All aircraft report! Let's Play Star Fox!

Once you give it a closer look, there's actually a fair bit of complexity to Andross's overall strategy. Liking taking back the resource planet, Titania, to open back up Corneria's supply route, for example, or the fact that the hollow Macbeth is used as a weapons depot by Andross (hence why route 3 is so heavily fortified). It's really quite interesting how they planned it all out.

Oh, shit.

Now I have to replay this.

Be sure to download the manual when you do, since a lot of really interesting stuff is in there.

I tried playing this last night after not having touched either starfox game in years, and I barely made it through the second level. Any tips?

Do a Barrel Roll!

UGGHH

...The sad thing is that it's not bad advice, since you can deflect most everything with a well-timed roll. :/ Otherwise, make sure to upgrade your blasters ASAP, shoot everything that can be destroyed, always keep moving and make sure to keep yourself in good shape by grabbing energy supply rings whenever you can.

God damn but do I love Talking Time.

Those plasma shots (I think i made that up) are so much better than the standard laser, and even the twins, that this game almost has a Gradius problem. If you die after you get those, you almost don't want to keep playing. By the time something can actually kill you with your upgraded guns, odds are you're screwed with your normal, barely aim-able pee shooter.

That being said, at least you don't restart with shields.

My original SNES controllers have broken R buttons because of this game.

Did anyone ever get a decent score on Fortuna? That stage always defied me.

With the sole exception of the Space Armada, I spend 100% of the outer-space stages constantly jamming on the R button, so that my plasma shots eventually turn into a DNA-like helix of death. Since the targetting reticule is very subtle, and the actual crosshairs remains centered on the screen, it's actually easier to fly that way than to spend time dodging enemy fire.

It's also a must for the Phantron and Spinning Core.

I dub thee King Barrel Roll. Use your powers for good, kind sir.

All righty, we're back. But before we go ahead and bring an armada to its knees, I'd like to bring you back a few screens to that smiling meteoroid we saw a while back.



Remember this guy? This fellow here is our ticket to a little... shortcut, if you will, as shooting him with our twin blasters reveals a pathway leading to the Black Hole seen on the world map.



...Like so. Once the portal's open, all you have to do is fly into the gravitational field and let gravity do all the work for y-



WHOOOOOAAAAAAAAA-!!!



And here we are - The Awesome Black Hole. An interesting tid-bit to take note of is that the Black Hole lies outside of the routes themselves, with Corneria's and Andross's forces actively avoiding it in their conflict. Aside from the obvious reason why (it's a freaking black hole!), the fact that Andross doesn't use this artificial black hole to his advantage hints that the experiment was overall a complete failure, that it's simply there because he doesn't have an idea of what to do about it. Of course, this is mostly fanwank on my part, so don't take it as matter of fact (unless someone has anything backing this up?). Regardless of Andross's intentions, the black hole's sheer gravitational force has pulled our arwings out of our normal course , and we'll have to see where we go from here.

Oh, and also of note is the mention of Fox's father, which doesn't come into play at all save for a throwaway line from Andross when you face him on route 3. This changes, of course, once you get to Star Fox 64, when Fox's father takes a more active roll...

And... this is it. This is the black hole in its entirety - nothing but an empty void where enemies from every stage fly at you at odd angles. The enemies in question don't even attack you, they just... float there.

Creepy.



There's a few 1-ups floating around as well as a few extra power-ups, so if you managed to screw up magnificently in the Asteroid Belt and are feeling underpowered, you can circle around the stage a bit until you're back in good shape.



Flying through the rings floating around here leads us out of the black hole...

And back on the world map on a different course than before! Aside from Sector Y, the black hole can throw you towards Sector Z as well. If you're really lucky, it can throw you right to Venom on route 1, by-passing both the Armada and Meteor entirely. Very useful if you're aiming for a low % run, or simply want to liven up the normal run of route 1.

Anywho, expect the next update to come up sometime later. For now, marvel at the magnificence that is the awesome Black Hole.

Mind. Blown.

The matter of Fox's dad and the black hole was also fleshed out in the (really quite good) Nintendo Power comic.

