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After 28 years, N64 emulation is still a nightmare even for Nintendo – Banjo-Tooie on Switch runs its opening demo at goofy double speed

The new Switch version of Banjo-Tooie features an improved frame rate, but it results in a title screen bug where gameplay demos play too fast. This bug, similar to the Xbox Live Arcade version, highlights the ongoing challenges of N64 emulation, although the game overall is a solid experience on the Switch.

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While the Nintendo 64 is now 28 years old, emulation for the platform is notoriously challenging, and that's no less true for Nintendo itself. The latest evidence comes from the newly-minted Switch version of N64 classic Banjo-Tooie, which features an inconsequential but pretty much unmissable bug right on the title screen thanks to the game's improved frame rate.

Banjo-Tooie was a visual standout when it hit the N64 back in 2000, but its giant levels and detailed environments came at the cost of a bad - sometimes even abysmal - frame rate. N64 games regularly ran at a 20 FPS target that would be unthinkable these days, and on the original platform Banjo-Tooie struggles at times to even reach that low bar.

The version of Banjo-Tooie that's now available as part of the N64 library in the more expensive tier of Nintendo Switch Online runs at a much better frame rate, but as Alex Olney notes on Bluesky, that's caused the gameplay demos that run on the title screen to move way too fast. 

Curiously, the Xbox Live Arcade version of Banjo-Tooie released in 2009 also runs the demo sequences too fast, though not nearly to the degree of this Switch version. In fact, the XBLA version runs all of the game's cutscenes slightly too fast, but outside of the opening demos the Switch version completely corrects that issue. You can check out the video above for a direct comparison between all three editions. 

By all accounts, the XBLA edition of Banjo-Tooie is still the definitive version, but despite the title screen bug the Switch version seems like a totally fine way to play, too. Nintendo's official N64 emulation efforts on Switch have been spotty, but they've improved over the years, and Banjo-Tooie seems to be making the most of those improvements. You know, if you ignore the one obvious reminder of the challenges of N64 emulation that appears whenever you sit at the title screen too long.

The best N64 games deserve the best way to play them.