For the nearly half-dozen times that Nintendo has attempted to remake or remaster Star Fox, it has always somehow braved the tides of time. Not to say the game’s structure is timeless – in fact, some aspects are still pretty outdated – but the real appeal of the experience has been its endlessly fun core gameplay. In 2026, the gaming industry looks different. Players have different interests now and gaming has evolved past the arcade on-rails shooter nostalgia-berry that Star Fox offers. Yet, developer Velan Studios has done an admirable job here in bringing this icon to the modern age.



For those unfamiliar with Star Fox or for newcomers to the series, it’s an arcade rail shooter that puts you in the shoes of Fox McCloud, an anthropomorphic mercenary who traverses the galaxy with his ragtag group of mercs in search for bounties and easy pays. Using their aerial combat skills, Fox and the team must navigate various obstacles, take on deadly alien foes and machines, and complete set objectives while pulling off more barrel rolls than a drunken Tom Cruise in a fighter jet.



This new and revamped Star Fox for Nintendo Switch 2, though a remake of a beloved classic, clearly targets new audiences. Velan Studios buffs up the original classic with more cinematic cutscenes (replacing the older games’ radio chatter), snappier dialogue, and more characterisation for Fox and company. Not all of the changes work, though. For example, Falco is less quirky and more of an a-hole, while Fox McCloud himself seems to take his work a lot more seriously now unlike his original, chipper personality.

Velan Studios buffs up the original classic with more cinematic cutscenes (replacing the older games’ radio chatter), snappier dialogue, and more characterisation for Fox and company.

I get that with the times changing, Nintendo wants to keep Star Fox relevant, even if it means borrowing dialogue and writing straight from James Gunn’s handbook. Tonally, it doesn’t always fit the game, especially since you could be going from watching a grounded, serious cutscene one minute to cracking 90s one-liners in your cockpit in the next gameplay segment immediately afterwards. Unless Velan Studios completely reworked all the dialogue to match the tone of the cutscenes (and threatened to lose some of the original game’s charm in the process), I don’t think there was an easy way to make these tonal shifts work well together in a remake.



At the heart of Star Fox is some pretty exciting gameplay, thankfully. Using dual-stick controls, the gameplay throws players into short, arcade-y on-rails shooting where you control an Arwing (or submarine and tank, depending on the level) to blast your way through enemy bases while clearing out defences, turrets, towers, and other enemy fighters. Each level is gracefully short and it shouldn’t take you any more than five minutes to complete one of its seven or eight main missions in total. This might sound like a very short game experience – for those who will just play it once and hang it up, it will be – but the fun comes in its easy replayability.

Star Fox is a game that can be picked up and played very easily, given its shorter mission lengths and structure. It’s a perfect fit for the on-the-go Nintendo Switch 2 gamer and plays into the device’s portable, quick-access nature really well. That’s not to say you can simply get Star Fox done in one hour and call it a day. The real treasure lies in how each successful “run” (we’re now conditioned by roguelikes to think this way, don’t judge me) of the campaign can branch off into alternate paths or scenarios depending on your performance in each level.



For example, whether you destroy all the enemy turrets in one mission or miss some of them, the mission will then introduce a different progression path depending on your success rate or failure. Sometimes it’s harder, sometimes it’s easier, and sometimes you want to scream because missing just one objective determines whether or not you unlock this new path. On that note, Star Fox’s difficulty can be pretty unforgiving if you aren’t locking in at all times (no pun intended). This mostly has to do with how advanced the enemy AI is. Kudos to Velan Studios for making that improvement, but now it feels sweatier to encounter an ace enemy pilot who has the skills and foresight of a young Anakin Skywalker.

Star Fox is a game that can be picked up and played very easily, given its shorter mission lengths and structure. It’s a perfect fit for the on-the-go Nintendo Switch 2 gamer and plays into the device’s portable, quick-access nature really well.

Unless you’re willing to replay Star Fox a few times and squeeze the most amount of content out of this package, it might not seem worth it which is understandable. After all, game design and philosophy was different back in the 90s versus today where developers want to give you more of the experience to match a higher price tag.



Apart from the main campaign, you also have a bunch of side activities and new unlockable content once you’ve finished the main route. I won’t go into too much detail here since most of it is fairly standard objective-based missions or extra padding but it nicely rounds out the package, even if it’s not the most substantial amount of content. You get your kicks of out replaying the main story just to play through its divergent outcomes, and even that could be completed in a couple of days. This isn’t really a fault of the remake since most games from before the 2000s offered shorter playthroughs compared to today, so the remake unfortunately lands short on that mark.

Unless you’re willing to replay Star Fox a few times and squeeze the most amount of content out of this package, it might not seem worth it which is understandable.

Where is does excel is in visuals and sound. I have a soft spot for the cheesier voice acting and dialogue of the original so hearing it again just brought a smile to my face. The actors clearly have a lot of fun hamming it up, especially Peppy Hare. Bless you, you weird Mr. Miyagi bunny. Velan Studios deliver in the graphical upgrade department too, presenting some incredible vistas in space or on planets. Sure, the lava level looks a little outdated, but the rest is a visual feast. Character models are also very detailed and expressive, giving them a lot more personality than anything we’ve seen before. It’s another terrific testament to the Switch 2’s upgraded power and what it can handle on a tiny screen.



Star Fox is going to be difficult to recommend to everyone. On one hand, this isn’t the same Fox McCloud that you saw in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and thought he was cool enough to play his video game. I think the characterisation is going to be a hit-or-miss for die-hard fans and it might seem tiresome to newcomers who’ve probably seen this before in Guardians of the Galaxy or something. That said, the core gameplay is rock-solid and an absolute blast to play in quick bursts, as long as you don’t mind its shorter playtime and keep your expectations in check.

Nintendo Switch 2 Review code provided by Nintendo | Star Fox is available to purchase for R1,180