Star Fox Needs Aura And It’s Missing From The New Game

On paper, more face time with Fox, Falco, Peppy, and Slippy should be exactly what Star Fox players want. While Nintendo has historically neglected the space combat series, fans still have a soft spot for its characters, and celebrated seeing Fox show up in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. So a remake of Star Fox 64 with a new coat of paint and additional story segments should be exactly what the doctor ordered…right? Well, the new photo-realistic designs of those beloved characters are not sitting well with folks, and one reason is that without the stylized look of previous Star Fox games, these characters are missing a certain swagger that made them so beloved in the first place.

🕊️HERE LIES FALCO'S AURA (1993 – 2026) 🕊️ pic.twitter.com/sruKQmrpwW

— Mlick (@Mlickles) May 6, 2026

Some of the comparisons for characters like Falco, who is usually the coolest of these cool guys, are particularly unflattering as Star Fox’s realistic art style has given the anthropomorphic bird realistic bird legs, so it looks like the man stopped hitting leg day sometime between Star Fox Zero and today. 

Like we actually just can't be serious pic.twitter.com/vcxehzs0z6

— shofu (@shofu) May 6, 2026

While the actual character designs are one side of the coin, many are saying Star Fox’s realistic art style doesn’t allow for the same expressiveness we’ve seen as recently as Fox’s Mario Galaxy appearance. What clips we have seen of the character in the Switch 2 game look a bit wooden, and that’s whiplash-inducing after getting a rizzed-out animated version of Fox just a month ago. 

in the span of a month we went from this to this pic.twitter.com/oOQGFlZ5QY

— lil (@lilifying) May 6, 2026

FLIRTING vs. SEXUAL HARASSMENT pic.twitter.com/9jS1nWMBDM

— SLBysusparidas (@SLBysusparidas) May 6, 2026

Fans are already trying to salvage the designs with some slight alterations, but even those efforts to recreate some of the series’ more animated anthropomorphic features just spotlight how Nintendo messed with something it didn’t need to, and I’m not really sure why. Nintendo has never been one to chase the photorealism craze, especially when its less-powerful hardware means it can’t compete in that space. This kind of stylistic shift feels almost like an “edgy” mid-aughts pivot done in an ill-advised attempt to win over the teens who are too cool to play “cartoony” games, and it’s sucked the character out of Fox and friends.

they did surgery on a grape pic.twitter.com/fE10sBFOhC

— elpadaalt (@elpadaalt) May 6, 2026

pic.twitter.com/eV4a5GaA3d

— yahiamice. (@Yahiamice) May 6, 2026

GENERATIONAL DOWNGRADE pic.twitter.com/7zMSpvlZpp

— Adri💫 (@AdriWindGB) May 6, 2026

"if those star fox redesigns even touches smash 6, i will kill you" pic.twitter.com/zhKcmer8dJ

— kev (@AwestruckVox) May 6, 2026

Maybe it will all come off better in context when Star Fox comes to Switch 2 on June 25.