The ShadowHunters, a mysterious dromeosaur-like race, appear only once in Star Fox Adventures during the Test of Fear.

Originally, they had a larger role in Dinosaur Planet. According to the story provided by the leaked condensed plot, Krystal, alongside a LightFoot guide (temporarily replacing Kyte, mirroring how Sabre was supposed to get a temporary sidekick in place of Tricky in the form of a infant RedEye within Walled City), would encounter them in BlackWater Canyon, a sacred dinosaur burial ground and home to the Tree of Souls, which returned the magical energy of the dead to the planet. The ShadowHunters were its protectors, with their leader serving as a SpellStone guardian. After the leader agrees to give Krystal the SpellStone, his jealous son steals it, leading to a chase and inadvertently, a boss battle with a skeletal monster. Once the latter is defeated, the ShadowHunter recognize Krystal’s intentions and allows her to activate the SpellStone with the help of his father.

In the December 2000 Dinosaur Planet build, BlackWater Canyon is incomplete, but unused voice clips suggests a different version of the story: two ShadowHunter brothers, scavengers who find the SpellStone, argue over it, with one willing to give it away to Krystal who is now accompanied by Kyte as usual, but the other gives chases with it, resulting in Krystal and Kyte taking after him, which also leads to an encounter with the ghost of Kyte's Mother, the Queen CloudRunner (previously murdered by General Scales at CloudRunner Fortress), who encourages Kyte to fufill her duty as the new queen of the tribe while warning the duo about angry spirits within the area. After reclaiming the SpellStone, they activate it via the Tree of Souls, replacing a formal guardian encounter.

BlackWater Canyon was ultimately cut in Star Fox Adventures, though an unused Peppy briefing hints that the ShadowHunters were nonetheless once planned to appear in the Walled City alongside the RedEyes as the secondary predatory threats, a role likely inherited from the also then-long cut HookClaw Tribe.


Animator Michael Cawood mentioned that, when working on the Test of Fear, he had to improvise due to limited direction and time. As a result, he hastily used leftover ShadowHunter animations from their scrapped enemy role. Despite their minimal presence in the final game, the ShadowHunters were present in some of Star Fox Adventures' Japanese material, most notably on the boxart, oddly utilizing their original Dinosaur Planet renders, likely because no GameCube model renders were ever officially produced as a result of their last minute inclusions.