The Nintendo 64 classic rails shooter gets remade, again, does the new coat of paint deliver?
What Is It? Star Fox is a 2026 Switch 2 release, it is a remake of the Nintendo 64 Star Fox title. The game places you in the role of Fox McCloud as you pilot your fighter ship through a rails shooter adventure.
Fox is the leader of a mercenary group named Star Fox. He is joined by Peppy, Slippy, and Falco and are contracted by General Pepper of the Cornerian army who are being attacked by Dr. Andross who is trying to destroy the Lylat System. For the original game, the story was mostly background noise, but this game fleshes it out through cutscenes and a glossary of information on the world and characters. You can still ignore this aspect, if you wish, but there is more to dig into here if you want.
The bulk of the game has Fox piloting his Arwing through a constantly moving tunnel-like sequence. You have some movement freedom to dodge things on screen, but it is capped in each direction and not a fully open 3D world to fly through.
Levels are a few minutes long and often end in boss fights. You can shoot a laser, or charge it to shoot a powerful shot which can lock onto enemies, fire bombs, boost, break, sommersault, and do a barrel roll. A few sections will have you in “All Range Mode” which gives you a relatively small 3D area in which you can fly in any direction up to the edges of the map. These sections allow you to perform a U-turn move at the press of a button.
The most important aspect of a game like this are the controls and I’m happy to report that piloting the Arwing feels better than it ever has. Controls are perfectly responsive leading to a wonderful experience. A couple of levels will have you piloting non-Arwing vehicles, and these aren’t quite as good, but still control well enough and are a fun break from the standard format.
In short, everything about the original Star Fox 64 still holds true today.The graphics are the most obvious improvement here. The increased fidelity does legitimately elevate the experience even if the campaign structure is identical. Fans of the original, or the 3DS Remake, will feel right at home with this game.
The campaign can be completed in about 90 minutes on Normal mode, or quite a bit less if you are familiar with the game. Each run will take you through seven different worlds. The exact route you take will depend on which exits you get from each level. There are 16 different worlds in total, so it will take you at least a few runs through the game to see everything. The criteria for each alternative exit is spelled out in the game, so you won’t need to hunt online for those, but involve things like saving your allies at key points, hitting certain goals, and other optional tasks during a level.
Beyond the campaign, the game features a Challenge mode, co-op campaign, and battle mode. Challenge mode has the most legs for single players as it provides a handful of goals to hit on each level and will likely take a few tries to hit all of the goals. Challenge mode has normal and expert challenges to mirror the normal and expert difficulties in the main campaign (the campaign also features an easy difficulty). The co-op campaign has one player controlling the ship while the other controls the aiming/firing. It’s a strange mix, but fun enough if you have the right playing partner.
Battle Mode can be played online or off. The mode features two teams of four in a king of the hill style game. You gain points for controlling the active area as well as for taking down enemy fighters. Once downed, you will spawn back in seven seconds later to try again.
The Best Part: This game is pure, old school, arcade-style fun. “Why would I pay for a game I can beat in 90 minutes?” Let me introduce you to 75% of the games released for home consoles in the 1990s. The reason to return to the game is because it is ridiculously fun. You can spend three or four additional runs trying to get to all of the different stages the game offers, but even that shelf life is limited. The reason you will return to this is the same reason many of us are still playing those ‘90s gems: the game is fun and doesn’t require a double-digit hour commitment.
The Worst Part: I spent all weekend playing this game after release. I took different routes so I could see all of the levels, spent time chasing challenges, and had a really great time doing so. Afterwards, I popped my copy of Star Fox 64 into the N64 to see differences. I knew the campaign was identical, I was just curious about controls and general feeling of playing. To my great surprise, the N64 version holds up quite well to this remake. The controls could be described as mildly sluggish in comparison, and obviously the remake benefits from great new graphics, but there isn’t a major difference in the feel of playing the two. That’s the rub; Star Fox 64 (and its 3DS remake and the Nintendo Switch Online emulated version) all exist, are very easy to play one way or another, and all remain a great time delivering the same core experience this new remake provides. Compare this to some other, recent, notable remakes which most often overhaul the controls for the better, and you can’t help but wonder why this game exists in this form.
The Verdict: The core question many people will be asking around this game is “did we need another remake of this game?” The objective answer is, almost certainly, ‘no.’ This remake doesn’t change anything about the main game mode outside of adding some cutscenes and that doesn’t help the argument. Would I have preferred a new game in this world? Absolutely. Did this prevent me from having a fantastic time with this game? Absolutely not. This is a game I will return to many times over the years, I am certain of that.
I alluded to this earlier, but I think the modern gaming world needs more arcade games like this. I have absolutely fallen victim to the “hit the credits then move on” mindset when it comes to gaming. When so many games over a long stretch of time have emphasized hitting the credits, it’s easy to consider a game “done” after doing so, and the designs of these games leaned into this by making replays something for the diehards.
What if the reason to return to a game was because it was a fantastic, fun experience? Sounds crazy, I know. Star Fox does layer some replayability through its challenges and Expert mode, along with the online team game. I will probably slowly work through the challenges on Normal difficulty, and maybe even test out the campaign on Expert before dying early and giving up, but I know I will return to this game many times over the years simply to experience an incredibly fun, 90-minute, rails shooter adventure with Slippy, Peppy, and Falco at my side. To me, that is more than enough.
How to Play: Switch 2*
*console played on for this review
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