The project features custom voice acting, and, to the surprise of everyone, several of the original voice actors, including Estelle Ellis (as Krystal) and Jock Blaney (as Wolf and Bill).
Though currently in development, the project is set to feature five arcs:
- The Lylat Wars, a retelling of Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Zero. The arc is currently completed and released, and around half of its levels are fully voiced.
- Saurian Crisis, a radical reimagining of Star Fox Adventures, heavily mixed with the cut content from Dinosaur Planet. Rather than being a Zelda-like third-person adventure game, the Saurian Crisis puts Fox and Krystal on the backs of dinosaurs for the entirety of the campaign (and a Hover Bike for one level), bringing it closer to the rest of the series in terms of gameplay. Currently, most of the levels for this arc are complete, and several are voiced.
- Aparoid Assault, a port of Star Fox: Assault.
- The Anglar Blitz, another creative reimagining, this time of Star Fox Command.
- Event Horizon, an original story arc taking place after the events of Star Fox Command, and once again centered around cut content from Dinosaur Planet, particularly the mystery of Krazoa.
For Ice Cream Man's other projects, see Hyrule Conquest.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Abomination: Andross gets a new boss phase in the form of a deformed and demented mass of tissue and eyes, straight out of a Lovecraftian Horror.
- Adaptational Badass:
- Slippy is more of a competent pilot, and tends to get himself into trouble less. That's not to mention he's Awesome by Analysis.
- Tricky is a lot braver and more willing to use violence to get ahead, which is convenient since he's one of your main mounts for the Sauria arc.
- The Cornerian Army are said to lack an armored division, which leaves the Star Fox unit the only organization that possess a tank to combat enemy armor. The Cornerian military here are given tanks to even the playing field.
- Adaptational Early Appearance:
- A crashed Cerinian ship is present on Fichina.
- During a cutscene showing Andross' quarters, a few artifacts are shown displayed on the wall, including what seems to be the mask of the Aparoid Queen. At the end of the cutscene, Andross sits at his computer and communicates with who else but Drakor.
- Adaptational Nice Guy:
- Wolf is less bloodthirsty, and, like a true mercenary, is Only in It for the Money rather than For the Evulz. He's much more capable of compassion, and actually gives Fox condolences after Fara dies.
- Subverted with Andross. His motivations are more sympathetic (trying to save Venom's biosphere originally), and even offers tries to bribe Fox out of joining in, claiming he has nothing against him. However, this is mostly a farce. He has a visible grin when coldly mentioning the death toll on Corneria, and is eventually revealed to be extremely egoistical and power-hungry.
- Adaptation Personality Change: Krystal comes across as more Literal-Minded and Sarcasm-Blind than she does in the series. Given that she has spent all her life on the primitive world of Sauria, this is understandable.
- Adaptational Ugliness:
- Deliberately done to a lot of the antagonistic characters, such as Andross and Star Wolf members. While most character models are only slightly more realistic than usual, theirs often contain an uncomfortable amount of detail, such as pores, wrinkles, Leon's shifting eyes, and generally detailed texture work.
- Pigma is probably the biggest offender; rather than being a Funny Animal like in the original games, he gives the impression of a boar-like monster with a wrinkled face, sunken eyes, and protruding tusks. Considering the kind of person he is, it's probably nothing but appropriate.
- Adaptational Villainy: General Pepper. Throughout the Lylat Wars, there are hints that he is very much not a kindly old man, but The Generalissimo of Corneria. Shears eventually confirms it near the end of the war; he, Andross and Shears overthrew the old directorate, with Pepper taking all of the credit.note He then orders the Cornerian army to decimate Andross' lab at Venom, completely ignoring all the civilians in the way. Peppy lampshades this:"Dang nabbit, this is gonna look bad on the news!"
- Adaptational Wimp: In the Saurian Crisis Andross isn't resurrected from his grave, he simply stays dead for good after the Lylat Wars. His role there is replaced by Shears, who serves out his final commands, and Drakor, the Big Bad of the arc. He also has nothing to do with the Anglars, meaning that he overall has less influence.
- Amicable Exes: Fox and Fara throughout the Lylat Wars arc, to the point that they talk about getting back together once the war is over. Sadly, Fara is killed by Shears.
- Antagonist in Mourning: Downplayed with Wolf. He gives Fox condolences after Fara dies, stating that he knew her even more than he did, and that he is not happy at all that Shears had her killed. However, all of this conversation takes place during a dogfight with them.
