Star Fox Hands-On Preview: A Cinematic Retelling

I walked out of my hour-and-a-half preview with Star Fox in disbelief at how excited I was to tell everyone about a remake of a game I’ve already played several times before.

This new take on the classic Star Fox 64 is not just a simple fresh coat of paint like the 3DS version. Instead, it’s shaping up to be a significantly expanded and surprisingly cinematic retelling of the Lylat Wars, thanks to an overhauled script that’s brought to life by some of the strongest voice acting and cutscene direction I’ve ever seen in a Nintendo game.

Star Fox punches up its story and characters while keeping the original’s level design and gameplay completely intact. But its stages certainly don’t feel old or out of place by comparison: its crisp graphics, snappy controls, and majestic orchestral soundtrack match the grand scope Nintendo appears to be aiming for.

All aspects of Star Fox’s modern presentation bring it closer to what this series has always felt like: Star Wars: A New Hope with animals. Sure, series creator Shigeru Miyamoto was inspired by several other science fiction series when developing the original, but Star Fox’s parallels with Star Wars have always been the most visible, and this blockbuster take evokes that comparison more than ever.

New cutscenes feature Fox, Falco, Peppy, and Slippy gathered around a hologram of General Pepper as they receive their next mission orders, reminiscent of the rebellion plotting their course to destroy the Death Star. Fluttering woodwinds decorate the soundscape as the camera pans down from the Great Fox to the planet that its ragtag band of pilots are heading to. Star Fox’s sci-fi world feels grimy like Star Wars does, too, and the new art style contributes to its lived-in feeling.

The cinematic take does far more for Star Fox than simply reminding me of a galaxy far, far away. I’m a firm believer that just because a video game is “more cinematic” doesn’t automatically make it better – it’s how a game leverages that decision that really counts. And in this case, the result so far is that Star Fox’s universe feels fleshed out and important, and I’m already more attached to this version of the crew than in any prior Star Fox game. This is a space opera, and the bigger focus on characters and worldbuilding adds meaningful weight to each mission I fought through.

The higher stakes start as early as the opening training mission, which has been significantly reworked. Instead of dryly learning the basics on his own, Fox is joined in a virtual reality combat simulation with his three companions, giving me a chance to learn their personalities at the same time as the controls. Slippy is as clumsy as ever, slamming into Fox’s Arwing by mistake, which Peppy made sure to chew him out for. Falco bragged about stealing a couple of Fox’s kills, which was the first of many signs to show that they’re leaning even harder into their rivalry. After learning all the ins and outs of my Arwing, Falco cranked up the simulation to the highest difficulty he could – literally past the point where it was covered by the crew’s warranty – and I was swarmed with bogeys until the whole thing crashed.

This was a charming spin on a tutorial, and it rolled straight into my first cutscene where the crew tore off their VR headsets and started chatting. I was immediately impressed by the voice acting and animation: there was a real believability to each of the characters, no doubt helped by lip synching that matches the English dialogue (a real rarity for Nintendo games) along with quality facial animations and eye movements. Unfortunately, the cutscenes do appear to run at a disappointing 30 fps compared to the perfectly smooth 60 fps during gameplay.

Next, we descended to Corneria, the recreated opening level from the original. The fantastic attention to detail remained on display as warnings like “Keep Limbs Clear” or “No Step” were visible near transforming, mechanical parts of the Arwing, while Falco had painted blue, feathered wings on the back of his.

The Arwing feels incredible to control. It smoothly glides around the screen during the on-rails segments, and the control stick reacts to minute adjustments like it’s really my flight stick. It also struck me how great it felt to play a home console Star Fox with traditional controls. The only other Star Fox in Nintendo’s HD era was chained to an unintuitive control scheme on Wii U. Returning to a standard control scheme brought on a sense of relief similar to swinging Link’s sword with a button press again after the era of waggle and touch screen experiments.

I revisited Star Fox 64 ahead of time to prepare, so I instantly fell into the rhythm of destroying enemies with my laser and bombs while trying to rack up as many hits as I could. The enemy placement and pacing of the stage appeared to be completely identical to the N64 and 3DS versions, but the level design absolutely holds up in 2026. Saving Slippy in the opening water area, flying through the canyon until the ruined city revealed itself, and blasting baddies out of the sky was still exciting, made even fresher by the gorgeous graphics and amazing music.

The best word I can use to describe Star Fox’s visuals is “crisp”: things like trees and the ground don’t have the most finely detailed textures you’ve ever seen, but when you’re boosting by them on w