Fresh off the heels of his mostly okay turn in the mostly not-so-okay The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Fox is back! And it only took him ten years. Yep, in a surprise Nintendo Direct that aired on a late Wednesday evening (which is in no way responsible for how quickly this had to be written or how late it came out), Nintendo announced the first Star Fox game in ten years. Read on for more details about…
Star Fox
Release date: June 25, 2026 for Nintendo Switch 2
Price: $49.99 USD digitally. Following Nintendo’s variable pricing strategy for physical games, expect the physical version to be $60.
Carrying the same name as the original Star Fox from 1993, Star Fox is a remake of 1997’s Star Fox 64, the fan favorite by consensus (and which has been remade twice before, through Star Fox 64 3D in 2011 and Star Fox Zero in 2016). It follows the standards of modern video game remakes: aggressively faithful. The basic on-rails ship combat gameplay has been retained, as has the story, divergent routes, level layouts, and at least some of the dialogue. The Nintendo Switch Online Nintendo 64 controller is even compatible, and the Landmaster and Blue-Marine vehicles are back.
Image: Nintendo. 4K ship to ship combat, just as General Pepper intended.
Unsurprisingly, the game has several differences from the original SF64:
- The graphics are in 4K. In addition, the cast has been redesigned to look more detailed, realistic, and animalistic, not unlike the animal puppets that graced the original Star Fox box art. While Star Fox Zero did something similar, it seems to look nicer here.
- “Plenty of” new cutscenes and mission briefings have been added, with one of them—a prologue featuring Fox’s dead dad James—being used to close out the show. This, I imagine, is one of the big selling points for series fans.
- Unlike almost any Nintendo game from the days of the first two Star Fox games, there are three difficulty modes. Expert, however, needs to be unlocked through capturing in-game medals.
- One new addition, Challenge Mode, lets you retry already-played stages. They have unique win conditions and enemy layouts.
- Mouse controls are an option, and using them moves the game into a first-person perspective.
- Nintendo’s love of asynchronous co-op has returned with a co-operative mode that lets players split the gunner and pilot duties.
The biggest change might by to the original’s somewhat strange multiplayer mode, as it’s been seemingly replaced with Battle Mode, eight-person dogfights.
- Players battle on teams of four as either Team Star Fox or Team Star Wolf. All members vie for points by completing missions and shooting down players on the other team.
- The game has three stages, each of which has its own layout and missions. Corneria has satellite towers whose space you try to control. Fichina has dangerous meteorites and bountiful energy crystals, and Sector Y has lost cargo you have to schlep to your team’s base.
- Offers Gameshare support for Switch 2 and Switch players who don’t own the game. That’s become increasingly standard across Nintendo multiplayer, but it’s still notable.
The addition I find most delightful is the introduction of a GameChat AR filter. Players with a compatible Switch 2 camera can use a Vtuber-esque filter of Fox and his pals that matches your facial movement for GameChat sessions.
The Direct:
Wolfman’s Soapbox: So, ignoring that this is a fairly basic Direct—or that it aired late in the day, while I was at work, meaning I’ve had to scramble to finished this—my overall feeling is that… yep, it’s Star Fox. It’s admittedly a bit of a hard sell for me at the start. Star Fox is maybe the only major Nintendo franchises with which I have basically no history, and I actually started Star Fox 64 a few days ago to rectify that (especially since the existence of a new Star Fox game had been leaked). And so while Fox’s quest to destroy Andross is a new story for me, it’s also the fourth version of this story. Fifth when you consider that Star Fox 64 was itself a remake of Star Fox. This series has been around for over three decades, but the back half of that time has revolved near-exclusively around trying to get this game and do it better.
Which is silly, because I did enjoy the first level of Star Fox 64 and look forward to the rest of the game! It’s not something that seems to need this degree of obsession.
Image: Nintendo. Team Star Fox with the cinematic energy that has arguably powered the franchise for thirty-three years.
But, we have what we have, and I gotta say, it’s a damn pretty game. It looks great, and I’m sure it’ll add a level of mechanical polish and comfort that we’ve had since ’97. I’m also interested in the price point, since seeing a title for $40 or $50 always reminds me that Nintendo likes those smaller projects. And from a greater storytelling perspective, the extra cutscenes seem to at least do the one thing none of these other remakes did, which is to add world building. That was at the core of what’s so weird about all these remakes; instead of fleshing out the world or sending it forward, it just goes back. This does the former, at least, and I do think that’s cool. Is that enough for me to buy it at launch? Maybe not; I might wait on a sale on the eShop. But I’m definitely going to keep it in mind.
It’s not what I would’ve wanted, but it’s what we got. Not unlike Fox’s mostly fun, often obligatory cinematic turn earlier this year.
Putting aside the annoyance of this being yet another SF64 reimagining, remake or whatever, its great to have a new Star Fox game again.
“the cast has been redesigned to look more detailed, realistic, and animalistic, not unlike the animal puppets that graced the original Star Fox box art. While Star Fox Zero did something similar, it seems to look nicer here.”
I have to respectfully disagree. This game’s character redesign, while not a deal breaker by any means, is just a big thumbs down for me. SF Zero’s designs were (and still are) miles better in comparision.