- Awesome by Analysis: Slippy provides an analysis and instructions on how to defeat enemies within seconds of them appearing.
- Broad Strokes: The Saurian Crisis arc is technically an adaptation of Star Fox Adventures, but plays and progresses nothing like it.
- While the original was an adventure game (akin to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time), that kind of gameplay style is impossible to recreate in the FreeSpace engine, and also feels way out of place compared to everything else. To account for this, the arc puts Fox and Krystal on the back of Tricky (a Triceratops) and Kyte (a Pterosaur) for the majority of the arc, meaning each level is only loosely based on the original area it represents. The progression is also different to account for this, complete with the alternate level paths of classic Star Fox.
- The inclusion of Dinosaur Planet content also results in some story changes. Some of it is there just to pad out the levels with more content, but others, like the presence of Randorn, Kyte and Drakor (the latter serving as the Big Bad) are kind of a big deal.
- Canon Foreigner: Oda Fang, a Star Wolf member that (briefly) serves as The Rival to Fara.
- Composite Character: Originally, General Pepper had an underling named Yesla for many of the early missions in Lylat Wars. She was eventually cut and her role in those missions was given to Shears to increase his prominence throughout the arc. Yesla still makes cameos in some promotional material.
- Darker and Edgier: Thanks to being released unofficially, the game can get away with a bit more on-screen violence and deaths, references to politics and war, swearing or the occasional cigarette.
- Divergent Character Evolution: Shears' model was originally a Palette Swap of General Pepper's, right down to the creases on the face. Pepper's design has since been replaced by that from Star Fox Zero, but Shears kept the more realistic bloodhound face.
- Dropped a Bridge on Her: After getting shot down on Fichina, Oda doesn't appear during the next dogfight in Level 9. When Slippy points this out, Wolf answers that she was not lucky enough to survive the crash, unlike the rest of them.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Drakor seems to be this during the Lylat Wars arc, as Andross seems to be cooperating with him for some unknown purpose.
- Heroic BSoD: Fox goes through one following Fara's death. He spends most of the level completely silent, not even reacting to Wolf's remarks.
- I Surrender, Suckers: In Level 9, "Et tu?", Andross seemingly offers to negotiate a surrender to Corneria, and offers neutral space near Venom as negotiating grounds. Of course, this is all for Shears to lead them into a trap, and Andross immediately sends in the majority of his remaining army.
- Killed Off for Real: Fara Phoenix is killed by Shears in Level 9.
- The Lost Lenore: Fara becomes this to Fox upon her death in Level 9.
- Named by the Adaptation: Downplayed. Fay's full name is Fay Collie.
- New Work, Recycled Graphics: Goes both ways with Hyrule Conquest:
- Several of the animal faces are altered Hyrule Conquest assets: the jackals are Darknuts, the Sharpclaw are Dinalfos, Pigma is a Moblin, etc.
- Various structures are altered or reused from Hyrule Conquest too. Sharp eyes will spot Warlock mountain using textures from Tarm Ruins.
- A Stallord corpse made a cameo appearance on Titania.
- Conquest in turn has several Star Fox assets used. For example, Geozards and Geozard Chiefs are altered Anglar models. Also, before their remodel, Labrynnian uniforms were straight up the same ones used by Pepper and Shears.
- Putting on the Reich: Andross wears a uniform directly based on ones from the Soviet Union, making him certainly look quite like a dictator. Comparisons have been made between him and Fidel Castro due to his beard.
- Related in the Adaptation: Fay is apparently General Pepper's granddaughter.
- Stealth Insult: Shears delivers one to Bill on Titania."Your efforts always cease to amaze me."note
- Vocal Evolution:
- It has been about two decades since Jock Blaney voiced Wolf, so he's hit hard with this; he sounds much older, and doesn't put on any accent. It works in the game's favour though, since Blaney's performance combined with the different take sounds quite nice.
- Slippy's voice has generally either been
a childlike one performed by a woman, or a very nasal one in the case of Assault. The game takes a different route by giving him a higher pitched, but still very masculine voice, leaning heavily into a late teens/early 20s male. An apt comparison might be Marina Inoue's and Josh Grelle's takes on Armin Artlert.
- Wham Episode: Level 9: Shears reveals himself to be a traitor by luring the Star Fox team and the Cornerian Fleet into a trap before killing Fara Phoenix.
