YMMV / Star Fox 64

• Alternate Character Interpretation: During the battle against Spyborg, Fox says "What's he saying?" when the former asks "Where is the creator?" Could Fox not understand Spyborg due to his heavy Robo Speak making him difficult to comprehend, or is Fox asking that out of curiousity as to what Spyborg means by "the creator"?
• Annoying Video Game Helper:
  • All of the team qualifies.
    • Falco is a condescending jerk who's supposed to be the team's ace pilot, but gets in trouble as often as your other wingmen and throws backhanded compliments at you.
    • The only time Peppy is useful is when you're first trying to learn the controls and gameplay associated with Star Fox but for some reason you don't have access to a game guide or tutorial online. Otherwise, he gives gameplay hints that are useless to second-time players (he's a pilot that doesn't know the difference between an aileron roll and a barrel roll) and just can't shut up about Fox's deceased father. He also may shoot down allies in Katina.
    • Slippy has the uncanny ability to get in trouble more often than not, which can screw up your medals. And the boss' health won't show up without him either.
  • This comes to a head on Sector Z for those chasing its medal. At least one of your allies will go after each missile, and if it's one of their shots that blows up the missile, you get no points for it! And you need to destroy each missile to hit the 100-point quota, as the six missiles are worth 66 points total and other sources of score are scarce. If you come from Zoness, Katt shows up on Sector Z to try to help you with the missiles in the same fashion as your wingmen, resulting in her also potentially robbing you from the very significant points of them. Frustratingly, her aid in Zoness gives points for the searchlights she destroys, meaning they already had the tools to make at least her missile kills be added to your score.
• Anti-Climax Boss: Andross' attacks hurt, but are easy to avoid; and a hyper laser, which a player can get from corridors along the way to the fight, can kill him in seconds. The Fake Andross robot head you fight at the end on the easy path is downright pathetic, its charge attack is a joke to avoid, and that's its only attack. Also, you can beat the boss before the fight even begins if you immediately shoot at its weak spot with the Hyper Laser. Most bosses you fought before this thing take longer to kill. The only challenge a player might have is with Andross' brain on the hard route, but even then his eyes go down immediately if you launch a bomb once the phase starts. The brain can't hurt the player unless they fly into it so as long they pull away before getting too close Andross will never damage them.
• Awesome Bosses: Any time you fight Star Wolf: a challenging dog fight against an evil mercenary team whose abilities match and later surpass your own team's. It's not uncommon for players to take the Blue route through Fichina, then changing to the Red route to go to Venom through Area 6 just to fight Star Wolf twice. In fact, on Venom, each of Star Wolf's members is worth 51 points if you kill them fast enough, meaning that if you quickly take all four of them down without losing any wingmen, getting the medal (200 points) is a simple matter of finishing the level at your own pace.
• Awesome Music:
  • Star Wolf's theme is probably the most famous.
  • Area 6 is also quite popular, and even got its own (unused) remix for Star Fox Adventures.
  • These four boss themes are extremely tense and make the player realize that the shit has hit the fan.
• Awesome Video Game Levels: Fichina, Katina, Bolse, Area 6, Venom, Zoness, the list goes on. Mainly because almost all of the levels have such Visual Effects of Awesome for the console the game is on. Most notably though, the fast pace of Macbeth turns a Scrappy Mechanic in the Landmaster into another best level ever - that's how much fun it is.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The Warps in Meteo and Sector X. Although Falco alludes to the warp in Sector X, every member of the Star Fox team is completely silent upon entering them and makes no reference at all when they leave. The Warps themselves are also extremely trippy in design, making it all the stranger that nobody remarks on it.
• Breather Boss: After how hard Solar was, Vulcain provides a refreshingly easy fight to cap off the level. Its attacks are nicely telegraphed and easy to dodge, one of which has it spit up five rocks that drop health pick ups when destroyed.
• Broken Base:
  • On the gameplay-side, this game was the one to set the standards of gameplay for present games, something which defenders are very eager to point out, and consider the gameplay not just impeccable (admittedly, it still holds well to this day), but that future attempts at breaking new ground were lackluster. Detractors will point out how reviled the controls outside of the Arwing are (with what the Landmaster causing heavy frame rate drop and its somewhat awkward mobility and the Blue-Marine's lack of charge shot and slow-moving torpedoes), and state that not only was the Blue-Marine removed, but the Landmaster's controls were improved in future games, while some will point out that, at the very least, future games tried to do something different.
