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Star Fox 2 Expert Mode Guide

 
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06-28-15 12:41 PM
sonikku is Offline
| ID: 1179319 | 4160 Words

sonikku
Level: 69


POSTS: 1083/1132
POST EXP: 123345
LVL EXP: 2771215
CP: 13857.8
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Likes: 3  Dislikes: 0
Normally, I'd write these guides with some sort of intro and stuff, but I haven't really had the time I'd like to work on this guide properly and have been using my old Youtube video that managed to beat Expert mode without damage to Corneria for most of my information and looking up other videos so I can give more accurate information.

While this guide CAN be used somewhat for Normal and Hard modes, this is written with the intent of you playing on Expert mode, as it will cover everything you will be doing at some point; Normal only has two planets and two battleships, while Hard only has 3 planets, but all battleships. Expert is also pretty much the only way to get the best scores possible in this game.



Starting planets: You want Meteor and EITHER Titania or Fortuna occupied at the start. Preferably, you want the three attacked bases to be close together, but odds are high this won't happen. You do NOT want the setup of Titania, Meteor, and Fortuna because your beginning will be difficult. Your order of attack should preferably try to leave Meteor for last in this wave and get rid of ONE of the battleships. Do NOT get rid of both of them before getting rid of all three bases, or you will be in for a rough time.



Pilot information:

Fox/Falco: Balanced in everything. Starting item: 3 Nova Bombs

Peppy/Slippy: High HP, slow, long charge. Starting item: 3 full restores.

Miyu/Fay: Low HP, fast, quick charge. Starting items: Twin blaster, 3 overshields.

I recommend choosing Miyu and Fay. Being able to kill things quick in this game is vital, since enemies are still actively moving toward Corneria while you're busy taking down something. The extra HP is not worth starting with a base weapon and longer charge times in Expert mode. If you're really worried about having low health, just pick up the first heart icon you see drop to replace your overshield with the full restore. In fact, I actually highly recommend doing just that; overshield is just brief invincibility, the full heal from healing, even with just 6 nodes of health, will give you more bullets to eat than an overshield before you go down.



Map advice:

Whatever's closer to Corneria is a higher priority than anything else on the map. Unless you think you can take out a base or battleship and still have time to overtake whatever's attacking Corneria, or you notice the defense turret will shoot out the enemy for you (barring a virus isn't about to leech onto it), they are first to kill. If the defense turret has a virus leeching onto it, it needs to go before the turret is able to point itself at Corneria. If you don't care about a perfect game, prioritize this over the enemies, as it will deal siginificantly more damage than the enemies and missiles. If you do care, you're probably resetting right now.

Planets have a slightly higher priority than battleships. The first wave, you only want to kill one of the battleships, preferably the one near Titania if your planet RNG allows for it since it's closer to Corneria. When either both battleships are killed OR the first three bases are removed, Andross will begin his second wave of attacks, starting with assaulting the other three bases. This also triggers a simultaneous missile attack from all standing planets. You do not want this to happen by removing the battleships. Meteor is the closest planet to both battleships, so this is why you need Meteor on wave 1 and you need to do it third.

In the second wave, once you take care of the mess that is everything getting fired at you at once, planets are the lowest threat, as they only have missiles and whatever boss the game decides to put with them. The bosses will eventually charge at you anyway after enough time passes since they're Star Wolf members, and missiles aren't that big of a threat as long as they're dealt with swiftly, so battleships are a higher priority. Of course, take out anything that's coming for Corneria or the defense turret quickly and before dealing with other threats. The next attack Andross fires at you will be the battleships, after a couple of fights (if the battleships were first down) or when the second battleship is down (if the planets were first down).

After more battles happen and you continue to push Andross's forces back, Andross will be impressed by your efforts and send out the big guns... REALLY close to Corneria. These bosses are a really high priority to go after because of their proximity to Corneria, but you are fortunate in that they'll delay slightly before actually heading toward it. This could be the thing that finally overwhelms you and causes damage to Corneria if you aren't prepared for it, but if you can stop this last assault, you're in the clear. (Just look at where I happen to be when this happens in the video.)

One thing I should note. If ever you get into trouble and need to quickly move somewhere, or if your HP is running critical and need a desperate heal, you can always return to the Great Fox (the "Mothership" location on the map) at any point. Going inside will fully heal both of your ships (assuming they're alive; you can't bring back the dead) and allow you to move to any planet not occupied by Andross. (I don't know if you can move to a planet that has yet to fall under Andross's control, this is a function I don't really use because I'm typically far from the mothership.)



