Yesterday afternoon a batch of Nintendo 64 controllers for Switch went up on some European Nintendo stores including the UK, and if you did try to purchase them yesterday you were likely met with one of two outcomes:
**\[A\] Successfully added item to cart and successfully purchased.**
**\[B\] Unable to add to cart at all, eventually being met with the message** [**’You reached the maximum quantity allowed for this product.’**](https://i.ibb.co/pfXr5f6/Screenshot-2022-10-21-144955.png) **regardless of if you’ve ever purchased a Nintendo 64 controller before.**
I was one of those in group **\[B\]**, a friend of mine fell into group **\[A\]** able to successfully order the controllers multiple times that afternoon. The only difference between the two of us was that I had a standard Switch Online membership, and he has a Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership.
Since then I have been asking in as many threads across social media as I can find, and the overwhelming majority of responses has come back the same:
**If you have an Expansion Pack membership, you could purchase the controller no problem. If you have a standard Switch Online membership, you weren’t even able to add it to your cart.**
For clarity I have only ever purchased one Nintendo 64 controller from the store previously, and have never had the Expansion Pack membership. As I understood it, an Expansion Pack membership has never been required to purchase either the Nintendo 64, or Sega Genesis/Mega-Drive controllers. Whether this is a gross technical issue, or a new purchase restriction, it’s something I felt the need to address, and something Nintendo themselves also need to clarify. These are already hard enough products to attain.
by TheLimeyLemmon
25 Comments
This happened to me too! I was in camp [B]. I’m trying to buy the controller before upgrading to the expansion membership but maybe you can’t. I was also met with the error where I couldn’t add the item to my cart.
I’m sure Nintendo can see how many are buying them and never getting the expansion pass. Since the expansion pass is the main purpose Nintendo has for them, and Nintendo sees people complaining about the scalping, it sounds like an anti-scalping measure to me.
Of course this gets locked. Mods aren’t people.
Wasn’t this always the case? They also had a limit of how many you could get with an account. Why get the controller if you’re not using it for their emulator, which is only available with expansion pack?
Yep in the beginning I thought it was strange how the controller is limited for NSO members but not limited further to just Expansion Pack subscribers. Makes total sense since the point is to use it for the N64 games, which you need the Expansion Pack for. Since demand for these is so high it seems like the logical thing to do.
I don’t have the expansion pack and was able to add the Genesis controller to my cart, but the N64 controller is sold out in my region so I can’t comment on that one.
Might be cheaper to buy from a Scalper than expansion pass + controller. Was gonna use on OG N64 using the Blue Retro adapter. Shame since I wasn’t able to buy one before the change.
On an off note, these aren’t region locked in any way are they? Japanese ones sell for ~$20 less than the US ones in the 2ndary market.
Fucking finally. I would love to finally be able to buy one. I just want one. Why is it so hard. I hope this fixes it so I can finally buy one.
I know I am going to get downvoted to shit for it, but it’s a fact. How is it you people are buying in to this? You will never actually OWN the games, but pay forever until you can’t. What then? You paid all of that money to play something you will never actually own. How can anyone not see this? Seriously when will you all open your eyes and vote with your wallet. Wouldn’t you be better off buying the physical game rather than paying the yearly subscription for it?
> I was one of those in group [B], a friend of mine fell into group [A] able to successfully order the controllers multiple times that afternoon.
I think it’s just a general error with NSO. I’ve bought the N64, Genesis, NES and one SNES controller.
I’ve considered getting a second SNES controller, but the site says I’ve reached my limit. A few weeks ago, I managed to finally order the N64 controller after months of waiting for a restock. I do not have the Expansion Pass and don’t plan to get it.
Can you use those controllers for all Nintendo games or just the N64 ones?
Honestly, I’ve been trying to get one since they first became available and always seem to miss the restocks. They should just put everyone that has the NSO expansion pass and wants the controller on a waitlist.
I seriously do not understand why it is so difficult for Nintendo to manufacture a proper amount of these. You can get all the other controllers easily, but this one is nearly impossible. And I’ve been waiting to pick up the controller before playing any of the N64 games.
Get it together, Nintendo!
I don’t know if its a regional thing but I was able to order an N64 controller a few weeks ago, received it a few days ago and I didn’t have the expansion pass when I bought it.
