StarFox #14 - Level 3

1. Corneria, Level 3

This is by far the most interesting Corneria stage. there is more city to fly through, and you get the feeling that you are sneaking out before nightfall. I like the detail that the turrets near the base are actually on your side, firing plasma bolts far down your flightpath to help clear the way.

Some good things never change, though - you can still fly through all the arches at the beginning to collect a twin blaster powerup. When you finally reach the last small arch, shoot the ship going after your wingman and swing into the left building to pick it up. (You get the nova bomb on the right if should like to, but if you miss the twin blasters I would suggest just hitting the RESET button and trying again.) In any case, you will most likely have to fire your retros (do so sooner rather than later) or boosters to escape without damage. Timing is key.

When you get to the first set of collapsing blue pillars, I suggest you either fly high and shoot them, then zip down to ride through the double sets; or fly low close to one side, perhaps using your boosters near the end. You encounter a cluster of enemy fighters at the end - they tend to get in formation in front of you, so if you are close to the right or left edge of your path you might have a hard time shooting the fighters on the appropriate edge of the formation.

A wingman finds trouble. You fly through a cluster of buildings and encounter some walkers carrying wire-frames of ships. Interesting stuff.

In the second cluster of buildings, slow yourself down and tilt to one side to cruise through a small opening between two buildings that themselves are directly behind the first central building, and collect a nova bomb. Then fly a little lower - there are more collapsing pillars. In one of the more dramatic moments of the stage, Falco will announce that he will destroy the Attack Carrier, then he jets off into the distance. Amazing. (Incidentally, the fact that the Attack Carrier has already been deployed is what leads me to surmise that this stage is taking place at sunset instead of at sunrise.)

After exiting the city, you will fly through a series of arches. You could fly over them, but you want to be inside them because first there is a nova bomb and then when you come to the fork inside, you can either go left for a Supply Ring, or right for another nova bomb. I love choice.

you see walkers carrying pieces of ships. You do not need to shoot them - they do not count to your points total. I prefer to leave them be.

An arch opens the next section of city. i would say that is your cue to stay low - there are blue pillars between the buildings that will fall on you! You can get by the first two pillars just by staying low, but when you come to the third there is a block in your path! Nudge yourself up only as much as necessary, then hammer on your booster, and then squeeze yourself right back down again, because there is a pair of falling blues right in front of the last arch that you won't see until it is too late.

As you exit the final archway, you notice a walker go by carrying the Attack Carrier! Does that mean Falco managed to disable it? it is anyone's guess.

Ground Supremacy Vehicle DESTRUCTOR

This stage differs from the other Cornerias in that you allowed Andross' forces - brought in by the Attack Carrier - more time to unload their arsenal, including this wonderfully powerful battle tank.

When the Destructor enters, it will launch the shields that cover the plasma turrets into the air; so you will be able to fire on the turrets themselves and inflict some damage. When a shield becomes pointed in your direction, make it your priority instead; the turrets may regenerate if you allow the shield associated with it to land on the Destructor again. You put in damage either way.

By the end of the second or third round, you will probably have the shields destroyed, and you hopefully wouldn't have allowed them the time to launch a kamikaze-style attack on you. All that remains now are turrets, and all the while the Destructor itself is firing missiles at you. You will also notice that the turrets will sometimes move around 180 degrees, preventing you from destroying them. they will come back around though, and you will finish them off and leave for the Asteroid Belt.

Check your score carefully. If you did not get 100%, consider doing the stage again. you are gonna need that credit!

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2. Asteroid Belt, Level 3

This edition of the Asteroid Belt is considerably more difficult, simply because there are more enemies and more asteroids in this far-flung region.

you will also find a lot of mines in this stage; the first ones you will see shoot plasma balls at you, or become a plasma ball when you shoot them. Shoot them early and get out of the way. there is also a blue variant that shoots five at a time. Ouch. Also note that the smiling asteroids will be hunting you down, and there is no way to destroy them.

So here we go. You get a great big cluster of enemy fighters at the beginning (I might use a nova bomb on them, but a sdefeatful tracking sweep of your lasers will do the trick just as well or better), and then a wingman gets into trouble. Then you got plasma mines to deal with. Keep rolling and shooting. Your crosshairs come in really handy since the mines are about the same angular size when they first show up.

you will fly past a big asteroid on the left, and then you will see one to the lower right.

How to leave the dimension

Shoot at the second big asteroid until it explodes. If you look closely, you will see an egg fly out of it and come back around again from the left; after a moment a bird will hatch. Fly into the bird's breast area to be taken right out of the Lylat System. Note that your wingman is taking on fire at the same time - help him out if you can before you leave the game. The fly through continues in section [3-X] below.