Battleship fights:

Boost for the battleship in the beginning. Nothing outside of the battleship is worth your time to kill; the longer you take getting inside, the more other enemies get to move.

In corridor areas, you'll want to stay in Arwing mode most of the time. Unless the obstacles are too uneven for an Arwing to do well in, or you see a switch on the ground, you typically want speed over maneuverability here.

The first battleship has a rather straightforward corridor, has a couple things to kill in it but nothing too bad. After the corridor is a square room containing two enemies walking on walls and a turret for you to destroy to open the door.

The second battleship has an opening corridor full of magma pillars, one of which happens to be moving. Shoot open any doors that need it and avoid getting burned; the burn damage in this game is not fun to deal with. The corridor once again opens into a large square room with quite a few enemies, but you only need to destroy the turrets to open the path. Unless you need heals, don't bother with the wall enemies and just dodge their fire.

The third battleship's corridor has more magma pillars, except they're horizontal instead of vertical. Push through and avoid getting burned as best you can to come to a large room that happens to be a maze. Switch to Walker mode for this; your Arwing will just wind up ramming the doors. Keep an eye on your radar for enemies and try to take the shortest route to reach them as soon as you see them appear. Once they've all been taken down, the door to the core will open.

The last battleship's corridor is actually more than just a corridor. There's a fake wall with a turret thing inside it right at the start, so get in Walker mode and take out the turret to open the wall up. Keep walking forward and drop off the ramp to trigger a switch that will open up the other fake wall and access to the central room. This room has a couple of turrets on tank treads blocking the way to the core, not really difficult to take them out.

The core fights for these are always four glowing pointed objects, one posted on each side of it. They all shoot at you, they all aren't too difficult to destroy with practice. Just strafe to kill the three you can see when you walk in, then circle around to get the last one easily. The second core battle will have some extra turrets posted on the wall, but you should ignore them and just kill the core. The third and fourth cores need a bit of coaxing to come out of hiding, so you'll have to shoot the blue arrow in the ground in the middle of the room to get it to appear.



Planet battles:

A note on these: I've written these in the order I played them in my video on the Vizzed page for this. Core fights may differ between planets, it's been too long since I've actually played this game to remember.


Titania: The outside area has two switches on the outside you have to mess with before the base will open up, each on opposite corners of the map. Use the Arwing mode to travel between them quickly, then switch to Walker mode to interact with them. One switch requires you to push a giant block along the guide to turn the switch on, the other is standing on one end and you have to push it down while in Walker mode to put your weight on the button. (Note: Attempting to fly into the object will only damage your ship.) Once both switches are active, just fly into the base. Destroy as little as possible on the outside, they are there just to waste your time.

Once inside, you'll run into the enemy Tal Kong. This guy's pretty easy to destroy as long as you go in the same direction he's moving. Punch a few charged lasers into his face and he'll go down, opening the way to the core.

The core fight is pretty simple. It's already exposed, so just strafe to dodge the bullets and shoot at it. I highly recommend you be in Walker mode for these core fights so you can focus fire better.


Meteor: Oh god, Meteor's switches. The music here is rather enjoyable at least, but you might be slowed down since these things require a bit of RNG. One switch has a wheel that you have to shoot to get it to start spinning. You have to get it to stop on the O. This one does seem to be somewhat manipulatable, it seems to move 3 spaces after it gets shot, so if you time it so your bullet hits while the X is under the arrow, it should stop on the O. The other switch has you shoot a windmill-like thing where you have to get it to spin until the O is upright, which is seemingly completely RNG-dependent. Just stop shooting at it if you see the O slowly rising up when it slows down. Don't shoot it more than once at a time. Once you get both of them to light up, go inside the base. As before, ignore whatever you can outside the base, the enemies are there just to waste time.

When you get inside the base, if you aren't already, switch to Walker mode immediately. Walk up the ramp to the side and drop between the bright red beams to find a switch. Step on it to open the way and disable the beams. The next room has a weird spinning thing that I would guess is a defense turret. It's only vulnerable when it opens up to attack you, so pile on the damage at its core and strafe to dodge the bullets. There's also a weird frog-like unit walking around on the ceiling that you have to kill. The center is vulnerable to gunfire, so target that to destroy it. With everything gone, the core should open up.

This core fight was pretty much identical to the last one. Just blow it up and move on.


Eladard: This base is protected by a barrier, which honestly makes things easier as there are no switches to deal with. Just take out the four points generating the barrier to remove it and open the base.

