorded January 9th, 2018

The Krystal Archive is officially 12 years old!

Year in Review 2017
===================
A quick summary of all the major events for each month of 2017 up until Episode #39.

Old News Since Last Podcast
===========================

Read directly off the site as I scrolled through the stories.

New News
========

Ayano Harumaki is still recovering, but she should start feeling well enough to begin cosplaying again this year. I don't know here plans at this time.

Shutting down Krystal art Gab and instead moving to daily Krystal fanart posts on the main social channels.

Looking for people to help:
* Fanart researcher and manager
* Discord moderator

Purchased starfox.org with plans to make it an archive-focused site. It won't focus on news, but instead official work and Star Fox research.
* Adventures and Assault voice acting will be transferred there
* All the Smash Bros Brawl cameo clips will also be featured there
* Star Fox Command: All the Words will get an update and be moved there
* Dinosaur Planet research and file hosting
* Eventually, cutscenes, promo art, and other official Star Fox resources will be featured there

3D Projects
* The Regressor is currently working on a low-poly Star Fox 64-inspired version of Krystal that will be fully rigged and released for free
* WarfareMachine released a NSFW model a few months ago, followed by a more detailed version 2.0 that was available for purchase only, not free. I couldn't post about because of it's sexual nature. However, he and I worked out a deal so that he will create a clean version that we will distribute for free, so long as it isn't used for mature things.
* Trying to commission a 3rd artist to create a detailed, stylized Krystal closer to something that Disney animation studios or Dreamworks might make. If it does get built, it will be rigged and released for free.
* Hopefully, some or all of these will be 3D printable. I suspe..

With the planet Sauria saved once again, Fox and Krystal enjoy the company of an old friend, Tricky.

Check the Original Resolution version of this video to see the subtitles.

This is the Japanese version of one of Star Fox Assault's pre-rendered cutscenes. In the game, these videos were rendered at only 640 by 336 resolution, and then heavily compressed into videos that are only running at 30fps (sometimes less), but rendered out at 60fps. The compression artifacts are seriously bad. Also, the game slightly stretches the frames vertically.

To get the best image possible, several software techniques were used. First, the video's frames were recorded using the Dolphin emulator's texture dump capabilities, ensuring that I got exactly one image per unique frame. The files were ordered and then cropped to the appropriate size (the bottom quarter was used for subtitles in the original) using ImageMagick. The amazing software waifu2x-caffe was applied to every single frame using the UpRGB algorithm at 6x size with Level 2 Denoise settings, which takes about 5 hours per minute of video. Level 2 is a nice tradeoff between preserving details and removing noise and artifacts. The resulting images were as wide as a 4K image, and significantly denoised while retaining sharpness. Some nearly invisible details even shined through. The resulting frames were then converted to high quality Apple ProRes video by ffmpeg. From there, it was brought into Final Cut Pro for syncing with the sound and original recording. Where framerates differed, sections of the video were individually cut or retimed to synchronize the better video with the original audio.

With the planet Sauria saved once again, Fox and Krystal enjoy the company of an old friend, Tricky.

This is one of Star Fox Assault's pre-rendered cutscenes. In the game, these videos were rendered at only 640 by 336 resolution, and then heavily compressed into videos that are only running at 30fps (sometimes less), but rendered out at 60fps. The compression artifacts are seriously bad. Also, the game slightly stretches the frames vertically.

To get the best image possible, several software techniques were used. First, the video's frames were recorded using the Dolphin emulator's texture dump capabilities, ensuring that I got exactly one image per unique frame. The files were ordered and then cropped to the appropriate size (the bottom quarter was used for subtitles in the original) using ImageMagick. The amazing software waifu2x-caffe was applied to every single frame using the UpRGB algorithm at 6x size with Level 2 Denoise settings, which takes about 5 hours per minute of video. Level 2 is a nice tradeoff between preserving details and removing noise and artifacts. The resulting images were as wide as a 4K image, and significantly denoised while retaining sharpness. Some nearly invisible details even shined through. The resulting frames were then converted to high quality Apple ProRes video by ffmpeg. From there, it was brought into Final Cut Pro for syncing with the sound and original recording. Where framerates differed, sections of the video were individually cut or retimed to synchronize the better video with the original audio.

The Star Fox team enters the Aparoid Queen's chambers to be faced with mind games and visions from the past.

Star Fox Assault does not support widescreen. So, instead this video was uploaded at higher than 4K resolution (3840 x 2948 to be precise). Textures and characters look stretched if the video is formatted to widescreen.

After entering the Aparoid Homeworld's interior, Fox notices Star Wolf following them. They team up for one last battle.

