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.
- Battleships will not fire the Planet Cannon. (not yet confirmed)
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.
- Battleships may fire the Planet Cannon.
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, and they also come equipped with twin blasters.
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.
Miyu and Fay are fine for Normal and Hard, because their low shields aren't a problem. On Expert mode, there's a dilemma: their higher speed is more valuable since time is of the essence, but at the same time, it's much easier for them to get shot down. If you choose one of them, it may be particularly wise to pair her with Peppy or Slippy.
Strategy
Other than to destroy battleships and bases without dying, you also must keep Corneria from taking damage. Any damage inflicted is permanent, and you will lose the game if Corneria reaches 100% damage. Damage can be caused by enemy squadrons, IPBMs, battleships firing the Planet Cannon (you'll know it when this is about to happen), and the satellite system firing upon Corneria. The satellite system is normally your friend and it will take out enemies on the map, but if it gets infected with a virus, it will fire upon Corneria instead. You can rectify this situation by going to the satellite and removing the viruses.
IPBMs will explode upon impact, causing significant damage. On the other hand, enemy squadrons will remain on top of Corneria and keep attacking. This makes them more of a threat, but they seem to not take so direct a route to Corneria as IPBMs do.
On Normal and Hard, there's not much strategy involved: just take down missiles and squadrons when you see them, and if there are none, take down a battleship or a base. Give battleships a higher priority on Hard mode because they are equipped with Planet Cannons that can damage Corneria. It's no big deal, though; it's likely Corneria will not suffer serious harm.
On Expert mode, this strategy will not work. If you keep destroying every enemy you see on the map before taking on a base or a battleship, you will simply get overwhelmed and if you keep using this strategy to the end, Corneria will fall. Andross will very often screw you over once you get rid of that last IPBM on the map, for instance by ordering battleships to advance to Corneria and fire the Planet Cannon while launching an IPBM from every base.
The key is to be aggressive and take down battleships and bases quickly. Although Corneria may take some damage at first, Andross' capacity to cause future harm will be reduced. In other words, you're taking a short-term risk for a long-term gain. By no means should you ignore enemies that are near Corneria, and if there are several enemies on the map, you should take out those closest to you. However, if there's a lone enemy on right side or even near the middle of the map, you might to well to just take out a battleship (or if there are no battleships, a base). If there's just one enemy and the satellite system is fully charged, you can probably ignore the enemy entirely unless it's extremely close to Corneria. It would take a lot of luck and skill to beat Expert mode without Corneria getting hit, so don't worry too much about it unless the situation truly becomes alarming (but if, for example, you get over 50% damage and most of the enemy bases are still there, you're probably doing something wrong).
When you start liberating planets, take Meteor first. It's in the center of the map, which is a great location for your mothership since it will never be too distant.