Playing Star Fox on Switch 2 every day over the last week has effortlessly reminded me just how much I miss arcade flight combat when it’s executed well. There’s just something about jumping into a mission, trying to get a better score, and realizing halfway through that the game has already talked you into doing it all over again that still works on me, even though I didn’t realize that was happening when I was playing Star Fox 64 as a kid. Star Fox on Switch 2 may be short if all someone wants to do is hit the credits once and move on, but the more I play it, the more I’m reminded how addictive this kind of game can be once you understand what it wants from you.
Naturally, that has me thinking back to Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, which I had the chance to preview more than a month before Star Fox launched. At the time, I just knew I had played one of the most exciting arcade flight combat games I had touched in years. But now that Star Fox has pulled me back into that headspace, Ace Combat 8, coming October 2, 2026, feels like the obvious next game to have on the radar. And I’m here to tell you that if you’re a fan of how Star Fox feels to play, you should have your eye on Ace Combat 8 as well. Unfortunately, if all you have is a Switch 2, you won’t be able to play it at launch, as it’ll only be PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. However, Ace Combat 7 was eventually ported to the Switch, so I’m sure the next entry will be as well.
Star Fox Review
Star Fox on Nintendo Switch 2 is the best way to experience the classic Star Fox story, but it’s a story we’ve heard too many times before.
Ace Combat 8 Is the Obvious Next Step After Star Fox
The thing Star Fox on Switch 2 gets right is that it understands the value of a repeated run. The campaign is short if all someone wants to do is beat the campaign and then move on to a different game, but Star Fox has never really been about that. Instead, it’s about replaying each mission, finding alternate routes, improving your score and collecting the medals for doing so, and realizing the real game only starts to open up once the credits have rolled.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Easy (120s)Medium (90s)Hard (60s)
But that’s also what makes Ace Combat 8 such an easy recommendation for me to make. No, it’s not a rail shooter, and no, it’s not trying to be Star Fox with fighter jets, but it’s appealing in the exact same kind of way. Basically, if Star Fox is an apple, Ace Combat 8 is an orange. You launch into a mission, try to survive the chaos, finish with a score you know could be better, and then feel that annoying little voice in your head telling you to run it all over again.
I felt that several times during my Ace Combat 8 preview back in May. I played through seven incredible story missions, and after finishing a few of them, I still had time to replay them—and so I did. The thing is, I didn’t need to, and I was completely exhausted from staring at a bright screen in a dark room for hours, but I still did it anyway. The reason? Because I was having an absolute blast and simply didn’t want to stop.
Basically, if Star Fox is an apple, Ace Combat 8 is an orange.
That’s probably the clearest connection between Star Fox and Ace Combat 8. Both games understand that replayability doesn’t always need to be about a massive checklist. Sometimes, it’s just about making the act of playing feel good enough that you voluntarily go back in for a second, third, fourth, and umpteenth attempt. Star Fox does that with its branching paths, medals, Challenge Mode, and Battle Mode. Ace Combat 8 does it with scores and plenty of great stuff to unlock, as well as story missions that feel dangerous, cinematic, and more than worth perfecting.
The mission variety I saw in Ace Combat 8 is a huge reason for that. One mission felt like trying to save a city from Godzilla, only instead of a giant monster, the threat was a massive land battleship tearing through everything in its path. Another mission forced me to track enemies by watching jet trails in the sky instead of relying on radar the way I normally would. Those are the kinds of ideas that make replaying missions feel less repetitive in nature, especially once things open up, and you can start selecting those missions at will.
And that’s where Ace Combat 8 may be perfect for players coming off Star Fox. If Star Fox on Switch 2 made you remember how fun it is to learn a mission through repeated runs rather than simply clear it and move on to something else, Ace Combat 8 is an arcade flight combat game that is basically built around that exact same kind of satisfaction. Beating a mission is one thing, but understanding it, surviving it better, and improving your performance is where the game really starts to dig in.
Arcade Combat 8 Is Ready to Keep Your Arcade Flight Combat Streak Alive
I suppose the main point I’m trying to make here is that Star Fox on Switch 2 has put me in a very specific mood, and Ace Combat 8 is the only upcoming game I can think of that seems ready to keep me there. I already liked Wings of Theve when I previewed it, but I like the idea of it even more now that Star Fox has reminded me how satisfying it is to replay a mission simply because I know I can do better. Maybe that sounds like a small thing, but it really isn’t. Some games make replaying content feel like homework, while others, like Star Fox and Ace Combat 8 make it the whole point in the most natural and satisfying way possible.
Both games understand that replayability doesn’t always need to be about a massive checklist.
Based on what I played, Ace Combat 8 feels like it belongs in that second group. It has the speed, the spectacle, the scoring, the mission variety, and the kind of pressure that makes every successful run feel like it could have gone wrong at any second. So, if Star Fox on Switch 2 has you wanting more arcade flight combat, Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve should be the next game you start paying attention to. It may not have an Arwing, Fox McCloud, or the Nintendo 64 classic’s iconic branching paths, but it absolutely has the same ability to make one more run sound like the best idea in the world.
- Released
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June 25, 2026
- ESRB
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Everyone 10+ / Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
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Nintendo
- Publisher(s)
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Nintendo
- Multiplayer
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Online Co-Op
