New Star Fox Enhanced PC port adds 60 FPS, ultrawide and modern controls

Another Star Fox game has made the jump to PC, but this time it’s the one that started the series. A new Windows port of the original 1993 SNES Star Fox is now playable, bringing the polygonal shooter to modern hardware with widescreen support, contemporary controllers and frame rates stretching far beyond anything Nintendo’s 16-bit console could produce. Called Star Fox Enhanced, the project runs at 60 FPS by default. If that isn’t enough, it can go considerably higher, with options reaching 480 FPS. This isn’t the first Star Fox title to receive a native PC conversion. Star Fox 64 previously received its own separate PC port. Star Fox Enhanced is different because it goes back to the original Super Nintendo game rather than its better-known Nintendo 64 follow-up. And yes, you’ll still need your own game data.

The original Star Fox now runs at 60 FPS

The biggest change is obvious as soon as the game starts moving. Star Fox on the SNES wasn’t exactly smooth. Its early polygonal graphics put serious demands on the hardware, even with additional processing power inside the cartridge. The low frame rate became part of how the game looked and felt.

Star Fox Enhanced doesn’t simply speed everything up to solve that. Instead, the underlying gameplay continues to update at the original 20 Hz rate. Enemy behaviour, collisions, damage, stage progression and other game systems still follow the timing they were designed around.

The PC port then adds interpolated frames between those updates. That means the camera and objects can move much more smoothly without Fox suddenly completing Corneria in a third of the normal time. Players can select 20, 30, 60, 90, 120, 240, 360 or 480 FPS. For most displays, 60 or 120 FPS will probably make the most sense. Anyone with an extremely high refresh-rate monitor can push things much further.

Widescreen is included too

Modern monitors get some attention beyond the higher frame rate. Star Fox Enhanced supports 4:3, 16:9, 16:10, 21:9 and 32:9 displays. Crucially, it doesn’t achieve that by simply stretching the original SNES picture across the screen. The visible 3D play area expands to make use of the additional space, while elements such as the HUD and dialogue remain positioned around the original safe area.

So Fox stays Fox-shaped. There’s modern input support as well, including keyboard controls, standard PC gamepads, Steam Input and Steam Deck controls.

The actual game remains recognisably Star Fox. You’re still piloting an Arwing through linear 3D stages, avoiding scenery, shooting enemies and watching Slippy get himself into trouble. The PC surrounding it is what has changed.

You’ll still need Star Fox game data

Star Fox Enhanced doesn’t include Nintendo’s original game assets. Players need to provide a compatible ROM from their own copy of Star Fox. The port checks that game data before generating the files it needs to run natively on PC.

Several editions are supported, including Japanese and North American versions of Star Fox and European releases carrying the Starwing name. The project also supports Star Fox EX, an expanded version of the SNES game featuring additional stages, ships, campaigns, music and other changes.

Installation remains more involved than downloading a normal Windows game, however. This is still enthusiast software rather than a commercial release with a polished installer. Anyone expecting to click an EXE and immediately start shooting polygons may have a little setup work ahead of them.

Star Fox pushed the SNES in an unusual direction

The original Star Fox arrived in 1993, developed by Nintendo EAD with British studio Argonaut Software. Its big technical trick was the Super FX chip.

Built into the cartridge, the additional processor helped the SNES handle the polygonal 3D graphics that defined the game. At a time when most console games relied heavily on sprites and scrolling 2D backgrounds, Star Fox looked strikingly different.

You control Fox McCloud as he flies across the Lylat system alongside Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare and Slippy Toad. The campaign offers different routes through its stages, giving players several paths towards the eventual confrontation with Andross. Nintendo later expanded almost every part of that formula with Star Fox 64 on the Nintendo 64.

A new PC port, not a remake

Star Fox Enhanced isn’t rebuilding the SNES game with new models, textures and levels. The point is to run the original game through a modern PC framework while adding features that make sense on current hardware.

That means native Windows execution, higher frame rates, widescreen resolutions and modern input support, while keeping the original gameplay timing underneath. And unlike the earlier PC treatment of Star Fox 64, this one is focused squarely on the 1993 game.

The result is a new way to play the first Star Fox on PC, only now at 60 FPS, on an ultrawide monitor, with a modern controller plugged in. The polygons haven’t changed much. They just move a lot more smoothly.

Spread the love