Fox Is Back: Why the ‘Star Fox’ Remake is the Ultimate Switch 2 Tech Showcase

The rumored new generation of Nintendo is here, and it has brought with it a lot of good old times. Along with the highly anticipated Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo and developer Velan Studios have officially unveiled their stunningly redesigned version of the iconic 1997 title, Star Fox (2026). This project costs $49.99, which makes it more than just an upscale or lazy port. It's a visual tour de force that's designed to showcase the muscles of Nintendo's all new hardware showing that the rail shooter genre still has got a long way to go.

The Tech: Flexing the Switch 2’s Muscles

Built by Velan Studios, which has previously produced Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, this version of Star Fox brings arguably one of the most beautiful NDS games available, with its use of the studio's own VIPER engine. Technical analysis shows a locked, perfect 60 FPS running at high crispness at 1080p in docked mode.

It's quite an improvement over the 1997 version! This once wild city, Corneria, is now a heavy, bustling war zone with all sorts of realistic smoke, debris and volumetric fire effects. On the icy planet Fichina, snowflakes are able to be seen, even while they are truly melting into water droplets. The game also has rich Physically Based Rendering, adding a true to life feel to the metallic hulls of the Arwings and Landmasters under a new and powerful lighting system that takes full advantage of HDR displays.

A Cinematic Take on an Iconic Story

The game's narrative presentation has been drastically changed by development house Velan Studios, which is very loyal to the beat for beat level design of the original N64 title. The new character models have a unique look, and are very close to the original SNES animated promotional figures of the 90s, as they are a literal homage of the actual SNES characters. This now brings a high fidelity tactile look to Fox, Falco, Slippy and Peppy, directly striking old school fans in the childhood.

There are also more cutscenes in the presentation. Fully voiced, reactive real time cinematics now run between missions to add to the lore of the Lylat System and flesh out the characters of the squad, including more in depth exploration of Falco's character evolution from haughty wingman to respected teammate. There's also a brand new opening prologue sequence that depicts the very moment that Pigma Dengar betrays former Star Fox commander James McCloud at Sector Y. The developers have even added a brand new built in logbook and bestiary, the Holoviewer, which adds even more depth to the histories of the planets, factions and the Venom Incident.

Gameplay: Old School Meets Next Gen Controls

The classic branching path camp model is completely preserved under the hood. Players begin at Corneria and have to find secret missions right in their line of sight to unlock alternate routes filled with more difficulty through the Lylat System. For today's players, Velan has added a new tactical map, which details the performance parameters and hit count needed to complete the game's elusive hard path stages.

The remake will also be a direct showcase of the features that the Switch 2 has to offer. When a player lays a Joy Con down, it automatically activates the new Joy Con 2 Mouse Mode, a new target control mechanism that enables the player to seamlessly switch to a high precision mouse control mode for shooting at enemies, while enjoying an immersive, first person cockpit view. This configuration allows for “asymmetric co op” (two players playing the campaign on the same console, one with the console's controls as the main pilot, and one with the pointer controls as the dedicated gunner). The upgraded HD Rumble 2 haptics delivers an incredible spatial accuracy for every laser blast, close call debris brush and g diffuser engine burst.

Revamped Multiplayer and Challenge Modes

After players have memorized everything about all of the alternate routes in the short campaign, the remake features a well developed Challenge Mode. This mode involves the pilot completing a set of preprogrammed goals on a previous stage with a number of modifiers, such as enemy difficulty being set to "Unfair" or the Arwing speed being raised to "Fast.

The classic N64 multiplayer split screen has been replaced with a fully fleshed out 8 player online matchmaking mode. There are 3 gigantic maps and players are split into Team Star Fox and Team Star Wolf, with star fox getting drops of items such as space mines and EMP rockets to make the dogfights very frantic, similar to a racing game. Additionally, the game utilizes the Switch 2's new integrated GameChat video mode, enabling users to turn into real time video calls during play and utilize live AR filters to turn their faces into Fox's ears, Wolf's eyepatch or Falco's beak.

Official critics have gotten in on the action and the results are a fantastic 81 Metacritic average. Its arcade like shortness and old school camera set up may feel a little bit dated to newer players, but it's hard to miss the message in all of the reviews: Star Fox on the Switch 2 is the perfect homage to an absolute masterpiece, and Fox McCloud is prepared for a new generation.