Checklist of Nintendo Classics Problems

Published on 17 Dec 2025

I got bored, so here’s a list of problems that I will update from time to time that affects Nintendo Classics (and Sega Genesis / MegaDrive - Nintendo Switch Online). Some of these are nitpicking, but I consider most of them are important to solve.

These problems are not making those emulators unplayable. This is not what I imply here, these emulators are actually fine for the most part except for N64, and even then, N64 is not the worst thing ever as this list might imply it is, this is a matter of standards here.

Last update: 2025-12-27 20:04

Problems

All Nintendo Classics Apps Problems

• The border.
  • At least offer a black border mode…
• No patch notes.
  • I really wish we don’t have to play the guessing game on bug fixes and improvements.
• All Switch Online classic controllers are not supported on every app.
  • This one is just weird because it means Nintendo just refuses to let people use other NSO controllers on all apps and I just think that’s crass.
  • For example you can use the GameCube controller on the Nintendo 64 app… but you can’t pause the emulator to rewind or save state with it… or remap the game controls for it. That’s bad.
• No way to delete game saves.
  • By that, I don’t mean suspend points, even if it would be cool, but I’m talking about the save of a game by itself, such as the save inside the cartridge or a GameCube Memory Card.
  • There are many uses for such a feature, like maybe speedrunners who wants a reliable starting point, or maybe we get a save that’s bricking the game (it’s possible to do this for some games). It would be dumb to call Nintendo just to delete that one save, assuming they can actually delete just one save inside the save of an app!
• No instruction manuals or equivalent.
  • In all fairness, the game details and now control options do explain a lot and is a real improvement even over Wii U Virtual Console on that specific aspect. But it would still be cool to at least have a quick explanation of things, especially for games that are japanese only.
  • This is also a good potential to put some tips, even cheat codes, which Nintendo does give on the japanese website at times!
  • Reminder to people though: They do at least explain how to use the link function(s) of GB and GBA games if you play multiplayer and access the emulator menu, a very underrated feature!

Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Classics Problems

• Cannot play with more than 2 Players
  • List of games that supports 3/4 Players on the service:
    • Downtown Nekketsu March Super-Awesome Field Day!
• StarTropics: Requires to search on the Internet to find the frequency code.
• Missing European localizations of games on the service:
  • The Immortal (French, unreleased)
  • Kirby’s Adventure (French 60Hz, German)

Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Classics Problems

• Joy-Con 2 Mouse Mode Detection is too aggressive
• Cannot play with more than 2 Players
  • List of games that supports 4 Players on the service:
    • Smash Tennis
    • Super Puyo Puyo 2
    • Kunio-kun no Dodgeball da yo Zen’in Shūgō!
    • Amazing Hebereke
    • Natsume Championship Wrestling
    • The Peace Keepers
• Missing European localizations of games on the service

Game Boy - Nintendo Classics Problems

• Missing localizations of certain games on the service:
  • Survival Kids (European)
  • The Sword of Hope (German, Spanish, Swedish)
• Unable to change the Game Boy Color’s color scheme for regular Game Boy games
  • Game Boy Color actually offers different color schemes that you select at boot with a button combination, it would be cool to have access to them.
• No Super Game Boy functionality
  • More complicated than it sounds for the user side of it though.

Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Classics Problems

Disclaimer: None of this makes the emulator completely unplayable. You can still enjoy N64 games that way. Just keep in mind that it’s not necessarily respectful of how it was on the original system.
Most of what’s listed will definitely feel like nitpicking but I go from this in the sense that we have higher standards, stuff like Wii Virtual Console, as good as it was perceived at the time, does not really fly now, and we have gotten technological advances since then that I just won’t accept Wii VC quality either. Nintendo has the means to do better, we have the means to do better, and believe me, I still have a lot of complaints regarding unofficial N64 emulation.

You can argue that N64 emulation is hard, because you have heard that from many people who are reliable on the subject, but that fact is pretty darn outdated to some extent. Not that emulation isn’t hard (developing emulators IS HARD), but it’s also not that the N64 is not well understood, it is pretty dang well understood nowadays, many of the problems rather stems from adapting N64 to current systems, but many of those problems were solved years ago with new computing standards. The only thing preventing N64 emulation from being good in my opinion, is a lack of experts working full time on redoing things that are adapted to current standards instead of just relying on old outdated ways of emulating N64.

