The Switch 2 finally rewinds time and no, it’s not a metaphor for Nintendo’s love of the 90s.
With the Nintendo Switch 2 dropping next week, eight long years after the original handheld hybrid turned things upside down in the gaming industry, Nintendo has confirmed to give players more than shinier graphics and a new Mario Kart. The company is also going to add a trio of long-requested features the fans have desperately waited for, or at least decent bribes to keep the Expansion Pack subscription active.
Nintendo Finally Adds Rewind and Control Mapping to N64 Games Ahead of Switch 2 Release
First up and by far the headliner is the rewind feature for Nintendo 64 titles available via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. If you’ve ever screamed at Ocarina of Time because a skulltula knocked you into lava, or rage-quit F-Zero X for the 40th time, you would love this element.
The rewind function lets you skip back a few minutes in gameplay as though the last mistake never happened. It’s like save states on steroids. Made a bad jump? Rewind. Missed the 1-up? Rewind. Got flattened by a Blue Shell in Mario Kart 64 for the thousandth time? Yes—rewind.
Many players can think of it as cheating but many others will be dancing in joy hearing its announcement. But if Nintendo is finally letting us cheat, then by all means, give us a time-turner and call us Link Potter.
In more “Back in my day…” news, Nintendo has also introduced a CRT screen filter to N64 titles. It’s designed to make your OLED screen look like a chonky living room TV from 1997. Sure, it’s a purely aesthetic addition, but sometimes, a little visual fuzz is the warm hug your childhood needs.
And in what might be the most shockingly overdue quality-of-life update, Nintendo is finally letting players customize controls on N64 games. This means you can now map the awkward N64 control scheme to something that doesn’t require finger gymnastics or a third hand.
These features are also coming to the original Nintendo Switch. You don’t have to fork over $400+ only to rewind the failed jump in Banjo-Kazooie. The updates are included in the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, not the console hardware, which is a surprisingly non-greedy move from the company that once sold us cardboard accessories for $70.
These features go live June 5, 2025, the same day the Nintendo Switch 2 launches alongside the new Mario Kart. In classic Nintendo fashion, they’re dropping a bunch of good stuff all at once.
