Star Fox review – roll out the barrel on Nintendo Switch 2

The best Star Fox game, from the glory days of the N64, is remade on Switch 2, and Nintendo’s mammalian mercenaries have never looked better.

Although many seemingly inexplicable Nintendo decisions do make more sense in hindsight, their scheduling plans for the Switch 2 are currently impossible to decipher. Is the fact that they have two N64 remakes coming out in quick succession a coincidence or is it a purposeful nostalgia grab aimed at a very specific age group? We will likely never know but while Nintendo usually doesn’t release many remakes this recreation of Star Fox 64 makes you wish they did.

Despite the confusing name, this is based on what in Europe was called Lylat Wars and, apart from the multiplayer, is a pretty much 1:1 remake of the Nintendo 64 original. There are new cut scenes, and a challenge mode to make it easier to discover the game’s many secrets, but the actual gameplay and level design is almost exactly as it was back in 1997, only with better graphics and an orchestral soundtrack.

One of the more practical arguments against remakes is that it takes time and money away from developers that could be working on original projects, but Nintendo has sidestepped that issue by getting US company Velan Studios, who were previously only known for Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, to make this. Considering what a good job they’ve done we expect this will cement their relationship with Nintendo further.

There are a few good reasons why Nintendo has chosen to remake Star Fox 64 and not the original, the most obvious being that it’s the most popular and critically acclaimed entry in the series. Although it’s already a quasi-remake of the first game anyway, so it makes perfect sense to skip ahead. Clearly the idea here is to rejuvenate the franchise, which never again saw the same level of critical or commercial success, with Nintendo even going so far as to give Fox McCloud a substantial cameo in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

Remaking Star Fox 64 isn’t just a plea to nostalgia; it’s an attempt to revive the series by reminding you of how good it used to be or, for younger gamers, introducing you to the characters beyond just their appearances in Super Smash Bros.

Part of the problem with the later Star Fox entries is that they strayed too far from the design principles of the first two games and became increasingly generic third person actioners. It’s easy to forget, based on the more recent games, but the original Star Fox is one of the only attempts to extrude the on-rails, 2D gameplay of shoot ‘em-ups such as Gradius and R-Type into 3D. Star Fox 64 complicated that only by adding an all-range mode, where you can move in full 3D, similar to the subsequent Star Wars: Rogue Squadron games.

But, alas, those are the only times a big budget game has ever tried to do the same sort of thing, so for fans of the would-be genre, bringing back Star Fox is more important than just the health of one franchise.

Since, in gameplay terms, this is exactly the same experience as the original it’s a relief to find that it’s still just as enjoyable as it always was. There are some lulls in the pacing, that you wouldn’t get in a 2D shooter, and there sometimes doesn’t seem to be quite as many enemies around as you’d like, which is a result of slavishly following the N64 version, but overall it holds up very well, as you fly your Arwing starfighter into the screen, blasting away at every enemy in your path.

If anything, it’s the all-range mode sections which seem less interesting today, as all they do is dump you in a small arena and have you dogfight with a rival bunch of evil mercenaries called Star Wolf. This is still entertaining but it’s harder to create distinctive set pieces when the game can’t guarantee where you’re looking all the time. Although it still does its best, with one stage having you shoot down an Independence Day-like flying saucer, before it destroys a base, and another tasking you with destroying the shields on a MacGuffin device while dodging Star Wolf at the same time.

All the subsequent games focused on more open-ended gameplay but it’s the on-rails stuff that is most fun here, in part because the graphics are so good and sell the sci-fi locations a lot better than the N64 ever could. The underwater Aquas stage looks particularly good, with the idea that it’s pitch black until you fire a torpedo only now looking as the original designers must’ve envisioned.

The Landmaster tank levels are also great, especially the one where you’re chasing a train, but all of the levels have an interesting gimmick, from the one on the surface of a star, where your shields are constantly draining, to another that has a hidden warp point if you pick up all the energy anomalies.

Star Fox has an unusual branching structure, where if you do nothing unusual you’ll end up taking the default route through seven of the game’s 16 levels and probably beat the whole thing on your first or second go, within just a couple of hours. However, in doing that you’ll miss most of the best bits and so you constantly replay the campaign to work out whatever you need to do, to open up a second route out of each level.

Previously this involved a lot of experimentation (or reading a magazine help guide) but the Switch 2 version has a separate challenge mode that makes it much clearer what you’ve got to do when you’re playing the actual campaign. Even so, most levels are only 10 or 15 minutes long, so there is, and always has been, a big question about the game’s longevity.

In theory anyway. In practice it’s eminently replayable and constantly going back to retry levels, to get all the secrets or improve your high score, remains as compelling today as it was 27 years go. On the default path the game is pretty easy but even on normal mode the harder to reach stages are quite tough. It’s difficult enough to even unlock the expert mode but when you do, that quickly extinguishes any complaints that the game is too easy.

On a technical level the remake is very impressive, although the peculiar redesigns of the main characters are certainly a matter of taste. Fox looks like he’s swallowed a plate (and nothing like his appearance in the Mario Galaxy Movie or the iconic SNES box art) and Falco looks more like a chicken than a raptor, but at least they’re distinctive and the hammy voice work is exactly as cheesy as it should be – and, yes, they do still all say their famous lines.

Our only minor complaint with the graphics is the weird dithering effect the game uses in some space sections, as enemy capital ships suddenly appear out of nowhere. It’s not clear if it’s supposed to be them coming out of hyperspace, or something, but it looks very ugly and is a clumsy, and unnecessary, attempt to recall the N64 version’s short draw distance.

Other than that, this is a top notch remake, including a welcome attempt at adding online multiplayer (you can use GameShare locally but there’s no split-screen mode like the original). The N64 version only had basic deathmatch options but here you get three separate modes/maps based on online stalwarts such as conquest and capture the flag. It’s simple stuff but enjoyable and you can play against AI-controlled bots.

If you’re using a camera you can also use the various characters as an animated avatar that mimics your real-world facial movements, which is a neat trick. There’s also a co-op option, where one person pilots and the other shoots, which works in conjunction with optional mouse controls.

None of this, however, offers any real indication of what Star Fox could become if Nintendo were to greenlight an entirely new game. Something that keeps to the style of Star Fox 64 would be welcome but that’s very unlikely to propel the series into the mainstream. The problem is how to reconcile the arcade style spectacle of the on-rail sections with something more open-ended and substantial.

Some have suggested making a future game some kind of Elite style space trader, which seems like it might have potential, but where would the on-rails elements come into that? We don’t have the answer and for the last few decades neither has Nintendo. Perhaps they have new inspiration, as a result of overseeing this remake, but either way we’re glad it exists and Star Fox’s finest hour can be enjoyed by a new generation of gamers.

Formats: Nintendo Switch 2
Price: £41.99
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Velan Studios (original: Nintendo EAD)
Release Date: 25th June 2026
Age Rating: 7

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

Comments


Add as preferred source