With the release of the demo, we've gotten a good look at things and are pretty confident that routes are going to end up being very similar to Star Fox 64. With that, I wanted to make this news post to provide an outline of what categories and subcategories are going to exist when the board goes live. I'll also take this moment to explain them as well as go over stuff we may add and what we're currently still deciding on.

Categories

• Any% (Complete the game using whatever route through Lylat gets you to Venom the fastest)
• Blue Line (Complete game following the Blue Line path planets to Venom)
• Red Line (Complete the game following the Red Line path planets to Venom)

Subcategories

• Difficulty
• Solo vs Co-Op

With difficulty, the game allows for playing on Easy, Normal or Expert. Runs done on Easy will be separated from runs that play on Normal. This is because Easy provides a big advantage in that you begin with powered up lasers, take less damage and you can't lose your laser upgrade. This allows for people to run and compete at whatever difficulty level they choose to without the concern of one difficulty being the only "true" option for speedrunning.

Solo vs Co-Op is pretty explanatory. The game allows for you to play by yourself, or by sharing the Joycon with another player who can then take on the job of firing the Arwing's lasers. We want to accommodate co-op runs so they will also be separated from those who play solo. Because co-op runs are allowed, all categories regardless if done solo or not, will ask for a 2nd player when submitting. Runs that are done solo should just not provide a 2nd player name when submitting.

With this plan, categories will be split by route, difficulty and the amount of players meaning runs will look like "Any% (Normal, Solo)" and so on with the names inside the ()s changing based on the subcategory.

Annotations

• Copy of the game used (Digital or physical)
• Control Type (Still being discussed but would mean if you're using Pro Controller, N64 controller or mouse mode)

These annotations will NOT be used to split the board but will instead be used to provide more detail into the run. As of the time of making this, the game isn't out so we don't have the ability to time loads between digital and physical but the tentative plan is to not split. Control type is still being discussed but will also optionally allow runners to specify how they chose to control the Arwing during their run. This also will not split anything and is purely informational.

Individual Levels

• Planet Challenges (Complete the Challenge Mode challenges on each planet/sector)

Each planet and sector in the game will have challenges to them available through a separate mode. We will be tracking these challenges as ILs and will also be splitting them by difficulty as which difficulty you play them on changes how many challenges there are for you to complete.

Planned Additions

• Yellow Line Category (Complete the game using the Yellow Line path and then completing Venom from the final Red or Blue path)
• 100% Category (Complete the game obtaining all the medals across every planet and sector)
• All Challenges (Complete all the challenges from all planets and sectors)

The first two will not be available from the start as both are niche categories in Star Fox 64 and 64 3D, as such we aren't going to offer them for submissions UNTIL a run has been completed. We want to avoid there being completely empty categories and these two are the most likely to sit empty as opposed to all other categories mentioned above. All Challenges also stands in a similar situation in that we are considering it, but will wait to see if there is any interest before creating something that may sit empty.

As we approach the launch, we are still having ongoing discussions about categories and rules so if you are curious and want to be involved, be sure to join the Discord server using the link provided on this page and join #starfox-2026.