Disabling switch online rewind function

nintendo-switch

I'm having a personal problem when playing NES and SNES games on the Nintendo Switch Online.

I want to be able to say I have beaten Super Mario Bros, the Legend of Zelda, Super Metroid and all the other classics. Yet doing so with all these modern conveniences doesn't feel right. And I know with myself, from years of gaming, that I do not have the mental fortitude to not use them. They are too tempting. Especially the rewind function. (Using save states takes a bit more premeditation as I would have to save before I fail at something for it to be useful. So I'm not as worried about that, although that is a problem too. Looking at you, Phantoon. One day I will kill you without a save state in the ship.)

So, is there a way to simply hide away the rewind functionality so that it's not available at a single button press?

Best Answer

Now you can, with the inclusion of Button Remapping in Switch's system update 10.0.


Instructions:

  1. Go to System Settings -> scroll down to Controllers and Sensors
  2. Select Change Button Mapping (second option)
  3. Click on "Joy-Con (R)" if you're using Joy-Cons, or a controller of choice
  4. Press Change
  5. Select ZR (top-right)
  6. Scroll down and remap it to ZL Button
  7. Click Done and OK on popup message

This will effectively change ZR to function as ZL, giving you two buttons (ZL and ZR) that both generate the same input (ZL), rendering the rewind shortcut ZL + ZR unusable!

You can save this as a Preset in the Button Mapping settings, and turn it on and off as desired -- e.g. turning it on when playing NES/SNES Online, and turning it off when playing other games.


Side-Effects:

  • You will NOT be able to use the Suspend Menu at all, which means:
  • You will NOT be able to save/load Suspend Points (aka saves)
  • You will NOT be able to exit out of the game to select another NES/SNES game (you'll have to either turn off the button remapping OR restart the software)