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N64 Games Running on the Switch Reportedly Has Multiple Issues

N64 Games Running on the Switch Reportedly Has Multiple Issues - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 04 November 2021 / 3,183 Views

The Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack is now available, adding a selection of Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis / Mega Drive to the Switch Online service. 

There are reports going around of some Nintendo 64 games having problems with its emulation running on Nintendo Switch Online, according to Eurogamer

Mario Kart 64 has multiple problems from sound delay, texture issues, and a display warnings that will not let you save Ghost Data as it required the N64 Controller Pak in the original game.

There are reports of input lag that people are calling "slightly noticeable" to "I can’t play Mario 64 or Mario Kart 64 like this." Framerate issues are also reported in Yoshi’s Island and Star Fox 64. There are reports of sound delays in some games.

One thing people are complaining about are how the app's button mapping was done. The C-buttons are mapped to the right stick, the Z button to ZL, and the A and B buttons to the Switch's own A and B buttons. The A and B buttons are at a different position and angle on the Switch than on the N64 controller. Mapping the A and B buttons to B and Y on the Switch would have made more sense. 

One strange quirk with Super Mario 64 is the Japanese version support rumble, while in Europe and North America there is no rumble support. In order to use rumble you need to change your Switch's region to Japan.

Here is to hoping Nintendo fixes the reported issues quickly. 

An individual membership for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack is priced at $49.99 USD for 12 months, while the family membership, which can be used by up to eight Nintendo Account holders, is price at $79.99 USD for 12 months. It includes games from the Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis / Mega Drive, as well as the Animal Crossing: Happy Home Paradise DLC.

Here is the list of games available on the Expansion tier:

Nintendo 64:

  • Super Mario 64
  • Mario Kart 64
  • Star Fox 64
  • Yoshi’s Story
  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
  • Mario Tennis
  • Dr Mario 64
  • Sin & Punishment
  • WinBack

Sega Genesis / Mega Drive:

  • Castlevania Bloodlines
  • Contra Hard Corps
  • Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
  • Ecco the Dolphin
  • Golden Axe
  • Gunstar Heroes
  • Musha
  • Phantasy Star IV
  • Ristar
  • Shining Force
  • Shinobi III
  • Sonic the Hedgehog 2
  • Streets of Rage 2
  • Strider

Here are games coming soon:

  • Banjo-Kazooie
  • Pokémon Snap
  • The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
  • Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
  • Mario Golf
  • Paper Mario
  • F-Zero X

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.


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20 Comments
TallSilhouette (on 26 October 2021)

You'd probably have a better experience jailbreaking a Switch and installing a free emulator.

  • +17
victor83fernandes TallSilhouette (on 27 October 2021)

I will install this on my hacked switch, it free, just a shame I cant choose just the games I want, you need to install the whole collection, anyway, from n64 I just wanted the zeldas, wave race and pilot wings, the rest I don't care. I would like more gamecube, but unfortunately the switch doesn't have enough power to run gamecube.
From megadrive I wont replay any of those.
I'll give it a try, if this emulation cleans up jaggies, then I'll be happy enough, I actually had only one emulator on mine, gameboy, but games haven't aged well, specially as I play on a 100inch screen those graphics were ridiculous. The only games from gameboy I kept were advance wars, but the remaster is coming hence why I deleted the emulator.
I wouldn't even bother with any of this at all back home where I have my PC which runs gamecube and N64 at 8K, any game free.
I would even say if anyone is interested in emulation, forget the switch, for the 50 dollars you pay (7 years = 350) just buy an xbox series S which is cheaper and way better for emulation, it runs gamecube, N64 and everything else.

  • 0
Kneetos (on 26 October 2021)

So not only are nintendoh charging extra for this service, that is pretty lackluster even if you liked the games and are holding out for the promise of more, they didn't even get it right out of the gate?

sigh

  • +11
victor83fernandes Kneetos (on 27 October 2021)

Its Nintendo, there's a reason why Nintendo consoles are the only ones I hack, because I hate greedy corporations, and there's no one greedier than Nintendo.

  • 0
xMetroid (on 26 October 2021)

They better do something about it, this is absolutely unacceptable.

  • +11
Rafie (on 26 October 2021)

Nintendo better release an explanation pack to download as to why we HAVE to have the AC DLC and the trouble with the expansion.

  • +10
DonFerrari (on 26 October 2021)

Can we call this lazy porting?

  • +8
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JWeinCom (on 26 October 2021)

The original version of Mario 64 didn't have rumble, but a rumble version was created for the Japanese with a couple of other minor changes. Would have been nice if they'd added rumble to the US version, but they advertised these as a pretty straight ports. Anyway, kind of disappointing that for what this costs it isn't well done.

  • +7
Slownenberg (on 26 October 2021)

Wow. They haven't released a new system for Switch Online in two years. How did the botch this so badly? It's not like they didn't have time to prepare. The price is fine and all once more games are added and presumably GB and GBA are added eventually, but having these sorts of problems at launch is ridiculous. There's no way these sorts of problems could have gone completely unnoticed by Nintendo. Nintendo continues to have very lackluster online capabilities even in 2021. Would have been far better to delay for a few weeks to get this stuff ironed out than release a shoddy product.

  • +4
2zosteven (on 26 October 2021)

where is my money!

  • +4
Salnax (on 26 October 2021)

This could have been part of the $20 package and I'd still be disappointed.

  • +2
No_Name_Needed (on 26 October 2021)

So worth the extra money, amirite?

  • +1
Illusion (on 27 October 2021)

N64 emulation was fine on the Wii and Wii U and there were basically no issues that I could recall in the games I played. This obviously has nothing to do with Nintendo not knowing how to properly emulate N64 games. This is clearly just a lazy effort, which is disappointing to see for a paid service. For a company that is so concerned about piracy, I wonder how many gamers this poor experience has sent to Retroarch or emulationstation.

  • 0
S.Peelman (on 27 October 2021)

N64 more powerful than Switch confirmed?

  • 0
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