Fox McCloud and friends will return in a new video game, Star Fox for Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo announced Wednesday during a surprise Nintendo Direct showcase for the title. It will be the first new Star Fox release since 2016’s Star Fox Zero and Star Fox Guard for Wii U, not counting the long-delayed release of Star Fox 2 in 2017.
The new Star Fox was introduced by Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto and Yoshiaki Koizumi, who described the game as based on Star Fox 64, which was originally released on Nintendo 64. The new Star Fox will give the N64 original a massive graphical overhaul, but many of the routes and gameplay elements appear to be close to the 1997 rail shooter. The game’s familiar characters — Fox McCloud, Peppy Hare, Slippy Toad, and Falco Lombardi — look more realistic and more animal-like than ever, and new cutscenes have been added, but otherwise the game appears to hew closely to Star Fox 64 in its design.
But in terms of new features, Star Fox for Switch 2 will include online multiplayer, with 4v4 dogfights in a new Battle Mode. Up to four players can play locally with GameShare, or online using GameShare via GameChat. Star Fox will also feature cooperative play, letting one player control an Arwing spaceship (or other vehicles) while the other acts as a gunner using Joy-Con 2 mouse controls to aim and shoot.
Nintendo’s new Star Fox will be released on June 25, exclusively for Switch 2. Nintendo did not announce pricing or pre-orders for its new Star Fox.