The interior of this base is a bit larger than the other bases you deal with. Start off by flying over the large magma pit in the first room. Destroy the turret in the next room, then turn right and go until you get to a room similar to this one. In the back, behind the two tall platforms, hides a switch you need to step on. Activating this will turn off the base's magma pillars, allowing you to access a switch in the previous room you skipped over that was blocked by two magma pillars. Step on this switch to open the way forward, into a room containing another magma pit and a walker enemy on the ceiling. Take care of the enemy and the door to the core will open up.

Another easy core fight, just blow it up and move along, nothing special. Don't worry, these will start to ramp up soon.


Fortuna: This place reminds me of Aquas for some reason. Huh... wonder why it's called Fortuna here. Anyway, some octopus boss ate your switch for some reason, so you need to kill it to get to it. When it's above water, only the Arwing can damage it, and when it's under water, only the Walker can damage it. Preferably, you don't want to have to switch more than once to kill this thing because it takes a bit for your walker to sink to the ocean floor. If you do need to switch twice, try to be somewhat near where it is so you can damage it as you're falling. Once it dies, the switch will fall to the ocean floor where the boss died. Step on it and walk inside the base. Yes, walk. Your Arwing mode won't stay under the water, and the base is under the water, so you have to walk for once.

Inside the base is a rather annoying boss. It's a larger walker enemy that likes to hide in the water crevices, and it cannot be damaged while in these crevices. You'll need to lead your shots if you want to damage this guy, or get lucky and hope his jumps keep him on land. Fortunately, once he's dead, the path to the core will open up.

This core's actually different from the previous ones. This one is protected by some form of barrier, and to lower it, you have to shoot down the four power nodes keeping it up in the corners of the core room. Just a minor setback that shouldn't be too difficult to overcome. I presume this defense gets set up by Andross as a countermeasure to your earlier efforts and only shows up during the second wave, so this barrier may not be here (and may be in the other bases that didn't have one for me) on your run simply due to ordering.


Macbeth: You sure this isn't Solar? I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be Solar. Walker mode in this level is a very terrible idea, as if you aren't on the floating platform holding your switch, you're going to burn. You literally have to time your mode change so you at least land on the platform so you can activate the switch. This may take a few tries, and I highly recommend you bring the full restore special weapon with you here if you can. On the plus side, if you see you're about to miss the platform, you can change while falling to stop your momentum.

Inside this base is by far one of the most annoying bosses in the game, Knight Nack. He's annoying because he has a GIANT SHIELD that he uses to block your shots, and it's not exactly easy to get behind him. You'll have to attack his weapon side when he's attacking you if you want to get through with the least trouble.

Like the last core, this core is protected by a barrier with 4 power nodes powering it. The nodes are shooting at you pretty fast this time, but it shouldn't be difficult to take them out, and the core with them.


venom : Ya know, Venom doesn't look half bad in this iteration of Star Fox. Another boss has eaten the switch to get in the base again, but this one's relatively easy to take down. Keep your distance, take advantage of lock on, and this guy should fall without getting even the slightest chance to actually kill you.

Unfortunately, we aren't so lucky with the interior of this base, as it's another maze. Directly in front of you is a ramp, but you'll want to go around this. The ramp actually goes up to a platform, but the switch here is underneath said platform. Trigger this to open the way forward (left). The next room is a bit annoying, with something rotating around this room that covers more or less floor to ceiling in a counterclockwise fashion. You'll want to follow the rotating damage to reach the switch you should be able to see coming in, then keep going around with it until you can safely go through the door that opens up. This goes into a rather long corridor you should fly through, which eventually dead ends into a fake wall with a turret in it. Three of them, in fact. Take them out like you did on the battleship, and the gate to the core will open.

For reasons beyond my knowledge, this base didn't have a barrier in the way of the core. Maybe it was because he spent too many resources building this base as large as he did. Doesn't matter, though, just makes your job easier. Blow it up and move on.


Andross's Main Base: I suppose this counts as a planet, but there's no outside terrain. You wind up here either by manually flying towards it while the war's still going on, or automatically after eliminating all of Andross's bases, battleships, viruses, missiles, bosses, and roaming enemies. Preferably, you want to get here in the latter case, as you'll be fully healed from landing in the Great Fox.

