Is it weird that I get a sense of nostalgia when talking about the Retro Fighters Brawler 64? That first Kickstarter for a modern N64 controller was such a big deal to me and my recently reinvigorated retro gaming spirit, especially since the N64 remains one of my all-time favorite systems. But a lot has happened since that original Kickstarter in 2017: the Brawler line-up first received a number of color additions, a USB variant, followed by a wireless version that improved upon every shortcoming of the original releases, which then made their way into a V2 wired Brawler. Finally, in September 2022 it was announced that a new Bluetooth variant of the Brawler 64 was being kickstarted for release in late December. It has been a few weeks now since the Brawler 64 NSO Edition arrived and although they may have been made specifically for the Switch, there is a number of fun things you can use them for!
What’s In The Box
The Brawler 64 NSO Edition comes in a compact box with a near-true-to-life depiction of the Brawler on the front. Even after 5 years, I continue to love the N64-inspired stripe on the side, and having it match the controller inside is a nice touch. Another depiction of the controller can be found on the side while the back highlights the purpose of this variant. Inside the box, you will find your Brawler 64, a USB-C cable, and a User Manual.
Aesthetics And Build Quality
At first glance, there isn’t much to differentiate the new Bluetooth Brawlers (as I will refer to them from here on out) from the 2.4GHz wireless ones. There are now four LEDs on the face of the controller instead of one and the turbo and clear buttons have been relabeled to minus and home for its intended Nintendo Switch use. Additionally, the thumbstick now features a click-in stick. On top of the controller are a pair of new buttons for screenshots and switching the controller from N64 mode to Pro Controller mode. Internally, a pair of rumble motors have been added to the design making this the first wireless Brawler to do so! Outside of these changes, everything you love or hate about the Brawler is here. The Bluetooth Brawler has also introduced a new color variant of pure white and it is quite stunning to look at!
Gameplay
Seeing as the Bluetooth Brawlers' intended use case is for playing N64 games on the Nintendo Switch Online N64 app, it only made sense to start there with testing. Pairing the controller to the system is an easy process, and once connected, swapping between N64 and Pro modes is a simple press of a button. The lack of needing a dedicated dongle is certainly a huge plus for getting started! When in N64 mode, the Switch sees the Bluetooth Brawler as an N64 controller complete with N64 icons in the controller sections of the home screen and over your profile pic in the app. In-game every button is mapped perfectly for N64 use but for fans of the Brawler on real hardware, do note that your right Z button doesn’t mirror the left in this use case and instead brings up the in-game menu. For anyone who has been using the Wireless Brawler up to this point, this shouldn’t come as any surprise.
Unfortunately, there is a limited selection of games on the NSO app to pit the controller against, but thankfully one of them is Super Mario 64 which has almost everything we need to see if an N64 controller is worth it's salt! Beginning with the Mario spin test we can see that the dead zones of the Bluetooth brawler are a hair higher, making the test result in a less-than-perfect spin. But the movement test shows that the stick is able to hit every needed range for Mario’s movement build-up. Quick alternating jumps also work as intended. Moving on to Star Fox 64 lets us see that each diagonal has a bit more sensitivity to it compared to a real N64 controller, but spin attacks in both Zelda titles work as intended so nothing majorly problematic. D-pad-only titles such as Kirby 64 run like a dream and I am happy that the Bluetooth Brawler has a more rollable D-Pad compared to the Wireless Brawler.
So what does this mean for users? Well, unless you are a speed runner or die-hard N64 enthusiast, you aren’t likely to notice the slight dead zones or sensitive diagonals and will be extremely happy with each game's performance! Unfortunately, there is no official way of running a stick tester through the app, so we can’t get a visualization of what the controller is doing. Once Goldeneye 007 launches on the service we will be able to better measure a few things like the diagonals! But until then, each game on the service has behaved well, and latency is hardly noticeable, making the experience even more enjoyable. The built-in battery also lasts for well over 20 hours per charge so there is loads of N64 gaming to enjoy before having to plug in!
