‘Star Fox’ is an eye-catching reimagining of a timeless sci-fi classic, but we’ve been here before
Star Fox 64 is the Nintendo game that refuses to fade away, and we’re not complaining, especially when the new Switch 2 remake — simply titled Star Fox — amplifies its replay value and expands the original vision with a bunch of new content.
Roughly a decade ago, Star Fox Zero almost killed the franchise for good. The ill-fated Wii U entry’s structure and plot stuck staggeringly close to Star Fox 64 (Lylat Wars for us PAL gamers), but no one could definitely answer if it was a remake, reboot, reimagining, or something else entirely.
It being a remake wouldn’t have mattered, except that Star Fox 64 3D (for the little brave 3DS) had already done that with strong results. Now in 2026, we’re still flying around the same planets with ‘Star Fox’.
Considering Fox McCloud’s secondary role in the recent Super Mario Galaxy Movie, you’d expect Nintendo to push onward with an all-new game in the enduring science fiction rail shooter series, yet Star Fox seems fated to play the greatest hits again and again. Fortunately, it nails what made Star Fox 64 so enduring and is the most complete take on Team Star Fox’s greatest adventure.
The story is the same: The mad scientist Andross is exiled to the unwelcoming planet of Venom by General Pepper for almost destroying Corneria, the fourth planet of the Lylat system.
When suspicious activity is detected on the doomed world a few years later, Team Star Fox goes to investigate and – spoiler alert – James McCloud is killed by Andross following a betrayal from inside the team. Some time passes, and Andross launches an all-out attack against Lylat’s forces, so it’s time for Team Star Fox (now captained by Fox McCloud, James’ son) to set things right.
And yes, his last name is Fox, and he is a Fox. If you’re new to the series, there are no humans in this universe, only anthropomorphic animals.
While Star Fox doesn’t sacrifice the original’s arcade-y nature (you can ‘beat it’ in under two hours), it makes space for meatier cutscenes which better define the characters and the high stakes of the story.
It’s all simple stuff with no real room for twists and turns that never gets in the way of the game’s fast pace, but Velan Studios‘ effort is a commendable reminder that even extremely faithful remakes can add to a classic formula. Shoutout to the new arrangements of memorable musical themes from the original, too; the orchestral refresh simply sounds amazing.
The character redesigns will no doubt be a point of contention. Fox McCloud doesn’t look nearly as stylish as in past Star Fox games — or as he does in this year’s Mario Galaxy flick — while team members like Slippy Toad (who seems slippery) and Falco Lombardi land right in uncanny valley territory. There’s a distinct charm to Star Fox’s art direction — and the conversation surrounding the toons proves it — but the presentation no doubt raises the question of how much realism is too much realism for a property as cartoony as this.
The Arwings, enemy ships, and other vehicles look absolutely dashing and move with a smoothness that would’ve made Nintendo kids in the 1990s levitate, though. Both during missions and in cutscenes, there’s speed and weight to the stars of the show, and smaller touches like laser beams briefly illuminating the environments remind us how far graphics have come.
The same could be said about the colorful levels; from Corneria to Solar, there’s a vividness to Star Fox’s many space locales that sometimes can be even distracting when the screen is filled with foes and incoming attacks.
Star Fox 64’s ‘pick up and play’ nature remains untouched and only lightly upgraded. The control scheme could be more intuitive, but it’s not too complex; moving around the screen, executing evasive maneuvers, and shooting down enemies feels snappy. Some of the latter levels weren’t as ‘tight’ as I’d hoped for, but maybe that’s just me still adjusting to the unavoidable nuances that come with a full tech rework under the hood.
The highlight, though, may be Switch 2’s unique mouse mode, which is put to great use here; playing through the campaign with it plus the cockpit view feels transformative (It was impressive in Metroid Prime 4). Of course, the action runs at 60 frames per second with sharp image resolution in both docked and handheld modes, helping you achieve high scores, no matter which control option you use.
Blasting through the short (but highly replayable) campaign is just the beginning. There are hidden routes to discover, medals to obtain, new challenges to tackle, and the brutal Expert difficulty to clear. Ultimately, Star Fox is all about perfecting high scores and mastering a new iteration of a classic that’s been dominated over the decades by the most dedicated pilots. It’s Nintendo offering “one last ride” (hopefully) and inviting vets to reexperience the Lylat Wars in new, more demanding ways beyond the first run. On that front, Star Fox is a resounding success.
But it’s hard to usher in a future for a dormant series without betting some chips on the casual crowd and newcomers, and I’d say most folks without an already established connection to the series (rail shooters are incredibly niche nowadays) are likely to go through Star Fox’s campaign once or twice and then complain about the price tag.
There’s actually a lot to Star Fox, but it mostly boils down to replaying the same missions in different ways. It’s a retro sensibility that older gamers find captivating, but times have changed, and you have to wonder whether Nintendo should’ve gunned for an all-new game instead.
The multiplayer offerings shouldn’t be ignored, though. Co-op (local or via the wireless GameShare function) lets two players go through the campaign by splitting the Arwing controls into movement and shooting, which is a nice offbeat bit of fun. Online, things get more interesting with a 4v4 competitive mode across three maps with different objectives and plenty of chaos, with NPC starfighters also fighting for control of objectives alongside players.
Matches are fast and intense, with free flight and plenty of power-ups adding to the spectacle and scale of the action. There’s not much variety here, but the bones are strong. If they add more maps and modes, it could be something, but as it stands, it feels like one of those obligatory multiplayer modes every game had in the Xbox 360 era
Players willing to pick up the Switch 2 camera can also ‘wear’ the look of their favorite Star Fox characters VTuber-style while playing online, which is a silly little extra with incredible comedic potential in the right hands. Hardly a game-selling addition, but it’s the kind of playful, family-friendly addition we expect from Nintendo.
Star Fox bets big on already established fans and hopes for the best when it comes to onboarding newbies. Will it pay off? Maybe, but ‘nostalgia gains’ are declining everywhere, and I’m worried that if this doesn’t perform, we may be stuck waiting for a new entry that never comes… again.
Star Fox is available now for purchase on Nintendo Switch 2.
A review code for Star Fox was provided by Nintendo.
