Nintendo has promised to fix an annoying bug that has surfaced in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, a Nintendo 64 game available through Nintendo’s Online Expansion Pack subscription. According to NintendoLife, the bug prevents players from moving when hit by certain enemies or items in the game’s underwater levels. The only way to fix it, according to people who say they experienced the bug, is to exit the level.
The problem seems to be caused by Nintendo’s emulator, as players report that they don’t remember it happening in the original version of the game or in other ports (it was available through the Virtual Console on Wii and Wii U). In a tweet on fridaythe company said a patch to fix the problem “will be released early next week.”
An error was found in #Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards for Nintendo 64 – Nintendo Switch Online that can prevent players from progressing under a certain condition. To fix this, a patch will be released early next week. We apologize for the inconvenience.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) May 27, 2022
This is far from Nintendo’s first brush with emulation issues on the Switch. Players have complained that some classic games run poorly on the company’s modern console, and in some cases, players have noticed changes from the original versions. When Paper Mario, another Nintendo 64 game, came to the console, the launch was a bit of a disaster; there were crashes, complaints about lag, and even reports of bugs when deleting saved files.
It doesn’t help people’s moods that Nintendo is marketing its emulator as a premium feature – to access NES or SNES games, you have to subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online, which costs $20 a year. However, access to Nintendo 64 games requires a Switch Online subscription plus Expansion Pack, which costs $50 per year (and includes other emulators and access to DLC).
Getting games to emulate well is no small feat, and Nintendo isn’t alone in having trouble. Sony’s PlayStation Plus classic game emulator, intended to run PlayStation 1, 2 and Portable games, has already received some complaints, with Digital Foundry calling the current iteration “not good enough”. (Au.) People weren’t thrilled with the emulation capabilities of the standalone PlayStation Classic console either.
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