The Virtual Console Saved the Switch
As someone who spends most of my time gaming on the PlayStation 5 but still considers myself to be a huge Nintendo fan, I find that a lot of my fondness for the Nintendo brand stems from my nostalgia. I have so much love for Nintendo culture, and I have so many memories growing up playing various Big N platforms. While I haven’t found myself drawn to the Switch in recent years, a couple of moves made to bring some key Nintendo 64 games to the platform has been bringing me back to the little hybrid console that could in recent days, and I am having an absolute BLAST with the system.
When Nintendo brought Wave Race 64 to the platform I was intrigued. I dusted off my Switch Online N64 controller and hit the beach for the first time in years. Hopping waves and weaving between buoys feels just as good on the three-armed controller today as it did back when I was a teenager. It is the recent inclusion of Pilotwings 64 however that has me sinking more time into the Switch than I have in years.
There is something so magical about the smooth jazz soundtrack paired with the calm flutter of a Birdman suit’s wings, and call me crazy but the game looks incredible and runs silky smooth on the Switch. I’m no Digital Foundry expert but if you ask me there’s some wizardry at work here, which is odd because I recall hearing folks complain about the poor emulation of N64 games on Switch when this service kicked off. I’ll even go one further by saying that games of this generation hold up remarkably well, at least the games of the Nintendo pedigree. Don’t believe me? My kids are getting in on the fun too by jumping in the time machine with me and playing these great games from yesteryear. In fact my 8 year old son greatly prefers Mario Kart 64 to the modern racing of Mario Kart 8.
As modern gaming platforms continue to push further and further away from the Switch’s aging architecture and performance capabilities, I’m finding new appreciation from the system by digging into the games of Nintendo’s past. While Nintendo still has a lot to prove in regard to bringing the right games over and creating a robust catalog for the service, I am optimistic with the upcoming release of Goldeneye 007 that there’s no game too far out of reach for the Switch.
It’s an odd feeling for sure, but if you ask me, the saving grace of the Nintendo Switch might be the best and brightest games that came from all the Nintendo platforms which preceded it.