For those of you who choose not to ignore the task at hand - defeating Andross, simply continue your forward flight, helping out your wingman who gets into trouble, taking note of the plasma mines!

you will come to a set of three gold asteroids lined up in a triangle. Fly through the middle to collect a nova bomb, then you will get a shot at one of those twin blaster ships. Very cool. Fighters will appear at the same moment that you will be collecting the twin blasters, so you might want to lob the nova bomb, collect the new nova bomb, then detonate the first nova bomb.

you will probably have perfected the barrel roll by this time. do not stop using it. Soon you will come to a Supply Ring between two large asteroids. After battling some enemy fighters, and helping out a wingman, you will fly through a base. Watch for a 1-up at the end of it.

Now you are going to encounter some problems. See the silver asteroids? Well, now there are being intercepted by enemy robots that will fire some laser blasts at you, or just try to ram you with the asteroid after holding it back from you. When you shoot the robots, get out of the way! The asteroid stops dead where it is, which often means a prompt collision with your ship if you do not GTFA. that is Star Fox physics for you. Try to graze the robots-on-asteroids with the outer edge of your laser instead of putting them square in your sights - this will let you avoid crashing much more easily.

When one of your wingmen goes out to shoot some enemies, you will encounter a batch of smiling asteroids. there are indestructible like the silver asteroids, but they also try to crash into your ship! Do what you have to do - you will be travelling back and forth from left to right and so on often from here to the end of the stage. And do not forget about the interceptor robots - be careful or they will pile up in front of you. do not hesitate to lob a nova bomb to clear out some of these guys and their pesky hopper friends.

Space Station BLADE BARRIER

Now if you did not know how to handle the robot-asteroids and the smiley asteroids, you will be on Death's door by the time you arrive at the space station. Fortunately, you stand a chance at beating it without getting hit if you are careful.

When you first encounter the Blade Barrier, its blades will be spinning. You cannot do much with your blaster at these times. But the blades will stop, which means that three missiles will be headed toward you, but you can shoot the exposed nubs and do damage that way. Three of the six will be exposed at any given blade stoppage - unless you previously destroyed one of the nubs that would have otherwise been exposed, that is. As much as possible, you should stay in the middle of the flightpath and get lots of shots in at the nubs. You have to be quick because you do not have much time before the blades start spinning again.

So if you are in the middle, when the blades resume you will also be in a better position to avoid the tractor beam attack! Getting caught in it would be a bad idea, because the ship drags you in and you start getting beat up by the blades. Then you are a sitting duck for the missiles afterward. Anyway, you know how to get out of it if you get stuck - pound L or R continually, and you should be released in the nick of time.

But it is easy enough to avoid the beam entirely by waiting for it to emerge, noting where it is going, and being somewhere else. Then watch out for the missiles when you recenter yourself! you will have to be nimble to shoot them down or somehow avoid them.

Overall, balance your aggressiveness and your patience and you should be fine. However long it does take you, be careful at the end - the station will launch the blade in your direction when you blow it up. Flying around that, you will be off to Fortuna. Follow the action in section [3-3].

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3. Fortuna, Level 3

Fortuna is the fifth planet of the Lylat system. It is a hot and humid rainforest planet teeming with plant life and a series of bases and hideouts presumably built by Androssians. It is called the Dinosaur Planet in the original Star Fox but is not to be confused with Sauria, which was also called Dinosaur Planet in Star Fox Adventures.

Not much information is known about Fortuna, due to the fact that it has not made much of an appearance. It is a green, thriving planet with huge plants and vegetation of all kinds, as well as rivers and lakes on the surface, although it is unknown how much of this planet is covered by water and inhabited by giant insects. It can be assumed that something about the planet is hostile, as otherwise it would seem to be the Cornerian Army's first choice for colonization instead of Katina. It could also be assumed that the planet is a bit further out from the core Lylat system, as it has yet to appear on any maps other than the original Star Fox. This is further supported by the Star Fox Team apparently using a wormhole to arrive at Fortuna to aid the Cornerian Army. It could be speculated that the planet is not inhabited by Cornerians, as a base was built there by the Venomian Army.

Boss

Monarch Dodura

One of other Andross' weapons that is causing havoc to the life on Fortuna, this robotic beast sends out birds that hatches from an egg, and even shoots fire out and can even use its massive body to cause damage as well.

