Nintendo continues to patch and fix N64 on Switch games (Update)

A few minor fixes just came out

A new N64 on Switch patch was recently released alongside of Kirby 64, and some sneaky dataminers have managed to once again uncover some invisible patch notes. Most famously, Nintendo fixed the fog in Ocarina of Time, which was one of the most egregious emulation releases in some time, and one of myriad errors.

Over on Twitter, Switch “tinkerer” and Dolphin contributor OatmealDome figured out a basic patch notes rundown for the update, titled “version 2.3.0:”

• Kirby 64 added
• Star Fox 64 had gamma adjustment enabled — gamma value was set to 1.8.
• Dr. Mario 64 had renderer settings adjusted (“ConstValue_0” added)
• Mario Golf had renderer settings adjusted (“ConstValue_1” added).

In short, you can see the results of the render fixing in the N64 on Switch patch here, and the gamma adjustment for Star Fox 64 is more obviously apparent. OatmealDome also notes that Kirby 64 is actually the least-touched N64 game to date, stating, “Kirby 64 appears to have the least amount of patches and hacks that I’ve seen so far for this emulator. There are the usual renderer settings adjustments present, but there are no CPU instruction patches or hooks.”

With that in mind, Kirby 64 also has a soft lock bug that will need to be addressed in the future. It occurs in underwater stages in specific conditions, but it’s something for Nintendo to note nonetheless.

[Update: Nintendo has acknowledged the Kirby 64 issue in a recent tweet, calling it a “bug that can prevent players progressing under a certain condition.” The patch is scheduled to arrive “early next week.” For Nintendo, this is a pretty fast response!]

[Update #2: “Early next week” was pretty early! It has been patched as of May 30.]

A bug has been found in #Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards for Nintendo 64 – Nintendo Switch Online that can prevent players from progressing under a certain condition. A patch will be released early next week to fix this. We apologize for the inconvenience.

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) May 27, 2022