A defense of the new remake — and what a remake is actually for.
Image: © Nintendo
One of the weirdest things about modern gaming discourse is how quickly people decide they hate something before they've even played it.
That's exactly what happened after the reveal of the new Star Fox remake.
The reaction online was immediate.
One person on X wrote:
Another wrote:
And another post went even harder:
And honestly… I don't really get it.
Because the more details that come out about this game, the more it feels like Nintendo actually understands why people loved Star Fox 64 in the first place.
Image: © Nintendo
They're adding backstory about what happened to James McCloud. They're fleshing out Team Fox and Team Wolf. They're building onto the mythology that was mostly implied in the original game because the Nintendo 64 simply didn't have the space or technology to go much deeper.
And honestly, that's exactly what a remake should do.
The best remakes don't replace the original. They deepen it.
That's why I keep going back to the comparison with Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4. Those games weren't praised simply because they looked prettier. People loved them because they modernized the experience while preserving the feeling of the originals. They respected the memory players had attached to them.
Nintendo also has a pretty clear history of re-releasing older games as a way to set up future entries in a franchise, and honestly, we've seen that strategy work recently. Two of the best examples are Metroid Prime Remastered and Donkey Kong Country Returns HD. Both games helped reintroduce their franchises to modern audiences right before Nintendo pushed forward with major new entries like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Donkey Kong Bananza.
That's part of why this Star Fox remake feels less like Nintendo running out of ideas and more like them rebuilding interest in a franchise they may finally want to invest in again.
But for some reason, Star Fox seems to be getting judged by a completely different standard.
Image: © Nintendo
This is a game I've played over and over again since 1997. I had it on my Nintendo 64 and absolutely ran it into the ground — trying to medal every level, unlock every hidden route, and chase the perfect run. It was one of those rare games you could beat in an hour and immediately want to start all over again. Every run felt a little different, and discovering new paths or finally pulling off a perfect mission made the game feel way bigger than it actually was.
I can still remember sitting way too close to a CRT television with the rumble pak plugged in, hearing "Good luck!" before Corneria started. At the time, the voice acting felt cinematic, the music felt epic, and the world somehow felt alive despite all the Nintendo 64 limitations. Star Fox 64 had this arcade energy that made you want to keep mastering it. You weren't just trying to beat the game — you were trying to get better at it.
And honestly, that's part of why I'm excited about this remake. Not because I think it'll replace the original — nothing will — but because I'd love for a new generation to experience even a fraction of what made Star Fox 64 feel special back then. The branching paths, the speed, the weird characters, and the feeling that there was always one more secret left to discover.
People are also criticizing the new character models, which immediately made me wonder if some of these people have actually looked at the original Star Fox box art or instruction manual lately. Star Fox has always had weird, exaggerated, puppet-like character designs. That strange aesthetic is part of its identity.
It's supposed to feel a little weird.
★ NOW — STAR FOX (2026, SWITCH 2) ★
Images: © Nintendo
The puppet-like quality of the originals didn't disappear. The new models lean into it — the long ears, the slightly-off proportions, the way Falco's beak is somehow even more menacing now. They didn't sand down the weirdness. They translated it.
Because as much as I love Star Fox 64 — and I really do — it's becoming harder and harder to revisit for modern audiences.
Next to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Star Fox 64 is probably my favorite Nintendo game ever made. But when I saw this remake announced, my immediate reaction wasn't:
"Why are they remaking this?"
It was:
"I can't wait to share this with my kids."
And realistically, they probably were never going to play the original Nintendo 64 version. Not because it's bad. Because time moves on.
★ NOW — STAR FOX (2026, SWITCH 2) ★
Images: © Nintendo
If you don't own the original hardware or pay for Nintendo Switch Online, Star Fox 64 isn't exactly easy to access. And even when you do revisit it, some parts absolutely show their age. The art direction still works, but those graphics were designed for CRT televisions, not giant 4K screens. The lack of widescreen support alone makes it feel locked to another era.
That doesn't erase how groundbreaking it was.
It just means newer generations experience games differently.
And honestly, that's why remakes matter.
Not every remake exists because a company ran out of ideas. Sometimes remakes exist because certain games deserve to survive outside the hardware they were trapped on.
And beyond the visuals, Nintendo is finally adding features that honestly should've existed in Star Fox 64 all along:
That matters more than people realize.
Image: © Universal Pictures
That's especially true for Star Fox, because outside of Star Fox Zero — which most people never played because they didn't own a Wii U — the franchise has basically disappeared from home consoles for an entire generation.
But I also think this remake is part of something bigger.
Nintendo clearly seems interested in bringing Star Fox back into the spotlight again. Fox McCloud appearing in the latest Mario movie didn't feel random at all, and this remake honestly feels more like a reintroduction than a simple nostalgia play.
Without spoiling anything, the movie definitely seems to be laying the groundwork for future Star Fox stories and potentially bigger plans for the franchise moving forward.
And honestly?
That makes this remake feel less like a cash grab and more like Nintendo trying to remind people why Star Fox mattered in the first place.
Because before you reinvent Star Fox… people probably need to remember why they loved Star Fox in the first place.
Image: © Nintendo
FINAL THOUGHTS
I came across this Bluesky post that I haven't been able to stop thinking about:
Honestly, I don't think that post could've said it any better, because that's exactly how I feel right now. What do people actually want from Nintendo? We're living in an era where almost every major gaming franchise is getting remade, remastered, rebooted, or reimagined in some way, and yet the reaction to Star Fox has felt weirdly aggressive from the moment the Nintendo Direct ended. But at the same time… maybe I shouldn't be surprised.
When I texted my buddy Riley about all the negativity online, his response was:
And while I definitely understand that perspective, Star Fox is also one of those Nintendo franchises that isn't as universally known anymore as Mario or Zelda. For a lot of younger players, this may genuinely be their first real exposure to the series. Starting over at the original story honestly feels like the smartest jumping-off point if Nintendo truly wants to continue building the franchise into newer games down the road — which, judging by rumors and some of the setup happening elsewhere in Nintendo media right now, honestly feels possible.
One thing I do know about Nintendo is that if a game doesn't sell well, it probably won't see much more support outside of the characters showing up in Super Smash Bros. This honestly feels like our one real chance to prove there's still a big audience for Star Fox right now.
Because if this game underperforms, there's a very real chance we won't see another major Star Fox game for a long time.
We'll probably just end up getting a Star Fox Switch 2 remake remake on whatever Nintendo console exists 15 years from now.