Nintendo Switch Online received its highly anticipated Expansion Pack yesterday, adding a number of N64 and Sega Genesis games to the service for those willing to dish out more money to Nintendo. However, while a Nintendo 64 game library was one of the most sought-after additions to the Switch, it appears that fans aren’t happy with the control scheme currently in place. Unfortunately, there’s no way to rebind the controls either.
Over on Twitter, fans have been venting about the issues with the control schemes for Nintendo 64 titles. Currently, one of the biggest points of contention, as pointed out by user @Shiori_Ishimaru, is the binding for the C-Pad Left and C-Pad Down. The bindings have the potential to cause issues in just about every game on the service, making it a particularly frustrating issue.
Notably, Nintendo is selling a wireless N64 controller for the Switch, which would presumably solve the problem. However, the controller sold out almost as soon as it went live, and has remained out of stock ever since. Plus, the NSO Expansion Pack more than doubles the cost of the service already, so it ups the investment to an uncomfortable amount. Not to mention, the controller is being scalped online for double or even triple the $50 retail price, which makes the problem even worse.
So far, Nintendo has been silent on the issue, though there have been reports of some other problems as well. The Nintendo 64 game library has been met with criticism for a few different reasons, from the controller binding problem to issues with the emulation software in general. However, it’s possible that improvements will be made over time, though it’s still understandable that fans might feel burned.
It puts the service in a genuinely strange place. Many users had expected N64 games to come as a free update to the service, but that clearly hasn’t been the case. It’s also dashed hopes for a potential N64 Classic, which presumably would’ve been of similar quality to the NES Classic and SNES Classic console, the company’s prior two mini-consoles.
In the meantime, fans just have to wait for news from Nintendo itself. The company could very well update the N64 software if fans are vocal enough, but that remains to be seen. The N64 games catalog is already confirmed to receive new titles, so improvements could also launch alongside new games. That might be deemed too little too late by the community, though.
