I’m glad the new Star Fox on Nintendo Switch 2 is just another remake

When Nintendo first announced Velan Studios’ Star Fox for Switch 2, the reactions I saw were immediately split between excitement over Fox’s return and intense disappointment that it was just another version of Star Fox 64. It colored reviews — even the critics favorable to the game wanted more out of it — and the Reddit consensus was largely the same. I get it. It’s tiresome seeing what looks like nostalgia traps instead of creativity. But Star Fox 64 is nearly 30 years old, and Fox McCloud hardly has the cultural presence of his Nintendo peers like Mario and Link. Rebooting the series with one of its most popular entries is a smart way to give it new life with people who’d otherwise never give it a second thought. It certainly worked with me.

I skipped the Nintendo 64, though not entirely by choice. PlayStation was more expensive, and to my mother’s parents in the Wars of Affection raging over my head, buying it proved they were the better grandparents. To me, it proved I liked platformers, bright colors, Spyro the Dragon, and Crash Bandicoot. So when the time came for my input about a new console, the GameCube was, unsurprisingly, my choice. Star Fox Adventures introduced me to Nintendo’s furry mercenary, and while I was disappointed that Star Fox Assault changed gameplay styles completely, I still enjoyed it. Star Fox Command for the DS was a poor prospect, when I could spend the same amount on something like Advance Wars: Dual Strike and get more out of it. I’ve never owned a Wii U and didn’t get a 3DS until 2018, though I bought that for Dragon Quest remakes — not rail shooters.

Image: Velan Studios/Nintendo via Polygon

In other words, I made it through more than 30 years of life without playing Star Fox 64 or its predecessor. Sure, I could’ve dipped into one of the Virtual Console versions of it. But I don’t like ugly things, and it sure ain’t pretty by today’s standards.

Velan’s vision of Star Fox 64 is the only way I’d consider playing it now, complete with its visual overhaul and generally better production values. The sound direction is exceptional, for one thing. And Star Fox‘s cutscenes are slick and natural feeling, continuing Nintendo’s trend from the last year of dramatically improving its games’ cinematic sensibilities.

I’m glad I did give it a try. Stages are challenging enough without feeling taxing on normal mode, and their brevity makes it easy to slip in for a few flights without having to block out a chunk of your day. Games that don’t greedily demand much of my time always end up getting more of it, so while I’m rarely a completionist, I find I’m eagerly diving back into Star Fox a bit each day in a bid to clear every route. Eventually, I’ll do it again on expert mode. It might be a two-hour game, but it’s one I’ll be playing for the rest of the year.

I’m also quite fond of the new prologue and cutscenes. It’s completely understandable why they might seem like unnecessary fluff if the original game is enough for you. But as someone wholly unfamiliar, it seems like small, but important little ways to make me care about the cast and get an idea of their place in this world. The overall presentation would feel abrupt and lacking without them.

Image: Velan Studios/Nintendo via Polygon

Maybe it’s all a shameless way to get people interested in a potential Star Fox movie or TV series, though it feels more like Nintendo prepping for a new era. Star Fox creators were on record years ago saying they hoped Star Fox Command was the natural endpoint for the series’ story. There’s only so many times you can blame an evil monkey for what goes wrong, after all. So these extra scenes and the emphasis on characterization seem more like creating a starting point for expanding that story sideways, rather than taking it forward.

That, plus there’s a whole lore section now with paragraphs of backstory for each planet, about twice as much text as is in the wiki entries with more depth and variety, too. If the Mario movies are anything to go by, Nintendo keeps its games and entertainment segments separate. Nods and Easter eggs aside, there’s no attempt at interconnected storytelling — thank god — so I’m more inclined to assume this is setup for new games.

And if it is, the Star Fox remake guaranteed I’ll be there. Mission accomplished, Nintendo.

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