The Switch 2 remake of Star Fox 64 is loud, beautiful and very safe. Developed by Velan Studios and published by Nintendo, it came out June 25, 2026 according to Game Informer's review details. Nobody's calling it a failure. Critics agree Velan has made the best version of Star Fox 64, and then keep asking the same awkward question: what does it mean when the best thing to happen to Star Fox in years is another return to 1997?
People remember Star Fox with their thumbs: the routes through Corneria, the feel of the Arwing, the medal chase, the lines still lodged in the back of the brain. A remake can polish that memory, but it also sits next to how cautious Nintendo has been with the series for a long time.
Star Fox review scores
- Nintendo Life9/10
- Game Informer8.25/10
- IGN8/10
- Eurogamer4/5
The reviews agree on several points. The visual overhaul matters more than expected. New cinematics give life to a cast that always had more implied personality than screen time. The campaign is short but replayable, since Star Fox 64 was built around finding routes and chasing scores. New challenge modes give veterans something cleaner to chew on. Multiplayer is the least settled part: charming to some, a side dish to others. The remake works; the argument is whether that's enough.
IGN: the Arwing still flies
IGN calls it "the best 20 or so hours of Star Fox" the reviewer has played, a big claim for a series this wrapped in nostalgia. Movement is sharp, aiming feels right, and the old structure has more depth than it first appears.
A full run of Star Fox 64 can be done in an evening, but it was never about seeing the credits. It's about learning which route opens when you do some odd thing right, then improving until a familiar stage becomes a scoring exercise. IGN gets that: finishing a level is where the challenge starts.
It praises the cinematics for giving the crew more texture and making the campaign feel less like a museum piece. Challenge mode gets approval, though IGN wishes it went further. That's a recurring note: the additions are good, but the safest kind of good. A boss rush, missions for other characters or stranger scenarios could have turned a careful revival into a reinvention. IGN still ends saying Nintendo has proved "the Arwing isn't out of style quite yet."
Eurogamer: great craft, cautious design
Eurogamer opens sceptical about Nintendo playing it safe, then admits the remake makes its case: "hooray for advanced graphics." Velan treats the on-rails shooter as spectacle. With the camera under control, it can fill scenes with motion, scale and theatrical timing, making familiar stages exciting again without breaking the design.
It doesn't let the nostalgia off easily, calling Star Fox "conservative but accomplished" and a "triumph of nostalgia over innovation." The remake succeeds because it knows exactly what to keep, and it reminds you how little Nintendo has risked with Fox McCloud lately. Eurogamer finds multiplayer adequate but unlikely to hold attention. The campaign and challenges earn the praise. It's a brilliant restoration with a few modern rooms added.
Game Informer: joyful, with a ceiling
Game Informer clearly enjoys it. It calls Star Fox 64 the series' crowning achievement and the remake a "joyful, updated reminder" of why the 1997 game worked. It praises the visuals, Arwing handling and new music, plus the added lore and route-dependent cutscenes. Star Fox has always hinted at a bigger world than it showed, and a bit more texture around the team, enemies and planets goes a long way.
Its reservation is blunt: another Star Fox 64 remake isn't what the reviewer wants from the series. The remake expands as far as it can within the original's boundaries and still feels held back by them. That's a complaint about ambition, not execution. An 8.25 is a good score, but the wording suggests a ceiling.
Nintendo Life: the warmest on the whole package
Nintendo Life's 9/10 comes from the feeling that Star Fox on Switch 2 is "little more than 64 all over again, but man, it has never been better." That's praise and disclaimer at once. Flying, rolling through routes, chasing medals and coming back for harder challenges all survive the move with real energy. Nintendo Life also liked the online modes more than Eurogamer, calling them surprisingly fun.
It calls the game a "sublime remaster" and says being Star Fox 64 again is both its best and worst feature. For new players it can't imagine a better introduction; for people who know every turn, it's the best replay rather than a surprise. If you want Star Fox 64 sharper, prettier and more generous, this is it. If you wanted Nintendo to solve the series' identity problem, it isn't.
What the reviews add up to
Star Fox is being reviewed as a strong remake, not a bold new chapter. Critics like the look, feel, music, route structure and reasons to replay. They're mixed on multiplayer and wary of how long Nintendo can keep revisiting old material before the series feels trapped by its best moment.
Star Fox is hard to evaluate. Its best game is short and its identity narrow. Fans want it back, but not as a bloated open-world game wearing the name. A faithful remake can feel like relief, and also like Nintendo stopping just where the harder work starts.
Velan has made Star Fox 64 sing on new hardware. The Arwing feels good, the old levels have snap, and the presentation makes the war against Andross bigger and brighter than memory. What's unsettled is what Nintendo takes from it. "People want Star Fox 64 again" would be the dull lesson. The better one is that people still want Star Fox when the flying is precise, the stages reward replay, and the team has more personality than radio chatter.
Should you play Star Fox on Switch 2?
If you own a Switch 2 and like arcade shooters, it's a safe pick, whether you want a crisp, replayable score-chaser or just an old favourite with the dust wiped off. Just don't expect it to answer what Star Fox should become next. Our pre-release preview roundup also covers the earlier Jeuxvideo dissent.
