StarFox #14 - Secret Levels

1. Black Hole, Secret Levels

“This space grave yard, created by Andross's experiments, is where your father vanished, Fox!!” —General Pepper's Briefing

The Awesome Black Hole, or simply Black Hole, is a stage found in Star Fox on the SNES. The area is not on a direct route, just like Out of This Dimension. It is said to have been created by Andross's experiments and is the area where Fox McCloud's father, was last seen.

Appearance

The area has a waving background with shades of blue and purple, and infinitely loops. Along with this, a bunch of random debris, such as ships, float about. Warp Rings appear in the level, and flying through one will lead you to a certain level in the Lylat system. Unlike most normal areas, this stage only functions as a warp zone, as made famous in Super Mario Bros.

Notes

• This stage, along with Out of This Dimension, is not on a direct route.
• Along with Out of this Dimension, a different track plays instead of the normal one when approaching this stage.
• The enemies that appear in this level are actually pieces of some mechanisms encountered in the game. There's the cannon from the Attack Carrier, Phantron's first form, half of the Metal Smasher, the head of the Great Commander, and assorted Cornerian fighters.
• Although Black Hole does not reappear in any other games in the series, James McCloud's unwitting role in the Black Hole's creation was later given a call-back in Star Fox Zero: in the final level, when General Pepper explains himself to Fox and the teleportation technology's connection to both the Cornerian forces, Andross, and the overall war, Pepper implies that James McCloud had been instrumental in sealing Andross and Venom away into a pocket dimension, presumably in the scouting mission mentioned in the prologue where Pigma lured the Star Fox team into a trap. Additionally, Sector Ω is a similar "Space Graveyard" where James was apparently last seen.

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 *could* 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 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, 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.

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 will not see until it is too late.

As you exit the final archway, a walker goes by carrying the Attack Carrier.

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; 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 probably have the shields destroyed, and you hopefully would not have allowed them the time to launch a kamikaze-style attack on you. (But if you have the twin blasters - you do, right? - you can probably vaporize them before they reach you anyway.) 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 finish them off and leave for the Asteroid Belt.

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2. Out of This Dimension, Secret Levels

Watch out for the paper airplanes! Shoot them as soon as you see them. You can use the backdrop as an indicator to how much of the stage you still have to complete. As you get closer to the end, the image becomes steadier; when you see the purple and blue smiling moons again, the boss will show up.

So here goes: Again, the onslaught is made up of paper airplanes, which you must shoot down. You'll also see beams with little triangles on their ends - you can change their rotation with your laser if you like, or simply ignore them. Later you see airplanes that explode into smaller bits of paper going far off into the distance, then floating down into your flight path - shoot them before they become a real problem, as they will transform into new paper airplanes one after the other and quickly finish you off. To make matters worse, new planes will appear on your flightpath while you are trying to clear out the ones hanging around upstairs. There will be a lot of these eventually, and you might want to launch a nova bomb or two to clear them out. But be careful - there are no bomb or laser powerups in this stage.

One-Armed Bandit SLOT MACHINE

Play the slots by shooting the arm. Basically, you are trying to win shield-regenerating coins and not receive an Andross laugh as a prelude to laser blasts and homing missiles. Eventually you want to get three sevens and toast the machine.

You can also stop a slot from spinning by shooting the panel below it if it is flashing. Be careful about doing that, though, because it is very easy to accidentally stop the wrong slot - like an Andross slot, as it often beckons you to stop one of those! Not a good idea, because that means you are guaranteed missiles for your result.

Here is a breakdown of the results you can get: Fruits, stars, etc.: Three of something will get you beaucoup coins; cherries will always get you a couple of coins - unless you get one or more Androsses.

Bar: Often causes the panels you can shoot to stop the slots to be activated.

Andross: Avoid this! When the machine turns around, it will fire yellow laser bolts and three waves of missiles instead of those wonderful shield-regenerating coins. The missiles are not difficult to deke, though. One good thing about Andross is that he often causes the slot stoppers to activate - so if you got a 7 with your Andross, you might be able to stop the 7 before taking your next spin.

7: One is good; three is better - getting three sevens will cause the machine to explode after giving you a whole lot of coins, thus allowing you to see the game's secret ending. On their own or as pairs sevens do not do anything, though.

Sometimes you get three sevens after thirty minutes or more of playing the slots; sometimes you get it on the second spin. At any rate, when you defeat the machine, the credits to the game will appear - even though you are still in flight. The background will be nice and solid now so you can read them clearly.

Slowing down or speeding up won't much affect the speed of the credits, but you can still travel to the extremities of your autopilot and only see parts of the presentation.

When the credits are over, words "THE END" will appear - but the letters are not oriented properly. Firing on a letter will cause it to fly off into the distance and come back oriented differently - hopefully the the right way. Watch out for enemy fighters and missile boats that will show up and interfere - in fact, shooting a letter can trigger their appearance - possibly causing your correctly-oriented letters to revert again! Good aim is essential here. Also, if you have twin blasters, tilt yourself over onto one side to make it easier to hit only one letter at a time. When you get all the letters lined up right, you get a little clip of the standard "just-beat-the-boss" music and the letters fly off again. Then, they come back, giving you the opportunity to repeat the process again . And after that you can do it again. And again. And again. And again. And again.

One thing to note is that there seem to be a finite number of enemies you can face at any particular moment - i.e. they will stop regenerating if you are not doing anything for a while, but they will come back as you start shooting letters again. Also, successfully finishing a round will cause any background enemies to disappear.

How long does this last, you ask? Until you get killed, then you start over from the beginning of the stage. Even continuing on a credit means starting here again. You can even beat the game twice without hitting the reset button.

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