Tactics

This monster moves in a way to throw off your aim, the key tatic is watching its movements, shoot either its tail or its 2 heads to make the center body exposed to your lasers, but watch out for the monster's fire breath and the birds it sends out which hatch from eggs.

You'd think that a planet without any significant enemy installations would be fairly easy to fly over. Ha-ha. Of course, to be fair, Andross took over the animals here; there are not this mean on their own. Sounds like Sector Y. There are three main sections to this level. The first is a grassland, the second is ocean, and the third is prairie.

In the grassland section, your visibility is somewhat impaired (that is why you are in Approach view), so fly carefully, and make sure to avoid the giant blooming flowers. Fly low when you get to the area where the flowers are on top of stems.

you will see insects in this area, and they will attack you, unless you shoot them to make them turn blue. Unfortunately, they just turn yellow or red again, so you will end up having to defeat them. And a wingman will get into trouble, of course. Later you will see dragonflies, which you also ought to shoot down, though they are hard to hit. (The ones that stay perched on a flower do not seem to do anything and you can ignore them.) And as if you did not have enough to contend with, you will also encounter enemy plasma mines along the ground. Hopefully one will leave a nova bomb for you. Then you got a few more of those high-stem flowering plants, so stay low. If you are good, you will make it to the blue ring without losing a wing or getting defeated.

As you pass through the blue ring, you pass onto the ocean. Hope you got a bomb or two for this section, but hang onto them for now. Here you will have to deal with flying fish and seabirds. you will fly through a school of flying fish first, destroy them before they start taking off directly beside your ship. You want to get them on an early hop, in other words. it is good to skim the surface of the sea and track your lasers back and forth.

Soon you will encounter flying fish that fly at you (shoot them), and some seabirds - as soon as you see the first bird, pull up! Shoot the seabirds so that they crash into the water, as they will also try to dive bomb you (and you won't even see them coming if you are still skimming the surface like you were probably doing to get the first batch of flying fish). A wingman will get into trouble.

Later you will encounter some sea monsters. If you want to defeat them, you have to aim for their heads. You can practice on the first two that just snake through the water. It gets serious in a few seconds when you have fly past dozens of them poking their heads up above water, all using their fire breath on you. Before you get to that, though, you will see a power shield under the second snaking monster - get it!! Like, you are probably gonna die if you do not.

So a bunch of monsters will start popping up in front of you. Even if you deke them out, they will be quite happy to turn around as you fly by and roast you from behind with their fire breath! do not hesitate to lob a nova bomb - you cannot afford to let any get by you, or it is bye-bye Arwing. Try your best to do something about the far-away ones, and shoot their heads off before they make a flaming mess of your fight path. Among the fire ordeal, you will find a 1-up - directly in front of a sea monster, so try to shoot it is head off while you make your grab.

After one last snaky dragon you will encounter the seabirds again, and a wingman will get into trouble. Then you got one last batch of flying-fish-that-head-for-you. Get in the middle of your flight path and get through that second blue ring. Breathe a biiig sigh of relief. But you are far from out of the woods.

As you pass through this second ring, the ocean turns to prairie. Okay, so you are out of the woods, but you know what I meant. you will face mostly flowers and plasma mines - you have to pick your poison, do you want to fly low and smash into plasma bolts or fly high and run into plant stems? Be very careful, and be sure to fire your retros if you have to. The mines leave behind yellow rings when you destroy them, so take advantage of this if you can, but you may wish to fly defensively.

Along the way, you will find a twin blaster. Nice of them to put it on the last leg of a stage. You *cannot* afford to miss it. Since it is sitting in front of a very narrow arched plant stem, you will need to fire your retros as you collect it. After passing the last of the flowers, you get to meet Fortuna's diplomatic representative.

Primitive Dinosaur MONARCH DODORA

Your goal here is to fire at the heads or the end of the tail as much as possible. Your wingmen might hang around and complain, or they might just abandon you. you will first encounter the two-headed dragon from the rear. When it turns to face you head-on, get yourself in the middle between where the tail was and where the necks are going to be if you want to avoid getting hit.

When you are dealing with the rear, aim for the tail but also be sure to shoot the eggs and the seabirds that hatch out of them. They can be quite dangerous. I find it is best to shoot more or less down the lower-middle, the tail will kind of bounce around in the path of your lasers, and you will score hits more often than you would if you were to try and track the tail as it swings back and forth. Once in a while the dragon will suddenly halt in its place when you are behind it. Fire your retros and veer away!

