Star Fox 2

About the game

Star Fox 2 was an unreleased game. Put bluntly, possession of it in any form, including cartridge form, is likely illegal, but because it was so long ago, and because it wasn't released, Nintendo will usually look the other way. We'll assume you're playing a downloaded copy with the translation patch applied. (NOTE: we cannot and will not tell you where to download the game! However, the translation patch can be acquired here.) As of May 31, 2006, you will need to play the game in Snes9x 1.43 for it to work, since it will always find a way to freeze or crash in ZSNES.

The translation patch is necessary even if you understand Japanese, because it fixes a few bugs in the game and allows Corneria to take damage. (If Corneria can't take damage, the game becomes too trivial even on Expert mode.) Unfortunately, there seems to be no patch that only fixes the bugs without applying the translation.

Difficulty

Both the "Normal" and "Hard" difficulty settings are very easy, and you should beat the game with almost no problem if you have any idea of what you're doing. We recommend starting on "Hard" because it's a little more fun while not being significantly harder (but it will be longer).

On Easy:

• You will have to destroy only two bases and two battleships.
• The boss Andross sends out to meet you will be Mirage Dragon.
• Andrew of Star Wolf will not appear.
• The cores of battleships will only have two targets to destroy instead of four.
• Viruses will not appear.

On Normal:

• You will have to destroy three bases and four battleships.
• The boss Andross sends out will be H. Phantron.
• Andrew of Star Wolf will appear.
• The cores of battleships will have four targets to destroy.
• Viruses will appear. These are annoying, fast little enemies that will seize control of the satellite if they can reach it.

On Expert:

• You will have to destroy six bases and four battleships.
• Andross will send out both Mirage Dragon and H. Phantron.

With each difficulty level, the enemies you encounter will be harder to defeat, especially the bosses. Andross in particular will have one more battle phase for each difficulty level. Also, each level is different on each difficulty setting. For example, you only fight King Dodora on Hard (but not on Expert). There may be other differences as well.

Selecting your characters

You must select two characters. You will be using these characters for the entire game, so choose wisely! The characters come in pairs, with both characters using the Arwing. There is no difference between the two; this simply allows you to have two characters using the same Arwing type. Also note that your teammate only serves as backup; he or she won't really assist you. Instead, they come into use when you press Select on the map (to switch who is the team leader), or when your main character dies. (Note that both characters have only one life, and if you lose them both, it's Game Over for good.)

• Fox and Falco have the most balanced Arwings: average shields, speed, and beam charging time. Their special item is the nova bomb.
• Peppy and Slippy seem defense-oriented: high shield, but slow speed and it takes a second to charge the laser. Their special item is the recovery item.
• Miyu and Fay, the newcomers, are built for speed: they're fast and the laser charges up almost instantly, making it easy to take down squadrons. However, they have a meager six shield points. Their special item is the shield.

Probably the best team for beginners is Fox and Peppy. Fox is well-balanced and can handle everything pretty well, but if he gets low on health (or even shot down!), Peppy will likely be more than ready to handle the danger with his massive shields and recovery items. (Of course, you can use Falco instead of Fox and/or Slippy instead of Peppy.) Peppy and Slippy ain't such a bad team, either.