Remaking a video game is like balancing weights on a scale. Do you change mechanics and gameplay to be up par with modern standards, or do you stay faithful to the source. Unfortunately, Stunt Flyer decided to stay as true to the original release as possible, even taking out some of its charm along the way.
Take flight!
Stunt Flyer is a remake of the 2009 Wii game Stunt Flyer: Hero Of The Skies. A Flight simulator that used motion controls that even came with a steering wheel peripheral for your Wii mote. This 2025 release decided to let go of the motion steering but offers a higher resolution and improved graphics. It released on Nintendo Switch on February 14th, and it also has a PlayStation and Xbox version planned for later in the year.
After a brief tutorial that teaches you the basics of flying, the game offers you 3 open worlds to explore. There is Gloster Island (an area that brings back memories of Nintendo’s Wuhu Island), the volcanic pirate bay Captains Cove, and the floating sky island Nimbus. All three of these worlds have their own distinct features and offer plenty of challenging obstacles to fly over, through and under. What the game doesn’t tell you in its advertisement is that all of these areas and most of the planes are locked at the start. That’s where the missions come into play. There are multiple different mission types including: time trail, picture, shooting missions where you shoot targets or water plants, races, etc. They all are scored by beating a target time. There are also optional challenges to complete, like flying through the 100 rings and shooting
the 50 gifts spread around the map.
Engine troubles
Although the objective in this game is simple. The execution leaves much to be desired. Just like when you look at the original release from 16 years ago. The art style looks dated. And even though I grew to like the toybox world after exploring it for a bit, I couldn’t get out of the Hangar menu quick enough to avoid looking in the pilot’s eyes for too long. Their blank stare and crude facial shape disturbed me for some reason. Even with this simple art style, the game crashed multiple times. Every time I decided to change my plane for a different one, I was met with a permanent white screen that forced me to reboot.
The planes however, are the star of the show. Like it should be in every self-respecting flight simulator. Every one of them feels distinct and different from the others. The base plane is a jack of all trades, the stunt planes offer quicker turns during flight and the helicopter allows you to hover mid-air and look at your surroundings more easily. There even are some more silly options such as a UFO that lets you abduct cows that are standing across the map and a rocket that always moves at maximum speed, but turns slower. Even with all these distinct flying styles, I couldn’t help but wonder if the motion controls would have made them feel
even better. Some practices feel more sluggish using button inputs. The biggest one being the targeting system used with the water cannon. Imagine being able to point at a target you want to shoot instead of turning the whole plane towards it. Would that be easier to control? That’s where I come to the final and biggest disappointment in this game: the missions. At the start they left me with a lot of questions. How do I win? The target time isn’t mentioned when I start the objective. Later, I learned this was visible in the mission menu under details. Then it became: How do I unlock things? I discovered for myself that doing about 5 missions let me progress to the next island, but I still have no clue how I unlocked my planes and their skins. However in the end most missions just left me cheated. I discovered during play that I won the target practice missions without shooting most of the targets. Most of them fell down from the sky on parachutes, and when they hit the ground, the game registered it as a hit. The races weren’t different. I “lost” all three of the ones I did, but the game still gave me a gold medal after each of them because I finished in time. Worst of all: My opponent didn’t even fly through the rings that marked the trajectory!
After my experience with Stunt Flyer, I decided to go on the internet and look for some footage of the original game. I was astonished to find out that there was content that didn’t make it into this release.
The tutorial was originally given by one of the characters that flew next to your plane. Now it is just a series of yellow textboxes. Even the tutorial screens that introduce the mission types were given by the in game pilots. This exclusion results in a lack of character, and it makes me wonder if there was any heart put into this release.
Final thoughts
Stunt Flyer is an entry-level flight sim with interesting open worlds and wonderful vehicles. Unfortunately, a lack of character and direction makes this 2025 release miss its landing. The game has fun moments when you are flying free over the islands, but the missions can leave a player with a lot of questions and frustrations. If you really want to try a flight simulator and your only console is a Nintendo Switch, I would suggest to wait for a sale. Or you can get the Nintendo Switch expansion pack and give Nintendo’s very own Pilot Wings a try.