Getting a lot of licks in on either the tail or the heads and necks (spread your fire over the two heads so that they are shortened to the body at more or less the same time) will cause the dragon to turn orange - this is good! Keep on firing, because now hits to the body count. Watch out for it is Arwing-seeking fire breath, though! it is much more apt to hit you than Dancing Insector's. If you are nimble, you will put the dragon behind you and be off to Sector Z.

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4. Sector Z, Level 3

“Fox, we do not know for sure what Andross is up to in Sector Z. The nebula has become a space graveyard full of wrecked warships, so he may be scavenging them for spare parts. We are counting on your team to maneuver through the hazardous fields of space junk and scout out the situation, but be careful. Intelligence reports suggest that Andross is monitoring all space traffic in the area, and he may have a surprise for you!” —General Pepper's Flight Log, pg 96

Sector Z is part of a trio of nebulae that appear in the shape of an alphabetical character, itself formed in the shape of a giant Z. Beyond the other two sectors, Sector Z is in fact the most dangerous, despite its smaller size and less amount of magnetic radiation. This is in part because the sector is strewn with the wreckage of an earlier battle, and in part because of its proximity to Venom and Lylat's two suns.

Boss

Atomic Base

Unlike most bosses (exempting Andross), the Atomic Base does not actually appear immediately upon the beginning of the boss battle. Instead, the player has to enter a Space Station (either a wheel-like space station or simply a large base area), and travel through a huge path (eventually undergoing a winding path automatically) before actually arriving at the boss.

There are two versions - the first Atomic Base within the Space Armada, and Atomic Base II within the main ship of Sector Z. The Atomic Base acts as the core for each facility, and the means to defeat it are to destroy the energy pilons that control it (or, in the case of Atomic Base II, shoot them to merely turn them off, with the pylons eventually being reactivated). The core is exposed when all pilons are disabled, allowing for the player to specifically target the core. Upon destroying the core, a cutscene will play where Fox will u-turn and escapes the doomed base, while the Atomic Base seals itself up.

Note: This stage features several "grey rings" which are like supply rings but a little greyer, and you can also identify them in how they spin around a bit - unfortunately, they do not act as a continue point! All but the ring just after the Power Shield are grey rings, not true Supply Rings. Welcome to the sticks! Here the idea is to blast your way into Base II and destroy it, along with a large deployable garrison of troops.

Now is a good time to master the barrel roll, if you haven't already. You need to be able to do one at any time. it is possible to cruise through this stage and the next two taking very nearly no damage if you have the photon shot, and you are able to roll and shoot constantly. it is hard on your hand, sure, but the stages seem to just fly by this way.

you will notice that most of the pillars are transparent here, and that does not make them any less deadly. In fact, there are more deadly because when there is more than one and you are close-in you cannot tell what is cloaked pillar and what is empty space.

So here goes. You start with a bunch of fighters and a couple of cruisers. Then it is the plasma mines. Then a wingman gets into trouble as you see the first of many, many transparent pillars. Fly through a square of them to pick up a nova bomb while you deal with missile ships. Then you get a mess of rotating pillars (you can slow / stop the ones with triangles by shooting said triangles) and you fly through a base.

Then you get to a second enemy installation with all kinds of spinning pillars between the stationary ones. Your best bet is to hang a *little* bit to the right (for an eventual twin blaster). Fly sideways through the slots. do not go over too far, though, or some plasma mines will rain down on you. you will see the twin blaster powerup along the right of centre behind the second set of vertical pillars in this section. it is smack behind one of those pillars and you will probably need to fire your retros in order to get it safely.

When you leave this section, fire your retros and get back in the middle of the flight path to get the grey ring.

A wingman gets into trouble as you head through another installation. Follow enemy and wingman into the middle of the "roadway" of pillars and take your shot there. Now you want to stay as close to the middle as you can through this bit because there are plasma mines with your name on them should you stray.

As this ends, you come into an area with two big mundane rectangles, and then you find a much-needed grey ring - I think it only appears if you been on the intended course. Then there is a mess of stuff in front of you, then you get some neat partly-clear rectangles you can fly through. Look out for the power shield! It will save your life in a moment. Now there is a bona-fide supply ring inside the second-to-last rectangle - Gee, nice of them to plant this right *after* the power shield powerup... Well, you might want to fire your retros and fly sideways and get it anyway because otherwise you will be starting this stage all over again whe- I mean, if you get defeated. (Must remain optimistic.)

