Players are reporting that the Nintendo 64 games featured in Nintendo Switch Online Plus suffer from severe lag and low frame rates.
Twenty-plus year-old games are lagging on Nintendo Switch Online Plus, according to reports from players. Reports of not only input lag, but also frame rate issues and a variety of other problems, have been collated on a forum.
Labelled as having "a lot of problems", the Reset Era thread reveals some deep-seated issues within Nintendo's latest attempt at an online service. Nintendo Switch Online + only released yesterday (as of writing), October 25, and not until October 26 in Europe.
The issues seem to be occurring mainly with the Nintendo 64 games that are featured on Nintendo Switch Online Plus. It is yet another example of Nintendo's apparent inability to launch and maintain a competent online service.
What Known Problems Are There With Nintendo Switch Online Plus?
A significant selection of problems have surfaced on via an online forum, revealing that N64 games are running seriously badly on Nintendo Switch Online Plus. We're going to take you through what the problems are, and what we know so far.
Input Lag
Multiple players are reporting significant input lag that ranges from slightly noticeable to unplayable. Input lag seems to be ubiquitous across most of the include N64 games, and prevent players from having a smooth and enjoyable game experience.
Incorrect & Flawed Controller Layout
The "bizarre button layout" reverses the placement of the Nintendo 64's A and B button, with a "weird C-Button placement above them" according to the ResetEra Forum. They seem to have chosen some quiet weird ways to readjust the key bindings, thereby hindering players from using their standard muscle memory whilst playing N64 titles on the Switch.
Significant Framerate Issues
Framerate Issues are causing problems across the board on Nintendo Switch Online Plus. The most significantly effected games are Yoshi's Island and Star Fox 64. Seeing as that these games came out more-or-less twenty years ago, any form of framerate problem is honestly unacceptable.
Sound Delay
Whilst also occurring for a variety of players across a variety of games, sound delay is being reported mostly in Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64. In a game like Mario 64, sound delay can significantly hurt the play experience due to the fact that players will not be made aware of imminent threats by various sound cues.
Texture Issues
Reported mainly in Mario Kart 64, we are seeing reports of severe pop-in as well as textures not loading at all. When you are trying to drive a car, you probably want to be able to see the road.
Holy shit OoT on Switch is so bad it might actually be worse than WiiU VC
— CLG ZFG (@zfg111) October 26, 2021
Controller Pack Errors
There is a consistent "Controller Pack Error" that keeps on showing up in various games, as Nintendo seems to have overlooked this feature. This is a a big problem, as various games get stuck on the error and - since the controller pack does not exist on Nintendo Switch - the only way to resolve the issue is to shut down the game and restart it again.
Consistent Music Issues
Music issues are occurring which make different game's music sound "sped up or garbled". This goes hand-in-hand with the audio delay, but has been put separately as it doesn't effect the gameplay itself.
We will continue to update this list as the story develops and we find out about more problems. So far there doesn't seem to have been much communication about this from Nintendo.
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