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The Star Fox demo landed on Switch 2 on June 9, 2026, and I captured it that same day in handheld and then docked with a 4K output. This is a game I played a ton with my dad growing up, and one of the first games I worked and earned my own money to go buy, Rumble Pak and all. This is a short look at how the demo looks and plays. For the full game at launch, see my Star Fox on Switch 2 launch-day article.
- This is the demo, captured on demo launch day (June 9, 2026), not the full game.
- Docked with a 4K output, the on-screen frame-rate overlay read 60.0 FPS at almost every two-second check through the Meteo mission, with a handful of brief 58.0 and 59.0 readings.
- The closing cutscene after the boss read about 30 FPS (29.2 to 31.0) on the overlay.
- Handheld is filmed off the Switch 2's screen, so there's no overlay and no numbers for handheld here.
What's in the demo
The demo has three parts you can play around with: a training area, the prologue and a mission. There are also options for the controls and gameplay, including mouse targeting and reticle options.
- Training: something we didn't have before. It goes through the basics if you haven't played before, or if you want to learn the newer controls versus what we had on the N64 controller.
- Prologue: the story intro Nintendo already showed in the Direct. I was glad they added it, because my dad and I used to talk about wanting a bit more story about what happened with James McCloud.
- Meteo: the asteroid mission, with easy or normal difficulty.
Next to the N64 original
I did a quick comparison with the original on Nintendo Switch Online (left) against the remake (right). At least in this level, the pacing of the map is pretty much right on, with things showing up at the same points. Some of the dialogue is different, but overall it's a big jump, bringing Star Fox 64 into the Switch 2 generation.
Handheld
I can't measure resolution or frame rate in handheld mode, so the handheld part is the Meteo mission running on the Switch 2's screen, from the asteroid field and tunnels through the boss fight. There are no handheld numbers here.
Docked (4K output)
All the numbers here are what the on-screen frame-rate overlay read in my docked lossless 4K capture, checked every two seconds. Through the whole Meteo run, including the tunnels, the supply drop and the boss fight, it read 60.0 FPS almost the entire time, with a handful of brief readings of 58.0 or 59.0.
The one exception was the short cutscene after the boss, where the overlay dropped to about 30 FPS, reading between 29.2 and 31.0.
I was really looking forward to the full game coming out on June 25, and I tested it again at launch. That's in my Star Fox launch-day handheld and docked article.
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