I walked out of my hour-and-a-half preview with Star Fox in disbelief at how excited I was to tell everyone about a remake of a game I’ve already played several times before. This new take on the classic Star Fox 64 is not just a simple fresh coat of paint like the 3DS version. Instead, it’s shaping up to be a significantly expanded and surprisingly cinematic retelling of the Lylat Wars, thanks to an overhauled script that’s brought to life by some of the strongest voice acting and cutscene direction I’ve ever seen in a Nintendo game.
Star Fox punches up its story and characters while keeping the original’s level design and gameplay completely intact. But its stages certainly don’t feel old or out of place by comparison: its crisp graphics, snappy controls, and majestic orchestral soundtrack match the grand scope Nintendo appears to be aiming for. I understand some fans are disappointed that we’re getting another version of 64 instead of an all-new entry (that was my gut reaction too, until I came around on the announcement), but given that’s the reality, it’s hard for me to imagine a better realization of Star Fox 64 in 2026.
All aspects of Star Fox’s modern presentation bring it closer to what this series has always felt like: Star Wars: A New Hope with animals. Sure, series creator Shigeru Miyamoto was inspired by several other science fiction series when developing the original, but Star Fox’s parallels with Star Wars have always been the most visible, and this blockbuster take evokes that comparison more than ever.
New cutscenes feature Fox, Falco, Peppy, and Slippy gathered around a hologram of General Pepper as they receive their next mission orders, reminiscent of the rebellion plotting their course to destroy the Death Star. Fluttering woodwinds decorate the soundscape as the camera pans down from the Great Fox to the planet that its ragtag band of pilots are heading to. Star Fox’s sci-fi world feels grimy like Star Wars does, too, and the new art style contributes to its lived-in feeling. Fox looks somewhere between a cartoon action hero and a real-life fox, with visible whiskers and ears that fold back when he’s talking. After seeing it in motion, this risky direction completely works for me. Fox looks a little stinky, and I’m sure he probably is. But don’t you think Chewbacca smells pretty ripe, too?
The cinematic take does far more for Star Fox than simply reminding me of a galaxy far, far away. I’m a firm believer that just because a video game is “more cinematic” doesn’t automatically make it better – it’s how a game leverages that decision that really counts. And in this case, the result so far is that Star Fox’s universe feels fleshed out and important, and I’m already more attached to this version of the crew than in any prior Star Fox game. This is a space opera, and the bigger focus on characters and worldbuilding adds meaningful weight to each mission I fought through.
The higher stakes start as early as the opening training mission, which has been significantly reworked. Instead of dryly learning the basics on his own, Fox is joined in a virtual reality combat simulation with his three companions, giving me a chance to learn their personalities at the same time as the controls. Slippy is as clumsy as ever, slamming into Fox’s Arwing by mistake, which Peppy made sure to chew him out for. Falco bragged about stealing a couple of Fox’s kills, which was the first of many signs to show that they’re leaning even harder into their rivalry. After learning all the ins and outs of my Arwing, Falco cranked up the simulation to the highest difficulty he could – literally past the point where it was covered by the crew’s warranty – and I was swarmed with bogeys until the whole thing crashed.
This was a charming spin on a tutorial, and it rolled straight into my first cutscene where the crew tore off their VR headsets and started chatting. I was immediately impressed by the voice acting and animation: there was a real believability to each of the characters, no doubt helped by lip synching that matches the English dialogue (a real rarity for Nintendo games) along with quality facial animations and eye movements. Unfortunately, the cutscenes do appear to run at a disappointing 30 fps compared to the perfectly smooth 60 fps during gameplay.
We Need Your Help, Star Fox!
Next, we descended to Corneria, the recreated opening level from the original. The fantastic attention to detail remained on display as warnings like “Keep Limbs Clear” or “No Step” were visible near transforming, mechanical parts of the Arwing, while Falco had painted blue, feathered wings on the back of his.
The Arwing feels incredible to control. It smoothly glides around the screen during the on-rails segments, and the control stick reacts to minute adjustments like it’s really my flight stick. It also struck me how great it felt to play a home console Star Fox with traditional controls. The only other Star Fox in Nintendo’s HD era was chained to an unintuitive control scheme on Wii U. Returning to a standard control scheme brought on a sense of relief similar to swinging Link’s sword with a button press again after the era of waggle and touch screen experiments.
I revisited Star Fox 64 ahead of time to prepare, so I instantly fell into the rhythm of destroying enemies with my laser and bombs while trying to rack up as many hits as I could. The enemy placement and pacing of the stage appeared to be completely identical to the N64 and 3DS versions, but the level design absolutely holds up in 2026. Saving Slippy in the opening water area, flying through the canyon until the ruined city revealed itself, and blasting baddies out of the sky was still exciting, made even fresher by the gorgeous graphics and amazing music.