  • The voice acting. While there's no denying the game's script is So Bad, It's Good due to being hilariously dramatic and quotable to no end, defenders will point out how future games should've been stuck with said feeling, and that no dialogue in future games was as quotable/memetic as this. Detractors will point out that other games' direction results in the voice acting being more believable and thus able to be taken more seriously.
  • How good is the 3DS remake? For some people, it's a Polished Port, with significantly improved graphics (which makes the mission in Aquas more bearable), frame rate drops heavily toned down, revamped music and sound effects, the addition of Score Attack, and toning down some parts that were considered unfair. For others, the voice acting is a huge part of why it's reviled, and the music sounds very inorganic, especially considering some of its predecessors (like Assault) and sucessors (like Zero) had superior music.
  • Which is better, Star Fox or Star Fox 64? While 64 is undeniably a more technically advanced, polished, and sophisticated game, there are fans of the original who prefer it for its darker tone, its minimalistic approach to the story, and especially its eclectic music by Hajime Hirasawa, which pulls in influence from rock, funk, pop, and classical music to create a distinctively futuristic soundscape. While Koji Kondo's score for 64 is much beloved as well, there's certainly an argument to be made that Hirasawa's absence contributes to the reboot lacking some of the original's unique identity.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • Taking down most of the bosses is fun, but rerouting the train on Macbeth right into its own fuel bunker is easily the most satisfying feeling in the game, especially given how condescending (and actually hard) the boss is. This cripples the enemy war effort In-Universe, and thus gives you an actually better route than the boss fight itself, which makes the accomplishment even better. Even your wingmates can't help but act smug about it. And if you have the Rumble Pak plugged in...hoo boy, you could really feel the fuel bunker explode into a trillion pieces.
    Conductor: NO! Hit the brakes!! (the brakes fail to stop the train) I CAN'T STOP IT!! (the train crashes on the base, causing it to blow up)
  • Shooting down the members of Star Wolf, but special mention goes to Pigma. Helping Fox avenge his father by blasting away at the swine who betrayed him just feels so good. Defeating them on Venom nets special death lines that can be described as either utter disbelief or screaming desperately after losing what they thought would be a Curb-Stomp Battle towards Star Fox.
    Pigma: This can't be happening!
• Cheese Strategy: Getting the medal in Solar can be a little difficult... until you learn that shooting charged shots below the lava arches that erupt throughout the level grants a bonus point. Thanks to this oversight, if you're quick enough, you can net up to three bonus points per arch. The boss, Vulcain, constantly creates such arches with its arms, which, in addition to its rock throw attack, allow the player to constantly score points while staying healthy. It's possible to score 999 points on Solar this way — that's one point short of ten times the score needed for the medal!
• Complacent Gaming Syndrome: People going for high scores, and many casual players as well, usually pick Macbeth as their fifth stage. Not only is Macbeth one of the most fun and memorable levels in the game, but the other two choices for stage 5 are examples of That One Level^note Titania's premise is of saving Slippy, which locks off the very high-scoring Area 6 and the Golden Ending; Sector Z, on the other hand, is very difficult, and lacks targets compared to the other two stages, which also makes it difficult to get the medal. It helps that Macbeth can be easily reached from all three stage 4's (and is in fact the only way forward after Solar); by contrast, Titania is only reachable from Sector X, while Sector Z requires either activating and surviving Sector X's difficult warp, or going through Aquas and Zoness. Even story-wise, Macbeth is the best path. On Titania, you merely save Slippy. On Sector Z, you merely survive an ambush. On Macbeth, you cripple the supplies of the entire enemy army, arguably doing more damage to Andross than in Venom 1.
• Complete Monster: Andross was responsible for experiments that destroyed a good chunk of the Cornerian capital city and rendered multiple worlds in the Lylat system uninhabitable. Banished to the planet Venom, Andross took it over while building his own army. When the time was right, Andross launched a vicious campaign on Lylat, having his forces attack civilian populations and aiming to exterminate life on entire worlds. When he faced Fox McCloud, whose father Andross had killed years ago, Andross was apparently destroyed, only to survive in the form of a spirit who fled to Dinosaur Planet, later named Sauria. Manipulating events there, Andross engineered his own resurrection and transformation into a near deity, forcing Krystal into tortuous imprisonment and facilitating General Scales's plans, which threaten the entire planet. At the climax of Adventures, Andross kills Scales and opts to destroy the entire Lylat system.
