It Could Be a New Era for Star Fox

If I'm being fair, it has been nearly a decade since we were treated to a new Star Fox game, as Star Fox Zero launched on the Nintendo Wii U in April 2016. However, if I'm being completely unfair, it has been almost 30 years since we've had a Star Fox game worth playing, as just about every entry since then has seemingly done a barrel roll to avoid the kind of critical acclaim Star Fox 64 earned then and the legacy it maintains today. Star Fox Zero was widely considered a commercial failure, massively underperforming by selling under half a million copies worldwide and officially becoming the worst-selling game in the franchise in Japan. After that, the IP went quiet, but it's the fact that it went quiet after failure that means something. Essentially, anything the franchise does now would be considered an attempt at redemption.

Whether it works out that way is something that remains to be seen, but it nonetheless looks like Nintendo could be ushering in a new era for Star Fox with how much it seems to be betting on the IP. With the iconic character having been confirmed to appear in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and rumors of a new Star Fox game in the works, this might be more than just a one-off deal where the franchise reappears for a moment and then vanishes. If the rumors of the new Star Fox game turn out to be true, especially then, Nintendo could be creating momentum for a much larger future for the spacefaring canine.

Nintendo's Big Bet on Star Fox Could Just Be the Beginning

With sentiments like this, it's important to stay grounded in what we know for sure. At the moment, the only real confirmation we have of Star Fox resurfacing after his decade-long hibernation spell is his appearance in the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy Movie (voiced by Glen Powell). That alone doesn't signal an all-out revival, but his inclusion in the film and the hype it has undoubtedly sparked does show a bit of promise for what Nintendo may be hiding behind the scenes. Plus, the fact that this will be Fox McCloud's first real cinematic spotlight says something.

But the rumors that a new Star Fox game is currently in the works should still be considered, especially since they happened to surface around the same time it was confirmed that Fox is one of the many Nintendo characters cast in the Super Mario Galaxy Movie. According to seasoned insider NateTheHate in a recent episode of his podcast on YouTube, "We're getting a new Star Fox game in the very near future" that will be done in Star Fox's "classic style" and will have "very good" visuals and even online multiplayer. At the moment, it's an unconfirmed leak, but NateTheHate is generally right about these things, and perhaps even more so when it comes to Nintendo stuff.

If the leak is real, though, and there truly is a new Star Fox game in development apace with the Super Mario Galaxy Movie, then the likelihood that this is more than just fan service is high. What it suggests is that Nintendo is making an intentional move with the Star Fox IP to revive it, repopularize it, and keep it alive in a way that arguably hasn't been done since Star Fox 64.

The Nintendo Switch 2 Is the Perfect Excuse for a Potential Star Fox Revival

The Nintendo Switch 2 might not have launched with many titles to make it worth getting right off the bat, but since its June 2025 release, the console has received multiple noteworthy titles—from Donkey Kong Bananza and Pokemon Legends: Z-A to Kirby Air Riders and, perhaps the biggest hit of all, Pokemon Pokopia. It has also shown off its technical achievements by offering players the chance to play more demanding games like Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, Cyberpunk 2077, and Star Wars Outlaws without the hardware breaking a sweat.

As such, Nintendo has all the more reason to revive Star Fox now, as it would be arriving at a moment when both the hardware and the company's broader strategy are finally aligned with what the franchise actually needs. For years, Star Fox has felt like a series searching for an identity, bouncing between experimentation and nostalgia without ever fully committing to either. Star Fox Zero tried to revisit the past while forcing players into a control scheme that split their attention between screens, and while critics praised its core design, that awkward execution ultimately defined the experience and held it back. If Nintendo has learned anything from that, it's that Star Fox doesn't need to be reinvented so much as it just needs to be reintroduced.

That's where the Switch 2 becomes important. If the rumored project truly leans into a "classic-style" approach, then modern hardware could finally allow Nintendo to deliver the fast, fluid, visually impressive space combat the series has always been built around, without the gimmicks that have weighed it down in the past. More importantly, features like online multiplayer could give Star Fox the longevity it has never fully capitalized on before. The series has historically thrived on replayability and score-chasing, but in a modern context, that kind of design could evolve into something far more sustainable if paired with competitive or cooperative modes.

Star Fox doesn't need to be reinvented so much as it just needs to be reintroduced.

But what Fox McCloud's appearance in the Super Mario Galaxy Movie will do, at the very least, is introduce the character to a much broader audience and potentially ignite an interest in him that would arguably create the perfect excuse for Nintendo to launch a new game seemingly aimed at rebooting the franchise. At this point, it wouldn't make sense to launch a new Star Fox game that only appeals to veterans over 30, so releasing the Super Mario Galaxy Movie, getting newcomers attached to Fox's character, and then releasing a new game after that would be the best way to revive a franchise that has been asleep for the better part of a decade.

What's more, however, is that, should that rumored Star Fox game end up being successful, it might not be the last players see of the IP for quite some time. All of this speculation might ultimately depend on the leak being true, but if it is, Nintendo likely isn't just trying to revisit the past. Instead, this all feels like a calculated opportunity to see whether Star Fox still has a future, and if it does, this moment could be remembered as the point where everything finally started to turn around. This really could be a new era for Star Fox.