As you may well know already, subscribing to Nintendo's Switch Online service presents you with the wonderfully generous option of spending even more money on a set of NES-style controllers for your Switch. These are, of course, designed to make your collection of online NES games feel more authentic, and double up as a particularly funky pair of Joy-Con that can be attached to your console - even if they don't work in the traditional sense.
Originally, we were told that the NES controllers would only work with the NES games on the system, but it was soon found out that they can actually be used with other titles, too. The catch here is that the limited number of buttons and the change in layout cause far too many issues, and the majority of games are pretty much unplayable as a result.
It looks like we're about to get one game that breaks the mould, though, as the upcoming New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe appears to play just fine with the new NES controllers. The folks over at GameXplain tested one of the shiny new controllers out with the game recently and, after a bit of menu tweaking, managed to get along perfectly well.
So there you have it. If you've treated yourself to a pair of NES controllers, you'll be able to use them to bop around as Mario and friends in his latest adventure on Switch next month. Neat, huh?
[source youtu.be]
Comments 57
Still not worth the money and hassle to get these
More like teach your new controller old tricks
Very clever. With good marketing and corecting the price this has the possibility to be a guargantuan nostalgia inducing hit for january / february.
@Baart @Bunkerneath both needs corrective glasses here. Quality products will command higher prices. Whether you buy or not is mute.
This game won't support save data cloud backup, so it's a no-go for me.
@SwitchForce Don't need corrective glasses, I can see the price and think no thanks.
@San_D The US eShop says “not supported,” but every other region says “supported.”
Could be a mistake.
Well at least you can play the game with a good dpad now.
If I was getting this on Switch, I'd just use my 8bitdo SNES controller. The NES controllers sold by Nintendo are just way too expensive.
Why embed a GameXplain video here?? Alex's lovely voice is much better (Not saying GameXplain is bad, I watch them to!).
And for the price point, I think Nintendo tries to justify the prices of re-released Wii U games because the system had a very small user-base. HOWEVER this game already sold 5.77 million (and New Super Luigi U sold 3.04 million), AND it's part of the Nintendo Selects range for less than £20!!
That's a nice "feature" but I really don't need any extra controllers, the Joy Cons and Pro Controller is plenty.
@123akis It's not a big news story so they might as well, and I'm sure Alex is busy working on something else anyway!
EVERY controller you can use on the Switch, you can use with EVERY game. The only question is, how well it works.
For the price try ask for them, it have to start somewhere I imagine.
@Bunkerneath "Don't need corrective glasses, I can see the price and think no thanks."
What people forget is those other devices don't connect directly wifi to Switch so that would rule them out for the price they can charge but buying more hardware in the end you spend more that way then one that already connects wifi to start with. That is the part alot misses - add up all those extra hardware you had to buy to connect and that would be the same as one Nintendo OEM controller. But we all know they will dismiss that as still a expensive OEM controller but totally missing all the extra $$ they had to buy to match up.
The Pro controller had better work too...
@subpopz 8bitdo already sells them.
These are pretty dumb because you now have a controller than will only work on one game (aside from the game rental service). I will say though that the two Famicom controllers look sick af. I'd be tempted to get those.
Nice but still not good enough reason to buy them.
@SwitchForce Nothing costs anything extra if I use the supplied Joycons instead of a limited product that costs additional money. That’s what some folks are saying.
You can’t say that having a Bluetooth connection is the difference in price from an 8BitDo or other product when Nintendo made the controller more limited in function than said other product.
That’s like explaining the difference in price between bone-in hot wings and boneless. Only in this instance, you could only consume the boneless in certain places. And they contain lead. And glass.
It's still a novelty, but it "looks" like there will be very specific Switch games that it will work with, so "testing" would have to be done across many games. Still not gonna ante the cash to find out. I'll keep these controllers on the backburner in the meantime...
@San_D That's the most awkward reason for not buying a video game.
Doesn't NSMBU require all the SNES buttons since it basically builds on SMW? I mean I can use my arcade stick with it too, but that's not necessarily a good plan.
@SwitchForce moot.... whether you buy or not is moot. Mute doesn't even begin to make any sense.
@NEStalgia I think it only needs the A, B and R buttons.
Hmmm 🤔 might have to snag a pair now
Pity they didnt do a bundle of the game and one or two of the controllers and really market those older gamers with a chance to play a New-ish Mario game with a controller they spend countless hours playing NES Mario with.
Might of been more interested but as it, I'll wait on both.
The gamecube controller works for a ton of games, and I am starting to use it as my go-to controller for the Switch. haha.
We had a great night of Super Bomberman R the other night using the smash adapter and four cube controllers.
Cool. Will give this a shot when the game releases.
My controllers should be here next week.
I guess it's not entirely useless after all. Huh.
They also work for Sonic Mania.
This makes the controllers slightly more appealling, but why aren't they compatible with, say, Smash?
In fact, why are Nintendo even artificially preventing their games from being playable with as many controllers as possible?! Pokémon Let's Go and Scribblenauts Showdown are particularly frustrating examples.
It's pretty funny to watch ppl flame on about the price of something they aren't even going to buy, my only issue was with the shipping cost they really did over-charge on that, but really 2- decent usb retro controllers about $20+ or buy 2 OEM NES $5-$10ea +8bitdo upgrade kit $20 ea, so where again are they "overcharging" ? and continually hilarious how these "joy-con" add-ons are still just a fad, yeah like the switch...