• Difficulty Spike: If you take the hardest route, then Aquas is where things really start to get difficult, with the enemies being more numerous, more aggressive, and often having area-of-effect attacks instead of (or in addition to) beam and/or projectile attacks.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • The Monkey Soldiers that pilot the bosses, due to providing memorable Boss Banter. In particular, there's the conductor of Macbeth's Forever Train, as he starts talking seconds after the level begins. And then you have his (secret) death scene.
  • Bill, for his amusing accent, friendship with Fox and being genuinely useful in later levels, unlike Katt or your wingmen.
• First Installment Wins: Certainly qualifies within the second timeline alone, since none of the games in this continuity had as much critical acclaim as this one did.
• Goddamned Boss:
  • The Shogun Warriors and the Shogun Warlord, Sector Y's bosses, are in All-Range Mode and move around a lot, which can make them hard to hit. Fortunately, they have very low health, and can be shot down in one pass if you've got the Hyper Laser.
  • Andross' brain is fought in All-Range Mode. It does tight circles, making it fairly annoying to line up a good barrage of shots against its one weak spot. Its eyes will shock you if you get between them and the brain, and shooting the brain literally anywhere except its weak spot makes it teleport behind you. Get caught in its tentacles, and watch a good chunk of your energy go down, and more often than not, your wings get destroyed, which resets your laser to the awfully weak, standard one. The 3DS remake's 3D mode makes it much easier, though, as the tentacles don't cause as much damage, and it can be taken down in one barrage if you've got quick fingers and the Hyper Laser.
• Good Bad Bugs:
  • It's possible to keep some points if you die soon enough after hitting a checkpoint. This is, unsurprisingly, best used on Sector 6 for score attacks, but can be used anywhere.
  • It's possible to fight Corneria's hard boss by colliding with the stone arches instead of going through them. While Falco's comment about Fox's flying doesn't happen if you do it, he still leads you to the boss if you haven't missed any of them.
  • You can get extra points by using a charged shot or Blue Marine torpedo against certain objects, such as the base of the small mechs you can destroy on Corneria, or certain pieces of seaweed. The seaweed stands out in particular, as it's possible to get well over ten points from a single piece if you can mash fast enough.
  • On Fortuna, even if the timer is up, it's still possible to succeed the mission — the only condition is that all of the Star Wolf team is downed before the final cutscene, as that's when Fox defusing the bomb will take precedence. It's even possible to do this at the last possible second by shooting a smart bomb just right, destroying the last Star Wolf ship during the cutscene where they gloat about their victory (see here).
• He Really Can Act: A very unique case. In mid-2020, Nintendo suffered a massive leak of information about the company's entire historical backlog that made public a huge chunk of previously unknown information and even assets. One of those assets was the entire original voice acting for Star Fox 64 with uncompressed audio. Fans were shocked to see how much of a massive difference the improved audio quality made, to the point that it affected the actors' performances. While the cheesy writing makes the Narm Charm fully apply, a lot of people claim that the uncompressed lines fully escape So Bad, It's Good territory to become unironically good, given the lighthearted tone of the game, and especially by 1997 video game voice acting standards. Some even wondered if the fact that the game's voice acting "being secretly good all along" was what made the lines to reach such crazy levels of Memetic Mutation.
• Hype Backlash: While the game is still the most well-regarded title in the series, there are a number of fans who are tired of the pedestal the game is frequently placed upon by fans and critics, especially given how it affects the reputation of later games. It doesn't help that since The New '10s, Nintendo has only been using material from Star Fox 64 in new games, ignoring everything from Adventures and onward, with the only games released being a remake of 64 on the 3DS and Star Fox Zero, which rehashed a lot of 64's plot and gameplay elements with little new to offer, leading fans to become even more tired of 64 than they already were.
• Love to Hate: Pigma, just like he is in future games. While Star Wolf as a whole is in it for the money in this game, Pigma is responsible for the death of James McCloud, Fox’s father, as they were squadmates before Pigma sold him and Peppy out. Plus, Pigma has an ego on par with that of Wolf himself, but sounds far more haughty than the usually calm Wolf. These factors together make him incredibly satisfying to shoot him down.