Now the chaos truly begins. Floating pillars, headed in all directions, everywhere. You could just fly through a little off of the middle of your flightpath and avoid as many as you can - but another thing to consider is making a dive for, say, the extreme lower left or right of your flight path. When the plasma mines rain down on you - well, you know how to do a barrel roll. But you have to be really good at barrel rolls, because if the bolts start getting to you you are basically dead in the water. Generally I recommend going most of the way over so that you miss the majority of the beams and you still have room to dodge the raining plasma bolts.

Anyway, after you pass the first big wash of pillars, there is a second, smaller round of them shortly after, so be ready. And roll, roll, roll, because you cannot dodge blaster bolts and pillars at the same time - something's gotta give. A wingman gets into trouble but there is a chance his pursuer will just get smacked by a beam without your having to do anything.

When the troop carrier is in sight, consider heading to the left or right of the spinning pillars that block the entrance. The nova bomb's not worth getting defeated for! Your autopilot will guide you inside anyway when the time is right.

Once inside, you will do well to fly sideways to get around the beam in the middle, being careful to note that the corridor is already narrowed by similar beams laid along its sides. It all makes me wonder what military usage these bases could possibly get out of these constricted, impractical, pillar-strewn corridors, but anyway.

After the middle-pillar bit, hit your retros and fly underneath a horizontal pillar and smoke the enemy behind it with your lasers. Now you will get one of those doors that will retract in the indicated direction unless you foolishly shoot it and change its direction. Fly low under it as it retracts up, stay low to fly under a pillar, then tilt yourself sideways to pass between two pillars. You get a set of doors you have to shoot to open, then some softball enemies to roast.

Then there is a moving pillar, and you can boost or brake if your timing isn't going to be right. Then another three pairs of doors to shoot open and that is all - at the end of the corridor, you will greet the base's atomic core.

Invasion Troop Carrier ATOMIC BASE II

This atomic core is similar in appearance to the one that you faced in Level 1, Stage 3, (check out section [1-3] for the details) but this one is quite a bit trickier. it is hardier for one thing, and I believe it also spins faster.

This time you are *deactivating* and not destroying the energy receptors on the walls (you will turn them black), and you need to be quick about hitting all three, because the one(s) you shoot first will reactivate before you can knock out the second and/or third and get at the core if you are not very quick about things. This process can be very frustrating. Take care not to let the beams regenerate on top of you - treat the receptors like ticking time-bombs. A regenerate beam where your Arwing is stationed can end your game in a hurry. Good aim helps here. I usually find it easier to hug the side that is coming toward me and shoot from there - it is easier to avoid the energy beams.

The core will open up when you deactivate all three receptors, but this time it will also close up again if you cannot destroy it right away, and then you need to knock out the energy receptors again. If you have the photon shot and a 75% full shield meter, just park yourself in front the core when it opens and shoot and roll and you should be able to do this in the one round. do not hesitate to launch a nova bomb if you have a few to spare.

Oh, and the little blue man in the pod is here again too, so shoot him when he appears. Sometimes he appears in bunches. He only has a laser but at close range it is enough to really do you damage and you might need to lob a nova bomb to clear him away.

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5. Macbeth, Level 3

“Macbeth is the industrial key to Andross's military machine. If you liberate this planet, Fox, you will cripple his ability to produce weaponry. This is also the main launching point for the interplanetary cruise missiles Andross has been using to assault Corneria. Resistance fighters on Macbeth have information on a train that transports minerals and weapons from the mines and factories to Andross's main base and launching area. Although its route is well defended, derailing the train and stopping its shipment will be a crippling blow to Andross's plans.” —General Pepper's Flight Log, pg 76

Macbeth is the third planet of the Lylat system, is a mineral-rich factory world. It is closer to the sun than any other planet in the system, and it served as the main industrial center for Venom during the Lylat Wars, supposedly because of its proximity to the toxic planet. It has been largely industrialized, with miners flocking to the planet.

Allegedly hollow after a geological event shrunk its core, Macbeth is still able to support life and is well known for containing a wealth of minerals. Home to a large population of miners, engineers, and scientists, travel to and from this planet occurs more often than any other, and it is a seemingly endless source of supplies, although conditions on it can be harsh at times. It has an advanced railway system.

Boss

Spinning Core

This is Andross' excavation devide that is made to drill into the inside of the seismically active planet of Macbeth and gather up energy and establsh a base for Andross, it also has weapons on it to defend itself. It shoots plasma as well as lasers and missiles.

