Nintendo just released two games on their Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack’s Game Boy Advance app, and two on their Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack’s brand new Nintendo 64 Mature 17+ app. Let’s have a look at them!

Here’s what I thought of each:

Game Boy Advance App

Game	Genre	# of Players	Score
Metroid: Zero Mission	Metroidvania	1	A+
tl;dr This remake of the first Metroid game brings the gameplay closer to the series’ pinnacle, Super Metroid, and the result is one of the best games in the series, and I’d say that its biggest flaw is that it’s relatively short. If you enjoy a good Metroidvania, you absolutely need to play this game.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords	Top-Down Action-RPG	1-4 Co-Op (Online)	A
tl;dr If you’re going to play A Link to the Past, you’re better off just playing the version on the Super Nintendo app, which has a larger screen size and doesn’t have the annoying Link voice. The main appeal of this version is Four Swords, a co-op adventure for up to four players, and this is the first time since the original Game Boy Advance release you could enjoy it this way. Definitely worth a look for co-op Zelda fans!

Nintendo 64 Mature 17+ App

Game	Genre	# of Players	Score
Perfect Dark	First-Person Shooter	1-4 Competitive (Local Split-Screen / Online Split-Screen)	C+
tl;dr Rare’s follow-up to the legendary Goldeneye is a game that fans often swear is even better. The game has a lot going for it, but unfortunately it suffers from the same major problem that Goldeneye does on this platform – the controls. Unless you jump through a lot of hoops to get a workable control scheme, this is nearly unplayable by today’s standards. Whether or not you’ll enjoy it depends on whether you want to jump through those hoops
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter	First-Person Shooter	1	C-
tl;dr It is outright painful going back and playing Turok like this after playing the modern remaster of the game. It’s not just the lack of the polished visuals and the ugly framerates, either – it’s the absolutely abysmal controls that this game doesn’t allow you to change. As old-school First-Person Shooters go, Turok is solid, but please do not play this version of it

There’s definitely an uneven split in the quality here.

First, the good news. The Game Boy Advance games are both excellent in their own way. Metroid: Zero Mission is, in my opinion, one of the best games in the entire Metroid franchise, second only to Super Metroid. It’s an absolute must-play for Metroidvania fans. The GBA version of Zelda: A Link to the Past, meanwhile, is mainly interesting for its multiplayer component, as you can already play a better version of the main game on the SNES app. However, since this is the first time since the original GBA release that you could play this game in this way, this is still a pretty great release.

Now, the bad news.

Nintendo made the unusual decision to create a completely separate app for Mature-rated Nintendo 64 games, with the following two games being the first titles on that app.

First off, Turok is a bit of an odd choice, since you can already play a remastered version of this game on Nintendo Switch, a version that’s quite good. In addition, we also got Perfect Dark, just in time for Microsoft’s recent reveal of an upcoming third game in the franchise (well, fourth if you count the Game Boy Color game). Both of these games have a lot of good qualities… that are sadly very difficult to appreciate here, due to these versions’ strict adherence to the original Nintendo 64 one-stick control scheme.

Sadly, the rights holders did not see fit to grace Nintendo Switch Online players with the 2-stick controls created for the Xbox 360 port of Perfect Dark, and unless you jump through a lot of hoops to get a workable control scheme, this is nearly unplayable by today’s standards (If you must, choose control style 2.2 with four Joy-Cons, and then swap the left Joy-Cons so the player 2 left Joy-Con is in your left hand, and the player 1 left Joy-Con is in your right hand… at least if I remember correctly. It’s convoluted. Oh, and turn off reversed look). Turok fares even worse here, with almost zero control options to speak of.

In short, the two Game Boy Advance games are absolute must-play titles… and the Nintendo 64 games are real disappointments.

tl;dr – The Game Boy Advance app and the new N64 Mature 17+ app get a collective four games this month, and at the very least the GBA games are both phenomenal. The Nintendo 64 games, unfortunately, have such severe control issues they’re just not worth playing. So this is definitely a very mixed month.

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