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I'm fine. Thanks for helping me out. Hey, aren't you a friend of Krystal?
—CloudRunner Soldier

The CloudRunners are one of the two ruling Tribes of Dinosaur Planet, along with the rival EarthWalkers. Their ancient domain is known as CloudRunner Fortress, which was taken over by General Scales who used it as his base.

Appearance[]

The CloudRunner Tribe are similar to the paleontological flying reptiles Pteranodons, famed for their ability to fly thanks to their membranous wings and resemblance to modern birds for the posture. Chief LightFoot does not call them by the name of the tribe, but instead just calls them birds.

Instruction Booklet Description[]

The other ruling tribe of the Planet, the CloudRunner are a proud and valiant race whose Queen becomes a valued ally in the struggle to overthrow General Scales.
—Instruction Booklet


Society and Culture[]

The CloudRunners are ruled over by the Queen CloudRunner, but they do not appear to have a king, suggesting a matriarchal society or that the king may be deceased. They are a peaceful Tribe as many are seen flying around various areas of the planet, although not appearing to make much contact with the other Tribes. The CloudRunners are also stated to be at a disagreement with the EarthWalkers, as the Queen CloudRunner says that their Tribes "do not see eye-to-eye" and that Tricky refused to travel with Fox to the CloudRunner Fortress. Despite this, some CloudRunners are willing to work with EarthWalker despite their disagreements, as evidenced by the resistance group on Dragon Rock having an EarthWalker and a CloudRunner as comrades. The CloudRunners do however, have a close relationship with the BoneHeads, or at least some of them, as one of them named Gradabug is their chief engineer, which could mean that the CloudRunners are not capable of maintaining the fortress themselves. Another CloudRunner can be seen flying around Walled City. This means that not all CloudRunners dislike the EarthWalkers, or that this one was trapped when Walled City flew off the planet.

History[]

Plight of Sauria[]

One CloudRunner was with Krystal when she arrived at the Krazoa Palace to investigate a distress call just before they were ambushed by the SharpClaw Galleon

General Scales later took control of CloudRunner Fortress, taking the CloudRunners and their Queen captive along with their treasure room's great wealth, to become completely in control of the planet. Fox McCloud later liberated the CloudRunners from the SharpClaw capture to continue his mission. After Fox drove out the SharpClaw occupation of their fortress, a CloudRunner later returned the favor when Fox was captured and nearly executed for "stealing" a fire orb from them at Cape Claw by driving away the LightFoots before they poked Fox with their spears.

The same friendly CloudRunner that helped Krystal get aboard General Scales's flagship SharpClaw Galleon, later joined a resistance group to fight the SharpClaws, but was defeated and imprisoned at Dragon Rock by General Scales along with his comrades with the exception of the ThornTail GateKeeper. He was later released by Fox, and helped him reach the boss, Drakor. This CloudRunner seems to get along well with an EarthWalker, as they and a HighTop are friends of the gatekeeper of Dragon Rock. At Dragon Rock, the CloudRunner was imprisoned in a giant cage but when Fox arrived to rescue him and his comrades, he returned the favour by helping Fox ride on his back towards the center tower.

Aparoid Invasion[]

When questioned about the absence of the CloudRunners from Sauria during the Aparoid Invasion, Peppy Hare mentions that the Tribe is extremely proud, implying that they stood and fought rather than take refuge, and suffered heavy casualties. With the Aparoid Queen destroyed, the Planet was saved by the Star Fox Team.

Equipment and Weaponry[]

The CloudRunners aren't shown to have any significant technology, but some parts of Star Fox Adventures show that they can breathe fire, and that they use this ability in battle. When Krystal was attacked by General Scales and lost her staff, the player maneuvered Krystal, whom was on the CloudRunner, and shot blue fireballs at the ships two rear cannons, propellers, and head. As per the Prima Strategy Guide's walkthrough, it clarifies that it was the CloudRunner who performed this action.

Later on when Fox is captured by the LightFoot clan and tied to a pole, a CloudRunner appears and rescues Fox by blowing red strands of fire at the LightFoot attackers, which was Flame Command. The reason for change of color from these two sequences is unknown. While Fox was riding on the CloudRunner's back it doesn't seem to fire any projectiles from its mouth as indicated by the first level in Star Fox Adventures when attacking the Galleon. Although It could have easily taken out the shield generators itself, both these cases were most likely for gameplay reasons.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Although they live on Dinosaur Planet, the CloudRunners, being based on Pterosaurs, are technically not dinosaurs, as dinosaurs are generally considered land dwelling, non-aviary creatures. Unlike real life pterosaurs, the Cloudrunners have tails and bird-like feet, thus they walk like birds while pterosaurs in real life most likely walked like bats. Technically, the CloudRunners should not be able to fly at all, due to the fact that their wings attach only the arm and not at the hips. This means the wings would be capable of the flag effect seen at the end part of the CloudRunner Fortress, but the skin wings should only flap around when attempting to fly.
    • In addition, Pterosaurs needed as much light weight as possible in order to fly and therefore they would not be able to carry anything like Fox and Krystal's sizes.
  • Evidence from Dinosaur Planet reveals that it was Krystal who had the power to fire blue projectiles, not the Cloudrunner she was riding. Nintendo kept this power at the beginning of Adventures for unknown reasons, as Krystal never reveals this power again. However, the Prima Strategy Guide claims it was actually the CloudRunner that made the blue energy projectiles.
  • The captured Cloudrunner in the Galleon was actually supposed to be the Queen Cloudrunner's daughter, Princess Kyte, in Dinosaur Planet. In Adventures she is still there, but is not addressed as such and only serves as a tutorial for the talk button (A).
  • It is often noted from the above quote that, the CloudRunner asks Fox about Krystal without him having been told her name before. This may be from the CloudRunner seeing the same Staff in Fox's possession.
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