Nintendo can be a bizarre company, but the saga of Star Fox 2, its development, and eventual release, is arguably the strangest way Nintendo has ever released a video game. Following the success of the 1993 Star Fox, development on a sequel began fairly quickly. The game was reportedly 95 percent complete and nearly ready for release, but Nintendo decided to shelve the game and focus on the upcoming Star Fox 64. And it lived on that shelf for about 20 years until it was included in the SNES Classic Edition, the miniature Super Nintendo console that included a collection of beloved SNES games. And now the game is also available on Switch as part of the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service.
But how is the actual game, and how does it rank compared to the rest of the Star Fox series? Technically, it’s a very impressive game considering it was being created right before the transition into widespread 3D gameplay, but playing it today feels dated even when you put yourself in the headspace of the potential timeframe it would have released. As a point of reference, the PlayStation would have already launched before Star Fox 2 was released. We are glad it was finally released and wasn’t cursed to never officially exist.