Star Fox makes its visually overhauled debut on Switch 2 on June 25. Does the remake of Star Fox 64 do enough to elevate an old classic or does it feel like an easy cash grab that’s depriving fans of a fresh sci-fi adventure instead? Early reviews suggest the core experience, established in the N64 game, is as good as ever, even if all of the new bells and whistles don’t quite add up to a completely new-feeling experience. For anyone still on the fence about whether to pick up the latest Switch 2 exclusive, I’m not sure the initial reactions will do much to sway you one way or the other.
Star Fox (2026) is basically the sixth time Nintendo has remade the same basic on-rails shooter adventure. This time around, however, Fox McCloud, Falco, Peppy, and Slippy have received Unreal Engine–like hyper-realistic make-overs. There are new story cutscenes, multiplayer modes, and other features this time around as well. Plus, if you have a camera and GameChat, you can do some Zoom-call karaoke as members of the Star Fox Team.
All of this has netted the game a surprisingly decent 81 on Metacritic, though not everyone has been equally impressed. “Under the (gorgeous) surface, the shooting doesn’t quite match the satisfaction of 1997, while some odd story, voice and cut-scene changes feel like downgrades,” wrote VGC‘s Andy Robinson. Jeux Video‘s Charlanmhg was particularly harsh in his assessment, criticizing the game for what he saw as poorly thought-out features, including local co-op that has one person pilot the ship while the other aims.
Star Fox is a short game, one you can complete in a single sitting in as little as 90 minutes, though there are alternate pathways to discover and explore as well. The remake doesn’t change that, and it doesn’t sound like it adds many new layers to keep players coming back to its arcade action if they’ve already experienced it nearly half a dozen times before across several older Nintendo consoles. Game Informer found the new multiplayer modes to be more robust than expected, while Eurogamer accused them off feeling like a tacked-on afterthought.
Here’s what else early reviews are saying about Star Fox for the Switch 2:
Despite knowing nearly all Star Fox 64’s shortcuts and secrets for close to 30 years now, this remake’s impressive coat of paint and compelling new cutscenes made me smile like I just did my very first barrel roll. Finding hidden routes to unlock different stages or small optimizations to push my score sky high is still much deeper than it first appears, keeping the brief campaign runs fun across multiple playthroughs. And while the new Challenge mode and revamped multiplayer don’t go quite as far as I’d like in terms of content or creativity, they are still amusing ways to shake things up once you’ve exhausted every alternate route. Given the decade-long drought since the disappointment that was Star Fox Zero in 2016, Nintendo was wise to return to Star Fox’s best game in order to revitalize this 33-year-old series, and has reached a new peak for it in doing so. Hopefully this is just the beginning for Fox McCloud, because Nintendo has proven the Arwing isn’t out of style quite yet. – Jada Griffin
While the updated visuals are often gorgeous, they do come with some trade-offs that take getting used to. For one thing, your targets are a lot less obvious with much more happening on-screen, visually, so it’s easier to miss a flyer who gets away. In boss battles, weak points are less obvious than the glowing vulnerabilities of the original, and they don’t flash as brightly when you land a successful hit to let you know that you’re doing damage. And with the higher fidelity making everything look much more like it has weight and bulk, it’s a little strange when a capital warship in Area 6 explodes like an empty cardboard box. – Steve Watts
Nintendo did find a good way to add some extra value to the package, though. Star Fox 64 had a pretty basic multiplayer offering with its four-player dogfighting. The remake expands the multiplayer with 4-vs.-4 team battles. You can earn points for your team by taking down opponents, but you really win by completing objectives. One map has teams competing for a fuel cell, capture-the-flag style. Another has players fighting over energy from crashed meteors. A suite of powerups littered around the map gives you access to helpful abilities like a short-range teleport or extra firepower, so you’ll want to spend as much time hunting those down as anything else. – Mike Minotti
More successful is the remake’s reorchestrated soundtrack, which trades synthetic brass and strings for a fleet of real instruments. Like much of Star Fox, it’s so over-the-top that its nose pierces the ozone layer, but the grandiose arrangements are riveting enough to clarify the pitch that the rest of the game struggles to sell. The remake isn’t meant to be subtle; it’s trying to crank up the melodrama and lean into the space opera of it all. I’m most on board with that vision when I’m barreling through Macbeth in a Landmaster tank to the sounds of a patriotic theme that sounds like it was pulled from a World War II propaganda video. – Giovanni Colantonio
Another remake of Star Fox 64 is not what I want from this franchise. There has always been an implied depth of character and story to Star Fox, even in the 1993 SNES game, that has never been truly tapped. This remake expands as much as it can within the bounds of the original game in ways I appreciate, but it all still feels held back. But I also cannot deny Star Fox 64’s power over me. When the re-orchestrated music kicks in while firing lasers that cast beautiful modern shadows against the giant spaceships that just can’t hit me, and the bad guys complain about how cool and good I am at flying a spaceship right before they blow up, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t having a great, nostalgic time. – Kyle Hilliard
Little annoyances are littered throughout Star Fox’s missions, in voice acting and cut-scenes. Perfectly-timed explosions from the original will now erupt with a whimper, previously tense cut-scenes will pass with little note, and humorous one-liners land like flaming enemy ships. While they’re far from game-breakers, they gave me pause for thought on whether Star Fox is truly a better overall game than the original, and leave the Switch 2 version looking a bit clumsy when examined under a microscope. – Andy Robinson
Thanks to Star Fox‘s cinematics and visual makeover, newcomers could be forgiven for not realizing this is a remake. Gone are the Nintendo 64’s muddy colors and pointy pixels – even without the original Switch’s OLED screen, Star Fox pops on the Switch 2. Gliding over an ocean leaves frothy streaks in the water, and I’ve crashed into several asteroids while gazing at distant gas giants. – Andrew Brown
Outside the stages themselves, I’m glad Fox and co haven’t been as aggressively yassified as in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie – they’re not heroes but rough-cut mercenaries, after all. The expanded interstitials, handsomely realised as they may be, are honestly a bit dull: the script is largely devoid of wit (which at least is in keeping with Nintendo’s recent filmic output) which is something to work on for next time. The best I can say for them is that they establish stakes and threat and the dilemma of Fox’s choice of destination reasonably efficiently, but don’t go expecting any major character development. The sternly pragmatic Peppy continues to represent the case against nominative determinism, while the newly shiny Slippy is as endearingly enthusiastic (and crap at flying) as he ever was. And Falco’s still basically a dick – there’s just more of him here, which only made me extra-determined to wind him up by taking out his targets. – Chris Schilling
