Star Fox on Switch 2's music is the best thing about it

Remakes and remasters often work best when they match the images the originals conjured in players' heads. Some remakes land that nostalgic comfort perfectly, while others look too new and too sharp; visually, I'm not sure Star Fox passes this test. It follows the blueprint of the original Star Fox 64 with painstaking care, but the cinematic sheen and detailed character designs here feel different from the cleaner, toylike look I remember.

There is, however, one facet of this remake that absolutely nails its brief: the music. Star Fox's approach is lavish but simple — the original score by Koji Kondo and Hajime Wakai, as performed by the Nintendo 64's sound chip, has been arranged for a full orchestra.

Arrangers Matt Pirog and Stephen Barton lean into a John Williams–style palette of glissandi, dramatic strings, and triumphant brass, and the result sounds thrilling and rich. The orchestral versions largely transpose the main themes and level tracks note-for-note, with only modest embellishment to fill out a symphonic range.

star fox, switch 2, nintendo 64, remake, orchestral music, koji kondo, hajime wakai, matt pirog, stephen barton, sound chip