• Memetic Mutation: While pretty much the entirety of the English script was subjected to this as a result of the sheer Narm Charm value of the lines and the voice actors' deliveries, Peppy's infamous "Do a Barrel Roll!" was so ingrained in pop culture that it gets frequently referenced and parodied in other media. Nintendo itself acknowledges the memes, given that the 3DS remake faithfully recreates the original script, the Super Smash Bros. games enjoy parodying the dialogue, and one of Zero's trailers have Peppy utter the phrase at the end of it and there's a bonus mission featuring Peppy, who utters the phrase each time you, well, do a Barrel Roll.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Andross's army ruining Zoness with toxic waste and working on doing it to Aquas next.
  • Pigma betraying his former team to Andross, then taunting Fox by saying that James "screamed real good when he died".
  • Andross himself killing Fox's father.
• Most Wonderful Sound:
  • The immense explosions that occur after defeating a boss, especially on Macbeth when an entire factory explodes several times.
  • Shooting down a giant satellite or one of those flying command saucers on Area 6 results in a series of small explosions back to back.
  • Speaking of Area 6, if you decide to accept one of ROB 64's offers for cover fire:
    ROB 64: "Great Fox will cover you."
  • The last words of each of Star Wolf, particularly if you fight against their Wolfen II's on Venom. This Cannot Be! at its finest.
    Andrew: AAAAAHHHH!
    Pigma: This CAN'T be happening!
    Leon: He's.. too.. strong...!
    Wolf: No way! I don't believe it!
  • The sound of obtaining a medal, especially on missions like Sector Z where getting the medal requires a combination of near perfect play and luck.
• Nausea Fuel: Andross' brain form on Venom 2. It gets even worse once the fight begins, since you can send bits of brain matter flying.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • When you die and your teammates are still there, they'll give a Big "NO!". If you die alone, though, you're treated to Fox's grisly last moments where he screams, and unlike most hammy or over-the-top screams this one is not played for laughs, it's bone-chillingly realistic. Even if you're good enough to avoid having Fox being killed if he's alone, you still get to hear him scream when Andross on the hard path blows up and Fox is seemingly killed by it.
  • The Game Over screen itself, which consists of the words "GAME OVER" zooming out and rotating on a black screen, with a rather creepy synth tune. It truly gives you that sense of feeling that you have indeed failed.
  • Andross can be quite the scare given how he suddenly pops up, after going through a dark corridor with his deep menacing voice (especially in the 3DS remake) taunting you, he's a freaking giant head floating in the air, and one of his attacks consists of inhaling you, chewing up, and spitting you out. The music and the grunts and laughs he makes don't help either. It gets worse if you take the Hard route. Once Andross is "defeated", you get to fight his brain and floating eyeballs! The music playing in the tunnel leading up to him is no slouch either, and the tunnel being different in Venom 2 helps add to the suspense.
    • His robot form in the Easy route isn't very charming either.
    • The tunnels are even more ominous in the remake. The only light comes from the Arwing, otherwise they are pitch black.
  • One special mention for the Japanese dialogue, Sector Y's Shogun Warlord has an utterly bloodcurling death scream when he's defeated.
• Nightmare Retardant:
  • What's the first thing Andross does when he's reduced to his brain form? Make a pun.
    Andross: Only I have the ''brains'' to rule Lylat!
  • While his redubbed voice is appropriately deep and menacing, Andross's Evil Laugh in the remake sounds so forced he cuts a lot of the fear. Not to mention that the animation of him laughing is far too long for the sound clip, making it seem even less natural.
• Questionable Casting: The redubbed voice acting in the 3DS version has been criticized by many players, mainly due to the replacement of some of the original voice actors and a weaker delivery of many of the game's iconic lines. The backlash intensified with the revelation that the new voice actors would carry over into Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and later Star Fox Zero. Notably, while Mike West has returned to voice Fox, his voice in the former is berated for sounding too nasal and over the top. Fortunately, from Zero onward, Fox's voice sounds closer to how it does in 64, with a more mature, lower pitch (special mention goes to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate), while Mark Lund (Falco's voice actor) would be vindicated as pretty decent in his own right and Jay Ward (Wolf's voice in Super Smash Bros. Brawl) would return to voice Wolf in future games.
• Retroactive Recognition: In the original N64 version, Peppy and Andross are voiced by Rick May, also known as the Soldier.
