GoldenEye controls better on Xbox than on Switch — can they be changed?

The long, long awaited reissue of Rare’s classic 1997 James Bond shooter GoldenEye 007 is available on Switch and Xbox today — and you might want to carefully consider which version you play.

As we have already announced, this week’s only GoldenEyeSwitch offers online multiplayer. It turns out that the Xbox version has an additional feature, which could have a greater impact on your enjoyment. This is modern first-person shooter controls.

Nintendo is sticking to a strict approach when it comes to the Switch GoldenEye. The game doesn’t support any inputs which didn’t exist on the original Nintendo 64 controller, which means no right trigger to fire from. The various control options available in the game — all carried over from the original, with their Bond-inspired names like “Honey,” “Solitaire,” and “Goodnight” — only allow fire to be assigned to the left trigger or the A button.

N64 had only one analog stick. Nintendo does map the four yellow C buttons, which formed a kind of secondary D-pad, onto the Switch’s right stick, but none of the available control maps correspond to the modern standard for twin-stick first-person controls, with move and strafe on the left stick, and aim and turn on the right. There’s also no custom control option.

Doubtless the game will feel great if you have one of Nintendo’s classic N64 controllers — or even better, two, so you can use one of its dual-wield options — but as it stands, on a standard Switch or a Pro Controller, the options all feel quite ungainly and will take some getting used to. (There is a workaround that involves swapping the Switch’s Joy-cons, but it’s a bit of a fiddle and not that comfortable, plus it isn’t an option for Switch Lite owners or handheld play.)

The Xbox version, by contrast, adds two new control options to the original game’s eight (though even these reassign fire from the left trigger to the right). “Diamond” is a classic modern FPS set-up, with move and look operating as normal on the sticks, and fire on the right trigger. It plays smoothly this way. A fully configurable control map can also be used, which makes the game more accessible.

There are other differences in the versions. The Switch’s exclusive online multiplayer mode works via the Switch Online lobby interface: create a room with some friends there, then jump in and play together as if playing locally. Yes — that means you’ll still be able to see each other’s screens in split-screen. There’s no matchmaking with randoms available. It’s not exactly elegant, but if it’s your only way to play with friends, it’s a huge bonus.

The Switch version also includes GoldenEye allows the game’s cheats (additional modes, characters, weapons, and levels) to be unlocked by entering cheat codes, as did the original. The Xbox version doesn’t appear to support this, and cheats need to be unlocked the hard way through gameplay. The Xbox version offers 55 additional achievements.

GoldenEye It is included in the Nintendo 64 Collection that makes up the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription. On Xbox, it’s included in an Xbox Game Pass subscription, or as a free update to the Rare Replay collection. It can’t be bought separately on either system.

Modern controls, achievements or online multiplayer and cheat code? In an ideal world we’d have them all in a single version, but we don’t. You have the option to choose.