What a tragedy, you can’t buy an almost 30 year old controller without paying an extra $7 a month. Life hits you fast sometimes
Ah yeah that’s tough
It prevents scalpers so
The N64 controller is pointless without the expansion pak membership.
Wait they still sell them? I need 1 more
I want one but still not enough for msrp let alone scalp prices
I still have the expansion pass and all the dlc from it has been taken away!
What the actual fuck! I set up alerts for this, notify me, everything and still I haven’t managed to get one of these godforsaken ducking controllers!
I have this set to notify me when it comes in stock in the UK. That clearly doesn’t work
Likely a new purchase restriction, because now i have to ask if you don’t have the expansion pass for n64 games then why the fuck are you trying to buy a controller that has no use to you?
I just saw the option to buy this about 2 weeks ago… I’m in the US and had been on the PC lately and wanted to get back to my Switch while I was out of work (awesome idea, love the classics and exclusives on this thing but wish/beg/plea it had some upscaling or performance boost while retaining the image or bettering it in some titles already out worked into the gpu code/ability, as I get way too used to 1440p and 4k gaming)…
Back to the original point, what I saw, even though I am already a member, was something akin to the offer only being available to people with the expansion pack membership… I guess what I took that as, was that it would only show the page itself or have the page/link somewhere for someone who’s is logged in and of course has a premium membership (expansion pass plus? 🤯 or whatever we call it 🤷♂️)…
It kind of made it seem like you would only have access to it there, but if there’s a webpage you can access on a browser wether using your PC or phone and it doesn’t explicitly say on the page that you need to have the membership then Nintendo should have owned up to missing out on changing certain pages/inventory management/syphoning issues etc…
All in all I thought that page was absurd… knowing I wasn’t seeing the page as a year long member with some offer, maybe even a mere 10% off, instead I was wowed by the controller and price. Although if it’s made with quality it’s not too bad of a price… At the same time Nintendos N64 library is small and emulation is not the best. I find games 99% ok but when someone who speed runs or knows the ins and outs of their favorite game noticed a full on change, or a technical issue it makes sense for Nintendo to work on it. Even if they are they could pop a message out here and there saying “hey, we have a team hard at work after hearing the people, to address how our emulator works for all classic consoles”…
Nintendo needs to pull something out of their butt and as much as I would love a new more powerful Switch and hate underperforming hardware, I think they have tricks to work with before doing so. They need to figure out some type of FSR type of upscaling with the GPU architecture in the Switch that can work in the hardwares setting menu if games aren’t going to go back and update. If that’s too difficult newer games need to at least utilize this before we go to a new Nintendo Console. I doubt Nintendo is going to release a new console any time soon, but I don’t doubt they’re working on ideas at all times… I just wanna see the Switch look better and maintain a stable 1080p at 60FPS in all titles… some of the aliasing and dynamic resolution scaling games require is so bad, and having your FLAGSHIP TITLE SLUG 🐌 in a forest town (BOTW on an OLED Switch docked or not) is ridiculous… you made a console that couldn’t handle you’re own OG game? Usually games getter better looking as we go on, although BOTW can still look up there with the best of them on this hardware anyways, however as much as BOTW does look great when you are in the right spot, it can otherwise look pretty BAD… Links ok but the grass 6 ft away is now rendering at what appears to be 480p or something even lower, while the edges make it look like 30 smaller lines just stacked together to make a blade of grass… but the way Nintendo works is anyone’s guess and why I bring this up more… they’re not very fan friendly tbh, although they don’t go against us directly either…
I think the fact the membership sells so well is an issue and not offering a monthly option sucks too, but it’s showing us why. It looks like they want to tie more things to it and they don’t want someone only paying for a single month and then BUYING that controller 😂… Nintendo’s logic is null and void…although the ……$💰$ ….. fit’s in there somewhere a bit too nicely… 🧐 🤔
I’ve been refusing to get the Expansion Pack as long as I can’t get one of those controllers, because I want to experience the N64 games with the right controller. To me the store always says they are out of stock.
I planned to get the membership when I can get a controller. Am I being counter productive for my goal here or is this post about the purchase not working although the button being there?