The opening corridor has a ramp, a moving magma bar, and another ramp. You'll want to switch to Walker mode at this second ramp, as the switch to open the wall is hiding behind it. This will open up to a corridor maze. Start by going to the left to a room with a large magma pit in the center. We have a Macbeth scenario here with the switch on a rotating platform that happens to be above said magma pit. You'll most likely take damage trying to land on the accursed thing, but you CAN actually jump on it from the magma. It may not hurt to get burned just to make landing on the switch easier, especially if you have any heal special weapons left (or overshields for brief invulnerability). Once you get the path open, you'll head through a long corridor filled with nothing of note, just doors to blast open and spinning walls you can shoot to stop. In the room this opens up to, just head north. You'll probably eat a bit of damage from the trap placed in the way here, but if there's a way to disable it, it's not worth your time, as it won't kill you if you have health to spare. Past it is the core of this base, which resembles the core of the battleships, only bigger. Aside from being bigger, there's no difference whatsoever between the two, so just blow it up like it's nothing... to lower the shield hiding Andross Cube. Attack him a few times and he'll "explode" before descending lower into the base.


Andross: He starts off the fight by hiding behind a mask. The glowing eye sockets are its weak points, but shooting them will cause the mask to "flinch" and turn toward the side you hit him from. When he starts shaking his head rapidly even when your bullets aren't hitting him, drop below eye level, as he will shoot magma beams from his eyes.

Once the mask's eyes are destroyed, it will open up to look like a hood and two hands will appear, clasped together by his chin. What also looks like a glowing eye will appear within the hood; attack there as best you can to finish off the mask and reveal Andross's face.

Familiar with Star Fox 64? This phase should be cake if you are. The hands need to go. Shoot them down. (I don't remember any attacks this phase does, and my video kills the hands so quickly they don't attack). This phase does, however, have a tendency to move THROUGH you, causing damage to you if you collide with his face, probably as a result of eliminating his hands. After this, some weird propeller thing centered on his actual eye will rotate around and change Andross's face color a few times before the eye pops out and attacks you, shortly after revealing Andross Cube. This is your chance to unload as much damage as you can onto it. Fail to kill it, and you'll be back at the mask phase again, but the damage will stick. Succeed, and the war is won. Even if the face goes away completely, keep up the damage until you lose control just in case it comes back.



Bosses:

This section will only cover the bosses that show up in the overworld. The ones on planets and inside bases aren't exactly a huge threat, excluding Andross himself, but he's in a base.

Star Wolf: All of these are basically the same fight with a different person talking to you. Charge shot with a few basic rounds thrown in should get a couple hits if aimed well even if they barrel roll. They'll almost always attack you with a charge shot, which you should deflect with a barrel roll. All in all, these guys are pansies that you can take down in less than half a tick once you get good at fighting them.

Hunter Tectron: One of the bosses that Andross can summon when you're about to corner him. This piece of crap is a souped up version of the basic enemy that disappears and circles around you rapidly. He isn't really much of a threat damage wise, but he can be a bit of a time sink (which is Andross's plan) if you aren't prepared to handle it. Just keep an eye on the radar when you lose sight of him to keep track of where he is, and attack while he's opened up and shooting at you. Hopefully this won't take you too long to do.

Space Blade: I don't even know why this thing is a boss. Just time charge shots to hit the center of this thing and it goes down pretty fast. It's not even a threat.

Mirage Dragon: That giant snake thing you see in the intro sequence. This boss only has one attack, and it's a giant laser cannon it fires out of its mouth... which also happens to be its weak point. Don't get directly in its line of fire and just fire charge blasts at it when it attacks you. Not really a hard boss, but you might eat a couple hits fighting it for the first time.

H Fantron: Another boss that Andross can summon at you. Very tanky and uses its arms to spin around and smack you about. If you aren't careful, this thing can cause a LOT of damage to you. Its weakness is the center, just like Hunter Tectron.

Only two of these (non-Star Wolf) bosses will be present in your Expert run; Andross only spawns two of them, and it's random which two you'll get. All four members of Star Wolf will show up on Expert mode no matter what.



Scoring:

Scoring is based on the following, though to what degree is unknown to me:

- Enemies destroyed in the main game
- Planets rescued
- Battleships destroyed
- Time taken to defeat Andross (faster is better)
- Damage Corneria has taken (lower is better)

Ranking is based entirely on score, with higher scores giving you a better rank. I believe the best rank possible can be obtained on reaching 200,000 points. While you won't necessarily need a flawless run to reach it, speed and tactics will determine the large part of your score. My current best record is 248,241 points, which gives you a badge that looks like a shooting star to me.


If I'm missing anything, let me know.
Normally, I'd write these guides with some sort of intro and stuff, but I haven't really had the time I'd like to work on this guide properly and have been using my old Youtube video that managed to beat Expert mode without damage to Corneria for most of my information and looking up other videos so I can give more accurate information.

