Star Fox – Review

This is the fox you’re looking for!

I'd love to see more games like Star Fox: short enough that anyone can finish the story, yet packed with challenges and hidden levels that make successive playthroughs a genuine pleasure. I say this after finishing Fox McCloud's adventure three times: once as a complete novice, unfamiliar with the control scheme and the series' universe; a second time to see the good ending; and a third to unlock every level. If I find a few hours to spare later on, I'll run through Star Fox another two or three times to earn every medal and to try the highest difficulty. Or maybe just to play the entire adventure using the Joy-Con as a mouse, and nothing else!

You see what I mean? Star Fox is a two-hour game you can easily stretch to twenty. Precisely because it offers enough content that there's always something new to try on a future campaign. After every mission, the map forks. The only certainties, then, are the opening level (the planet Corneria) and the finale (Venom). Sixteen scenarios waiting to be discovered, in an adventure that can include only seven of them per run. Some unfold in space, among asteroids and in transit to other planets. Others take you across planetary surfaces, with water, mountains and spectacular scenery. But there are also dives into the ocean, sorties across the surface of a molten star, and stints on rocky ground in a land vehicle. A true space odyssey, mixing frantic action from the cockpit of flying machines with picturesque backdrops.

And it really is worth spending a week or two with Star Fox, because there's a lot to discover. Every new path unlocks new dialogue, more information about the game's universe and, in the end, helps fill out the portrait of each character. The more skilled you become at handling the Arwing, the more rewards you receive. No microtransactions, no daily loot boxes, no experience bar that rewards mere participation, and no meaningless trophies. Want to unlock something extra? Star Fox rewards only real skill and the merit of actually completing objectives. Your credit card can stay quietly in your wallet: you've already paid €50 for the game. From here on, you have to hone your piloting.

Sounds old-school, doesn't it? That's because Star Fox is a modernisation of a game released in 1997 for the Nintendo 64. A bold move from the team in red, which is in the middle of a campaign to bring back characters who had slipped into the second tier. First we saw Donkey Kong return as the lead in a 3D adventure. Now we get a fresh coat of paint over the hood of Fox McCloud's ship. What's next, Kid Icarus? F-Zero? Punch-Out!! and Excitebike?!

The Fox of the Stars

Fox McCloud is the fox hero you control throughout the campaign. His personality reflects the leader archetype: he makes decisions that put the team's good first, he isn't afraid of danger, and he helps every teammate in a tight spot. He also happens to be the son of James McCloud, an exemplary pilot who was betrayed and then vanished during a reconnaissance mission on the planet Venom. And so, at the tender age of 18, Fox becomes the leader of the Star Fox team: a quartet that also includes Peppy Hare (a middle-aged rabbit who was previously a comrade in arms to the late James), Falco Lombardi (a blue-feathered bird with remarkable piloting skills, but an individualistic, competitive personality) and Slippy Toad (a frog who was Fox's academy classmate and shows incredible engineering talent… but often has trouble flying the aircraft).

In other words, in this Nintendo-invented space universe, Fox McCloud is a kind of Luke Skywalker, Peppy Hare stands in for Obi-Wan Kenobi, Falco Lombardi behaves like Han Solo, and Slippy Toad is a classmate from a hypothetical Jedi Academy. How Campbellian!

It would have been interesting if it had turned out that father James McCloud had in fact transformed into Andross (the leader of an evil empire, in full expansion)… or become its chief military commander, like Darth Vader. But the game gives us only an amusing coincidence: the English voices of the two characters are performed by the same actor. The ending is much simpler than George Lucas's recipe, with the emphasis placed entirely on the gameplay and the various choices you make along the way.

So the Star Fox team is contracted by General Pepper to put a stop to the galactic invasion launched by Andross: the big ape who lured James McCloud, Fox's father, into a trap. For Fox McCloud, it's a chance to kill two chimps with one laser bolt. On the one hand, his team gets to collect a fat cheque from the general. On the other, Fox has the opportunity to take revenge on those who betrayed his father and brought about his end. Even if he dislikes being compared to James McCloud, the young fox has feelings he keeps hidden from the others.

Along the way, unexpected help also arrives from pilots such as Bill Grey (a bulldog who was an academy classmate of Fox and Slippy Toad) and Katt Monroe (a little cat who has a soft spot for Falco Lombardi). But their involvement amounts to a few scenes on certain planets. They never officially join the Star Fox team.