• Scrappy Mechanic:
  • If you don't like how they control, the non-Arwing levels can be frustrating as all buggery. The Blue-Marine has unlimited torpedoes, but due to being a sub, it controls much more slowly than the Arwing, and Aquas's enemies don't help. The Landmaster can be hard to hit enemies with as it lacks the rapid-fire capability that the Arwing has and has a non-upgradable laser cannon to boot (Unless you use a bomb or charge a shot in advance).
  • The score attack mode on the 3DS version has you start off with the basic laser on every stage, which can cause some trouble if you're going for the gold medal. Venom 2 in particular, as it forces you to take out all of Star Wolf quick enough to earn 50 points for shooting down each member with the wickedly weak weapon.
• Self-Imposed Challenge: Using the Landmaster or a pilot on foot against a player using an Arwing. The Arwing's speed and manuverability mean it's harder for the others to hit, on top of it being able to deflect their shots. The character on foot has the extra handicap where they lack the ability to charge their shots and has less health than the Landmaster and Arwing.
• Sequel Displacement: The game was made with this intentionally in mind to replace the original Star Fox in the storyline.
• Serial Numbers Filed Off:
  • The Saucerer boss of Katina is almost exactly like the flying saucers of Independence Day, right down to the base-destroying laser that requires the core to be exposed.
  • The human-shaped mecha enemies in Sector Y are quite clearly inspired by Gundam. The shout-out even goes one step further by having one red mecha which takes more shots to go down - a clear reference to Mobile Suit Gundam's Char Aznable and his infamous red Zaku.
• So Bad, It's Good: This Nintendo Power ad for the game, which also introduced the concept of the Rumble Pak. Whether it's the overdone acting, the fact that they gave the Sony and Sega actors an evil laugh, or the parts where they torture a Mario doll, there's no doubt this is a bad commercial. But in this case, the cheesiness is what makes the ad so awesome.
• Special Effect Failure: In the 3DS remake, the Star Fox team running on rocky terrain during the credits looks just fine... as long as it's not viewed in 3D. In 3D, the depth perception between the characters (and their shadows) and the ground is off, with the characters appearing much closer to the camera than the ground. As a result, it looks like the characters are suspended in the air rather than running on the ground. It's a shame, because the 3D effects are otherwise very well done in the game.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The menu theme. Whoever grew up with this game can't help but get a melancholic feeling of nostalgia while listening it, especially after so much time. One particular YouTube comment feels the same way too:
    Commenter: This music actually makes me feel kinda sad, only because when I go and look at the highscores a bunch of them are from around 16 years ago from friends I haven't seen in a very long time.
  • Allowing the base on Katina to get destroyed. Not only do the Cornerian fighters not join you for the post-mission report, but depressing music plays in place of the usual victory theme while Fox curses himself for his failure and Peppy tells him to not let it get him down. On top of that, imagine the possibility that many nameless, faceless allies lose their lives, especially imagining them as lovable animals like the Star Fox members.
    Fox: Dang...
    Peppy: Don't get so down, Fox.
  • The state of Zoness is really upsetting, especially considering the Star Fox team clearly weren't expecting it to be in such a sorry state. What really sells this is when Slippy remarks that it's "a dump", rather than chide or berate him, Falco agrees with Slippy in a very resigned tone.
  • The good ending. Fox's dad James McCloud, apparently Back from the Dead (though we're not sure), leads Fox out as the fortress on Venom explodes. Then, once they're almost out, James says "you've become so strong, Fox", and vanishes. As Fox leaves Venom, his wingmen congratulate him, while Fox looks around from inside the arwing, desperately for his father, but unable to find where did he go. Should Peppy be active during this time, this exchange also occurs:
    Peppy: What's wrong, Fox?
    Fox: ...Nothing. Nothing's wrong.
• That One Attack:
  • The Sarumarine's morning star is enormous. While it is definitely avoidable, the problem comes from the fact its hitbox can very easily clip your wings, destroying your laser upgrades and forcing you to use the hopelessly weak laser (and bombs, unless you don't have any and you're forced to grind, turning it into That One Boss).
  • Gorgon's laser beam takes a very long time to charge, but you're given very little tell of when it's going to fire. It is extremely painful to boot, with one of those taking more than half of the Arwing's health, provided it is not upgraded.
