Arwingpedia
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Arwingpedia

Lead the Star Fox Team to Victory!
In the distant Lylat star system, imagine yourself at the controls of a futuristic, heavily armed, space fighter - Arwing.
Lead the counter-attack on an invasion force of hundreds of alien tanks, fighter ships, laser gun emplacements and super battleships. Maneuver at warp speed through fog-enshrouded canyons, dense asteroid belts and waves of the enemy's best defense. You must use skill and cunning to bring the fight to the enemy's home planet Venom and smash the Core Brain for victory!
The Super FX micro chip is on-board for fluid game control and special effects previously unavailable in home video games! The action explodes from all directions in realistic, real-time, three dimensions.
—Game's rear cover

Star Fox (known in the PAL region as Starwing) is the original Star Fox video game made for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, released in 1993, featuring then-revolutionary 3D graphics due to the Super FX chip. It is the first game in the series and introduces Fox McCloud and the Star Fox team on a mission to save the Lylat System from the evil clutches of Andross. The game was originally intended to have a direct sequel in 1996, Star Fox 2, which would have introduced the now-familiar concepts of Walkers, All-Range Mode, and the rival Star Wolf team; however, this title originally went unreleased due to the looming Nintendo 64, and Nintendo decided that the next title, Star Fox 64, would be more akin to a series reboot rather than a true sequel.

Gameplay

The objective of the game is to go through one route (Level 1 for beginners, Level 2 for more skilled players and Level 3 for seasoned veterans of the game) that begins at Corneria and eventually reaches Venom, the planet where Andross has holed himself up. Along each route, there are six stages apiece, all different. This deviates the game from the normal space/flight sim mold in which the difficulty level is set by the options screen, as each route corresponds to a difficulty level. This increases the game's replay value significantly by offering the chance to see and experience new areas on the higher difficulty routes instead of merely experiencing the same stages with more enemies, lower health, less time, etc.

By controlling Fox McCloud within the Arwing space/air fighter, the vehicle will automatically start moving at the Mission Start, and will proceed down a fixed route, towards the opposing Enemy Force Commander at the end of the flight path. The Arwing can be flown up, down, left or right, but it cannot turn around and if it approaches the edge of the screen, an arrow will flash to prevent the ship from going off course. In order to evade obstacles, the booster and retro rockets can be used to avoid taking any damage, but if the boost/brake gauge is empty, no techniques will work and the ship will be vulnerable for a moment. In order to take out enemies and add them to the Score Check, the Arwing's laser blasters can be used to shoot down targets and Enemy Force Commanders, or Nova Bombs can be fired to destroy or heavily damage enemies within the radius. Barrel Rolling will deflect enemy firepower, but will not protect the ship from head on collisions.

Not counting the Black Hole or Out of This Dimension, there are three route orders in the game. All paths begin at Corneria, where the player faces either the Attack Carrier on the easier routes or the Destructor on the hardest route. In the easy path: The Star Fox team then heads to the Asteroid Belt where they destroy the Rock Crusher, attack the Andross Space Armada and destroy the flagship's Atomic Base, destroy the Dancing Insector of the Battle Base Meteor, and fight Phantron at Venom. In the medium route, they go to Sector X and destroy the Rock Crusher, recapture the weather control base and destroy the corrupted Professor Hanger at Titania, save the "undersea" lifeforms of Sector Y by eliminating the Plasma Hydra, tangle with the Metal Smasher at Venom airspace, and race the Galactic Rider at the base. On the hard route, they'll destroy the Blade Barrier of the Asteroid Belt, destroy Andross's mutated Monarch Dodora at Fortuna, take out the Atomic Base II at Sector Z, destroy the Spinning Core at Macbeth to stop the construction of a base, and defeat the Great Commander of Venom. All routes end with the final boss, "Andross..."

Controls

There are four control configurations to choose from, the default being Type A.

Type D-Pad (Left, Right) D-Pad (Up, Down) Start Select L R A B X Y
Type A Left and Right Dive and Climb Pause Switch Viewpoints Roll Left Roll Right Fire a Smart Bomb Retro-rocket Speed Boost Laser Blaster
Type B Left and Right Dive and Climb Pause Switch Viewpoints Roll Left Roll Right Laser Blaster Retro-rocket Speed Boost Retro-rocket
Type C Left and Right Climb and Dive Pause Switch Viewpoints Roll Left Roll Right Fire a Smart Bomb Retro-rocket Speed Boost Laser Blaster
Type D Left and Right Climb and Dive Pause Switch Viewpoints Roll Left Roll Right Fire a Smart Bomb Laser Blaster Speed Boost Retro-Rocket

Items

SF-Supply Ring
  • Supply ring: After you fly through this ring, it will become your starting point if your ship is destroyed before you finish the stage. Flying through this ring will also restore most of your shield energy.
  • Small Energy Supply: This small ring will appear after you have destroyed certain enemies or missiles. When you fly through it, some of your shield energy will be replenished.
    294695-energy ring super
  • Power Shield:When you obtain this item, you will be impervious to the next several enemy attacks.
  • Twin Blaster:This will upgrade the Arwing's Laser Blasters to Twin Blaster Type A. If Type A is already enabled, it will upgrade them to Type B.
  • Wing gyro:If a wing is damaged, this will repair one broken wing.
  • Smart Bomb: This will equip the Arwing with an extra Smart Bomb, up to a maximum of five.
  • Extra Ship: The player must shoot the three objects to make an arwing appear in the middle. The player must then fly through the ship in order to gain a 1-Up.

Names in other languages

Language Name
Japanese (スターフォックス: Sutā Fokkusu)

References

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