• Input Lag
• Bad Stick Range Mapping
• No 3-point texture rendering
  • I don’t get why they didn’t do this.
• No Controller Pak Emulation
  • Technically, it’s actually inside the emulator in a working state but they don’t use it for some reason. They planned to use it at one point and then they didn’t.
  • I tried to find an easy way to automate the switching between Controller Pak & Rumble Pak, but it looks like it’s quite a bit more difficult than I thought.
    • Might require more in-depth changes per game for it to work.
  • Games on the service that requires it for saving progress:
    • Winback: Covert Operations
    • Extreme G
    • Iggy’s Reckin’ Balls
    • Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
    • Shadow Man
    • Turok 2: Seeds of Evil
    • Forsaken 64
    • Rayman 2: The Great Escape
    • Tonic Trouble
  • Games on the service that requires it for additional features:
    • Mario Kart 64 (Ghost Data)
    • Excitebike 64 (Ghost Data and save more than one Custom Courses)
• No Automated Saving
  • Nintendo 64 cartridge and Controller Pak are not really under continuous use like previous consoles. Losing progress when a crash happens as the game save isn’t actually saved until it’s properly closed is not really an intuitive thing.
• No Anti-Aliasing
  • N64 is actually known for hardware Anti-Aliasing…
  • The CRT Filter does provide a natural AA by downscaling at least.
• Switch 1 users has no downscale option.
  • I seriously think HD N64 games look like garbage, particularly on heavily 2D oriented games like Harvest Moon 64.
  • If CRT filter is impossible, at least offer a downscale option.
• CRT Filter forces 240p including for HiRes games
  • I still prefer that than being forced to play at 720p upscaled.
• Missing localizations of certain games on the service:
  • Shadow Man (Brazilian Portuguese)
  • Dr. Mario 64 (Japanese, unreleased)
• F-Zero X: Unstable Framerate
• Pilotwings 64: Too much button mashing needed to flap in Birdman
  • The button mashing seems tied to framerate, it’s a lot easier to flap on original hardware.

Game Boy Advance - Nintendo Classics Problems

• F-Zero GP Legend: No e-Reader courses and challenge ghosts in US and EU versions (they are present in JP app)
  • It is possible without major hacks, the code to access the content is still present in those versions and doesn’t seem to break at all.
  • You can play the content in the JP app, or you can check out this patch that adds all e-Reader content to all versions of the game, including EU version: https://romhack.ing/database/content/entry/DtNu5JQBNs8FWu0CrHKH/e-complete

Nintendo GameCube - Nintendo Classics Problems

• Input Lag
• Bad Stick Range Mapping
• No Automated Saving
  • Memory Cards are not really under continuous use like previous consoles. Losing progress when a crash happens as the game save isn’t actually saved until it’s properly closed is not really an intuitive thing.

Virtual Boy - Nintendo Classics Problems

• No ability to use it in other ways than VR

Sega Genesis/Mega Drive - Nintendo Switch Online Problems

• No Control Explanation & Remapping
• CRT Filter should blend pixels more
  • Too many games are clearly made for worse video signal in mind.

Nitpicks

All Nintendo Classics Apps Nitpicks

• I would like for the library to be the same across all regions.
  • Maybe even access both NA and JP versions at once.
• The UX regarding the choice of different versions of games is just weird.
• Not all apps are 4K.
  • NES, GB, GBA and Genesis/Mega Drive apps aren’t 4K yet.

Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Classics Nitpicks

• No Famicom Disk System boot screen as an easter egg.

Game Boy - Nintendo Classics Nitpicks

• The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages / Seasons: Not able to use link to transfer save in single player.
  • I consider it’s largely possible since only the receiving end decides which save file to choose from the other game… just like with Fire Emblem The Blazing Sword in Japan.

Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Classics Nitpicks

• No Transfer Pak Emulation
  • Mario Tennis: Cannot access Transfer Pak only courts.
  • Mario Golf: Cannot train GBC characters.
  • Pokémon Stadium / Pokémon Stadium 2: Cannot use real Pokémon.
• Missing localizations of certain games on the service:
  • Extreme G (European)
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time / Majora’s Mask (Europe): Not rebuilding the game for 60 Hz.
  • Definitely a nitpick, but they did do this for the GameCube emulated release.

Game Boy Advance - Nintendo Classics Nitpicks

• Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade (Japan): Cannot access the extra promotional maps.
• Golden Sun: The Lost Age: Cannot easily transfer complete save data from Golden Sun.
  • You can use the password, but I wish it was still possible to transfer in single player like with the japanese versions of Fire Emblem on the JP app.
  • However, it is harder to implement because of the way it works, so I get it.
• The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (Europe): Not rebuilding the game based on the actual final version.
  • Some aspects of the European version are less polished for being based from an earlier version of the game than the JP and US versions. This is definitely asking a lot though, and is definitely feeling beyond the scope of Nintendo Classics, but I wanted to make people aware of it.

Nintendo GameCube - Nintendo Classics Nitpicks

• No ability to download games seperately.
  • As the NA/EU app includes both US and European versions, there is a legitimate fear of an app that might be unnecessarily bloated.
  • As of 1.4.0, the base app is 5.0 GB for 3 games in both US/EU versions, and the update data is 2.6 GB for 4 games in both versions. Seemingly taking size optimization as a very important point.
  • Currently listed as nitpick as for now, but could be considered a real problem if it gets really huge.
• Does not emulate Game Boy Advance link.
  • It does seriously get more complicated than emulating the Transfer Pak.

Sega Genesis/Mega Drive - Nintendo Switch Online Nitpicks

• The better translated UK version of Crusader of Centy (Soleil) should be added.

(Weird) Cool Stuff They Could Do

This is more personal, and I will not put literally everything I want. I did not put every retail game I want, that list would be too big, so my focus is more on stuff that feels less certain to happen, or at least, pretty uncommon.