While this guide CAN be used somewhat for Normal and Hard modes, this is written with the intent of you playing on Expert mode, as it will cover everything you will be doing at some point; Normal only has two planets and two battleships, while Hard only has 3 planets, but all battleships. Expert is also pretty much the only way to get the best scores possible in this game.



Starting planets: You want Meteor and EITHER Titania or Fortuna occupied at the start. Preferably, you want the three attacked bases to be close together, but odds are high this won't happen. You do NOT want the setup of Titania, Meteor, and Fortuna because your beginning will be difficult. Your order of attack should preferably try to leave Meteor for last in this wave and get rid of ONE of the battleships. Do NOT get rid of both of them before getting rid of all three bases, or you will be in for a rough time.



Pilot information:

Fox/Falco: Balanced in everything. Starting item: 3 Nova Bombs

Peppy/Slippy: High HP, slow, long charge. Starting item: 3 full restores.

Miyu/Fay: Low HP, fast, quick charge. Starting items: Twin blaster, 3 overshields.

I recommend choosing Miyu and Fay. Being able to kill things quick in this game is vital, since enemies are still actively moving toward Corneria while you're busy taking down something. The extra HP is not worth starting with a base weapon and longer charge times in Expert mode. If you're really worried about having low health, just pick up the first heart icon you see drop to replace your overshield with the full restore. In fact, I actually highly recommend doing just that; overshield is just brief invincibility, the full heal from healing, even with just 6 nodes of health, will give you more bullets to eat than an overshield before you go down.



Map advice:

Whatever's closer to Corneria is a higher priority than anything else on the map. Unless you think you can take out a base or battleship and still have time to overtake whatever's attacking Corneria, or you notice the defense turret will shoot out the enemy for you (barring a virus isn't about to leech onto it), they are first to kill. If the defense turret has a virus leeching onto it, it needs to go before the turret is able to point itself at Corneria. If you don't care about a perfect game, prioritize this over the enemies, as it will deal siginificantly more damage than the enemies and missiles. If you do care, you're probably resetting right now.

Planets have a slightly higher priority than battleships. The first wave, you only want to kill one of the battleships, preferably the one near Titania if your planet RNG allows for it since it's closer to Corneria. When either both battleships are killed OR the first three bases are removed, Andross will begin his second wave of attacks, starting with assaulting the other three bases. This also triggers a simultaneous missile attack from all standing planets. You do not want this to happen by removing the battleships. Meteor is the closest planet to both battleships, so this is why you need Meteor on wave 1 and you need to do it third.

In the second wave, once you take care of the mess that is everything getting fired at you at once, planets are the lowest threat, as they only have missiles and whatever boss the game decides to put with them. The bosses will eventually charge at you anyway after enough time passes since they're Star Wolf members, and missiles aren't that big of a threat as long as they're dealt with swiftly, so battleships are a higher priority. Of course, take out anything that's coming for Corneria or the defense turret quickly and before dealing with other threats. The next attack Andross fires at you will be the battleships, after a couple of fights (if the battleships were first down) or when the second battleship is down (if the planets were first down).

After more battles happen and you continue to push Andross's forces back, Andross will be impressed by your efforts and send out the big guns... REALLY close to Corneria. These bosses are a really high priority to go after because of their proximity to Corneria, but you are fortunate in that they'll delay slightly before actually heading toward it. This could be the thing that finally overwhelms you and causes damage to Corneria if you aren't prepared for it, but if you can stop this last assault, you're in the clear. (Just look at where I happen to be when this happens in the video.)

One thing I should note. If ever you get into trouble and need to quickly move somewhere, or if your HP is running critical and need a desperate heal, you can always return to the Great Fox (the "Mothership" location on the map) at any point. Going inside will fully heal both of your ships (assuming they're alive; you can't bring back the dead) and allow you to move to any planet not occupied by Andross. (I don't know if you can move to a planet that has yet to fall under Andross's control, this is a function I don't really use because I'm typically far from the mothership.)



Battleship fights:

Boost for the battleship in the beginning. Nothing outside of the battleship is worth your time to kill; the longer you take getting inside, the more other enemies get to move.

In corridor areas, you'll want to stay in Arwing mode most of the time. Unless the obstacles are too uneven for an Arwing to do well in, or you see a switch on the ground, you typically want speed over maneuverability here.

The first battleship has a rather straightforward corridor, has a couple things to kill in it but nothing too bad. After the corridor is a square room containing two enemies walking on walls and a turret for you to destroy to open the door.