Huh, I always thought there was a pattern to the exits --like, going into every third portal would throw you into Sector Y, or something. I guess that's wrong, then

Holy... holy shit, that's the old comic from NP back in the 90's, isn't it? I remember reading it in my brother's old magazines. Man, that really brings back memories.

Actually, you're right. :/ Looking it up, the pattern goes Sector Y -> Sector Z -> Venom, then repeats over and over again. There's a definite order to them, so you can choose whichever's to your liking. :P

The Star Fox comic IS really good. Nearly every chapter has a point where Fox loses it and gets REALLY pissed off. The best one was where it showed Falco beating the holy living fuck out of Fox, then locking him up in a cell in order to keep him going through the Black Hole. Good stuff.

ALL the old Nintendo Power comics were really good. They were blatant advertising vehicles, but they had some very talented people working on them.

Claiming something in Nintendo Power is blatant advertising is kind of redundant.

Yeah, I remember the Nintendo Power Star Fox comic. It was actually some pretty good shit. Fox's father isn't mentioned much in the original game, but he had a significant background in the comics.

Speaking of furry babies, anyone ever seen the cobalt mutant produced between Fox and Krystal? Euwwww.

Yeah, [Marcus] was absolutely terrifying to look at. Although I really enjoyed seeing [Falco with a robot leg] during that ending. I still want to know which Command ending is considered canon...

pleeeeaaase let it be the Star Falco ending

Last time we left off, we had successfully repelled an invasion on Corneria, flown our way expertly through the encircling Astroid Belt, and took a detour through a Black Hole before savestating slingshotting back onto our regular course.



Next stop on our journey is the looming Andross Space Armada. Sent by the big cheese himself, this is the main bulk of his fleet, which he sent to smash Corneria in his path for conquest of the Lylat system. Unfortunately for him, his ships have a design flaw which our arwings are specifically built to take advantage of...



Anywho, the stage starts with us slowing out of warp speed and shifting back into first-person, just like in the Asteroid Belt. Well, except instead of being ambushed we're greeted by an entire freaking fleet.



Too bad the ships themselves are in piss-poor condition. The fact that a small fighter can wipe out a warship with such ease really says a lot about Andross's craftmanship.

And now into the ships themselves? But why would... nevermind. Peppy follows us in to do help blow this baby up.



The inside of the ship itself is basically an obstacle course with a bunch of freebies lying around. Like this nifty ol' shield that I picked up - behold the geometric power of invincibility!



Oh, and we blew the core up real good.

Blowing the weapons off the side of this ship seems to be enough to make it stall. So far, something like eight or so warships have gone down, and we're still in good shape.

Man, we're good.



Another gate appears, and this time, Falco follows us in to do the deed. Things are a little trickier than before, however, as speed seems to be a bit of an issue when avoiding hazards.



Oh, and there were a few enemies on board, but they weren't a big deal. I lost the shield when I bashed into the core, sadly enough.

First thing out the door is more warships, and just like the others they go down like the chumps they are.



Huh, what's this? It seems to be the mother of the pack...



All righty, then. Let's go blow ourselves up a mothership.

A fair bit of reverse-psychology at work here. You may be tempted to follow the arrows, but be warned: the arrows point to the direction that the door's opening to, not where you can pass through. Thankfully, we're observant enough to avoid falling for that, aren't we?



We're almost there now. Just past these doors here...



Then through a twisty, narrow, and downright claustrophobic passage, to find...

Planet Bomber
-ATOMIC CORE-

Yes, you read that right. Planet bomber. Meaning that the first thing this armada was going to do once they reached Corneria was raze it to the ground.

But we're not gonna let that happen, are we? To battle!



First things first, we're going to have to knock out those power cables connected to the core itself. Excluding the fact that the room is spinning around high-speed and those things run the risk of hitting us, we have to knock 'em out in order to get at the juicy core.

Oh, and watch you don't fly too close to the sides, else a few suicidal flyers will fly out at you.



With the cables down, the core opens up and starts firing plasma balls at us. But that's not a big deal, as with its defenses down it's pretty much a sitting duck.



Looks like Andross's plan was a bit of a dud, wouldn't you agree?

Another 100% this time on account of our systematic demolition of an entire armada. After this, all we have to do is pass by one more base and were at Venom's door.

Next Time: Battle Base Meteor and the Theme Park of Death!