Miyamoto Announces Starfox for Switch 2, June 25 Release
starfox is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 on June 25, and Nintendo used a surprise Nintendo Direct on Wednesday to put the franchise back on the release calendar. Shigeru Miyamoto and Yoshiaki Koizumi introduced the game, which Nintendo said will be exclusive to Switch 2.
That ends a gap that stretches back to 2016, when Star Fox Zero and Star Fox Guard arrived for Wii U, not counting the long-delayed release of Star Fox 2 in 2017. The new title is based on Star Fox 64 and is built around a major graphical overhaul while keeping the series' familiar lineup in view.
Miyamoto and Koizumi
Miyamoto and Koizumi opened the announcement with the simplest possible signal for the market: “Star Fox for Nintendo Switch 2.” Nintendo is leaning on names it trusts to carry the franchise's return, and the timing places the game among the first clear identity plays for the new hardware.
Fox McCloud, Peppy Hare, Slippy Toad and Falco Lombardi all appear in the game. That matters because Nintendo did not frame this as a reinvention; the design appears to hew closely to Star Fox 64, which keeps the pitch aimed at players who already know the series' rail-shooter structure.
Battle Mode and GameShare
The new Battle Mode adds online multiplayer built around 4v4 dogfights, giving the franchise a competitive layer it has not been built around in the same way before. Nintendo also said up to four players can play locally with GameShare or online using GameShare via GameChat, so the game is being positioned for group play rather than a solo-only launch.
Cooperative play goes further: one player can control an Arwing spaceship or other vehicles while another serves as gunner, using Joy-Con 2 mouse controls to aim and shoot. That split-role setup gives the game a more immediate use case for a second player in the same room, while the mouse-control option ties the experience to Switch 2 hardware rather than the earlier system.
June 25 on Switch 2
June 25 is the date that matters now, because Nintendo paired the release date with Switch 2 exclusivity and did not announce pricing or pre-orders. For buyers, that leaves the platform choice settled but the purchase details unfinished.
The franchise's return also lands after a long stretch in which Nintendo and its partners kept Star Fox alive mostly through older releases, spinoffs and a cameo in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie in April, where Fox McCloud was voiced by Glen Powell. This new game puts the series back into hardware strategy, not just nostalgia, and makes Switch 2 the only place to play it.
