Fox McCloud Is a Cold Mercenary Now in Star Fox Remake

Remember Fox McCloud? The chipper, can-do leader who'd tell General Pepper "I won't let you down, sir" before blasting off to save the Lylat System? According to first hands-on previews of the Star Fox remake for Switch 2, that Fox is gone. In his place is a cold, Han Solo-style mercenary who openly goads the general and, even when told an invasion is underway, cares more about negotiating his fee.

As VGC's Andy Robinson described it, the mercenary status of the Star Fox team, something only implied in the N64 original, is now front and centre. Fox has essentially absorbed Falco's cynicism, while Falco himself has been pushed further into outright hostility toward his squad leader, frequently questioning Fox's authority rather than just dropping the occasional wisecrack. The result is a Star Fox crew that feels different to interact with, even when the missions themselves are near-identical recreations of the 1997 originals.

I think this is an interesting creative swing. Star Fox 64's characters were lovable but paper-thin, carried almost entirely by meme-worthy voice lines and the charm of early 3D. Giving Fox actual edge and making the team's mercenary identity a real narrative thread could add weight to a game that's otherwise a very faithful retread. But I also understand why some fans will feel like their childhood hero just got a personality transplant they didn't ask for.

The Remake That Looks New, Plays Old

Outside the tonal shift, the preview consensus is remarkably unified: this is Star Fox 64 rebuilt with extraordinary visual fidelity, and the gameplay barely deviates from the original blueprint. Multiple outlets noted that stages are near one-to-one recreations, with Corneria's foggy N64 backdrop replaced by a detailed, sweeping vista, and the asteroid field now rendered with a depth that makes the original look like, as VGC put it, "an asteroid front garden."

Nintendo has also replaced the original's static mission briefings with fully animated cutscenes between levels. Game Informer's preview praised these for making the story feel more organic, but VGC was less convinced, noting that the new cinematics can interrupt the snappy arcade pacing that made the original so replayable. It's a tension that runs through the entire remake: how much cinematic ambition can you layer onto a game designed to be beaten in under an hour before you change what it is?

New modes round out the package. There's a 4v4 online Battle Mode, a co-op Pilot and Gunner mode that splits flight and shooting between two players, and a Challenge Mode with fresh objectives for cleared campaign stages. Nintendo has also added mouse-controlled targeting via the Joy-Con 2, and a somewhat bizarre AR filter that maps your facial expressions onto Star Fox characters during GameChat. The multiplayer previews were more mixed, with the cargo retrieval mode drawing lukewarm reactions from some outlets.

One detail that might irk veteran players: some of Star Fox 64's more cryptic secrets are now spelled out explicitly. IGN's Logan Plant pointed out that the hidden route on Corneria, which originally required players to discover on their own that flying under a set of archways would impress Falco, is now directly telegraphed through dialogue. Falco literally tells you the archways look like a good obstacle course. It's a small change, but it chips away at the discovery that made those secrets feel special in the first place.

There's also a quieter question hovering over the whole project that TechRadar's preview raised bluntly: with this release, almost half of the Star Fox series' nine mainline games will be some version of Star Fox 64. I love Star Fox 64 as much as anyone who grew up with it, but at some point, remaking the same game with better fur rendering stops being a celebration and starts being an admission that Nintendo doesn't know what else to do with the franchise.

Still, what's here looks exceptional on a technical level. Multiple previews called it one of the best-looking Nintendo games ever made, and Polygon described it as potentially "the best version of a beloved game yet." Star Fox launches exclusively on Switch 2 on June 25, and Nintendo has added 10 tracks from the game to Nintendo Music, now available across tablets, computers, and car systems via Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.