The second battleship has an opening corridor full of magma pillars, one of which happens to be moving. Shoot open any doors that need it and avoid getting burned; the burn damage in this game is not fun to deal with. The corridor once again opens into a large square room with quite a few enemies, but you only need to destroy the turrets to open the path. Unless you need heals, don't bother with the wall enemies and just dodge their fire.

The third battleship's corridor has more magma pillars, except they're horizontal instead of vertical. Push through and avoid getting burned as best you can to come to a large room that happens to be a maze. Switch to Walker mode for this; your Arwing will just wind up ramming the doors. Keep an eye on your radar for enemies and try to take the shortest route to reach them as soon as you see them appear. Once they've all been taken down, the door to the core will open.

The last battleship's corridor is actually more than just a corridor. There's a fake wall with a turret thing inside it right at the start, so get in Walker mode and take out the turret to open the wall up. Keep walking forward and drop off the ramp to trigger a switch that will open up the other fake wall and access to the central room. This room has a couple of turrets on tank treads blocking the way to the core, not really difficult to take them out.

The core fights for these are always four glowing pointed objects, one posted on each side of it. They all shoot at you, they all aren't too difficult to destroy with practice. Just strafe to kill the three you can see when you walk in, then circle around to get the last one easily. The second core battle will have some extra turrets posted on the wall, but you should ignore them and just kill the core. The third and fourth cores need a bit of coaxing to come out of hiding, so you'll have to shoot the blue arrow in the ground in the middle of the room to get it to appear.



Planet battles:

A note on these: I've written these in the order I played them in my video on the Vizzed page for this. Core fights may differ between planets, it's been too long since I've actually played this game to remember.


Titania: The outside area has two switches on the outside you have to mess with before the base will open up, each on opposite corners of the map. Use the Arwing mode to travel between them quickly, then switch to Walker mode to interact with them. One switch requires you to push a giant block along the guide to turn the switch on, the other is standing on one end and you have to push it down while in Walker mode to put your weight on the button. (Note: Attempting to fly into the object will only damage your ship.) Once both switches are active, just fly into the base. Destroy as little as possible on the outside, they are there just to waste your time.

Once inside, you'll run into the enemy Tal Kong. This guy's pretty easy to destroy as long as you go in the same direction he's moving. Punch a few charged lasers into his face and he'll go down, opening the way to the core.

The core fight is pretty simple. It's already exposed, so just strafe to dodge the bullets and shoot at it. I highly recommend you be in Walker mode for these core fights so you can focus fire better.


Meteor: Oh god, Meteor's switches. The music here is rather enjoyable at least, but you might be slowed down since these things require a bit of RNG. One switch has a wheel that you have to shoot to get it to start spinning. You have to get it to stop on the O. This one does seem to be somewhat manipulatable, it seems to move 3 spaces after it gets shot, so if you time it so your bullet hits while the X is under the arrow, it should stop on the O. The other switch has you shoot a windmill-like thing where you have to get it to spin until the O is upright, which is seemingly completely RNG-dependent. Just stop shooting at it if you see the O slowly rising up when it slows down. Don't shoot it more than once at a time. Once you get both of them to light up, go inside the base. As before, ignore whatever you can outside the base, the enemies are there just to waste time.

When you get inside the base, if you aren't already, switch to Walker mode immediately. Walk up the ramp to the side and drop between the bright red beams to find a switch. Step on it to open the way and disable the beams. The next room has a weird spinning thing that I would guess is a defense turret. It's only vulnerable when it opens up to attack you, so pile on the damage at its core and strafe to dodge the bullets. There's also a weird frog-like unit walking around on the ceiling that you have to kill. The center is vulnerable to gunfire, so target that to destroy it. With everything gone, the core should open up.

This core fight was pretty much identical to the last one. Just blow it up and move on.


Eladard: This base is protected by a barrier, which honestly makes things easier as there are no switches to deal with. Just take out the four points generating the barrier to remove it and open the base.

The interior of this base is a bit larger than the other bases you deal with. Start off by flying over the large magma pit in the first room. Destroy the turret in the next room, then turn right and go until you get to a room similar to this one. In the back, behind the two tall platforms, hides a switch you need to step on. Activating this will turn off the base's magma pillars, allowing you to access a switch in the previous room you skipped over that was blocked by two magma pillars. Step on this switch to open the way forward, into a room containing another magma pit and a walker enemy on the ceiling. Take care of the enemy and the door to the core will open up.

Another easy core fight, just blow it up and move along, nothing special. Don't worry, these will start to ramp up soon.


