Nintendo 64 games were finally officially played on Nintendo Switch Online last night, and they worked...not so well. Almost immediately, social media began to be flooded with examples of technical flaws, simulation issues, and button layouts, proving that there is no God. It once again questioned what people can get in exchange for the new high price level of Switch Online.

In retrospect, Nintendo announced its existing $20 a year Switch Online subscription service expansion package as early as September, and it was only recently that it quietly revealed the price in "Animal Crossing: New Horizons." In exchange for an annual upgrade to $50, players can access 9 N64 games, 14 Sega Genesis games, and the upcoming Happy Home Paradise DLC of New Horizons. It may seem ridiculous to more than double the subscription price, but at the same time, people really want to play "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" on their portable Switch.

Fast forward to more than a week after the price was announced, and it seems that Ocarina of Time and other late 90s games do not run perfectly on modern hardware. Speedrunner ZFG1 shared a set of screenshots comparing the game's infamous Water Temple with the original N64, Wii U virtual console, and the latest version of the game. The fog, drawing distance, and water texture of the Switch version are worse. "It may actually be worse than WiiU VC," ZFG1 wrote on Twitter.

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Other speedrunners have also been using Ocarina's expansion pack version to complete their tasks. A clip from MutantAura shows the game running around Kakariko Village until it completely crashes. Another clip by Toufoo shows a series of input delays when using a wireless Switch Pro controller. According to a video from GameXplain, Link swings the sword after pressing the button a few more frames than the previous version.

Ocarina of Time is not the only game experiencing problems. The seemingly slow frame rate at startup also led to creepy introductions like "Super Mario 64" and "Mario Kart 64". The latter also lacks the fog that previously covered some ugly aspects of the game.

One of the attractions of the expansion pack is not just being able to play classic N64 games on Switch. This is also an opportunity to play them online, which was impossible before. But players also encountered a series of frame rate and delay issues when trying to compete with friends.

This may be a problem with the Internet connection of these people, although anyone with a Switch knows that unless you are sitting next to the router, it is difficult to get a perfect connection. According to homebrew expert OatmealDome, it seems that the Switch N64 emulation also uses the "perfect synchronization" network code, which will pause the game until others catch up.

This is all about technology. But there are also some very suspicious choices elsewhere in the expansion pack. For example, Mario Kart 64 needs a Controller Pak to save timing data so that players can race against their ghosts. The Switch version thinks it is the same. The instruction "Plug N64 controller package into controller 1" will pop up on the screen. Even if the Switch online expansion package does not have a controller package, it means that the ghost test has not been performed yet.

The button layout is another strange fiasco. The original N64 controller had six buttons on the right side: B, A and four direction C buttons. Since there are only four Switches, the B and A buttons remain unchanged, while the Y and X are mapped to the two C buttons. This can cause problems because the B and A positions on the Switch are perpendicular to the positions on the original N64 controller. The result is an unintuitive combination that cannot be remapped, forcing long-term fans especially to adapt to a completely different layout. Or spend another $50 to buy a copy of Nintendo’s currently out of stock N64 controller (update: 10/26/21, 12:01pm EST: temporarily available).

This poses a special challenge for at least one game: the cult classic railway shooting game "Crime and Punishment". In it, the player moves left and right when using the trigger button to shoot. But as Eurogamer reports, the way the buttons are mapped means that you can’t actually shoot and move to the right at the same time. At the same time, in Super Mario 64, you can use the Joy-Con rumble function, but only if you want to play the Japanese version.

I messed up some games last night, and although I encountered some of these issues and not others, what bothered me most was the bright gray borders on both sides of the N64 game to maintain the original 4:3 aspect ratio. I just upgraded to Switch OLED, which has incredibly bright colors and extremely deep blacks. However, the expansion pack game did not use straight black borders or colorful wallpapers, but made my Switch look like it was burned on either side of the screen.

Hope these are problems that Nintendo can solve, although given its track record, I'm not sure if anyone should hold their breath. The meager release library of expansion packs should grow in the future, adding games such as The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and Paper Mario. At the same time, I can confirm that Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine is playing well.

To be honest, I got the convenience factor and...maybe...multiplayer games, but building a Retropie is only $50, very easy, and can last for years