Star Fox Switch 2 Remake Lands 81 on Metacritic and 8/10 at IGN Ahead of June 25 Launch

Nintendo's new Star Fox remake for Switch 2 dropped review embargoes this morning and the response is mostly warm. IGN handed it an 8 out of 10, Metacritic's open critic pool has settled on a Generally Favorable 81 from 73 reviews, and Eurogamer called Velan Studios' effort a conservative but accomplished remake as the publisher gears up for a June 25 release. The 2026 re-release, billed simply as Star Fox, is a soft reboot by another name, riding the Switch 2's horsepower to give Fox McCloud's 1997 N64 romp a full visual overhaul, and most critics agree the bones still hold up. Where they disagree is on whether a faithful remake was the right call in 2026, and whether anyone who already played the original needs to buy it again at full price.

What critics are saying

The full retail package costs $59.99 and ships exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2 tomorrow. Velan Studios, the developer founded by ex-Vicarious Visions alumni, took on the assignment of rebuilding Star Fox 64 in a brand new engine with cinematic cutscenes, redubbed voicework, and a Challenge mode the original N64 cartridge could never have supported. The campaign still splits into bite-sized missions with branching paths and medal-grinding objectives across a normal and an expert run, then layers on a multiplayer mode where Team Star Fox and Team Star Wolf can scrap it out across three maps using the Switch 2's mouse controls and the Game Chat face-mapping gimmick. Reviewers were quick to single out the upgraded soundtrack, the new pre-mission briefings that finally give the cast some personality, with Falco rolling his eyes at you on repeat, and the way classic stages like Corneria, Aquas, and Sector X actually feel like Corneria, Aquas, and Sector X with the lights on.

IGN's Jada Griffin called the package the best 20 or so hours of Star Fox ever played and praised the snappy movement, the limited but effective weapon arsenal, and the way Challenge mode stretches the campaign into roughly 10 hours of medal hunting. Eurogamer went with 80 and noted that the on-rails format is at its best when Velan leans into cinematic spectacle, including the Cornerian fleet finally looking like a real space armada and Sector X feeling genuinely enormous. The reviewer did warn that the script could do with some wit on a second pass and that the weaker levels, like Aquas, still feel slow even with the new coat of paint. GameSpot went the other way and dropped a 7 out of 10 review titled A New Beginning That Undermines Itself, arguing that bare-bones updates make the title hard to recommend for anyone who has already played Star Fox 64 in any of its previous forms.

How Star Fox got here

The announcement came out of nowhere in May 2026 during a stealth Nintendo Direct, which was itself preceded by a same-day Star Fox Direct and weeks of leaks from NateTheHate. Velan was already on Nintendo's good side for its porting work, so handing the studio the keys to one of the publisher's most beloved N64 franchises was a notable vote of confidence in a developer that had never built a Switch 2 game from scratch before. The new character models and the more realistic fur textures were a flashpoint when they were first revealed earlier in the year, but most critics came around once they saw them animated in motion. Where Star Fox 64 stood out for its tight on-rails shooting and its branching path system, the Switch 2 version leans heavily into the spectacle that the original could only hint at, and most critics walked away feeling like this is the version Shigeru Miyamoto's team was always trying to make, with the actual Kawano-era character designs getting a proper cinematic showcase.

The release also lands in a weird spot on the calendar. June 25 puts Star Fox two weeks ahead of its actual launch with a full retail window to itself, then immediately clears the runway for Take-Two and Rockstar's GTA 6 to dominate the rest of the summer and most of the fall. Either Nintendo moved the date up because they knew they were never going to out-market a $79.99 GTA, or the schedule was set back in 2025 and Take-Two is the one slotting around them. The Switch 2 finally has a major first-party single-player exclusive to anchor its launch window, and the calendar is about to get a lot louder.

Community reaction

The community reaction is split between genuine relief that Switch 2 finally has a real single-player launch exclusive and the usual grumbling that Nintendo keeps dusting off the same 1997 cartridge instead of making a new entry. The IGN review thread pulled in over 200 likes and a comment from one reader calling it the best 20 or so hours of Star Fox ever played, alongside sharper posts complaining that Nintendo gave fans a polished remake instead of a real new entry and that the Arwing deserves better than this treatment. The cynical read is that Nintendo is using a safe nostalgia play to anchor a launch window that desperately needs a system seller. The friendlier read is that this is the cleanest, prettiest way to play the best game in the franchise, and that remaking it properly is a way of telling the world the series still matters.

Pricing is the other flashpoint. $59.99 for a 1997 rail shooter with better graphics is going to spark arguments on every forum and YouTube comment section between now and launch day. Nintendo has not commented, and probably will not, and the 81 on Metacritic is just good enough to give the publisher plausible deniability when the inevitable Discount Days conversation starts in three months.

The CriticalPixel take

Star Fox for Switch 2 is exactly what it advertises itself to be, and that is both the most generous and the most damning thing you can say about it. Velan played this one straight, preserved the stage layouts, redid the cutscenes, added a real Challenge mode, and shipped a faithful remake that respects the source material. It looks incredible, the soundtrack is a clear upgrade, and the multiplayer is a legitimate bonus that Nintendo did not have to include. The 81 on Metacritic is about right, and the IGN 8 out of 10 is a fair score for a game that knows precisely what it wants to be. The problem is that we are now more than 25 years removed from Star Fox 64, and the most interesting design ideas in this package are the ones the Switch 2 hardware enables, not the ones Nintendo invented for it. The mouse-aim and Game Chat face-mapping is a cute gimmick, but the core campaign is the same seven missions, the same branching path system, and the same one-hour clear that anyone with a Nintendo 64 controller in 1997 already finished in a single Saturday. If you skipped the original, buy it, and this is the cleanest way to play it. If you grew up with Star Fox 64, the question is whether the new cinematics and Challenge mode are worth another 60 dollars, and the honest answer for most people is probably no.

What comes next

The June 25 launch lands right before a very crowded second half of 2026, and the rest of Nintendo's slate is going to be reading off this one. Splatoon Raiders is still on the calendar, a new Fire Emblem Shadows content update is rolling out, and the next big first-party title in line is the one Nintendo is least likely to show off in a Direct, which is a brand new Star Fox. This remake is a good time, and it is also a holding pattern, and anyone paying attention can see the difference.