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Star Fox is still Star Fox, but it also has augmented reality Slippy tongue physics
You heard me.
Nintendo
- Alex Raisbeck
Published: Tuesday, 2 June 2026 at 3:00 pm
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After his star-studded cameo in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Fox McCloud is back in a brand-new Star Fox game.
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And by brand-new Star Fox game, I of course mean remake of Star Wars 64 for the 3DS, which was itself a remake of Star Fox 64 – Lylat Wars for us cool kids in PAL regions.
That's right, it's remake squared, baby, and I've had a couple of hours to try it out for myself.
Long story short, if you're a Star Fox veteran, you pretty much already know what to expect. It's Star Fox!
But while the foundations of Fox and the gang flying through levels blasting everything to high heaven are very much the same, although gameplay does feel a damn sight smoother, that doesn't mean there's nothing new at all.
The immediately apparent change is on the graphical front, with Fox et al sporting a new, slightly more realistic look.
Look at how they massacred my boy. Nintendo
And while, like you, I was also initially put off immensely by these rather uncanny, grotesque caricatures of your once handsome friends, you do actually get used to it after a while.
The rest of the game looks phenomenal, though. Playing through it, I felt as if this must be the platonic form of Star Fox that Shigeru Miyamoto first conceived more than three decades ago.
The game also adds some new cutscenes and voice acting as well, giving even veteran fans something to look forward to.
Nintendo appears to have finally recognised that Falco rocks and everyone loves him, because he seemed to play more of a role in these cut scenes, giving him more opportunities to be the edgy foil we all want to see.
Going back to the gameplay side of things, like I said previously, the core conceit of Star Fox is largely the same.
While the location of the buttons has naturally changed significantly since the N64 days, what they actually do has not, and if you transported someone from 1997 to the present, I have no doubt that they would take to Star Fox like a duck to water.
One new addition is that it is the latest game to make use of the Nintendo Switch 2's mouse controls, giving you the ability to aim your crosshair more precisely than with an analogue stick.
While this was a nice idea in theory, in practice it saw me in cockpit mode, controlling both my ship's flying and my crosshair with the same movements.
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As well as being incredibly jarring to use, it also immediately made me feel quite motion sick, and after about 30 seconds of trying, I and seemingly everyone else around me thought we were better off with the normal controls.
Thankfully, the mouse controls are fantastic when it comes to local co-op.
One player can fly the ship using one Joy-Con, while the other aims with mouse controls.
While this might sound like it would trivialise things, the fact that your aim can be dragged across the screen by your partner's flying adds a bit of chaos into the mix, and made things a lot more interesting and quite stressful.
It elicited the same reaction as playing something like Overcooked; you're both working together to achieve the same goal, but constantly getting in each other's way to do it. It's frustrating, but in a fun way.
The battle mode of the 3DS is back too, and we were chucked into a couple of 4v4 matches. These are chaotic, and probably the most fun I had with the demo.
Similar to Air Ride in Kirby Air Riders, it's the kind of mode that is going to be a blast if you can fill an entire lobby, but in smaller numbers, I'm not sure how much fun it's going to be if there are only two or three of you.
The most bizarre aspect of the game is Star Fox's use of the Switch 2 Camera. In multiplayer, you can chuck the camera on to show a live feed of yourself to other players in the lobby, the marketed use for it that neither I nor any of my friends have ever engaged with.
Now you can live out your dreams of becoming Slippy. Nintendo
Star Fox takes things to the next level, however, letting you turn on bizarre VTuber-esque skins that take your place. When I talk, Slippy opens his mouth. When I stick my tongue out, Slippy sticks his tongue out.
It's kind of gross but in the best way, and while I don't imagine people will be going out any buying the Switch 2 Camera just for this, it's classically freaky Nintendo behaviour, and I'm all for it.
You can even forego the VTuber schtick and opt for augmented reality accessories like Wolf's eyepatch, Fox's ears or Falco's beak – which incidentally also moves when you speak.
But that's about the long and short of Star Fox. One might say that there's nothing new under the sun, but that seems rather harsh.
For kiddos who have recently been introduced to Fox via the Mario Galaxy Movie, this is an entirely fresh and modern experience.
And I can't imagine veterans who have been waiting 15 years for another Star Fox game are going to care too much that Nintendo has chosen not to mess around too much with the formula of perhaps the definitive rail shooter.
As for me, I'm looking forward to getting back in the cockpit to be ragebaited by Falco over and over again, as our Lord and saviour Shigeru Miyamoto intended.
Star Fox releases on 25 June 2026 for Nintendo Switch 2.
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Authors
Alex RaisbeckGaming writer
Alex Raisbeck is a Gaming Writer at Radio Times, covering everything from AAA giants to indie gems. Alex has written for VideoGamer, GamesRadar+, PC Gamer, PCGamesN and more.
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