Tactics

This could be one of the other most difficult weapons to destroy in the game. You will face it spinning (hence its name) and shooting plasma form its 6 turrets, but once you destroy 3 of its 6 turrets it opens up from the top and launches missiles at you. After you ddestroy the 6 turrets, it will launch into the sky and land on its top, it will have glowing balls surrounding its exposed area, which will shoot lasers from wait until the glowing balls are far from the exposed core, after it takes enough damage it wil convert into something like a top, and will try to ram at you, shoot at it until it is destroyed.

If you arrive from Sector Z with wing damage, you might consider crashing your ship right away, or perhaps after getting some practice. You want the twin blaster powerup to actually be twin blasters here.

This level is truly insane. Supposedly Andross wants to build a base here. Well, that is not all you have to worry about though; this planet is also fairly difficult to navigate. There is a beauty to it all though; the level is as fascinating as it is brutal. All underground, to boot - the planet has a hollow area between the outer core and the surface crust.

Your first task will be to navigate a canyon. there is a welcome nova bomb you can pick up right away. Then you have a walker, a plasma turret, and a walker to deal with. Upon emerging, after dealing with some roving turrets, one of your wingmen will get into trouble, so you will experience the strange sounds other aircraft make inside the hollow core of this planet.

Now some walkers and turrets - do not miss the ones on the ceiling! Then you got a bunch of turrets and something on the ceiling lobbing diamond missiles at you (kind of like the ones you saw on Titania). Then more roving turrets on the ground. Now the buildings become more numerous. you will pass two sets, then a set with a plasma turret slightly behind-right of the centre building, then you will fly through a brief empty space before you reach the next set of buildings. Twin blasters are right behind the centre building. here is what to do: Go in from the right, shoot the walker, fire your retros and pull a hard left to collect the prize.

Now you will pass through an area with lava vents mounted on the ceiling. do not fly directly under a vent; you will get rained on with hot rocks. Watch for the little roving plasma turrets on the ground. Maybe one will leave a nova bomb for you.

Coming up ahead, you have a serious choice to make. A huge lava vent lies on the floor. To the right of it is a power shield. So, do you swoop down, boosters blazing, risking it all to collect the powerup; or do you hang an extreme right and attempt to avoid the whole mess altogether? Your choice, but you will be better off going for the shield since it can be even harder to avoid the rocks if you stray from your flightpath.

Now you need to deal with a ceiling-mounted turret and a diamond missile launcher. Then you will fly past (but please, not directly under!) some more ceiling vents, then through a by-now-most-welcome blue supply ring. (Aggravating that it is after the twin blasters, but what are ya gonna do?)

After the ring, you will be up against a plethora of diamond missiles. there are coming from the left, from the right, and from the ceiling - do not miss any! (If you are just starting over again from here, you pretty much have to launch a nova bomb.) Then you got two roving turrets on the ceiling. Then a wingman gets into trouble, and going past a rock you see a bunch of floor and ceiling-mounted plasma turrets. Watch that the ceiling turrets do not fall on top of you. Barrel roll your way to survival. (If you do not have the twin blasters, you are better off concentrating on survival rather than a perfect score!)

Then there is one more big volcanic vent - with no power shield to collect, you want to deke a few rocks then hit your boosters. Then you will have a forest of ceiling-mounted turrets to deal with. If you are low on health, just dodge and roll. But you might want to get the last, roving one that will stay with you. But even it will pass as the boss shows up.

Light Speed Revolution SPINNING CORE

This rig might seem to be the kingpin of unfriendlies. It is not an easy boss; it is so tough sometimes that if you were to die, you'd almost rather go back to the beginning of the stage instead of the midway point so that you get another try with the twin blasters. I have done it with the single laser, though - you just need a full health meter, some dexterity, and a lot of patience.

The first thing you want to do is shoot down all the plasma turrets on the outside of the Core. Watch out for the plasma shots. If you want to, you can aim your shots just to the right of the Core so that you can keep getting in licks as the turrets turn around toward the other side. After you destroy two turrets, the top will open up, and you will have to watch out for missiles coming around from behind on the right or left side.

Still, this is a reasonably manageable situation, and if you want to hang around shooting missiles and collecting yellow small energy supplies until your shield bar is full, that is not the worst idea in the world.

When there are no turrets left, the entire machine will leap into the air. Now, see that shadow on the ground? You do not want to be on top of it! Fire your retros and get out of the way as the Spinning Core returns to the floor.

The Core will now close its top and open up its bottom, and this is the tricky part. You have to shoot the sensitive firing membrane of the core while avoiding the blue-black balls that revolve around it. And it is positively raining laser fire at you, though luckily in a narrow stream. At times, the core will spread the balls out wide, giving you a clear shot at the central membrane. Take these shots. do not try to do to much at once, or you will be severely punished.

