One of the rare cases where playing the Leaked Beta is significantly more fun than playing the actual finished game.
Unlike the finished game which locks the charged shot behind pretty much 100% completion, the Beta lets you use it by default. The charged shot in Star Fox 2 (at least the Beta, I ain't 100%ing this lol) was busted. Totally busted. It deals absurd damage, like half of Leon's health bar or some shit, and actually has surprisingly good lock-on properties. It's very easy to just lock onto a target, release the A button, and let the charged shot do all the work in all-range combat, even with polygon graphics and a janky framerate. Miyu and Fae were also insane, they started with double lasers and while they had the lowest health, that really didn't matter. 12 hits is still plenty of room for error (in the Beta, I'm pretty sure all enemies deal 1 damage at most) and there's multi-use bomb items that can heal you back to full. By no means is any of this well-balanced and would probably need to be ironed out for a final release.
But when the gameplay is only somewhat less janky than the original Star Fox, I will gladly take every advantage I can get. Yeah the charged shot is overpowered as hell...but you know what? It's pretty fun to use! But in the final game, you're instead relying on your lasers, and not only are they a lot weaker (especially without a double power-up) but they're harder to aim too. Just like that, the game becomes way more balanced but way less fun and playable 25 years later.
Hell, playing the Beta on ZSNES is a great idea, because inaccurate Super FX emulation actually means that the framerate is somewhat smooth.
Unlike the finished game which locks the charged shot behind pretty much 100% completion, the Beta lets you use it by default. The charged shot in Star Fox 2 (at least the Beta, I ain't 100%ing this lol) was busted. Totally busted. It deals absurd damage, like half of Leon's health bar or some shit, and actually has surprisingly good lock-on properties. It's very easy to just lock onto a target, release the A button, and let the charged shot do all the work in all-range combat, even with polygon graphics and a janky framerate. Miyu and Fae were also insane, they started with double lasers and while they had the lowest health, that really didn't matter. 12 hits is still plenty of room for error (in the Beta, I'm pretty sure all enemies deal 1 damage at most) and there's multi-use bomb items that can heal you back to full. By no means is any of this well-balanced and would probably need to be ironed out for a final release.
But when the gameplay is only somewhat less janky than the original Star Fox, I will gladly take every advantage I can get. Yeah the charged shot is overpowered as hell...but you know what? It's pretty fun to use! But in the final game, you're instead relying on your lasers, and not only are they a lot weaker (especially without a double power-up) but they're harder to aim too. Just like that, the game becomes way more balanced but way less fun and playable 25 years later.
Hell, playing the Beta on ZSNES is a great idea, because inaccurate Super FX emulation actually means that the framerate is somewhat smooth.