• That One Boss:
  • Sarumarine, the boss of Zoness. It can only be damaged by bombs until all its parts are off and it's easy to attack the parts in the wrong order; the strategy comes from firing at the exhaust pipes and at the openings that release the exploding barrels to destroy its armor, forcing it to replenish itself using the crane. Said crane can also be shot down, which will then mitigate the difficulty into nothing. You don't want to shoot the periscope at all, as it otherwise will cause the morning star attack to be less accurate, which can prove more a curse than a blessing, especially when said attack can easily clip your wings. Reaching the boss with a few Bombs to remove Sarumarine's armor is recommended so that you don't have to grind for them by blowing up the iron bombs it fires.
  • Mechbeth, Macbeth's boss, can be defeated by hitting 8 switches, which change the tracks and make the train run into an ammo depot. However, 2 switches are on the left side of the track and can be easily missed unless Kat and Falco are present to assist you. Failing to perform this task forces you to fight a very fast and powerful airborne boss, which the ground-based Landmaster is unsuited for.
  • The Golemech, the penultimate boss on Venom's easy route. The pillars that come out of the wall can be incredibly hard to dodge, and it gets even harder if only one part of him is left to attack.
  • The Gorgon in Area 6 is impervious to everything until its outer shell opens, revealing three energy balls inside. Pelting them with lasers causes three tentacles to emerge from the machine's back, which flail wildly and are only vulnerable at the very tip. Destroying the tentacles causes the boss to finally reveal its weak spot, but it must be damaged while it charges up an unpredictable and very damaging Wave-Motion Gun. Failing to deplete the boss' health bar in one go forces you to repeat the process, with the Gorgon moving increasingly faster and attacking more often with each cycle.
  • The battle with Star Wolf on Venom's hard path is generally regarded as the hardest fight in the game. The AI for the whole team is the smartest in the game, they're all faster, and bombs and charges won't hurt them. The encounter is also much more difficult if you're missing team members, since Star Wolf members go after you if their corresponding wingman is down. Even with all team members, getting a medal can be a bit of a challenge because Wolf chases you with a better ship than yours and covers his wingmen, who will shoot down your allies if left alone for too long, forcing you to keep switching targets. And if you lose a life before taking down Star Wolf, you will respawn with the horrendously weak laser.
• That One Level:
  • Aquas is the only planet where you control the Blue Marine, a submarine that moves at a very sluggish pace. Since it takes place in the underwater depths, the entire level is dark and needs to be illuminated by constantly firing torpedos, making the game load slower and causing frame drops that make this already slow-paced mission even more drawn out. Also, due to how the Blue Marine's torpedoes work (locking on to the first target your crosshairs hits, and you can only fire one torpedo at a time), it's difficult to get the required 150 hits to earn the medal for the stage. The one saving grace is that your wingmates are completely absent from this level, meaning there's zero chance they'll get shot down but will still get a health recovery at the end of the level. The 3DS remake's much improved lighting makes the level Scenery Porn; this also has the effect of making it easier to see where you need to go and thus subdues much of the need to fire torpedoes so often, allowing you to concentrate fire on enemies.
  • Solar is so hot, your energy constantly decreases. Even getting your health boost mid-level won't help, as it'll keep going down. You can slow down the health loss by flying as high up as the game allows, but that makes it harder to hit enemies for the medal. To make it even worse, your wingmen also take damage from the heat during their dialogue, so if they're coming into Solar already at low health, there's a chance they'll pretty much keel over in a cutscene, denying you a chance at the medal, with nothing you can do to prevent it. Reaching the last parts of the level (which have enemies by the bunches) and the boss with a comfortable level of health requires shooting as many rocks that boil up from the lava as possible (as these almost always cough up health as well as Smart Bombs) and staying high at the top of the screen as frequently as possible; it's pretty much a balancing act. Fortunately, Vulcain, the boss itself, should be of little worry.
  • Sector Z is a Battleship Raid with you on the defending side; you have to protect the Great Fox from incoming missiles. It's swarming with Invader-III fighters (which have the second best AI of all the enemies in the game, behind Star Wolf or the Bolse Fighters) which means you'll constantly be listening to your wingmen calling you for help, and it has just enough junk on the outskirts to ensure that you'll likely crash into something and rip off your wings. The bosses themselves, the Copperhead Missiles, are also a Time-Limit Boss, so if you're worried about your teammates surviving, you'll have to help them as often as possible (don't let them get too close to the missiles though, as their shots can accidentally steal your kills, priving you from the medal).