The Star Wolf quartet also deserves a mention, led by Wolf O'Donnell (a wolf, obviously). Probably a smart reference to the tale of "The Wolf and the Fox," collected from German folklore by the Brothers Grimm. This group also includes the lizard Leon Powalski, the monkey Andrew Oikonny and the traitorous pig Pigma Dengar (who sold James McCloud to Andross's army, luring him into an ambush). These rivals can be confronted and shot down in two of the sixteen levels. But the battle with them is always memorable precisely because of the acidic exchange of lines and certain rivalry pairings (Fox–Wolf, Falco–Leon, Peppy–Pigma, Slippy–Andrew). If you like, it's a duel between Jedi and Sith knights… or X-Wings vs. TIE Fighters.

A New Hope

Nintendo has tried to revitalize the Star Fox series before. But almost every time, the result was disappointing. Somehow, the Nintendo 64 game has remained the high-water mark: it perfects the recipe of the original on the SNES, delivers frantic action at 60 FPS, and strikes a satisfying balance between gameplay and story.

Those are certainly the reasons the Kyoto company decided to modernize Star Fox 64 for the Switch 2. But there's also something to be said about pragmatism: given that Star Fox never rose to the level of Mario or Zelda in sales, a large investment in an experience for which demand is tiny becomes hard to justify.

But in 2026, the situation looks a little different: Nintendo is the sales leader in the console market and has blockbusters in cinemas (the most recent of them, Super Mario Galaxy, even introduces Fox McCloud into the cinematic universe). Star Fox also sits at the intersection of nostalgia and a new generation of players waiting to discover ship-to-ship combat. And the team in red has a slightly bigger appetite for risk, trying to resuscitate series that had become footnotes in the company's history. Or perhaps Nintendo is the last company in the industry that can still afford to plan for the long term.

If the Switch generation began with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, the same stretch of time in the life of its successor, the Switch 2, gives us Donkey Kong Bananza, Metroid Prime 4 and Star Fox. An interesting bet that is surely preparing us for grander moments in the years ahead.

Will this be the beginning of a beautiful friendship with the universe that has Fox McCloud as its protagonist? Given this remake's open ending, in which the Star Fox team bolts from a medal ceremony to take up new lucrative opportunities, I tend to think something truly special is being prepared for us. Perhaps this restaging of a 1997 adventure is only a test for the market. A calculated risk Nintendo can afford. Perhaps, if sales exceed expectations, we'll get an entirely new experience in the world of ships piloted by anthropomorphic animals. After all, the graphics engine and the gameplay system have already been built. In an ideal world, they would be used to create genuinely new content. So I can only hope the Switch 2 generation will give us a few more new missions alongside Fox.

All I can tell you with a high degree of certainty is that Star Fox, in its 2026 form, is an almost perfect game for what it offers. I give it an 8 only because I would have liked to see a little more effort in adapting the original from three decades ago. Perhaps extra levels, perhaps larger maps, perhaps a few twists that surprise veterans of the N64 era. Still, I appreciate the effort of repainting an aging bodywork that remains aerodynamic, with spectacular lines. The equivalent of a Honda S2000: far more capable than you'd think at first glance. I'm also glad of the trophy system (awarded only for achievements, not for participation) and of the multiplayer mode. At last, you can test your piloting against other players from all over the world!

And a word or two about local co-op, which lets one player steer the ship while the second holds down the trigger. The experience is interesting, somewhat similar to the one in Donkey Kong Bananza, where Pauline could become more involved in the action by adding a second controller. But for the sake of efficiency, it's preferable for the same person to handle both jobs. And this little trick, at best, will persuade a sceptic in the family or among close friends to discover the Star Fox universe.

I'm also glad the Joy-Con controllers' mouse function is used to add depth to the piloting. But if in games like Cypherpunk 2077 it's a godsend, here we're talking about a significant increase in difficulty, precisely because of the first-person perspective. Those who really want to live the pilot experience will appreciate the addition. The rest of us will look for the shortest path to the final battle with Andross.

Is Star Fox worth the €50? It certainly is. It's an old-school game that has aged so well newcomers won't even notice how old the original is. It offers a path to the end of the story for every skill level, rewards perseverance, and constantly throws new challenges at those who aim for perfection. If the restaging of the legendary The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is just as good, then Nintendo will have a truly special 2026!

Thanks to CD Media S.E. for the review code!

See you in the Next Level!