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A cool 3D space combat game featuring polygonal graphics, Star Fox 2 is one of the most sought-after unreleased games in existence. Years after the final beta was uncovered and released as a ROM on the Internet, the translation group Aeon Genesis (AGTP) finally released the English translation to the delight of Star Fox fans everywhere. If you have never heard of Star Fox, one of the most ambitious Nintendo games ever made, AGTP's SF2 translation page explains it well: "Ah, the prototype to end all prototypes. No, Star Fox 2 was never officially released. I will not go into how the game found its way onto the Internet, as that is not my place. I will say that it's a helluvalotta fun! At the beginning, you're presented with a map of the Lylat system, with a few different things happening on it depending on which difficulty level you select. As soon as you move your chosen pilots to a different place on the map, things start happening and will continue to happen until you either A) change pilots by pressing select, or B) complete a level. Things will even continue to happen while you're battling through a battleship, planet, missile salvo, boss, or fighter squadron. Don't let things get too close to Corneria, though – if the planet takes too much damage, it's game over! Another really cool thing that the game does is add incentives for playing the higher difficulty levels. The normal mode seems kind of cool at first, but it gets old pretty quickly. Kick the difficulty up to "Hard" and you have more planets to rescue, more battleships to destroy, more enemies and bosses flying around the map. And by the way, the battleship and planet levels' layouts have changed! It's really something else. The same things happen when you kick it up to "Expert" – even more new and changed things. If that weren't enough, there are huge General Pepper coins strewn throughout each difficulty level. Each one only appears once – after you pick it up, it will not appear in future playthroughs. I'm unsure of the function of these, other than to fully heal you when you find one, but I've yet to find them all. My running total is 27 or 28." The combination of strategy and action, strong plot-based missions, and many surprises (for example, enemies will appear to make your mission more challenging after a certain point) make Star Fox 2 one of the most entertaining space combat games you'll ever play. Whether or not you like the original, you'll love this unreleased sequel if you like action games. Two thumbs up! Reviewed by: Underdogs | 
Star Fox 2 
