9 Star Fox beginner tips to keep you flying high

Getting started in Star Fox is deceptively simple. You shoot things, and then you shoot some more things while, ideally, not getting shot yourself. That’s all you really need to know for your first couple missions, though things get a bit more complicated further in the campaign — much more complicated if you find yourself inadvertently in one of the game’s more difficult routes.

Our Star Fox beginner’s guide includes nine tips to help you glide through each mission with ease and prep for even harder levels.

The end is the beginning

When you first clear Star Fox‘s campaign and bring Andross’ war to an end, you haven’t technically finished the game. Each planet has optional objectives you can clear to earn medals, but you’ll also have a chance to unlock new routes. There are two dozen possible routes between Corneria and Venom, and from the map viewer, you can press X while highlighting a planet to see what challenges you still need to clear and what the criteria is for unlocking an alternate route.

You can swap between first- and third-person perspective

If you’re having trouble aiming in third-person mode, press the – button to enter first-person cockpit mode. It makes precise aiming with the reticle easier, though as a trade-off, you also have a harder time seeing things above and below the Arwing.

Save your friends

Peppy, Falco, and Slippy might be seasoned mercenaries, but they’re not very good at taking care of themselves. They’ll come under fire at least once during each mission, and you’ll have the opportunity to down their attackers — or not. Allies you don’t save won’t show up in the next mission. That might not seem like a big deal, but it has some ramifications.

For one thing, you need certain allies to unlock alternate routes in some missions. On Corneria, for example, Falco has to survive to unlock the route to Sector Y. Having allies also makes dogfight missions on Fichina and Venom much easier to manage. Fewer allies means more enemies targeting you.

Aim your charged attacks at a central enemy

Image: Velan Studio/Nintendo via Polygon

When you’re aiming a charged attack, try locking onto the middle enemy in a formation. The force of the explosion destroys adjacent foes, so you can wipe out an entire group in one go. That frees you to lock onto another group or take out other objects in your way.

Shoot everything

That sounds like obvious advice in a rail shooter, but it’s extra important in Star Fox. Alternative routes for some missions only unlock when you land a set number of hits, and the amount of health your allies recover at the end of a mission increases as you land more hits. So while you definitely want to shoot enemy ships, don’t ignore things like turrets and destructible objects either, as they also count toward your hit total.

Projectiles you destroy also have a chance of dropping useful things like bombs or shields for your Arwing.

Use all the mobility tricks at your disposal

The tutorial and early missions make a big deal out of somersaults and U-turns, which are useful, but sometimes, the best answer is slowing down to turn faster — and keep an evasive enemy in your sights — or avoid collisions. Just make sure to keep an eye on your meter, as you’ll have to wait for it to refill before you can use another special move.

Accept incoming messages

Image: Velan Studio/Nintendo via Polygon

When you see a prompt on the screen about an incoming message, make sure to accept it quickly. It’s always your R.O.B. offering assistance, either with a supply drop or covering fire to take out a group of enemies. The prompts only linger for a few seconds, though, and if you don’t accept the message, you get no help from R.O.B.

Barrel rolls don’t make you invincible

Barrel rolls deflect lasers and missiles, and they’re handy for quickly evading when a sharp turn just won’t do. However, they don’t make you completely invincible. You can still barrel roll into an object and take damage, and the maneuver won’t block incoming damage from heavy objects like boulders or mechanical arms.

If it’s too easy, take on challenges and expert mode

You’ll have to play the campaign on easy or normal mode to start, but once you earn at least one medal for a planet during the campaign, you can access additional challenges and the expert campaign. Expert, like in the original Star Fox 64, includes new enemies and different placements for a steeper challenge. You also can’t use continues, so if you run out of lives, it’s back to the start.