As part of a surprise Direct presentation aired on May 6, Nintendo officially confirmed a Star Fox game for Switch 2. Appropriately enough, it’s called … Star Fox, and if you feel like you’ve played it before, you’re not entirely wrong.
The Nintendo Switch 2 Star Fox is based on Star Fox 64, as was the Wii U’s Star Fox Zero. The visuals have been completely overhauled, and the classic team of Fox, Slippy, Falco, and Peppy all make a return. The stage layouts are just as you remember from Star Fox 64, and though the dialogue between characters is a little different than the original version, it should be recognizable to longtime players.
While the Nintendo 64 version had very limited cinematics, there will be many additional cutscenes in this new version, including new mission briefings. During combat, you’ll be right at home with the Arwing, which is capable of firing lasers and charged shots, as well as performing somersaults and the classic barrel roll. If you want a more PC-like experience, you can use the mouse controls on the Switch 2, and you can also hand a second player a Joy-Con 2 controller to act as the gunner while you fly the Arwing. Oh, and if you want a really classic experience, the game even supports the Nintendo 64 controller.
Additional challenges will offer some replayability, but if you want to really show you’re the best, there will also be a Battle Mode that pits Star Fox and Star Wolf against each other. While it remains to be seen if there will be a dedicated competitive scene, it should certainly give you something to do after you’ve mastered the campaign. And, using GameShare on Nintendo Switch 2, only one person in a party has to actually own the game. You can even use a USB camera to map your own facial movements to one of the characters, if you’re into that.
Star Fox launches June 25 exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2.