On the lookout for gaming excitement this summer? There’s a strong chance Star Fox on the Nintendo Switch 2 (based on the N64 top-10 bestseller) is just what you’re searching for. It may also be a release that gives a sense of déjà vu, albeit a welcome one for nostalgic players. After all, to quote General Windbag, I mean Pepper, “It’s about time you showed up, Fox.”

Star Fox has you hunting down the evil, maniacal scientist Dr. Andross to save the Lylat system. As a rule, it’s a 3D on-rails shooter, with freedom to move within rather roomy flight paths. You’ll control Fox McCloud, joined by a squad of animal critters with distinct personalities and skills. Depending on your experience with this game’s predecessors, these feel like old friends. Then again, it’s been (double-check) 15 years since the 3DS remake, so a reunion is due. There’s Falco, Fox’s friendly rival, Peppy, the veteran of the group, Slippy, the handy inventor, and more. Their fully voiced dialogue (by an experienced cast) goes a long way to giving this game its cinematic feel (no more chuckling at Slippy Toad’s dialogue delivery). In fact, even if you swapped a controller for a bucket of buttered popcorn, this would still be a fun game to watch thanks to what Nintendo calls the “visual overhaul.”

To get a sense of what these new graphics are pulling off, I invited my wife (with very little Star Fox experience and no experience with Star Fox 64) to compare the two versions. Besides her feelings on how early polygonal graphics have aged worse than sprites (something I can concur with), her highlights included the plentiful new cutscenes and character animations. They really do give this update a theatrical feel. I do get some players needing time to adjust to Falco’s plumage or Slippy’s sheen. But nostalgia aside, in most ways, it’ll be tough to return to Nintendo EAD’s blurrier, foggier, 90s-era efforts. That presentation is dated, which goes without saying, even though I’m doing so anyway. Velan Studios’ snazzy current-day undertakings need to be experienced either in handheld mode or, even better, on the largest television you can find.

Of course, I can’t discuss visuals without talking about the audio side of the presentation. Star Fox 64 already had really good music, especially for a cartridge released when CD adoption was becoming the gaming norm. This updated orchestral soundtrack on Nintendo Switch 2 is a joy to listen to. If, like me, you’ve been whistling these tunes ever since they got stuck in your head, you’ll really appreciate the skillful compositions. And I won’t neglect to reiterate the aforementioned fully voiced dialogue (that’s been expanded). Monotone deliveries now sound lively, tin can voices have become clear, and Slippy no longer sounds like a toddler. All told, Star Fox is a release that’ll delight eyes and ears alike.

The game begins by letting you choose your difficulty (Hard must be unlocked), so kids and less-experienced players can ease their way in, though Star Fox veterans may find Normal too easy. But Star Fox is more about replaying, improving your score, expanding the map, and trying different routes as you unlock new areas in an adventure that’s truly planet-spanning. It goes the extra mile. And the action changes as you’ll be piloting different vehicles besides your Arwing for missions focused on specific objectives. This replay approach will feel comforting to older players, but I do question how newer ones will respond to it.

Speaking of different vehicles, your route may put you on wheels, hovering above hazards, or in a submarine firing torpedoes at obstacles. Slippy always seems to have designs ready for just what you need to control at any given moment, and brings some fun and welcome stage variety to Star Fox. This, along with his boss fight analysis, more than makes up for any subpar piloting skills on his part. Where is the Slippy (and Peppy) amiibo?

“Do a barrel roll” might be a catchphrase we’ve quoted for decades, but the Arwing (and its convoy transport) have never controlled more responsively than in Star Fox on Switch 2. It has a lot of tricks, and most are pulled off comfortably; a well-timed boost or a successful somersault is always rewarding. My only complaint is that they aren’t fully remappable. While you can adjust the inverted axis and select from classic controls, the camera is mapped to the left nub. It’s far too easy to knock yourself between first and third person in the heat of combat, and I’m amazed it made it through playtesting without a remap option. Surely this avoidable snag can be updated via a patch. Even so, moment-to-moment piloting still feels slick and smooth.