All Nintendo Classics Apps

• I’d kinda like music in them, especially menu music from specific hardware stuff
• Localize Japan only games.
  • And viceversa! No reason Japan isn’t allowed games like Startropics.

Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Classics

• Add NES Zapper games:
  • Duck Hunt
  • Gumshoe
  • Hogan’s Alley
  • Wild Gunman
  • Barker Bill’s Trick Shooting
• Add ROB games, and simulating a ROB with all the accessories for each game:
  • Gyromite / Robot Gyro
  • Stack-Up / Robot Block
• Add alternate versions of games:
  • Ice Climber / FDS Version (FMC-ICD)
    • Port of the Arcade version, it is different.
  • Clu Clu Land / FDS Version (FMC-CLD)
    • Port of the Arcade version, only the Japanese app has it for some reason.
    • And viceversa, the Japanese app should also get the cartridge version of Clu Clu Land.
  • Mario Bros. Classic (HVC-B2 - Japanese, unreleased, or PAL-MC, European)
    • Closer to the Arcade, and has better jump physics.
• Add the following unreleased games (all confirmed completed):
  • Sutte Hakkun (HVC-HN - Japanese, unreleased)
  • Heli-Fighter (HVC-HF - Japanese, unreleased)
    • Very early cancelled game, possibly a port of Heli-Fire, uncertain if Nintendo still has it.
  • Parnuts (パルナッツ) (HVC-PW - Japanese, unreleased)
    • Nintendo was publishing this game, maybe even developed it? We just don’t know what it is about.
  • Pazukkado (パズッカド) (HVC-PU - Japanese, unreleased)
    • Exact same comment as the game just above.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Classics

• Add Super Scope games:
  • Super Scope 6
  • Battle Clash
  • Metal Combat: Falcon’s Revenge
    • Do they have an unreleased japanese version…?
  • Yoshi’s Safari
  • Tin Star
    • Also supports Controller and Mouse
• Add Satellaview games (Standalone):
  • Special Tee Shot
    • Original version of Kirby’s Dream Course, very different game.
  • Pico Pico Pirates
  • Kirby’s Toy Box (8 new minigames)
  • KONAE-chan no Dokidoki Penguin Kazoku
  • Sutte Hakkun - Event Version
    • Contains some extra bonus stages not in the cartridge version.
  • Sutte Hakkun - ‘98 Winter Event Version
    • Winter version with extra stages not in the cartridge version.
  • DynamiTracer
  • Treasure Conflix
• Add Satellaview games (Soundlink):
  • BS The Legend of Zelda - MAP 1 & 2
  • BS The Legend of Zelda - Ancient Stone Tablets
  • Excitebike Bunbun Mario Battle
  • BS Detective Club - Lost Memories in the Snow
  • BS Fire Emblem: Archanea Saga
  • BS F-Zero Grand Prix 2
  • Kodomo Chousadan Mighty Pockets
    • Definitely needs a change of the music playlist for sure because some of it won’t fly now lol
  • BS Marvelous - Time Athletic
  • BS Marvelous - Camp Arnold
• Add the following unreleased games (all confirmed completed):
  • Sound Fantasy (SHVC-NQ - JP/NA, unreleased)
    • Even the president of The Pokémon Company who helped on making this game happen wants this to release.

Game Boy - Nintendo Classics

• Add the following unreleased games (all confirmed completed):
  • Lunar Chase (DMG-ECE - US, unreleased)
    • Unreleased complete English localization of X
  • Sutte Hakkun GB (DMG-ASPJ - Japanese, unreleased)
  • Pokémon Picross (DMG-AKVJ - Japanese, unreleased)

Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Classics

• Add 64DD games:
  • F-Zero X Expansion Kit
  • Mario Artist Paint Studio
    • Might need to change one music?
    • Would be fun to have online multiplayer drawing mode for this.
    • Emulating the Capture Cassette using the microphone and camera would be cool?
  • Mario Artist Talent Studio
  • Mario Artist Polygon Studio
  • Mario Artist Communication Kit
    • Not necessarily as playable but just for the bonus content to use.
    • Would definitely need disk swapping support to make the best use of the suite!
  • Doshin The Giant 1
    • Game is actually different from the GameCube version in quite a few ways.
  • Sim City 64
• Add the following unreleased games (all confirmed completed):
  • Slicradic (NUS-NRBJ - Japanese, unreleased)
    • NST emulated this for the N64 emulator for GameCube / Wii.
    • Probably has an US version too (would be NUS-NRBE), but I’m just listing the version that I know exists. Game owned by Nintendo.
    • Originally known as “Mini Racers” (there is a playable prototype ROM out there)

Virtual Boy - Nintendo Classics

• Add the following games:
  • Bound High (VUE-VBHE, unreleased)
    • Game was fully done, got produced at one point too. Nintendo bought the rights to the game during development.
    • Final ROM of this leaked, very good game!
  • Zero Racers (unreleased)
    • Game was fully done, developed by Nintendo.
  • Dragon Hopper (unreleased)
    • Everything I’ve seen suggests the game was done, it’s developed by Intelligent Systems.