One thing we haven’t been short on in 2026 is remakes, with many more still on the way.

But one comeback, above all, surprised me a little bit and that’s Starfox. Following the Super Mario Galaxy Movie billing, Nintendo have now brought back N64 classic Lylatwars in a full blown remake for Nintendo Switch 2. And it’s absolutely glorious.

Truly, this is about as good of a glow-up as I’ve seen for any game. Fox and his team are more expressive, they’re more comical, humorous, able to get their individual personalities across and with that connect with the audience all the more.

But it’s not just the characters, of course, the levels and environmens are absolutely brilliant, with each one offering something different from asteroid belts to ice planets, lava, space stations and overground terrain. But for those who grew up playing Lylat Wars, you’ll be pretty blown away by what Nintendo have achieved here.

This really shows what the Switch 2 can do and is right up the top of the list for best exclusives to date, in terms of the look, the feel, and options, and even additions like full multiplayer and challenge modes.

The way Nintendo have modernised Star Fox by giving the player options, adding much more replayability and even expanding the multiplayer component is truly impressive. This doesn’t feel so much a remake of Lylat Wars as a reiminaging for the series.

For one, there’s now mouse controls using the JoyCon 2 which is really responsive and just feels more native and natural for a flight simulator. This just immediately changes the way the game is played and works superbly well, giving you much more freedom of movement.

The two player campaign co-op is also a nice touch as one is essentially acting as a shooter while the other moves. This is a nice way to get you playing through a game together and allowing each player to focus on their strengths, if one is better at shooting or flying than the other. But equally, you can just dive in head to head in the game’s multiplayer in teams with bots or taking on a full 4v4.

This even takes GameShare into account, so not everyone has to have Star Fox, which is a really wonderful approach and just continues to be one of Nintendo Switch 2’s best features.

But battle mode itself is a blast, it’s simple with each level having unique conditions in Capture the Signals, evade the meteors, or collect the Space Pirate transport, but all missions are fun to play and do give some genuine heart in the mouth, tense moments that really bring out the best of the ship to ship battles.

And there’s even the Challenge Mode which lets you replay missions from the base game and complete a series of objectives from each of the missions, Normal or in Expert. It’s a great way to see more of levels and also to add even more longevity to the game.

Which is important as you can breeze through a Campaign playthrough of Star Fox in about an hour. With the eight missions, some faster than others, the game breezes past. Of course, if you played Lylat Wars, you’ll know you can take unique paths on the way through, and depending on what you do on a certain mission, can lead you onto another planet. But also routes you take and which crewmates get downed or what objectives you fulfil.

Save a base from being destroyed, this gives you a distinct advantage on the enemy. Lose out, and Star Fox will be licking their wounds and trying to play catchup.

It all starts and ends at the same place but across the 16 different planets, you’ll need to work out your preferred route and try to beat all missions in order to unlock them for challenges and more besides.

This is where Star Fox shines because it lets you play how you want. If you don’t care about being a completionist, play the missions you like, but in order to see all the cutscenes and everything the game has to offer, you’re going to need to do this across multiple playthroughs.

Some of the challenges are absolutely brutal and will take time to beat, but by the time you’re through, you’ll feel like a total pro at these levels, which I think Lylatwars fans are going to appreciate most of all. A way to master the levels they’ve already played a dozen times before.

But that is, of course, the main issue here. If you already love Star Fox, there’s a good chance you’ve played this in some guise before, which makes it a slightly trickier recomendation at the price point. To me, I feel there’s enough here to mix this up – let alone how incredible it looks. It’s a blueprint for how remakes should be done and certainly how Nintendo should approach them going forward, but the experience is largely replicated from the 97 original and that might make this a tougher sell for those who’ve played this to death.

The game does a brilliant job of leaning into the series’ arcade roots and it maintains what made this franchise so entertaining and fun to begin with. There are enough tweaks and additions and updates for this to be worth your time and part of me hopes Nintendo will continue to expand the online component as there feels like more potential for other maps and modes. Maybe even pilots.

But with this being yet another take of Lylat Wars, and with other Star Fox games in the series not getting quite the same love or attention or us not having anything new in ten years, this is a great game to whet our appetite for a future we hope is coming.

Maintain the stunning visual style, with the amazing cut scenes and storyltelling and the feel of the Arwing and Nintendo now have a solid template to go forward with Fox. Maybe splice in a bit of Starfox Adventures / Zero and take things on foot a bit, but the core of the game, in flight, is spectacular. Even if its a script we’ve become quite familiar with.

For me personally, I’m just loving trying to work through all the challenges. I’ve rarely felt the need to be a completionist in Nintendo games in recent years without direct achievements but there’s something about Star Fox that keeps me playing and keeps me wanting more!

Verdict

Star Fox is an absolute triumph of a remake from Nintendo and the blueprint for them to follow for everything that follows. Making Lylat Wars feel fresh all over again is a hard feat but between the stunning cinematic feel and remodeling of the characters, the storytelling, feeling of flight and controls, the expansive challenges and entertaining multiplayer, this feels like a great reintroduction to a franchise that’s long overdue some love. But after another take at Lylat Wars, we’re really definitely ready for something new!

Pros

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Star Fox is out now on Nintendo Switch 2

Code Kindly Provided by Nintendo for review purposes