Star Fox Assault does not support widescreen. So, instead this video was uploaded at higher than 4K resolution (3840 x 2948 to be precise). Textures and characters look stretched if the video is formatted to widescreen.

The Aparoids have attacked the dinosaurs of Sauria. Fox and Krystal head to the surface. "A mission together at last!"

This video combines the better animations from the Japanese cutscene with the English text and voice acting. Though the characters are much more expressive, the lipsyncing is not exact.

Star Fox Assault does not support widescreen. So, instead this video was uploaded at higher than 4K resolution (3840 x 2948 to be precise). Textures and characters look stretched if the video is formatted to widescreen.

Pigma stops running to confront the Star Fox team as a mixture of his old self and Aparoid technology.

Star Fox Assault does not support widescreen. So, instead this video was uploaded at higher than 4K resolution (3840 x 2948 to be precise). Textures and characters look stretched if the video is formatted to widescreen.

Tracking Pigma, team Star Fox arrive at Fichina to find climate control generator completely non-functional and a massive blizzard beginning to grow out of control. Fox McCloud plans to head to the surface to reactivate the generator so their Arwings can fly normally.

This video combines the better animations from the Japanese cutscene with the English text and voice acting. Though the characters are much more expressive, the lipsyncing is not exact.

Star Fox Assault does not support widescreen. So, instead this video was uploaded at higher than 4K resolution (3840 x 2948 to be precise). Textures and characters look stretched if the video is formatted to widescreen.

Tracking Pigma, team Star Fox arrive at Fichina to find climate control generator completely non-functional and a massive blizzard beginning to grow out of control. Fox McCloud plans to head to the surface to reactivate the generator so their Arwings can fly normally.

This video shows the cutscene as it appeared in the original English versions of the game. During the English translation, Nintendo had to adjust the animations so that the lipsyncing matched the English voice acting. Unfortunately, it appears that most of the facial animations, including the eye blinks, were removed during this process. The characters appear much more unemotional in this version.

Star Fox Assault does not support widescreen. So, instead this video was uploaded at higher than 4K resolution (3840 x 2948 to be precise). Textures and characters look stretched if the video is formatted to widescreen.

After Star Fox defeats Star Wolf, Panther gives in to Krystal and reveals Pigma's location.

Star Fox Assault does not support widescreen. So, instead this video was uploaded at higher than 4K resolution (3840 x 2948 to be precise). Textures and characters look stretched if the video is formatted to widescreen.

Team Star Fox gets into position to take on the Sargasso Hideout.

Star Fox Assault does not support widescreen. So, instead this video was uploaded at higher than 4K resolution (3840 x 2948 to be precise). Textures and characters look stretched if the video is formatted to widescreen.

I've never actually played any ROMs for Star Fox 2, and I've only ever played the original Star Fox for about 15 minutes (and I was bad at it at the time). As a result, I can honestly say that my time here playing the SNES Classic will be my first time playing the games. I invited Vulpine Media to come hang out with me and play it. Vulpine Media has played both games a lot, so we get to see two vastly different experience levels. Hope you enjoy!

Super Mario RPG Footage
Square
Nintendo

SNES Classic Footage
Nintendo

Star Fox & Star Fox 2 Footage & Sound
Nintendo

STAR FOX (INTRO REMAKE + TRIBUTE)
rickonami
https://youtu.be/GXLmDRwxAUU

Do a barrel roll!!!
Blue-Storm-Spirit / LordOfRappigs
https://youtu.be/a2wI85gg2Lc

Cube Quest Footage
Simutrek Inc. 1983
Recorded by fesumia
https://youtu.be/FKyWNEGh_yk

Fox Promo Art
Nintendo
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/clvs/manuals/starfox2/html/EUen/character.html

Fay 2006 Fan Art
j-fujita
https://j-fujita.deviantart.com/art/Fay-2006-30508801

WWE John Cena 2nd 2012 FULL Titantron (Green)
WWE 2012
Uploaded by PerryTheCreator
https://youtu.be/rco69s0h2bI

Star Fox 64 Titania Intro Screen
Nintendo
Captured by Son of Andross
http://starfox.wikia.com/wiki/Titania/Gallery?file=SF64_Titania_Intro.png

Star Fox 64 Radio Texture
Nintendo
Sprite ripped by Jackster
https://www.spriters-resource.com/nintendo_64/starfox64/sheet/1461/

Star Fox 64 Radio SFX
Nintendo
Ripped by Starfox-Online.net
https://www.starfox-online.net/Media/sfx-sf64/

A WINNER IS YOU
Pro Wrestling by Nintendo
Uploaded by knowyourmeme.com
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/a-winner-is-you

https://krystalarchive.com