Star Fox is advertised as a “fast-paced campaign,” and there is considerable truth in that. I mentioned popcorn earlier, and Star Fox could be likened to a gaming popcorn flick, meant in the most complimentary way. Much like a blockbuster flick, you can beat this game in 90 minutes, give or take a half hour, but again, it’s designed around replay. Do you have completionist leanings? Credit to the game—it really does encourage replayability. Much like you’d rewatch your favorite summer tentpole, you’ll replay Star Fox, a game with several big-screen nods of its own.

Naturally, there are options to keep you playing beyond the main campaign. Challenge Mode is aptly named, with a wide range of objectives that put you and your team to the test. Different gameplay styles beyond just blasting mean even those who’ve played past entries to exhaustion will find some freshness here. And it’s also good for anyone not driven to chase high scores in campaign replays.

Battle mode has a trio of stages with a fair number of options, a force field item you won’t find in the campaign, and token amiibo functionality for some cosmetics.  You can play 4v4 with bots or online with friends or strangers. Against bots, I didn’t find it much fun. Expect to carry your team (contributing the most points and taking out the most enemies) while your teammates are more focused on boosting, grabbing powerups, performing maneuvers, and surviving. Even online, the setup can feel meager compared to some of its contemporaries, and I wouldn’t be surprised if gamers embraced and ignored the online portion in equal measure. Even so, the online additions are just the coming attractions. The feature presentation—the core game—is better than ever. 

In reality, I feel like the online functions came at the expense of 4-player local split-screen, which has been removed. To be clear, I’m glad online is here (in today’s market, it’s a must), even if I’ll only play it sparingly. But I don’t want features removed. While this has been called out (correctly so), I’m surprised the criticism isn’t even more widespread. It was the wrong choice.

Co-op, where one pilots the ship and another handles the firing, may sound underwhelming on paper, but in practice, it’s anything but. My wife found the mouse controls comfortable and quickly grasped them, although she preferred first-person view, while I (with a few exceptions) leaned toward third-person. It’s genuinely more fun than you might think. Like other recent Nintendo-published games (Pikmin 4, Donkey Kong Bananza), I had just as much fun playing co-op as I did solo. The lone negative is tying Campaign GameShare to GameChat. Nintendo is gunning for more NSO signups. Adding 2005’s Star Fox Assault will help.

 

The release is more polished than ever, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t a few areas where things feel a little lazier. Originally, I made a list of these, but I’m not including them for a couple of reasons (besides word count). One, new Star Fox players are unlikely to notice them. Two, in the heat of battle, they wind up mattering little. Still, for being yet another reboot, remake, retelling, or rebirth of a decades-old title, it’s fair to ask why they’re here at all. The bigger the Star Fox fan, the more likely you are to notice these, though their ultimate impact is negligible.

But I do want to emphasize the polish, and in doing so, I find myself returning to what I mentioned earlier—the expanded dialogue. A carbon-copy playbook would’ve been underwhelming, as would simply reading text off the screen. But seeing the general and the crew discuss the advantages of choosing one planet over another, along with brand-new interactions among the squad, is worth stressing. It’s extra eye and ear candy and makes selecting routes even more entertaining. For the biggest fans who’ve been with Star Fox since the 1993 SNES debut, this alone might be enough for an umpteenth replay.

Star Fox is the front-loaded summer tentpole of gaming. You’ll play it, replay it, and be thoroughly entertained doing so. It’s rarely ever the same game twice. After a while, those of us who are nostalgic may rightly feel we’ve played this before. The refinements are greatly appreciated, but the time for them has passed—”Mission Accomplished.” Nintendo needs to create something new, with even more options and polish, to break the franchise out of its later cycle of inconsistency and stagnation and let it soar to the heights this entry achieves. Star Fox on the Nintendo Switch 2 might be the catalyst for the series’ return to form, sure to attract new fans while retaining old ones. Falco may grow bored in victory, but you won’t. There’s never a dull moment.