By Josh Broadwell Published Jun 25, 2026, 12:02 AM EDT Guides Getting started on the right wing
Image: Velan Studios/Nintendo via Polygon Jump Links The end is the beginning You can swap between first- and third-person perspective Save your friends Aim your charged attacks at a central enemy Shoot everything Use all the mobility tricks at your disposal Accept incoming messages Barrel rolls don't make you invincible If it's too easy, take on challenges and expert mode Getting started in Star Fox is deceptively simple. You shoot things, and then you shoot some more things while, ideally, not getting shot yourself. That's all you really need to know for your first couple missions, though things get a bit more complicated further in the campaign — much more complicated if you find yourself inadvertently in one of the game's more difficult routes.
Our Star Fox beginner's guide includes nine tips to help you glide through each mission with ease and prep for even harder levels.
Image: Velan Studio/Nintendo via Polygon When you first clear Star Fox 's campaign and bring Andross' war to an end, you haven't technically finished the game. Each planet has optional objectives you can clear to earn medals, but you'll also have a chance to unlock new routes. There are two dozen possible routes between Corneria and Venom, and from the map viewer, you can press X while highlighting a planet to see what challenges you still need to clear and what the criteria is for unlocking an alternate route.
If you're having trouble aiming in third-person mode, press the - button to enter first-person cockpit mode. It makes precise aiming with the reticle easier, though as a trade-off, you also have a harder time seeing things above and below the Arwing.
Peppy, Falco, and Slippy might be seasoned mercenaries, but they're not very good at taking care of themselves. They'll come under fire at least once during each mission, and you'll have the opportunity to down their attackers — or not. Allies you don't save won't show up in the next mission. That might not seem like a big deal, but it has some ramifications.
For one thing, you need certain allies to unlock alternate routes in some missions. On Corneria, for example, Falco has to survive to unlock the route to Sector Y. Having allies also makes dogfight missions on Fichina and Venom much easier to manage. Fewer allies means more enemies targeting you.
Image: Velan Studio/Nintendo via Polygon When you're aiming a charged attack, try locking onto the middle enemy in a formation. The force of the explosion destroys adjacent foes, so you can wipe out an entire group in one go. That frees you to lock onto another group or take out other objects in your way.
That sounds like obvious advice in a rail shooter, but it's extra important in Star Fox . Alternative routes for some missions only unlock when you land a set number of hits, and the amount of health your allies recover at the end of a mission increases as you land more hits. So while you definitely want to shoot enemy ships, don't ignore things like turrets and destructible objects either, as they also count toward your hit total.
Projectiles you destroy also have a chance of dropping useful things like bombs or shields for your Arwing.
The tutorial and early missions make a big deal out of somersaults and U-turns, which are useful, but sometimes, the best answer is slowing down to turn faster — and keep an evasive enemy in your sights — or avoid collisions.…