Fortuna: This place reminds me of Aquas for some reason. Huh... wonder why it's called Fortuna here. Anyway, some octopus boss ate your switch for some reason, so you need to kill it to get to it. When it's above water, only the Arwing can damage it, and when it's under water, only the Walker can damage it. Preferably, you don't want to have to switch more than once to kill this thing because it takes a bit for your walker to sink to the ocean floor. If you do need to switch twice, try to be somewhat near where it is so you can damage it as you're falling. Once it dies, the switch will fall to the ocean floor where the boss died. Step on it and walk inside the base. Yes, walk. Your Arwing mode won't stay under the water, and the base is under the water, so you have to walk for once.

Inside the base is a rather annoying boss. It's a larger walker enemy that likes to hide in the water crevices, and it cannot be damaged while in these crevices. You'll need to lead your shots if you want to damage this guy, or get lucky and hope his jumps keep him on land. Fortunately, once he's dead, the path to the core will open up.

This core's actually different from the previous ones. This one is protected by some form of barrier, and to lower it, you have to shoot down the four power nodes keeping it up in the corners of the core room. Just a minor setback that shouldn't be too difficult to overcome. I presume this defense gets set up by Andross as a countermeasure to your earlier efforts and only shows up during the second wave, so this barrier may not be here (and may be in the other bases that didn't have one for me) on your run simply due to ordering.


Macbeth: You sure this isn't Solar? I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be Solar. Walker mode in this level is a very terrible idea, as if you aren't on the floating platform holding your switch, you're going to burn. You literally have to time your mode change so you at least land on the platform so you can activate the switch. This may take a few tries, and I highly recommend you bring the full restore special weapon with you here if you can. On the plus side, if you see you're about to miss the platform, you can change while falling to stop your momentum.

Inside this base is by far one of the most annoying bosses in the game, Knight Nack. He's annoying because he has a GIANT SHIELD that he uses to block your shots, and it's not exactly easy to get behind him. You'll have to attack his weapon side when he's attacking you if you want to get through with the least trouble.

Like the last core, this core is protected by a barrier with 4 power nodes powering it. The nodes are shooting at you pretty fast this time, but it shouldn't be difficult to take them out, and the core with them.


venom : Ya know, Venom doesn't look half bad in this iteration of Star Fox. Another boss has eaten the switch to get in the base again, but this one's relatively easy to take down. Keep your distance, take advantage of lock on, and this guy should fall without getting even the slightest chance to actually kill you.

Unfortunately, we aren't so lucky with the interior of this base, as it's another maze. Directly in front of you is a ramp, but you'll want to go around this. The ramp actually goes up to a platform, but the switch here is underneath said platform. Trigger this to open the way forward (left). The next room is a bit annoying, with something rotating around this room that covers more or less floor to ceiling in a counterclockwise fashion. You'll want to follow the rotating damage to reach the switch you should be able to see coming in, then keep going around with it until you can safely go through the door that opens up. This goes into a rather long corridor you should fly through, which eventually dead ends into a fake wall with a turret in it. Three of them, in fact. Take them out like you did on the battleship, and the gate to the core will open.

For reasons beyond my knowledge, this base didn't have a barrier in the way of the core. Maybe it was because he spent too many resources building this base as large as he did. Doesn't matter, though, just makes your job easier. Blow it up and move on.


Andross's Main Base: I suppose this counts as a planet, but there's no outside terrain. You wind up here either by manually flying towards it while the war's still going on, or automatically after eliminating all of Andross's bases, battleships, viruses, missiles, bosses, and roaming enemies. Preferably, you want to get here in the latter case, as you'll be fully healed from landing in the Great Fox.

The opening corridor has a ramp, a moving magma bar, and another ramp. You'll want to switch to Walker mode at this second ramp, as the switch to open the wall is hiding behind it. This will open up to a corridor maze. Start by going to the left to a room with a large magma pit in the center. We have a Macbeth scenario here with the switch on a rotating platform that happens to be above said magma pit. You'll most likely take damage trying to land on the accursed thing, but you CAN actually jump on it from the magma. It may not hurt to get burned just to make landing on the switch easier, especially if you have any heal special weapons left (or overshields for brief invulnerability). Once you get the path open, you'll head through a long corridor filled with nothing of note, just doors to blast open and spinning walls you can shoot to stop. In the room this opens up to, just head north. You'll probably eat a bit of damage from the trap placed in the way here, but if there's a way to disable it, it's not worth your time, as it won't kill you if you have health to spare. Past it is the core of this base, which resembles the core of the battleships, only bigger. Aside from being bigger, there's no difference whatsoever between the two, so just blow it up like it's nothing... to lower the shield hiding Andross Cube. Attack him a few times and he'll "explode" before descending lower into the base.


