Laser

The Laser is a form of energy used by the Arwing, Wolfen, Blue Marine, Landmaster, Cornerian Fighters, and many more vehicles. One can use the Laser by repeatedly pressing the A button, or they can charge the Laser by holding the A button. Once charged, it will lock on to the opponent. In Star Fox Command however, some starships cannot charge their Laser.

There are many things that the Laser cannot affect like the hulls of some larger spacecraft.

Earlier games

In Star Fox 64 and Star Fox Adventures the Laser power up must be collected once to transform Single Laser into Super Laser and again to upgrade to Hyper Laser.

In Star Fox: Assault, there are two types of Laser power ups. The green one corresponds the Super Laser upgrade, but the red one upgrades the laser straight from Single to Hyper. If the red one is picked up after a green one, the Laser still changes to Hyper. Also, picking up a Hyper upgarde repairs damaged wings in the game.

Star Fox Command

In Star Fox Command, most of the characters had their own personal craft, each with unique forms of Lasers and lock-on features. Only the Rainbow Delta (Leon Powalski) lacks a Laser weapon. The Laser as a supply is only present in Star Fox Command's mulitplayer mode.

Single Laser

Single Laser is the least effective of the Laser types since it only shoots out a single laser beam. Personal crafts with this Laser variation are the Arwing II, however it can take upgrades (Fox McCloud), the Sky Claw (Falco Lombardi), and the Tadpole (Amanda).

Super Laser

Super Laser unsurprisingly shoots out two laser beams. This makes it presumably twice as effective as Single Laser. Personal crafts with this Laser variation are the Cloud Runner (Krystal), the Red Fang (Wolf O'Donnell), the Monkey Arrow (Dash Bowman), the Arwings of Peppy Hare and James McCloud, and the Cornerian Fighters of Bill Grey and Krystal.

Plasma Laser

Plasma Laser shoots out two round shots. It is better than Twin Laser. The only personal crafts with this Laser variation are the Bullfrog (Slippy Toad) and the Sky Bunny (Lucy Hare).

Arc Laser

Arc Laser, also known as Curve Laser, is even better than Plasma Laser. The only personal craft with type of Laser is the Cat's Paw II (Katt Monroe).

Zapper Laser

Zapper Laser is the best Laser available. Only the Black Rose (Panther Caroso) is equipped with this mighty Laser. However, it is slow.

Lasers in real life

LASER is an acronym standing for Light Amplified by the Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Unfortunately for Star Fox, real lasers are made only of light and as such are invisible (neglecting corona effects, which would be negligible in space) and require prohibitively amounts of energy to function. It is likely that the Star Fox "laser" weapons are actually highly advanced railgun-based plasma weapons or directed energy weapons and are referred to as "lasers" as slang term.

Instruction booklet references

PAL

Star Fox 64: Laser: "The single laser will change to the twin laser, and the twin will change to hyper laser. The powered up laser can be carried over to the next area."

Star Fox: Assault: Green Power Upgrade: "Grab one of these upgrades to increase your vehicle's firepower by one level."
Red Power Upgrade: "Grab one of these upgrades to increase your vehicle's firepower by two levels."

Star Fox Command: LASER TYPE: "The type of laser equipped. Laser varieties include SINGLE (one beam), TWIN (two beams), PLASMA (two round shots), ARC (curved beam), and ZAPPER (powerful long-distance beam)."