Use the Control Stick to control the game's arrow-shaped Cursor. Select units or buildings by placing the Cursor over the object and pressing the A Button. You can select multiple units by holding down the A Button, and draggin the Cursor to form a selection box. When you release the A Button, all units, up to eighteen (18) within that box, will now be selected. You can issue commands and move them as a group. You can select up to eighteenunits at one time.
An important shortcut is the R Button. There are two ways to use the R Button. The first is to place the arrow shaped cursor on one of the units so that its status bar appears, then press the A and R Button simultaneously. This will select all units of that type currently visible on your screen up to the limit of eighteen. The second way is to press the R Button by itself, which will randomly select a group of units currently on the screen, up to a maximum of eighteen units each.
It is often very useful to assign several units to a shortcut so that you may recall them quickly. When a group is selected, press the R Button and any C Button to assign a shortcut to that group. When you would like to select that group at a later time, you can select them by pressing the Z Button and the C Button to which you assigned the shortcut.
When you select buildings or units, you can issue them commands. These commands are mapped to the B Button and the C Buttons on your controller, and are displayed in the lower right portion of your screen. For example: to move a unit to a new location, point the cursor to where you want the unit to travel, and press the C Button representing the Move command. The unit will immediately move to its new location. This type of move is good for retreats, since your units will not attack anything on the way to the specified location.
Some commands are designed to affect other units or locations that you specify with the Targeting Cursor. Press the C Button to activate the command. your Cursor will change from a Selection Cursor to a Targeting Cursor. By pressing the C Button a second time, or by pressing the A Button, you activate that command over the intended target.
It is possible to set a specified path for units to folow by using way points. Select any unit or group. While holding the Z Button, press the B Button over any point or points on the map. Your units will move to the points in the order specified. This is a useful tactic for avoiding enemy tropps or bases.
It is also possible to establish Rally Points to which newly created units are sent. Select any building that can create units and then press the B Button on any point on the map. All units created by that building will immediately move to that point. This is a good tactic for moving troops to the battle lines.
You need resources to build troops and research new technologies. There are two types of resources in the game: Minerals and Vespene Gas. Every species has a basic unit that you use to harvest resources: SCVs for Terrans, Probes for Protoss, and Drones for Zerg. These workers will automatically split themselves between Minerals and extracting Gas.
Sometimes, you will want to manually control where your workers are gathering resources. Simply select these units and press the B Button over the Mineral cluster or Gas Geyser that you wish them to mine. Gathering resources efficiently is important. The faster you can gather resources, the faster you can build troops and buildings. Always make sure you have plenty of units gathering Minerals and Gas.
In Starcraft, you must build bases to harvest new resources locations and to supply the troops and technology you will need to defeat the enemy. Different structures allow you to create different units, upgrade your exising units, and research new abilities for your troops.
To build buildings, select a worker and access its build menu by pressing the appropriate C Button. A build menu will appear in the lower right of your screen. From here, you can select the building you wish to construct by using the Control Stick to highlight a building and by pressing the A Button again. As you move the outline around, it will change color. Red means you cannot place the building over the current location and green means you can. Once placed, a worker will travel to the spot and begin.
For the Terrans and Protoss, units are created from buildings. Select the building where you would like troops built and access the build-menu by pressing the appropriate C Button. Buildings can queue up to five units for construction. Zerg Units are build from larvae, not buildings, so you would select larvae when you wish to mutate them into different units.
New technologies are also researched from buildings, and you would access these from the C Button labeled "Tech" while the building is selected. Examples of new technologies include weapon upgrades and special abilities.
Finally, Starcraft 64 has a unique feature that allows you to build any available building or unit without directly selecting the specific unit or building necessary. Pres the Z and R buttons simultaneously and a Main Build Menu will appear which allows you to build buildings or troops, and perform and technology research or upgrade. You can do this from any location, without having selected a worker or building. The nearest building or worker will perform the assigned task.
When building units from the Main Build Menu, the building where the unit will be produced is indicated by a ping on your mini-map. If you have reached the maximum queue of five for a building, the queue will automatically switch to another building of the same type if one is available