Andross: He starts off the fight by hiding behind a mask. The glowing eye sockets are its weak points, but shooting them will cause the mask to "flinch" and turn toward the side you hit him from. When he starts shaking his head rapidly even when your bullets aren't hitting him, drop below eye level, as he will shoot magma beams from his eyes.

Once the mask's eyes are destroyed, it will open up to look like a hood and two hands will appear, clasped together by his chin. What also looks like a glowing eye will appear within the hood; attack there as best you can to finish off the mask and reveal Andross's face.

Familiar with Star Fox 64? This phase should be cake if you are. The hands need to go. Shoot them down. (I don't remember any attacks this phase does, and my video kills the hands so quickly they don't attack). This phase does, however, have a tendency to move THROUGH you, causing damage to you if you collide with his face, probably as a result of eliminating his hands. After this, some weird propeller thing centered on his actual eye will rotate around and change Andross's face color a few times before the eye pops out and attacks you, shortly after revealing Andross Cube. This is your chance to unload as much damage as you can onto it. Fail to kill it, and you'll be back at the mask phase again, but the damage will stick. Succeed, and the war is won. Even if the face goes away completely, keep up the damage until you lose control just in case it comes back.



Bosses:

This section will only cover the bosses that show up in the overworld. The ones on planets and inside bases aren't exactly a huge threat, excluding Andross himself, but he's in a base.

Star Wolf: All of these are basically the same fight with a different person talking to you. Charge shot with a few basic rounds thrown in should get a couple hits if aimed well even if they barrel roll. They'll almost always attack you with a charge shot, which you should deflect with a barrel roll. All in all, these guys are pansies that you can take down in less than half a tick once you get good at fighting them.

Hunter Tectron: One of the bosses that Andross can summon when you're about to corner him. This piece of crap is a souped up version of the basic enemy that disappears and circles around you rapidly. He isn't really much of a threat damage wise, but he can be a bit of a time sink (which is Andross's plan) if you aren't prepared to handle it. Just keep an eye on the radar when you lose sight of him to keep track of where he is, and attack while he's opened up and shooting at you. Hopefully this won't take you too long to do.

Space Blade: I don't even know why this thing is a boss. Just time charge shots to hit the center of this thing and it goes down pretty fast. It's not even a threat.

Mirage Dragon: That giant snake thing you see in the intro sequence. This boss only has one attack, and it's a giant laser cannon it fires out of its mouth... which also happens to be its weak point. Don't get directly in its line of fire and just fire charge blasts at it when it attacks you. Not really a hard boss, but you might eat a couple hits fighting it for the first time.

H Fantron: Another boss that Andross can summon at you. Very tanky and uses its arms to spin around and smack you about. If you aren't careful, this thing can cause a LOT of damage to you. Its weakness is the center, just like Hunter Tectron.

Only two of these (non-Star Wolf) bosses will be present in your Expert run; Andross only spawns two of them, and it's random which two you'll get. All four members of Star Wolf will show up on Expert mode no matter what.



Scoring:

Scoring is based on the following, though to what degree is unknown to me:

- Enemies destroyed in the main game
- Planets rescued
- Battleships destroyed
- Time taken to defeat Andross (faster is better)
- Damage Corneria has taken (lower is better)

Ranking is based entirely on score, with higher scores giving you a better rank. I believe the best rank possible can be obtained on reaching 200,000 points. While you won't necessarily need a flawless run to reach it, speed and tactics will determine the large part of your score. My current best record is 248,241 points, which gives you a badge that looks like a shooting star to me.


If I'm missing anything, let me know.
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Nice work on the guide. I hate that this guide had never gotten a proper release. I had played the game myself and it looks like the game was almost finished and then they just up and quit right then and there. It was the Nintendo 64's fault. Nintendo should have just released the game anyway since these days companies are releasing games for the previous generation for a few years longer before everything comes to an end for them. Even NES still had games coming out for the system well into the lifespan of SNES with no problems I know of.
Nice work on the guide. I hate that this guide had never gotten a proper release. I had played the game myself and it looks like the game was almost finished and then they just up and quit right then and there. It was the Nintendo 64's fault. Nintendo should have just released the game anyway since these days companies are releasing games for the previous generation for a few years longer before everything comes to an end for them. Even NES still had games coming out for the system well into the lifespan of SNES with no problems I know of.
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