Staff Cavern

A 

Receiving the Rocket boost upgrade.

Staff Cavern, or Magic Cave, is one of many underground locations where Fox can learn new abilities for a new ability for Krystal's Staff to use.

The only way to gain those upgrades are around the planet of Dinosaur Planet is inside these Magic Caves. The Magic Caves either contain a new Staff ability or an energy meter upgrade. In total there are 7 Staff Caverns upgrades as well as 3 energy meter upgrades. The ability upgrades are essential to play the game, but the energy meter upgrades are not, but some staff ability upgrades may not work on smaller energy meters, particularly the original one.

Appearances

Fox tries out his first magic power for Krystal's Staff.

Staff Caverns are found underneath liftable rocks, or even cracks in the ground that require the use of Bomb Spores. The Staff will shine green indicating that a cavern is nearby, while the optional rumble feature of the GameCube controller will cause vibrations. While the abilities change with every cavern, the interior remains fairly unchanged, with the exception of energy meter caverns, as there is no moat surrounding the center. Fox can always return to a cavern to collect Staff Energy Gems.

Staff ability upgrades and locations (in order of Fox's discovery)

1. Fire Blaster - ThornTail Hollow, behind a magic door near the entrance ladder to SnowHorn Wastes and the area to enter Moon Mountain Pass.
2. Rocket Boost - ThornTail Hollow, in the first section of the Ancient Well, before the "Crazy Thorntail".
3. Ice Blaster - Volcano Force Point Temple, at the section where you have to dim/extinguish the orbs.
4. Ground Quake - Moon Mountain Pass, near the first creature, behind a magic door opened after Fox encounters a Krazoa.
5. SharpClaw Disguise - CloudRunner Fortress, sent to Fox by Slippy, whilst Fox doesn't actually have Krystal's Staff, in a room close to the prison Fox is sent to.
6. Portal Opener - ThornTail Hollow, given to Fox as a reward for saving the Mother Thorntail's babies from EggSnatchers.
7. Super Ground Quake - Walled City, an upgrade to the original Ground Quake, which deletes the original Ground Quake upon its discovery.

Staff Energy Meter upgrade locations (in order of Fox's discovery)

1. SnowHorn Wastes - in the area where the SnowHorn gives Fox the Small Scarab Bag, there is a patch that Tricky will uncover if Fox uses his Find Command. Under this is the upgrade.
2. ThornTail Hollow - on top of the ThornTail Store is an area you can reach using a Rocket Boost Pad. Up here, use a Bomb Spore to blow open the cave and shoot all the Blaster Target inside to unlock the cave.
3. Cape Claw - use the cannon (accessed via a Staff Portal Door) to blow open a rock on the beach of the cape. The rock is quite tall and is situated quite near to the High Top.

Instruction Booklet description

“Hidden throughout Dinosaur Planet are numerous Magic Caves: the Staff will rumble and glow to let you know when one is nearby. Find a way in, and you can collect an upgrade, adding a new icon to the Staff section of the C Stick Inventory. Highlight the icon and press the A Button to use it [or just assign it to the Y Button]. There are many different Staff Powers to find an collect, but using them reduces the Staff Energy meter. You can refill this meter by collecting gems from the Magic Plants scattered throughout Dinosaur Planet.”

—Star Fox Adventures; Instruction Booklet

Notes

• Fox visited another Staff Cavern upon his return to Sauria to combat the Aparoid Invasion. There are different weapons and First Aid Kits on each of the platforms. Because the area Star Fox visited was Walled City, this Staff Cavern was likely the Super Ground Quake Cavern.
• Fox is able to leap onto the center platform in the moat, but leaping from the center will result in him falling into the water.

Early Development

• In early version, you couldn't leap onto the center platform from the moat. You'd fall in the water. Same applies to leaping from the center to the moat.
• At one point in development, a different sound was played when collecting the upgrades. There wasn't a triumphant soundtrack to play, instead it was of a mystery ambiance.

References

• Star Fox Adventures; Instruction Booklet