If Star Fox Zero Is Too Hard, There Is A Sweet Beginner's Mode

Star Fox Zero for the Wii U will have several new features to appeal to casual gamers just as much as the hardcore elite. One of the new features is a beginner mode of sorts that gives players the option to fly around in an invincible Arwing, so there's no need for cheat codes.

TechnoBuffalo is reporting that lead designer on Star Fox Zero, Shigeru Miyamoto, has been working with the team to try some new things with the upcoming Wii U exclusive. For instance, there's a new mode that allows gamers to just pick up and play Star Fox Zero with an invincible Arwing. It works as a god mode of sorts to allow gamers to just play through the story mode without worrying about dying. There's also a cooperative mode so that two players can help each other out and work together to complete the levels.

Some gamers might scoff at the notion of having invincibility right at the start of the game, but there are also additional difficulty settings like the option to have an Arwing that dishes out a lot more damage while also receiving more damage. That's bound to have some of the hardcore gamers putting in a lot of time and energy into that mode.

One thing that's not clarified, however, is whether or not the co-op mode or the beginner mode with the invincible Arwing can be used to unlock new things in the game? It would be kind of cheating to be able to take an untouchable ship through the story mode and unlock all of the game's secrets without having to actually earn them – that's assuming that there are things to unlock.

According to Miyamoto, speaking to Time, a large part of the appeal of the games he works on is being able to overcome the challenges set forward by the developers, as well as mastering the skills necessary to get better at overcoming those challenges. Miyamoto explains that lowering the difficulty but still requiring players to master new skills can be fun in itself, hence the reason they've added in the invincible Arwing. It gives players the ability to experience all of the skill required to take down enemies and master the flying in Star Fox Zero without worrying about the challenges that come with dying. It's a good introduction to the game's world while also offering players the opportunity to get good and eventually take on more difficult settings.

However, not everyone has the twitch skills to deal with the flying, arcade-style mechanics of Star Fox. Miyamoto and the crew at Nintendo have managed to address the twitch-skill hurdle by adding in another game mode called Star Fox Guard, which is based around a game concept that Miyamoto showed off a couple of years ago. The Star Fox Guard sees players monitoring a base and using defense mechanisms to shoot down invaders trying to attack the base. The game's main hook is using all of the different cameras to pinpoint where the enemies are and having the proper turrets or defense mechanisms to take out the attackers.

Gamers can look for the new difficulty settings and options in Star Fox Zero to be made available with the game starting April 21, exclusively for the Wii U.