Platform: Nintendo Switch 2
1997’s Star Fox 64 – or Lylat Wars in Europe – was one of the foundational texts of the Nintendo 64, a majestic space shooter that blended exquisite flying and shooting mechanics with smart level design and plenty of branching paths for endless replay value.
It remained engaging when it was remade in shrunken form as Star Fox 64 3D for the Nintendo 3DS in 2011, and still pretty enjoyable – despite some quirky control choices – when it was “reimagined” as Star Fox Zero for the Wii U in 2016. A decade on though, do we need another remake of the same game? Well, when main character Fox McCloud has just had a starring role in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, probably.
Structurally, the game is very much the same as its source material, just given a 21st century lick of paint.
That cinematic turn seems to be the biggest inspiration for 2026’s Star Fox, since the biggest overhaul Nintendo has made for this fourth attack run is to significantly bolster the narrative with gorgeous cutscenes. What was originally a threadbare plot – evil scientist Andross threatens the Lylat system, only the brave fighter pilots of the Star Fox squadron can push back! – is now expanded into a deeper story with surprising pathos, with dramatic moments before and between missions establishing dire stakes and building up the characters’ relationships (in particular the frosty rivalry between Fox and best frenemy Falco.)
Structurally, the game is very much the same as its source material though, just given a 21st century lick of paint. It looks fantastic, but such fidelity means anyone who remembers the original will already know their way through the majority of the game. Each level remains a short but perfectly executed slice of on-rails shooting action, piloting the series’ iconic Arwings in dips, loops, and barrel-rolls through enemy fire and power-up rings – a formula unchanged but perfected here (unless you try the fiddly new mouse-style controls with the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons, which fail to launch).
Any new content is restricted to multiplayer. A competitive mode pits two teams of players – heroic Star Fox and nefarious Star Wolf – against each other in dogfights across a handful of new maps. It’s fun, but insubstantial – hopefully Nintendo can expand it post-launch. Elsewhere, co-op lets one player fly the Arwing while another acts as gunner – a nice touch for anyone playing with budding flight cadets.
Some welcome quality of life improvements – the ability to save progress, and a new Challenge Mode to replay individual stages without battling through an entire solar system – round out this upgrade, but for all but absolute newcomers, an upgrade is all this is.
