REVIEW - Starfox is a tasteful homage to one of the greats
No dinkin’ around here.
By Jonathan Garrett
27/07/26
Reviewed on Switch 2.
Reviewed using purchased retail copy.
Starfox is a long over due return to form for a franchise that has always felt like a secondary priority. Although there have been a few installments over the years, the gaps between them have often been extensive. One wonders why it’s something that Nintendo has sat on given the reverence and nostalgia typically directed towards this rag tag group. Thankfully, Velan Studios have dusted off arguably the best version (Lylat Wars on the N64) and brought it to a modern audience.
Right from that opening shot of Corneria, it’s clear that Velan Studios have fully understood the visual identity of Lylat Wars. Environments, the Arwing, and yes even those reimagined character models (which look a lot better in motion than screenshots), have been crafted with reverence and respect. It runs like a dream, and is probably one of the sharpest looking and performing games on Switch 2 to date.
The music is as iconic as you remember, and hearing the soundtrack arranged with a full orchestra is very satisfying. You’ll be pleased to hear that there is also a suitably grating vocal performance from Slippy that will make you feel right at home, and all round the voice acting is great. Some of the default laser sound effects, and in particular the bombs, feel like they lack the weight of their original iterations, but that’s a small nitpick in a tightly produced package that is clearly determined to honour what came before.
The difference between the default control scheme in the demo versus the full release is significant, with several common sense adjustments to flight controls that bring the game more into line with the original configuration. The opening tutorial is perhaps a tad long winded, but that’s a symptom of needing to reintroduce the series to new players. Thankfully, the escalation in difficulty depending on your chosen route through the campaign is preserved, and will provide a sufficient challenge.
The addition of additional narrative beats and debriefing cutscenes between missions add to a remake determined to expand on what was great without overreaching. You’ll feel the same frustration with the lava waves, eye roll at Falco’s lack of gratitude, and quote memorable lines. There is a bigger question here about Nintendo’s handling of the IP in a broader sense, because if this remake has proven anything, there’s clearly viability and a hunger for more.
Fair play to Velan Studios for going all in on these bonkers but jolly designs.
WORTH IT?
At the bottom of every game review, we ask the question: Worth it? And the answer is either “Yeah!” or “Nah”, followed by a comment that sums up how we feel. In order to provide more information, we also have “And” or “But”, which follows up our rating with further clarification, additional context for a game we love, or perhaps a redeeming quality for a game we didn’t like.
YEAH!
Starfox is a polished and faithful remake of one of the greatest games of the N64 era.
BUT
There’s a couple of teething issues. An overlong tutorial and lack of punch to some of the sound design.
4/5 - GREAT
TARPS?
At the bottom of some of our articles, you’ll see a series of absurd looking images (with equally stupid, in joke laden names). These are the TARP badges, which represent our ‘Totally Accurate Rating Platform’. They allow us to identify specific things, recognise positive or negative aspects of a games design, and generally indulge our consistent silliness with some visual tomfoolery.