When you get it down to its last little bit of energy, the Spinning Core will jettison the balls and you will have only the central membrane left. Roll-deflect its laser blasts as you get in your final licks.

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6. Venom (airspace), Level 3

Do your best to conserve your nova bombs in this level. you will find out why at the end. You start the level with a rocket boat headed straight for you (shoot it), then you will encounter some more rocket boats (shoot them), then some of those interceptor buoys (shoot them), then some starfighters (shoot them). there is a lot of stuff to shoot. I really like this level. A wingman will find trouble after a minute or two of this.

Eventually you will come to deadly-looking circle of plasma mines with a nova bomb in the middle. Do a few barrel rolls and pick up the bomb. you will then be able to collect a power shield and a twin blaster powerup! After the power-ups comes the blue ring, and you might have trouble timing the ring with a wingman that will get in trouble there. Fly through the ring first, then track your lasers to the right to destroy the pursuing enemy ship.

you will get another long batch of fighters and buoys and missile boats, and after a while you will come to those little grey ships that turn to face you and are hard to shoot - the kind you first met eons ago in Sector X. there are a sign that you are just one plasma-spewing triangle and a last batch of interceptor buoys away from the end.

If I had a criticism to make about this level, it would be that it is over too quickly! If you have the twin blasters, it is an utter rout. But good times often go by so fast, do not they?

Final Battleship GREAT COMMANDER

Alright, now we're going to deal with some serious firepower. Forget Andross, this ship and the Spinning Core are the toughest bosses in the game if you ask me. First, you are forced out of cockpit view if you were still in cockpit view.

you will first be treated to a segueway of the three segments of the Great Commander coming together. Watch out for lasers and steel barrels. You can fly low and to the right to avoid the whole mess, if you like, rolling to deflect the occasional laser blast.

When it is finished, you will see what needs to be done. Your autopilot will bring you about again to face the vessel, and you have to deplete its energy by shooting the open turrets. Get as low as you can on each pass and keep rolling and shooting. With twin blasters, you may do well to aim sideways, but it is best to roll so that your lasers end up tracing out a circular impact pattern.

When you start inflicting some damage on the vessel (say, three out of six turrets destroyed, or you get approximately half of its energy depleted), it will begin to smoke and fire plasma balls at you while you make your little strafing run, so be sure to use your barrel roll constantly.

do not hesitate to use a bomb if you need to speed this up. Bombs are especially good if you catch it with its pants down, that is having several turrets open at once. (Pants on the ground, pants on the ground!) here is the key: wait until you are right on top of the ship to launch and detonate. Heck, fire your retros and increase your window of opportunity! But if there aren't any turrets open, do not bother launching a bomb. In any case, the bombs, well-used, do a reasonable job of compensating for aim. it is just too bad the game forces you out of cockpit view for this battle - or that they made the turrets so darn small!

The turrets really like to play peek-a-boo with you, so you may find it best to deke them - act like you are going to strafe one side and at the last moment switch to the other (if there are turrets open on that other side, of course).

When you finally deplete the last of its energy, the ship will fly away from you when your autopilot brings you back around. It will spiral down into the atmosphere.

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7. Venom (surface), Level 3

Wow, it seems like a while since you been here, does not it? As you might expect, the final stage in the game is slightly on the difficult side; but if you were able to survive Fortuna and Macbeth, you will be able to handle this.

After the autopilot puts you into your flightpath, fly up as far as you can, and dead center over the parting pillars. The last pillar does not move, though, so get out of its way at the very end.

you will then fly under some falling objects. As in the Level 1 version of this stage, try to snake your way through on your side so that you slip between them. there is a power shield you will want to get. The uppermost flat panels tend to just flip over and face you instead of falling down.

Now you will encounter pillars that are being thrown down and erected in front of your flightpath. Some, but mercifully not all, will be allowed to fall on top of you (even if you shoot them!). Stay low here. Get *close* to the falling ones so that you clear them. it is funny how that works. Coming out, you meet some moving turrets, and a wingman finds trouble. A lone fighter appears and an arch forms around you.

The rotating rectangles are here again. See the arrows? You want them to be pointed out of your flightpath, because that is the way they will swing. Shoot the triangle once to change its direction (and that of the resulting rotation). Be careful - if you fire too many shots at once it will just flip back and forth as many times as your lasers hit it, and your result may be frustrating!

