The Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, which offers a range of Nintendo 64 and SEGA Mega Drive / Genesis games, went live today. While many gamers anticipated the day where they could embrace nostalgia and play through their old Nintendo favorites, many were unfortunately met with a whole host of in-game issues.
A ResetEra thread has since been created, documenting the issues players are experiencing. Some of the problems range from input lag, making games like Mario 64 and Mario Kart unplayable in some cases, an unfortunate button layout that seems to reverse A and B, framerate issues, sound delays, texture issues, a Controller Pack error, and problems where the music tracks are incorrectly sped up or sound garbled.
Thread OP HustleBun said in their post, “Considering the aggressive price tag on Expansion Pass, it’s understandable why people would be so put off by the myriad of problems that are being seen here.” Continuing, “Really hope Nintendo responds in some way. This is very disappointing.” While commenter ZeroMaverick replied, “I regret my purchase.” If these sentiments are anything to go by with the majority of player reaction, this is a big blow to the hype Nintendo created for the Exapansion Pack.
On Twitter, user @OatmealDome stated that the Nintendo Switch Online N64 games are using the same emulator as Super Mario 3D All-Stars. However, it has been stripped of everything designed specifically for the Mario game. Although the emulation of Super Mario 3D All-Stars was a big success, it seems that directly applying it to the N64 games on Nintendo Switch Online has not been sufficient.
Judging by the varied and numerous issues of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, player response is justifiable. Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack currently costs $49.99 per year. A hefty price, especially now, considering the current issues. Hopefully, Nintendo is able to respond in a swift manner and make this situation right with players.