@imgrowinglegs @hatch Saw it at the US eshop, will be nice if a mistake.
@Cosats Agreed but isn't the decision to prevent save data cloud backup awkward as well? And what kind of save scumming is possible with this title? As someone paying for the service, I would expect a system which works for all games. I have only bought one game (FIFA 19) without the feature and will avoid any such game unless I feel it is really essential.
As lovely as those controllers look and feel; I am not paying full price for them... the price is too damn high.jpeg
@SwitchForce Quality products, hahaha. You can just get an 8bitdo controller that looks similar.
Teach your old controller new tricks
New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe. Teach your new console an old game.
@San_D the game takes minuscule amounts of data on your system’s hard drive. What are you fretting about?
I love mine to pieces 🙃
Let me just buy them at the store, like a regular thing, and I'd probably pick up a set. But I am still not bending over backward to order a set of these.
But can I use a wii remote to play it?
So $120 dollars to play an old WiiU game with an unconformable boxy controller.
@hatch That's great to hear, thanks. I am somewhat interested in this title as I never had a Wii U, so keeping my fingers crossed.
@TeethInDarkness It is not about internal disk space, cloud saves are the only way to safekeep your data in case something bad happens with the device. For the games I have beaten, it is still okay, but I don't like the idea of losing 70-80% progress, in case the device gives up at that point.
I keep thinking this is going to be some kind of new revolutionary game-play but then it's just one more port of last generation.
Le sigh.
@San_D eh- stuff happens, what can you do? Nothing lasts forever.
I would love the option to buy one yes one controller for £30. I will never need two.
Thank you Nintendo for making the smallest imaginable effort.
@Trajan It works with all Switch games.
It depends on how well it will work. * example if the game needs a analog like Smash you can't move*
This is great for Arcade games, or games that can be played with a NES button layout plus shoulder buttons only problem is how much there asking for these.
What is it with Nintendo selling controllers the same price as new games?
@Ralizah They are the same price... 2 controllers cost you $60. And the Nintendo ones actually have good Dpads. 8bitdo only has decent dpads on the SN30 Pro and the N30 Pro 2. All their other models are trash for retro games. The dpad constantly gives you wrong inputs. It's infuriating to play platformers with them. I sold off mine and got the SN30 Pro. It's not perfect, but it's at least useable.
It's like bizarro world, where some people or reviewers think they are good. But then you try them for yourself, or do a web search about their dpads, or look at honest reviewers like Lon.tv and find out that most of their controllers are garbage. You need to take them apart and mod them to get it to register dpad inputs properly.
Meh most people just don't notice I guess. I'm guessing they are shelf piece for most consumers.
@Tim_Vreeland Sounds like you got defective hardware. My SN30 has a great, very responsive D-Pad.
@HollowGrapeJ 8bitdo are rubbish unless you are shelling out for the SN30 Pro or N30 Pro 2. In that case you are going to be spending more than $60 for 2 controllers. All the older model 8bitdo stuff like the ones that come in NES and SNES style shells, have poor PCB designs, and require you to take them apart and mod them to get a good working controller. That and they use micro USB, which is a bummer in 2018 when laptops, phones, and game consoles use USB C. You have to have to plug in an extra charger for one device, instead of using the one that everything else uses.
Anyone excited for this game?
@Ralizah I got defective hardware on the SN30 and the FC30? And all the videos, forums, and tutorials on how to mod the poorly designed PCB solder points, are all just people with defective units? If defective units are that wide spread, that makes 8bitdo look even worse.
Its not a defective unit issue though. It's just the solder points are designed poorly and they don't cover the right area. There are many sources with teardowns that show and explain this. It's just some people don't notice it, because they don't play a lot of retro games, or they buy them as shelf pieces, or they just put up with it.
That and widely misrepresented reviews from blogs and YouTubers who are getting paid or getting free hardware from 8bitdo and have tainted reviews. Most people buying, don't know any better.
@Bunkerneath the difference in the D pad is night and day no controller on the switch compares and the fact it works with all the mega man compilation games along with any game that only requires two buttons really. hell its even great for hulu...just wish they added a home button or maybe i missed some combo of buttons that acts that way.
The game cover is so tacky. Wii U's game cover is much nicer.
LOL Someone replied to me and said that the covers are exactly the same and then erased his comment.
@IHateTombs A bit off topic here, but was is exactly so bad with their online service?
It works as advertised, it's cheaper than the PS4/Xbox one comparatives, I've honestly already played more with the included NES games than I've had with 4 years of PS+ games (almost always already owned any decent ones) and it features cloud saves.
Sure, the whole voice chat thing is a bit bonkers. And it also amazes me that Nintendo doesn't sell a headset-adapter separately, because it's actually not that bad with it, but you now have to buy a crappy Splatoon 2 headset to get it.
So, for what it's worth, I find it a lot easier to motivate paying for Nintendos online service than PS+. Neither service is perfect, but not crappy either.
@IHateTombs I couldn't agree more.
@Tim_Vreeland I definitely agree that Nintendo's controllers have better d-pads than 8bitdo's (apart from the Switch pro controller). I use an 8bitdo adapter to use the Wii U pro controller, the NES/SNES Classic controllers or the Wii Classic Controller whenever I need a good d-pad for the Switch.
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