The first one, in the middle of your flightpath, is pointing left. You might as well shoot it to make it go right, then pass it on the left. Then you come upon one on your left pointing right followed quickly by one on your right pointing left. you will have to nimbly shoot both of these.

And then, just to mix it up a bit, you come to one with a blue triangle that keeps changing orientation. Here, you shoot the triangle when it finds a direction you like. Since there is a pillar on its left, how's about we send it right?

Then you get a right-pointing one on your left (direct it left), followed by a left-pointing one on your right (direct it right). Next to that one is a twin blaster. You need to take care of the rectangle, then fire your retros and collect the lasers.

Now you got some more blue-triangled-rectangles. Direct them left, right, then left - but be prepared for failure and be ready to squeeze by any of these on the "wrong" side. Then there'll be a right-pointer red on the left of your flightpath that you need to send left. Then fire your retros again and get the left-pointing one on the right to go right. you will want to fly through the supply ring. And here is a Free Bonus Tipâ„¢: do not pause the game in the middle of this to go have dinner. While playing/writing the first version of this FAQ, I was quickly defeated upon resuming the game.

After the supply ring, a wingman gets into trouble. You work your way through some Stonehenge-esque artifacts. I guess this passes for a town on Venom. Watch out for the moving turrets. You can probably get a nova bomb somewhere in the fray. In any case, you will have lots of things to shoot at (plasma turrets and walkers galore), and then obstacles will be generated in front of you. And a wingman gets into trouble. Take it really easy!

After a while, you will arrive at a wall of rotating flat panels. Find an empty space toward the ground and fly through. you will fight off the last enemy starfighters and a pair of walkers, and then the mothership will arrive.

Final Battleship GREAT COMMANDER

The Great Commander glides down over your head, turns around, and then becomes a piece of utter horror. Okay, see that door on the lower section that keeps opening and closing? that is where you need to shoot. Watch out for the steel balls that rain down off the ends of the 'arms,' and also the occasional missile. (But if you keep shooting that hatch you will most likely shoot down most of the missiles incidentally, anyway.)

The ship will soon show you its spinning move, where steel balls will continually be launched in your direction. you will have a very hard time getting your licks in here. In general, when you fire off a shot, do not wait for it to hit; keep moving. Move, move, move. With dexterity, you will survive!

When the Commander finally stops spinning (it takes a *long* time), you will be able to get lots of hits in again. Watch out for missiles again, and, more importantly, the single arms that will be raised to launch a straight stream of steel balls. there are pretty easy to avoid, though.

Soon, you will face a brutal ring laser attack from the head. you will need to avoid the shots - roll-deflecting that many is hopeless. Shoot down the missiles when you can - there is a chance they will leave behind valuable yellow rings.

Of course, if you have razor-sharp aim and a steady trigger finger, you can speed up the destruction of the Great Commander significantly. After destroying the bottom segment, two more will remain. The bridge section will begin to fly around the main body, and there is nothing special here - just destroy it with your laser. Of course, the main body will try to spin into your ship, and it will also launch some very odd-looking probes.

Once you destroy the bridge, the rest of the ship simply destructs in front of you. you will then fly into Andross' fortress. Luckily for us, this acts as a continue point. Hope you have some extra ships left!

Andross will remark that your choice of routes took him by surprise. For all this difficulty, it better have. he will also say a few words about your father. Meanwhile, you will preform some amazing manoeuvres in which your retros will be your best friend.

After the grey ring, go up, then down, get the nova bomb, down, up, down, RETROS!, through, up!, down!, over (take advantage of the gaps afforded by the fact that these last bars do not extend to the full width of the corridor). You have to deal with closing doors, so fire your retros and get on your side to squeeze right, then left, then right, then left, then right to get a twin blaster (or wing gyro in my case!), and then one final squeeze to the left.

Psychic Energy Core TELEKINETIC AMPLIFIER

Shoot the eyes until they explode, then go for the core. The core is a tad tougher to destroy this time, though (but it hangs around in front of you for a longer period of time, which I like); and when the face reforms it will be in a different shape, and the eyes will shoot plasma balls at you. Ouch. Shoot the eyes and stay away from the plasma (or carefully roll-deflect it), and avoid the telekinesis planks as best you can. It won't suck you in again, though, which is nice.

Otherwise, all is the same as before. I find a steady barrage of laser blasts works better than launching a nova bomb since you have to interrupt your lasers to launch the bomb. I can get Andross in just two rounds with the basic type of twin blaster.

When you finally eliminate Andross, you will fly out of the collapsing fortress and meet up with your wingmen. Congratulations, you did it! You are now the best Star Fox player on your street.

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