From Polygons to Next-Gen: Why the New Star Fox is Nintendo’s Most Stunning Achievement Yet
Joking about video game “glow-ups” is common, but jumping straight from the original 1993 Star Fox on the Super NES to this brand-new version on the Switch 2 is absolute, literal whiplash. Just last week, I was flying a collection of gray, blocky triangles through a charmingly low-framerate Corneria. Today, thanks to a review code provided by Nintendo, I am witnessing what I truly believe is Nintendo’s most visually stunning release to date.
The leap in technology isn’t just impressive on a technical level—it completely redefines the experience that many had on their N64 back in the day, because, well, this is a remake of Star Fox 64!
If you’ve never played this before, either you’re younger and this will be your introduction to Star Fox, or you never got into it until now. Either way, you’re in for a treat here. Buckle up, because this is one fun ride.
Staying True to Its Roots
The story follows Fox McCloud and his elite team of mercenary pilots—Falco, Peppy, and Slippy—as they are mobilized by General Pepper to defend the Lylat System. When the exiled mad scientist Andross launches a massive, devastating assault from the desolate planet of Venom, the Star Fox team must fly from planet to planet, battling enemy fleets and liberating occupied worlds to stop Andross before the entire galaxy falls under his control.
At its core, this title is a masterclass in modernizing a classic blueprint without losing the magic that made the original iconic. Instead of completely changing the genre, the game doubles down on fast-paced, arcade-style action, but wraps it in a presentation that feels cutting-edge. It’s arcade-style, hectic, adrenaline-enduring fun, and I definitely recommend it.
A Universe of Pure Immersion
From the moment you boot the game up, the graphics do something incredible: they fully immerse you in the universe and the story. For basically my entire life, I’ve seen Fox McCloud and the crew as a collection of blocky, low-res pixels on a screen. Seeing them here, brought to life with this level of breathtaking, hyper-realistic detail, is genuinely surreal.
The story itself gets a massive narrative upgrade to match those visuals. Brand-new, glossy cinematic cutscenes turn the campaign into a high-stakes, Top Gun-style space opera. The cinematics look so gorgeous that they honestly feel like a major motion picture—delivering a level of cinematic scale and animation quality that is completely comparable to seeing Nintendo’s characters step onto the big screen in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. It goes far beyond the basic dialogue blocks of the past, making the bond between the Star Fox team feel incredibly real and giving the narrative some genuine emotional weight.
When you are cruising through remote space, the emptiness feels isolating and vast. The scale of the cosmos looms over your ship, creating an eerie calm before the storm. But when the action kicks in, the contrast is spectacular. The tense battles and massive fleet dogfights are breathtaking. The visual chaos of flashing lasers and heavy explosions is perfectly coupled with a phenomenal, re-orchestrated musical score that makes the entire journey feel like a grand, cinematic adventure.
Performance Built for Action & Diverse Vehicles
A fast-paced rail shooter lives and dies by how smooth it feels to play, and Star Fox absolutely nailed it here. The game runs beautifully, favoring a rock-solid, buttery-smooth framerate with virtually zero stuttering. Even when the screen is packed with dozens of enemy fighters, explosions, and smoke effects, the performance never dips.
The graphics don’t just exist to look pretty; they serve the actual gameplay and atmosphere. The contrast between environments is spectacular. The moment you drop into a planet’s atmosphere or a massive fleet battle, the screen erupts with dynamic explosions and volumetric smoke that perfectly capture the chaos of war, creating an incredible sense of momentum.
That incredible performance makes swapping vehicles an absolute blast. The adventure expands way past the cockpit of the iconic Arwing; piloting the Landmaster tank across war-torn cityscapes or diving into the deep oceans of alien planets in the Blue-Marine submarine feels entirely revitalized. Every vehicle benefits from gorgeous new physics and dynamic lighting effects that make each of them incredibly satisfying to control.
When the wings on your Arwing get damaged, you start to lose altitude, and the ship will literally start flying on whichever side is damaged. Small details like this add to the overall sense of immersion. Even when firing your ships’ blasters, if you hit trees on the ground, they will catch fire, which was a small detail but one I liked.
The inclusion of being able to go into first-person mode was welcome, and I loved seeing the interiors of the ships, but I found it easier in third-person, as I felt like I could see behind me better and had better control in dogfights.
Nintendo also used this release to flex some fun hardware gimmicks. You can use the new Joy-Con “mouse mode” for ultra-precise gyro aiming during intense dogfights. Plus, there is a chaotic multiplayer mode that lets you use the console’s camera to slap animated Star Fox animal filters over your face during online matches—a hilarious, goofy touch. I personally loved the “mouse mode” as it made it feel like a PC game, with smooth controls.
Short, Sweet, and Built to Repeat
If there is one thing that might catch modern gamers off guard, it’s the sheer brevity of a single campaign run. Flying from the opening level to the final boss fight will only take you about an hour or two.
But judging this game by a single playthrough misses the entire point: this game is explicitly designed as an arcade-style experience built around a highly repeatable loop. The core gameplay loop isn’t about reaching an ending and putting the controller down; it’s about mastery, score-hunting, and discovery. The campaign features a web of branching paths. Depending on how you perform during a mission—like completing specific hidden objectives, keeping your squad mates alive, or finding secret exits—the game will dynamically shift your flight path to entirely different planets.
Because of this system, a single playthrough only lets you experience a small fraction of the total content. To see every level, fight every unique boss, and uncover the full narrative, you are expected to fly through the campaign multiple times. It turns the short length into a massive strength, transforming each run into a fast-paced attempt to beat your previous high score and discover a route you’ve never taken before.
Bosses at the end of each mission were trial and error in a fun and engaging way. If you see something glowing pop up, shoot it and see if it does damage. They were quite engaging.
To add even more meat to that loop, there is a massive new Challenge Mode featuring nearly 200 optional, bite-sized tactical missions scattered across those branching paths. It gives veteran players a brutal, expert-level test of skill that will keep you coming back long after the credits roll.
My Small Gripes
No game is perfect, and even with how much I loved this experience, I had a few personal critiques… I wanted a true sequel! My biggest personal gripe is a conceptual one. As much as I love this game, I really would have preferred a true sequel or a brand-new storyline. Re-treading the same narrative ground yet again feels a bit safe, and I left the game wishing Nintendo had taken a risk on an entirely fresh adventure for Fox and the crew. Don’t get me wrong, this being a remake of the N64 original is great, but something new would be just as exciting.
Because it follows the classic blueprint so closely, if you’ve memorized the older games over the years, you won’t find a ton of genuine gameplay surprises. Even the enemy layouts can feel a bit too familiar.
Lastly, sometimes, the screen can become a bit busy at times, which leads to a couple of cheap hits to the player. It’s nothing major, but it gets very hectic, very fast.
All being said, they are small gripes and, keeping in mind, it really depends on how you view things. For example, it was a smart move to introduce an entirely new audience to Star Fox in the Super Mario Galaxy Movie, because so many young nerds would be watching it and wondering who it was. It’s the same with remaking the first game; so many people would be experiencing this for the first time, so remaking the game makes sense. And now that we potentially have a group of new fans, later down the track, new stories and sequels can be made.
The Final Verdict
Whether you have been doing barrel rolls since the 90s or you’re stepping into the cockpit for the very first time, this game is a triumph. Nintendo has honored the roots of the franchise while pushing the Switch 2 hardware to its absolute limits.
Fox McCloud is back, and the Lylat System has never been more worth saving.