Because the Bluetooth Brawler can be put into a Pro Controller mode you can also use it with any game in the Switch’s library as long as you take the fact that it only has one thumbstick into account. This use case will be extremely niche but you will get full button remapping support for any title you wish to try out. I think it is once again worth noting that the stick's dead zones are noticeable in certain titles. One last addition Retro Fighters made to the Bluetooth Brawler was the inclusion of motion controls. If you have a game that can purely rely on motion aiming, it could be a way to overcome the lack of a second analog stick. It works well enough but I don’t think even I could bring myself to play through full sections of a game like this.
So for its number one intended use case, I think the Bluetooth Brawler stands up very well for itself with only a slight dead zone tweak needed. But I don’t actually plan to use the Bluetooth Brawler on Switch much myself and am instead more interested in its PC uses for N64 emulation and older PC titles. Unfortunately, this is when things get a little weird for the Bluetooth Brawler. Depending on how you connect the controller to your system can result in a different performance profile. With 4 methods of connection available, there are 2 distinct performance profiles you will see with the Bluetooth Brawler while using it for N64 emulation.
First off, If you connect the controller to your system with Bluetooth in its Switch Pro controller mode, Xinput mode, or with a wire in direct input mode, the analog stick takes on a square gate with the X and Y axis falling in line with proper N64 ranges. With a square gate, you run the risk of oversensitivity in some titles like Goldeneye 007 or Perfect Dark when performing diagonal stick movements. Thankfully the ranges aren’t high enough to make games unplayable but it is certainly noticeable compared to an original N64 controller's performance. This is likely the profile we are seeing during Switch use judging from the similar feel it gives in games like Star Fox.
Switching the controller into a wired Xinput mode activates the second analog stick profile that follows the more traditional circular shape of modern pads. Again ranges on the stick closely match the ones found in real N64 controllers, but this time we are hit with diagonals that fall below N64 ranges, resulting in broken turning capabilities in Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark. Not every game will be affected by this, mind you, but it is unfortunate to see when this mode has clearly been more tuned for N64 use. So with that being said I prefer to use the controller in Bluetooth Xinput mode and taking the bit of extra sensitivity along the diagonals. Now regardless of which connection method you choose, the deadzone on the stick is still noticeable and reflects in the Super Mario 64 spin test.
Even though the stick isn’t 100% accurate to real N64 hardware, most users should find it more than enjoyable to play their games with the Bluetooth Brawler. The added rumble certainly makes the experience more immersive compared to the USB Wireless Brawler and I can’t express enough how happy I am that the feature is finally in a Brawler! Using the controller for older PC gaming and modern titles handles well with everything I put the controller up against and it works on older operating systems! I enjoyed using the Bluetooth Brawler for this use case more than N64 emulation and the pad works so well for this era of gaming.
What It Could Have Done Better
So to summarize the Bluetooth Brawler experience: you get a controller that handles well in any use case you can throw it at but it does so with a few caveats. First of which is the slightly larger dead zone that will have an effect in every game depending on the user's sensitivity to it. The second is diagonal ranges in N64 emulation not coming close to what the system expects and being either slightly too sensitive or not registering properly depending on your connection method. So for improvements, I would like to see a future update that can reduce the dead zone a bit to eliminate any issues related to it. Seeing the analog stick tuned to better match the diagonals of N64 controllers would also be a huge plus for fans that want to use the Bluetooth Brawler exclusively for N64 emulation.
Verdict
As a PC and Switch controller with a single stick and 6 face buttons, there is a ton of potential in the Bluetooth Brawler for any number of games and genres and it honestly does a good job with them! As an N64 emulation controller, it does an ok job and should be more than good enough for most users. But the untuned diagonals and slightly larger dead zone are sure to be noticeable to diehard fans or users susceptible to such things. Because of this, I don’t personally use the Bluetooth Brawler for the purposes of N64 gaming more than I do for dedicated retro PC gaming where it excels. When looking at the Bluetooth Brawler for yourself, take stock of what role you hope to have the controller take and decide accordingly if the slight inaccuracies are deal-breaking for you.
