Star Fox 64
The series' high point — Star Fox 64's branching campaign sends Fox McCloud across 15 Lylat planets to Andross. Here's the best route, the true ending, every planet boss, and how to play it today.
Star Fox 64 is a space rail-shooter game developed and published by Nintendo in 1997 for the Nintendo 64. It is the second officially released Star Fox game, as the originally planned second game in the series, Star Fox 2, was suddenly canceled for physical release on the Super NES due to the upcoming release of the Nintendo 64 (plus competition in the 32-bit era would render it obsolete), but some of its features were reused in Star Fox 64 such as charged laser shots, All-Range Mode, and the Star Wolf Team. It is the first game to introduce support for the N64 controller's Rumble Pak, and was initially packaged with one. This installment of the series is a reboot of the original Star Fox…
Plot
One day on Corneria, the fourth planet of the Lylat System, the evil scientist Andross is driven to madness and destroys the planet to near-extinction using biological weapons. General Pepper exiles him to the remote deserted planet Venom as punishment. Five years later, Pepper detects suspicious activity on Venom, and he hires the original Star Fox team — James McCloud, Peppy Hare, and Pigma Dengar — to investigate. Pigma suddenly betrays the team upon their arrival, and Andross captures James and apparently kills him; Peppy barely escapes from Venom alive and informs James's young son, Fox McCloud, about his father's fate. Two years later, Andross launches another attack, this time across the entire Lylat System, declaring war. Defending Corneria, Pepper summons a new Star Fox team, now consisting of the new team leader Fox, Peppy, who is now his mentor, and his friends Falco Lombardi
The best route in Star Fox 64
The best path Star Fox 64 offers branches across three difficulty routes through the Lylat System. Your planet choices decide the path — and whether the Venom hard route and true ending unlock.
Easy path
Corneria → Sector Y → Katina → Solar → Macbeth → Area 6 → Venom
Hard / true route
Corneria → Meteo → Fichina → Sector X → Titania → Bolse → Venom (hard)
Mixed branches
Aquas · Zoness · Sector Z · Sector Y
All 15 Lylat planets
A tour of the best Star Fox 64 levels — every planet you can visit on the branching path to Venom.
Corneria
Corneria is the fourth planet of the Lylat System, and essentially its "mother" planet as it is the homeworld of many characters, especially the local Cornerians.
Meteo
Meteo, also known as the Asteroid Field, the Asteroid Belt or just Asteroid, or even Outer Space, is a dense field of planetoids located in the Lylat system between Corneria and Fichina.
Sector Y
Sector Y is one of three strange nebula located in the Lylat System, named for the strange unknown formation of the shape creating the letter Y.
Katina
Katina is a semi-arid world in the Lylat System, home to a garrison of Cornerian Army fighter squadrons and serving as the Army's front line defense post. Despite containing far less water than Corneria, Katina shares a similar climate and environment to its sister planet.
Aquas
Aquas is one of two oceanic worlds of the Lylat System, sharing its characteristics with Zoness. Unlike Zoness, Aquas is mostly completely covered by ocean.
Solar
Solar is a molten planet situated in the Lylat System. Cornerian scientists have speculated that the reason for the planet's molten state is due to it being sited in the middle of the Sector X-Y-Z nebulae triangle.
Zoness
Zoness is one of two oceanic worlds of the Lylat System, the other being Aquas, although unlike Aquas, it has many islands that break the water's surface.
Sector X
Sector X is one of three strange nebula located in the Lylat System, named due to the unidentified reasons of the formation of a giant X.
Titania
Titania is the second planet of the Lylat System. It is a vast, barren desert planet, though ruins on its surface have hinted that life once thrived on it. The planet's atmosphere is composed of black clouds and red dust blown by the ion storms that buffet its surface.
Sector Z
Sector Z is one of three strange nebulae located in the Lylat System, first appearing in the original "Star Fox", as the fourth mission of the third level.
Macbeth
Macbeth is the third planet of the Lylat System, and 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 it.
Area 6
Area 6, also known as the Venom Air Defense Zone, is an area of space in the Lylat System, in orbit above the planet Venom. It is the location of a major conflict late in the Lylat Wars.
Fichina
Fichina is an icy world of the Lylat System and considered a tertiary homeworld of the Cornerians, as scientists initially planned to terraform the planet into an inhabitable world for them.
Bolse
Bolse is an artificial defensive satellite station in orbit around the desolate wasteland world of Venom, directly above the rocky frontier ahead of Andross's Palace.
Venom
Venom is the first planet of the Lylat System and is often seen to be the largest planet in the Star Fox series.
All bosses in Star Fox 64
The bosses tied to SF64 and its planets — location and weakness where documented.
| Boss | Location | Weakness |
|---|---|---|
| Air Force Bow | Mission 7. Corneria; War | Cockpit |
| Algy | Unknown (possibly Venom?) | — |
| Andross/Games | Venom (Any route) | Eye(s) Core Brain |
| Attack Carrier | Corneria Sector Ω (2016) | Hanger doors Hull |
| Bacoon | Aquas | Tendons Eye |
| Divergant | Mission 2: Katina Outpost | Landmaster firepower Underbelly |
| Goras | Titania | Arms Heart |
| Hi-Ho King | Corneria | Eyes |
| Mechbeth | Macbeth | Head Mouth |
| Monarch Dodora | Fortuna Titania (2006) | — |
| Pigma Dengar | Corneria (birthplace) Venom | — |
| Sarumarine | Zoness | Periscope Exhaust pipes |
| Saruzin | Sector Y | — |
| Spyborg | Sector X | Head Eye |
Star Fox gameplay
Best Star Fox 64 lines & moments
"Do a barrel roll!"
Peppy's tutorial bark became the franchise's most quoted line — a 360° roll that deflects laser fire.
James McCloud returns
Beat Andross's true form on the hard route and Fox's late father guides him out of the imploding base.
Star Wolf intercepts
"Can't let you do that, Star Fox!" — the Star Wolf dogfights are the campaign's toughest non-boss fights.