Star Fox: A Return Worthy of a Legend

Although it has an iconic status among Nintendo fans, the Star Fox franchise has actually been stuck in the past. This is already the ninth game in the Star Fox series, and four of those nine games are remakes or remasters of Star Fox 64, which is an expanded version of the 1993 SNES game. Nintendo has been struggling for years to find the formula to revive the franchise, and even Shigeru Miyamoto has said they can't come up with a quality enough story to justify a new game.
The appearance of Fox McCloud in the Super Mario Galaxy movie hinted that something is brewing, but I'm not sure that another remaster is exactly what we wanted.

Publisher: Nintendo

Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2

Release Date: June 25, 2026.

Platform on which the game was tested: Nintendo Switch 2

Starting Price: 49.99 euros

To begin with, the story. Fox McCloud and his Star Fox team are hired by General Pepper, the commander of the Cornerian Army, to stop the evil Dr. Andross and save the Lylat system. The team also includes the top but arrogant pilot Falco Lombardi, the brilliant mechanic Slippy Toad, and the old but experienced Peppy Hare, who was saved by Fox's father James, sacrificing his own life. Through top-notch rendered scenes, you will discover everything about the traitor Pigmi Dengar and how the disappearance of James McCloud will affect Fox for years to come. Although he respects his father's legacy, every comparison to him frustrates him because he wants to step out of his father's shadow and prove himself as a true leader of Star Fox.

It is evident that the development teams wanted to stay true to the original, but now they have improved the controls and allowed aiming with the right stick, added support for aiming with the Joycon mouse, new cinematic scenes, better character presentation, and completely new voice acting.
But the basics remain the same; you can still accelerate or decelerate sharply and perform a 360° turn to get behind enemies and surprise them, or execute a barrel roll maneuver to dodge enemy projectiles. Among the weapons at your disposal are lasers that you can charge and then fire a tracking projectile, or bombs that can simultaneously destroy hordes of enemies.

Besides flying the Arwing, in certain missions you will also find yourself at the controls of the Landmaster tank, where you will try to destroy a train carrying equipment, and the Blue Marine, a submarine with which you will explore unknown oceans on Aquas. Of course, all of this will depend on the decisions you make during the game. On several planets, you will have the option to open alternative, sometimes easier and faster routes to the final destination and face Dr. Andross. Naturally, the branching system means that it won't be possible to complete all 16 missions in one go, which pushes you to explore and discover the most suitable route and path to the true ending.

The game showcases what the Switch 2 can do and runs flawlessly at 60fps, with no stuttering or performance drops regardless of how many lasers, enemies, and explosions are on screen at the same time. Some levels are fantastically executed, like the ocean or wormhole, while others are less detailed, which is understandable since space debris is not a visually impressive location.
The animations of large space battles are particularly well done; when you watch huge fleets firing lasers at each other and explosions filling the orbit, it gives you a very good representation of what it looks like when an entire star system is at war.

Given the expanded dialogue and additional animations, it was impossible to use the same voices for this remake, so they opted for a completely new set. This works excellently at times, like with Fox and Dr. Andross, while Falco, for example, is not quite as well executed. Far from being bad, but Falco was arrogant and self-confident in the original, provoking others. Here he does the same with words, but it simply doesn't sound convincing. And it's not just him. The bosses in the original provoked, threw jokes, one-liners, and here they sound lifeless and monotonous.

Although the main part of the game can be completed in about an hour, replaying the same missions to unlock alternative routes will extend the entire experience to about 3 and a half hours. And that’s my biggest complaint that they didn’t add a few more planets to further branch out your journey through the Lylat system. The brief appearances of Katt Monroe and Bill Gray may just be a hint of what awaits us in the future; I want to believe that this was just a test of how the audience would react to the "new" Star Fox game, and that they are hiding all other aces up their sleeve.

There’s also a Challenge mode where you can play any already unlocked planet and complete various tasks that will test your piloting and combat skills. So you’ll be racing with Falco through an asteroid field in one instance, and in another, you’ll have to destroy 10 mines with a single bomb. They are very diverse and sometimes frustrating, but otherwise, it wouldn’t be called Challenge mode.

The latest addition is the 4v4 battle mode, where you will spend most of your time. The goal is to score more points than the opposing team. One way is to destroy enemy ships, but the most points are earned by completing certain tasks, like a Capture the Flag version where you steal the enemy cargo, control part of the map, while NPC ships are shooting at both teams the whole time.
It’s just a shame there aren’t many of them, but if more maps are added, this will surely be a selling point for those who were hesitant about buying "yet another remaster of Star Fox."

I would also love for it to be possible to play a co-op campaign with a friend, each with their own ship, but for now, that will remain just an unfulfilled wish. Currently, you can play as a pilot and a gunner, which isn’t bad, but I want more. And I believe I’m not the only one.

Star Fox shows how remasters of legendary classics should look. Visually appealing, with top-notch gameplay and online content to attract new fans, yet with enough nostalgia for all the veterans of the series. Some games are played, and some are remembered - Star Fox has always belonged to the latter group.

A copy of the game for review purposes was provided by the distributor CD Media.