The best word I can use to describe Star Fox’s visuals is “crisp”: things like trees and the ground don’t have the most finely detailed textures you’ve ever seen, but when you’re boosting by them on what’s essentially a roller coaster, the clean art style shines. And they’ve nailed the most important parts: the Arwing itself looks fantastic in motion, the colorful backgrounds set the mood perfectly, and the glowing, polygonal enemies look great, especially when they’re exploding. It sounds wonderful, too, with satisfying metal clanks when you shoot down enemies.
The script during missions has received a huge facelift as well. It’s a cliché to say a video game remake, “looks like I remember it in my head,” but that’s the genuine reaction I had to the dialogue rather than the graphics. Star Fox 64 always felt fresh for how the characters talked to each other during combat, reacted to friendly fire, and had different things to say based on your gameplay. It’s still very cool in the original, but very limited by modern standards.
I compared the in-mission conversations in Star Fox on Switch 2 directly to the script from Star Fox 64, and there’s so much more here. The scenario is the same, but it’s fleshed out. For example, when Falco talks about engine issues with his G-Diffuser, Slippy now chimes in by saying, “That’s why you shouldn’t rush a systems check!” They respond to each other more than before, and it is building a greater sense of camaraderie amongst the crew. I also adore this take on Slippy Toad. He’s more self-aware that he’s not a great pilot, calmer in tense situations, and has complete faith in his crew to bail him out. I can’t wait to see how the stronger focus on characters pays off in the end.
There was an instance of changed dialogue I’m more mixed on, however. Longtime Star Fox players know that to reach the secret route on Corneria, you need to successfully kill the bogeys on Falco’s tail and then fly under a group of archways, which will impress Falco and cause him to take you on an alternate path. This isn’t really hinted at whatsoever in the old script, but now, Falco explicitly tells you that the archways look like a good obstacle course, directly referencing the secret. It’s not a huge deal, and maybe it was overly obtuse before, but it feels a bit less like a special discovery waiting to be found and more like a clearly telegraphed objective.
I was actually instructed by the Nintendo PR rep to avoid the arches and take the normal path on my first playthrough, but I did get to replay Corneria in co-op to see the alternate route through to the end. In two-player, one person pilots the Arwing while the other uses the Joy-Con 2’s mouse controls to aim the reticle and shoot. I was the pilot, so I didn’t get to go directly hands-on with the mouse controls myself, but my gunner said they felt great. From my perspective, co-op was honestly pretty boring. I didn’t really enjoy flying the ship around with no control over combat, and this mode feels best suited for parents to try with their kids.
No one could stop me from pursuing the alternate path on the second stage, Meteo, where you need to fly through a series of portals in one go to jump through hyperspace to an unknown location. I knew I only had one shot to pull this off in my limited preview time, and it felt great when I nailed the final portal, and even better when the PR folks behind me were chatting about how they hadn’t seen someone reach that alternate path in the remake yet. I was warped to an amazing rift with beautiful hues of purple and orange, where I used my bombs to rack up tons of hits by destroying meteors. I got enough hits to earn a Medal for the stage, and I’m excited to eventually medal every stage, along with completing the new, optional achievements added to each level.
Finally, I got to check out the new four-versus-four multiplayer dogfights, and while it was easily the weakest part of my preview, I still think there’s potential for a fun side mode. We tried two matches where the objective was to steal cargo from NPC space pirates and deliver it to our ship. It was all about coordinating with your team to decide who would grab the cargo, and who would defend them from the enemy team as they transported it back to base. I’ve always preferred Star Fox’s on-rails sections to the all-range mode portions where you can fly in any direction, so the multiplayer dogfights haven’t entirely clicked with me yet. Still, it was exciting to shoot down an enemy ship and swipe the cargo away. With only three maps and one mode on each, I’m not sure how long the multiplayer will stay interesting or how much of a player base it will attract, but at least you can easily fill the empty slots with bots.
I also tried the hilarious Game Chat avatars where the Nintendo Switch 2 camera uses your movements on a Star Fox character, and I was shocked at how accurate it was. Fox blinked when I did, the mouth movement was surprisingly good, and when we had four characters on screen in their cockpits, it was funny to see them all focusing on the battle. I can definitely see people having a great time with this gimmick. It’s probably the best use of the Switch 2’s camera so far, and just another example of Nintendo pulling out all the stops for this remake. Star Fox is out on Switch 2 on June 25, and contrary to what Star Wars characters usually say, I’ve got a great feeling about this.
Logan Plant is the host of Nintendo Voice Chat and IGN’s Database Manager & Playlist Editor. The Legend of Zelda is his favorite video game franchise of all time, and he is patiently awaiting the day Nintendo announces a brand new F-Zero. You can find new episodes of NVC every Friday on the IGN Games YouTube channel, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.
