Nintendo Switch 2 confirms new classic 2002 GameCube game for free

Nintendo has announced Star Fox Adventures is landing on Nintendo Switch 2 GameCube Classics later today.

GameCube Classics on Nintendo Switch 2 has a small but modest library populated by some of the best games of that platform.

The list of games includes the likes of Super Mario Sunshine, Luigi's Mansion, and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

And now, fans of Star Fox will soon be able to enjoy the return of Star Fox Adventures on the platform at no extra cost.

Announced during the Nintendo Direct earlier today, Nintendo revealed that Star Fox Adventures will be available to play on Nintendo GameCube Classics this week.

The game will be available to subscribers of Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, which includes access to the GameCube library of games on the service.

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Star Fox Adventures marked Rare's final collaboration with Nintendo

Star Fox Adventures was developed by Rare in 2002, and acts as a sequel to Star Fox 64.

It was Rare's final game released for Nintendo before it was bought by Microsoft in the same year of its release, and it was also the only game that Rare developed for the GameCube.

Set eight years after Star Fox 64, the game had you once again taking control of Fox McCloud who is sent on a mission to Dinosaur Planet in the Lylat System to prevent its destruction.

The game has two different modes of play: Adventure Mode, where players explore environments and have to solve puzzles, collect items, and defeat powerful enemies, and Arwing Mode which is an on-rails shooter.

It was a commercial success for Rare and Nintendo at the time, receiving many positive reviews from journalists who liked the game's character designs and dynamic environments.

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Prior to this, Rare had collaborated with Nintendo on a few earlier releases. Between 1994 and 2002, the company became known for games like Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, and GoldenEye 007. It also became synonymous with the Perfect Dark and Banjo-Kazooie franchises which popularised the latter part of the Nintendo 64 era.

In the years since then, Rare went on to develop popular games like Grabbed by the Ghoulies and Perfect Dark Zero.

Since 2018, it has been working on the Sea of Thieves franchise, it being the sole property for the company now since the cancellation of Everwild in 2025.