  • Area 6. It's brimming full with mines, all kinds of fighters, defense satellites, turrets, missiles, warships... and there's barely any breathing room between waves other than the checkpoint and before the boss itself, Gorgon. Granted, the mission itself is fun and cathartic, but only if you've got all what's necessary — reaching the boss with at least a health upgrade and the Super Laser is imperative, especially considering the final battle against Star Wolf in the following level. Despite the influx of enemies and obstacles, getting the medal is no easy task, either.
  • Venom, coming from Bolse. Even with the battle against Star Wolf on Venom coming from Area 6 being the hardest boss in the game, it's still arguably the easier of the two paths, thanks to a combination of enough enemy laser fire to push the game into borderline Bullet Hell range and Malevolent Architecture that often pops up out of nowhere (sometimes just erupting from the ground, but other times teleporting in from hyperspace) and ensures that the usual method of dealing with enemy laser fire won't always work. Also, in Expert Mode, Venom 1 essentially becomes a Bullet Hell game, with way more ships, and way, way more lasers being fired from those ships, while for Venom 2 Star Wolf's skill level is already maxed out and not changed much for Expert mode.
• That One Sidequest: Getting the medals for each level requires you to not only shoot down as many enemies or obstacles as possible, but to make sure that your wingmen are in prime condition (i.e. not at the docking bay). Listing many of the difficult medals would take a while, but special mention go to Titania, Area 6, Venom (easy path), and Sector Z.
  • Titania, normally a decently difficult level, turns into That One Level if you go this route. Compared to Macbeth, where you also use the Landmaster, the amount of points scattered throughout the level comes more from the enemy ships and less from the obstacles. On top of this, Titania's boss, Goras, doesn't give you the option to earn 50 points like with Mechbeth, instead leaving you with the usual 10 extra points. Needless to say, General Pepper had a point when he warned Star Fox about Titania.
  • Area 6's medal requires the highest amount of points of any other medal in the game at a surplus 300. This would actually be a good thing, considering the constant Zerg Rushes of fighter ships and the appearance of the larger targets such as the satellites and warships, all of which cough up a lot of scoring points... except the game pits you with all of these at once, with little time to take them down in one pass, and often mixed with each other. Considering you're constantly in movement, on top of abusing the brakes you'll need Laser upgrades, bombs, and very quick reaction time and fast fingers to switch from rapid-fire, to charge shots, to bombs, and so on-so forth. Ironically, the best thing you can do is to not answer ROB 64's call, as letting the Great Fox cover you will cause you to miss on precious points.
  • Venom's easy path, much like Area 6, pits you with repeated Zerg Rushes of enemies throughout the entire level. Again, this would be a good thing, except some paths have more enemies than others and the onslaught forces you to waste your bombs early on. The Fake Andross also doesn't yield any points, so unless you know the trick to destroy his laser traps on the way to his lair, you may miss your chance by a scant few points. The best advice you can take is to always follow Peppy, as the paths he takes contain more enemies.
  • Sector Z is generally agreed to be the hardest medal in the game. The enemy Invader-III fighters, for as good as they are at constantly stalking your wingmen, are surprisingly scarce, so keeping Slippy, Peppy and Falco alive to guarantee the medal is surprisingly tough as well as yielding little reward for it. The real problem, though, comes from the bosses themselves. The Copperhead Missiles are the largest sources of points in the level, with each missile being worth 10 extra points for each one destroyed, for a total of 66 points, but if you're unlucky, your wingmen can accidentally steal your points if they're the ones to land the last hit on the missile. 100 points are needed for the medal, so none of your teammates better get any finishing hits at all. It's recommended to access the level from Sector X's warp; if you come from Zoness, you'll have to contend with Katt, who's the least likely to get into trouble compared to your wingmen, will kill-steal from you as well, and will then have the nerve of saying that you owe her one for it.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: The redubbed voice acting and remixed music tracks in the 3DS remake received this reaction for, according to people, being inferior to the original.
• Tough Act to Follow: The rest of the franchise has been in this game's shadow. Attempts at breaking new ground or in revisiting the main beats of this game have both come up short.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: Some mistakenly believe Slippy to be a girl due to his high-pitched feminine sounding voice, courtesy of Lyssa Browne (he's voiced by the same person who voices Katt), despite the fact that his teammates use male pronouns on him. The 3DS remake makes his gender more apparent, making him sound more like a young boy instead of a girl.

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