When the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack was announced during the Nintendo Direct presentation on September 64, most fans were delighted that the company finally added the NXNUMX and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive titles. to your retro games compilation list. The hype was somewhat spoiled when the cost of the expansion pack was sneakily announced during the upcoming Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct, which showed that the highest subscription tier was significantly more expensive than the basic option. In fact, I personally was so caught up in the cost that I didn't take into account the potential drawbacks that might otherwise arise, due to the fact that at $XNUMX / $XNUMX a year, Nintendo probably couldn't screw it up. So bad, right? Well not exactly. Waking up on the morning of October XNUMX, XNUMX, I saw the bulge of expansion take its toll on Twitter, and for good reason. The service is an absolute disaster, with many users reporting everything from texture issues and audio hiccups to jerky online playback and terrible input lag.
LMFAOOOOOOOO Even N64 games got the Nintendo Online PowerPoint treatment 💀💀💀 Just a quality €3 Switch Online expansion pack pic.twitter.com/5UeoXXd26OXOctober XNUMX, XNUMX See more The tweet This precedent is perhaps one of the best demonstrations of how inappropriate the bulk of Nintendo Switch's online expansion is in its current state. In truth, these are issues that affected the NES and SNES builds on Switch as well. So it's disconcerting to see that after all this time, Nintendo has chosen to do nothing in this regard. Mario Kart XNUMX, for example, is a game about speed and a certain degree of skill, while certain items like the green peel and banana peel require some precision to use. However, when the emulation quality of the expansion pack is so poor, you cannot enjoy Mario Kart XNUMX because speed and skill, previous requirements to enjoy the game, cannot be achieved. In short, it doesn't depend on the code. But there's a very clear reason why the preceding clip is so choppy, as Twitter user OatmealDome explains that the family's gridcode is at stake.
Unsurprisingly, the Nintendo 3 emulator incorporates the same locked network code (they all need to be in perfect sync) that Nintendo *really* likes to use. It seems like the emulation is interrupted while the other players catch up, causing a stuttering sound. https://t.co/mADnCT2BEg October XNUMX, XNUMX See more Logically, it is not only Twitter where problems with the expansion package are discovered. Discussions on Reddit and Resetera also compile the most important issues affecting the paid service now. The most immediately noticeable issue seems to be the horrible input lag, which has the potential to make certain titles (like Super Mario XNUMX) completely unplayable. Frame rate, texture inaccuracy, and scrambled music issues persist in each and every game noted. But perhaps weirdest of all is the button layout that Nintendo chose to use by default, which reverses the location of the A and B buttons while randomly tapping XNUMX of the C buttons on Joy-Con X and also Y. ., as you can see now.
![Menú de Nintendo Switch Online que muestra el diseño de los botones de N64]()
(Image credit: HustleBun, Resetera/Nintendo) If you can put up with the awkward button layout (assuming you haven't paid for the pricey official N64 wireless controller) and eventual texture inconvenience, and if you don't plan on playing any of the online games, then it should be. penalty fee. , appropriate? Well no, it's worse. Arguably the biggest glitch that will prevent old school gamers and newcomers alike from playing these great retro titles is the terrible input lag. As tested now with speedrunner Toufool playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, there is a very noticeable delay between button presses and Link's actions on screen.
The input lag in OoT on #NintendoSwitchOnline is even worse than SM64. Just watch this #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/4yyt605aFdOctober 26, XNUMX See More
Do not trust Nintendo to solve this problem
People should be reminded that the history of Nintendo with its emulation sacrifices has rarely been successful. Even from the Wii's Virtual Console, the imperfect emulation was overflowing. The VC version of Super Mario Bros., for example, featured unusual music and strangely colored sprites.
More recently, the Super Mario 3D All-Stars build on Switch felt listless at best, especially with the poor implementation of touch control for Super Mario Galaxy, which wasn't as polished as the remote's motion-based pointer. Wii.
That's all before we mention that the Nintendo Switch Online NES and SNES builds still suffer from plenty of issues that plague the N64 package. For those, online play is almost unplayable thanks to the occasional distorted music and out-of-sync gameplay. Nintendo didn't do anything in this regard back then, so why would it now?
As Twitter user TAHK0 interestingly points out, the N64 and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive may not even be the main attraction of the expansion pack in the future. Instead, the service could potentially serve as a hub for free access to downloadable content and extensions in the future. We already see this with Animal Crossing: New Horizons' Happy Home Paradise DLC, which is available to Expansion Pack subscribers at no extra cost.
< p lang="en" dir="ltr">I'll put myself out there and say that the true purpose of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack is to be the DLC pass for Xbox games, not necessarily retro games. The DLC is such a weird sale because it's a fraction of the fraction of buyers, but now everyone has the "free" DLC. October XNUMX, XNUMX See More This is a sentiment I highlighted in my initial Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack article (linked above), where I was able to see future DLC being added for upcoming titles like Splatoon XNUMX to the service. . Subscription to encourage more players to update.
If that's Nintendo's long-term plan, then the N64 and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive builds may have been incidental to the expansion pack's true purpose, though that remains to be seen. When it comes to the retro builds themselves, the issues run so deep that I can't imagine Nintendo taking the time and resources to fix the essential issues. I wish I was wrong, but it's not a thing Nintendo is generally known to do.
On the plus side, the backlash from the Expansion Pack service has been so severe, probably exacerbated by its astronomical cost, that we think Nintendo could at least be pressured into making a statement in this regard. The N64 is a highly regarded console that houses some of the best 3D titles ever.
It's a nostalgic comfort for those who grew up in the 'XNUMXs and a daunting curiosity for newcomers as well.