As I admitted in my early preview of Star Fox, Nintendo’s Switch 2-exclusive remake of the 1996 Nintendo 64 original, this new iteration is actually my very first playthrough of the game on any platform. This presents a rather unique proposition for the remake, where a lack of personal nostalgia or familiarity with the source material means I’m essentially experiencing this game as a Switch 2 original. And hey, Nintendo – where can I get some more of this stuff?
Now, obviously I know a bit about Star Fox. I’ve been on the internet and in gaming circles for largely the entire time since the N64 entry debuted, so it’s not as though I hadn’t seen just about everything there was to see about it. And yet, the game’s core campaign structure still managed to surprise me in a number of ways. Firstly, it’s short as hell, clocking in at under a couple of hours if all you do is play from beginning to end across a single playthrough. But that’s not the full story, for this is a game designed to be played through multiple times, taking a different potential route each time to see all the various levels and ways you can progress the story – impossible to do in a single campaign run.
It’s a setup that makes enough sense for console gaming in 1997, but oddly enough I found it works remarkably even today. That’s especially true if you’re someone who uses their Switch 2 mostly as a handheld machine, where you can fit a full campaign path into a lengthy commute or short flight without reaching for a charger. If you’re lucky enough to be coming in fresh, like me, it’s also a lot of fun discovering the different conditions to alternate routes, or consequences of stage choices, for the first time.
But what if you’re a returning fan? Naturally, there’s a lot here that’s poised to please those with an existing affinity for this crew furry, feathery and frog-textured fighter pilots. A big one is the inclusion of brand-new, fully animated and voice cutscenes that bookend the campaign and all of the stages within, adding extra flavour and context to the original, relatively thin plot. These look and sound great, with some gorgeous character models bringing the Star Fox crew (and their various friends and enemies) to life like never before. And because these differ and change based on your playthrough choices, replaying the campaign multiple times over doesn’t mean watching the same cutscenes (or warrant skipping them).
The superb presentation continues through to gameplay, with bumps things up to a silky-smooth 60FPS and completely revamps the environments of each stage to a modern standard. It’s night-and-day against the N64 original, naturally, but it’s also just very impressive in general. There’s a level of AAA “realism” on show, but the feel and aesthetic of Star Fox is completely intact and the designs of the spaces and every detail within them retains an important sense of readability in the heat of the action. This is a game about constant decision-making in the moment, whether that’s how you pilot, what targets you prioritise, whether you can spot and successfully act on hidden secrets, it’s all intuitive and expertly directed – as much as I assume the original felt back in ’96.
It plays as beautifully as it looks, too, with an overall quite simple setup that keeps the focus less on fumbling with numerous weapon types or worrying about upgrade paths and instead keeps what’s happening around you feeling fresh. You’ll fly more on less on rails (some segments notwithstanding), shoot a basic laser which gets better with pickups, throw consumable bombs and pull off evasive maneuvers like barrel rolls and somersaults with relative ease. But your ability to properly execute on the basics is constantly tested by new level gimmicks, tricky enemy placements and a desire to keep the rest of your crew in good health – lest they be knocked out of participating in the next mission. Again, this is all mostly carried over from Lylat Wars, so it’s a testament to good, old-fashioned game and level design.
This being a modern Nintendo joint, you can also expect a little more accessibility on offer compared to the original. There are difficulty settings now, for one, but the most impactful update is a new co-op control option which allows to people to play through the campaign together – one on ship controls and one on weapons. It’s a neat way to experience the game alongside someone, and no doubt a great way for seasoned gamers to share a favourite with someone new to Star Fox, though the only option for control in this case is with a single Joy-Con each, even if you’re using GameShare across two consoles. The gunner is forced to use the Joy-Con 2’s mouse mode, which is admittedly a very handy way to play, but the player on ship duties is stuck with what is a pretty awful piloting experience on the tiny, cramped controller.
The other new wrinkles far a lot better, though, with Star Fox on the Switch 2 offering some key additional modes that do a lot to round out the package for contemporary tastes. First is a Challenge Mode, which plonks you back into any level you’ve completed with a checklist of additional tasks to complete for extra accolades and unlockable goodies. These will task you with doing things like defeating all of a particular sequence of enemies, finishing a level in a time limit or only using certain weaponry to take down a boss. A lot of is straightforward stuff, but quite a few challenges are also great at making you play levels in ways you may not have thought to on your own, which helps with the replay value. I would’ve loved to see it taken further and include actual remixes of levels or a boss rush or something to that effect, but what’s here is inoffensive.
Some of the unlockables from Challenge Mode, and from across the rest of Star Fox’s avenues of play, include unlockable items in the new Holoviewer, which is essentially an archive of Star Fox lore and in-game models. There’s a fair bit to look at here, making it particularly valuable to long-time fans wanting a deeper dive into the game’s universe and characters. It’s not dropping any world-shattering revelations, that I’m aware of, but you do get some brilliant tidbits out of it, including a confirmation that Peppy fucks.
Out of everything though, I had the most fun with Star Fox’s new PvP multiplayer Battle Mode, which pits two teams of four against each other in points-scoring competition. The content offering here is slight, with just three maps that each are locked to a specific match type/gimmick, and no sense of meta progression or anything to encourage coming back to it long-term, but that ends up working in the game’s favour as a welcome throwback to the simplicity of a lost age of multiplayer modes. It’s simple stuff, but it builds off of Star Fox’s thrilling piloting to provide some exhilarating play. There are still modern touches, too, like the stupidly fun interactive avatars that swap your camera feed (should you use one) out for Star Fox character models that mimic your basic facial movements.
All told, this is a hell of a revival for a game that’s already had the pleasure of a string of them. Most of all, it’s a glimmer of hope that Nintendo is interested in returning to the franchise in full force, and a sound confirmation that it has the backup of studios like Velan who are more than capable of bringing that vision to life.
Reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2 | Review copy supplied by Nintendo
Great
- Core gameplay and campaign are still fantastic
- Visual update is gorgeous across the board
- Multiplayer Battle Mode is a ton of un
- Welcome new accessibility and control options
- Plenty for lore-heads to chew on
Not great
- New modes don't have a heap of content to offer
- Co-op control options are limited
Born into the world of video games through SEGA, and in particular Sonic the Hedgehog, Kieron’s gaming tastes now consist of the latest, shiny AAA thing, an indie darling or two, and an embarrassing number of hours of Balatro.