As you may be able to infer from the title of this piece, I have never played a Star Fox game. Well, that’s not entirely true, I did play the hell out of Star Fox Adventures on the GameCube, but given that game’s development history and complete genre separation I think it’s safe to say it doesn’t count. Having not grown up with SNES or N64, the early games just missed me completely, and I hadn’t bothered to dip in since.
So naturally, when Nintendo invited me to visit and play just north of an hour of the Switch 2 remake of Star Fox 64 (or Lylat Wars, if you grew up somewhere nice), I jumped at the chance to finally see what the fuss was about. And, friends, I get it now.
Our preview of Star Fox took place across three distinct experiences within the game, starting with firing up the standard campaign as a solo player. For seasoned players, this would be an opportunity to size up how the core of the game compares to the original iteration (and its succession of re-releases). For me, though, it was a first taste of a legendary game, and thankfully the onboarding experience this time around has been updated.
The Training mode that used to live separately to the campaign in SF64 is now the opener to the entire game, and a little more expansive than before, eventually ending in a cutscene that sets up what’s to come and brings you to the main menu.
Proper cutscenes are, of course, completely new to this game, replacing a lot of static images and text crawls with fully voiced and animated sequences that go a long way to better grounding the Star Fox crew and events of the campaign. Though they’re 30 FPS in comparison to 60FPS gameplay performance, they’re a clear step up in production from pretty much anything else Nintendo is doing currently, adapting the ‘cool’ factor of that early 90s pre-baked 3D look into something that has certainly been divisive but is genuinely just neat to see.
The fundamental gameplay here has come across largely unchanged, but the wider field of view and huge draw distance contribute to a vastly more modern feel. I did go back and run a few missions on the original N64 game via Nintendo Switch Online right after my preview for comparison’s sake, and I was surprised at how easily any skills developed transferred over, but the controls in the remake are a clear step up. Your somersault and U-turn are now mapped to the d-pad, eliminating the need for the awkward control stick + c-button combos of the past, and the face button layout makes it much easier to fire off your various weapons, boost and brake.
If you’re already familiar with the different routes that the game can be played through, achieved by seeking out alternate paths or objectives within stages, that’s all present and accounted for here. But again, a little more contextual grounding brought forth by additional cutscenes, dialogue and the more complete presentation make seeking these out a lot more straightforward. My first demo was across Corneria, Meteo and Fichina (fka Fortuna). But I was able to go back and sort the route to Sector Y after jumping in to a co-op session with fellow Star Fox virgin, Ash Wayling of WellPlayed.
This saw us make use of Star Fox’s new split-control cooperative play, allowing players to share the load as either the ship pilot or the gunner. It’s a way for two players to enjoy the main campaign together, and perhaps help less experienced or able folks contribute without having to worry about the full suite of controls. I quite enjoyed both roles, though the Gunner job stands out for offering Switch 2 Joy-Con mouse controls, which work so well for precise aiming and shooting in the heat of the moment. Piloting should be just as fun, but in this instance Ash and I were both armed with a single Joy-Con each, and a single Joy-Con is just not an optimal way to fly – too cramped and with too few inputs to make it work. I did attempt to confirm with the Nintendo reps that players can mix and match different controller types in co-op, but the answer I got was that it’s Joy-Con controls only for this co-op mode.
Between drinks, I also had the opportunity to mess around a little with Star Fox’s GameChat avatars, which use a connected USB camera to let you embody your favourite Star Fox character with real-time facial expressions, head movements and even tongue position. It’s a silly novelty, but a charming inclusion nonetheless and sure to elicit a few giggles just in the menu screens alone, and if you’d prefer to show your own face during GameChat sessions you can also choose from a bunch of accessory filters like animal ears and glasses – everything in here is unlocked by campaign progress and optional challenge completion.
But the feature that stood out to me above all in this short hands-on session is Star Fox’s 4v4 online multiplayer mode, which is something I’d typically gloss over as someone who prefers everything single-player. We were only able to try out one map, which had each team of four competing for points by eliminating enemy fodder, taking each other down, and dominating an occasional control point. With a decently-sized space to zoom around in, plenty of power-ups and unique weapon types to try out, and the absolute joy of seeing the pained reactions on everyone’s camera-controlled avatars as I demolished and earned consecutive MVP badges (humble brag), this was a ton of fun and something I’ll head straight toward at launch.
I wasn’t entirely sure how I’d feel about this remake of Star Fox, having gone in with no experience of the original game and expecting something with nice visuals (very nice visuals, in fact, especially the water!), but the depth of an N64 title. Turns out, the game has always had depth and this version is packing enough new stuff to make it feel entirely modern. I’ll absolutely be jumping into this at launch, and I think fans and newcomers alike have plenty of reason to be excited.
Previewed at an event hosted by Nintendo
Star Fox launches exclusively for Nintendo Switch 2 on June 25, 2026.
Will you be playing Star Fox? Let us know in the comments or on our social pages!