Star Fox’s ‘Bad’ Voice Acting on Switch 2 Is the Least of Its Problems

There may be some ‘questionable’ line delivery in Star Fox, but for some, the game’s very existence is the real issue. The remake’s global release dates have been confirmed, and many have already had the opportunity to try it out through the Nintendo eShop demo. It’s making solid use of the Switch 2’s hardware, opening in dramatic fashion with a great-looking new cutscene detailing Andross’ assault on James McCloud’s original Star Fox team. McCloud, like his son and Peppy Hare, finally has the lustrous fur he’s always deserved, but prior hardware couldn’t support.

There’s the rub, though: Gameplay-wise, we’ve seen it all before, multiple times. There’s no denying the pedigree and quality of this Star Fox adventure, but a remake of a game that’s already been remade could be considered more egregious than any amount of objectionable voice lines.

Star Fox’s Voice Acting, Both Past and Present, Has Its Issues

Some titles are renowned for their fantastic voice acting. Star Fox, it’s probably safe to say, isn’t one of them. In its 1997 Nintendo 64 guise, its voice work is remembered not only for lines like “do a barrel roll” and “can’t let you do that, Star Fox,” but for the way they were delivered. There was certainly a zeal to them; one that had players hating Slippy Toad at the time yet remembering the script and voice work fondly years later. It has that same eternal B-movie appeal that iconic Resident Evil lines about Jill Sandwich (she’s the Master of Unlocking, don’t you know) do.

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In this new Switch 2 vision for the N64 classic, our sister site TheGamer noted when reviewing Star Fox, the voice acting has been re-recorded. In doing so, the team has changed something fundamental. Just as with Final Fantasy 7‘s multipart remake and the liberties it takes with the established story, this has been controversial with some fans. Some made up their minds that they’d dislike the voice acting well in advance of the game’s release, in fact.

In late May 2026, Reddit’s StarlightSailor1 began a thread titled, “I think we have to accept that the voice acting will never be as good as Star Fox 64.” I couldn’t agree more with the author’s argument that the deliciously meme-worthy original script is just so beloved that it’s all but irreplaceable, and elsewhere on Reddit, there are fans making similar arguments. “The delivery of a lot of lines are so bad,” laments jayvancealot. “Some of them sound desperate to not enunciate the same parts as the original lines and it comes off sounding robotic.”

Personally, I’ve always seen Star Fox as a space opera that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and the animated nature of the original voice work played into that perfectly. The rather more straight-laced approach in the remake tempers that a little. Ultimately, this is a subjective issue, and there will also be those players who aren’t so attached to the original voice work. Some might simply prefer the new game’s take on these classic lines. Whatever your stance may be, though, the more fundamental problem with the release (despite Star Fox‘s good reception from reviewers) is that it isn’t a new Star Fox adventure, and it potentially could have been.

Star Fox Is a Remake of a Remake, and Perhaps a Missed Opportunity

Nothing riles a Nintendo fan quite like an announcement of a new entry in a beloved series. I’m not ashamed to admit that, if a new Wario Land platformer were to be showcased at a Nintendo Direct, I’d need about 7-10 business days to recover from the excitement in a cool, dark room. While Star Fox 2026 is a visual tour de force for the Switch 2 (and one that also has very good performance, which is vital), it was inevitably disappointing to learn that it’s a remake of the Nintendo 64 game, itself a remake/reboot of the 1993 SNES original.

You could even call it “remakeception” at this point, considering that Star Fox 64 3D already did the same thing on the 3DS in 2011. Nintendo loves re-releasing its all-timer titles, with the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake coming to Switch 2 later in 2026 (making it quite obvious what the system’s next N64 remake might be), but these announcements always lead some to lament to fact that it isn’t a new game in the series on its way instead.

Star Fox in particular, I think, could really use one. Its Star Wars-esque vibe and utilization of combat in the air (well, air-free space a lot of the time), on land, and under the water makes it quite distinct from much of Nintendo’s output. With the series’ profile being further raised by Fox’s appearance in the box office record breaking Super Mario Galaxy Movie, too, it could’ve been a great time for a new entry to arrive. Perhaps it still will in the not-so-distant future, and that’ll be a thrill, but Star Fox‘s short campaign with a lot of replayability in its branching paths could even work against it. Many of us have played every version of the game and explored every stage it has to offer, meaning that there’s little new to see here.

Star Fox Switch 2 is undoubtedly a stunning modernization of an iconic game. It’s highly faithful to the original in some ways and unnervingly different in others (the voice work), and what has endeared some fans to it will certainly put off others. Though it isn’t the next Star Fox game I’d been hoping for, its success could be the next vital step in securing that new entry. Perhaps there’s an even older Nintendo series that deserved a remake first, but Fox and the gang are taking their turn for better and for worse.

Star Fox

Systems

Released

June 25, 2026

ESRB

Everyone 10+ / Fantasy Violence

Developer(s)

Nintendo

Publisher(s)

Nintendo

Multiplayer

Online Co-Op

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