My original Nintendo 64 controller has had a broken analog stick for nearly 30 years. And although I don’t plan on playing N64 games every day, I’d like the option to go down memory lane every now and then. So, I took the time to replace my N64 controller’s joystick with something that’ll last a while, and it turned out to be one of the easiest repairs I’ve ever done.
Dude, What Happened to Your Joystick?
Modern analog sticks tend to develop drift or dead zones as they wear down. These problems aren’t always immediately noticeable—your joystick may look fine, it might feel smooth, though the drift is impossible to ignore when you’re playing a game.
But Nintendo 64 analog sticks are fairly different from modern sticks, so they break in a different, much more physically obvious way. They develop a sandy, grainy feel, and they lose their ability to snap back to center, so they kind of just flop around. The N64 stick assembly contains plastic gears and other moving parts that invariably turn to dust as you use them.
Broken N64 joysticks were a common problem back in the day, and most people just tolerated it. Unfortunately, plastic tends to go brittle after a few decades, so you don’t really have the option to tolerate one of these old broken joysticks anymore. The last time I used my old N64 controller, which was maybe three years ago, I could literally feel the analog stick crumbling under my thumb. It only took about 10 minutes to go from “this is broken” to “oh, Banjo isn’t moving anymore, I guess the controller isreallybroken.”
Anyways, I bought a “GameCube-style replacement joystick” because it happened to be on sale. In retrospect, I probably should’ve spent a couple extra dollars on a Hall-effect stick from8BitDoorHyperkin, as it’d probably last longer than the one I bought. But this is just an exercise in nostalgia. It’s not like I’m going to be playing the Nintendo 64 every day, so the long-term benefits of Hall-effect don’t matter too much.
N64 GameCube-Style Replacement Joystick
This affordable GameCube-style joystick is more resiliant than the original Nintendo 64 analog stick, though it offers a narrower range of motion that may be noticeable in some games.
Replacing the Joystick Was a Breeze
This ain’t my first rodeo. I’ve done basic repairs onJoy-Cons, PS4 gamepads, Game Boys, and other old gaming gadgets, so I wasn’t intimidated by the N64 controller. These old gamepads are dead simple—usually just a circuit board and some finicky plastic buttons. No need to worry about damaging a battery or ripping a fragile ribbon cable, just ensure that none of the small parts disappear into the carpet.
I cracked open the N64 controller without using a guide. As expected, it was very easy. After removing seven screws from the back of the gamepad, plus two hidden screws in the expansion slot, the rear of the controller came right off. Then, I removed the membrane and daughter board for the Z button, unplugged the 30-year-old joystick, took out a few more screws, and pulled the joystick out of the chassis.
Reassembly can be the most frustrating part in the gamepad repair process, at least in my experience. Like, it’s very easy toreplacethe stick in a Joy-Con, but forcing all the small bits and pieces (particularly the shoulder and face buttons) to play nice while you fiddle everything back together is a somewhat painstaking task. The N64 controller was refreshing in its simplicity. I dropped in my new joystick, screwed it down, connected it to the main board, put the Z button membrane back in place, and screwed the plastic shell back together. It only took about a minute of my time.
By the way, if my new joystick looks kinda beat up, it’s because I bought it a while ago and left it in a drawer without its box. I’m not sure why I mistreated it, but oh well.
Okay, Is the New Joystick Any Good?
Like I mentioned earlier, I ended up buying a “GameCube-style” analog stick because it was on sale. As for how it compares to the original joystick—honestly, I’m not 100% sure. Both of my N64 controllers' joysticks have been broken since the 90s. I don’t know exactly how sensitive or tense the original sticks are supposed to be. In my mind, N64 joysticks are just naturally grainy and floppy.
That said, I noticed that it’s hard to make nuanced movements with the GameCube-style stick insomegames.Goldeneyeis a good example. The in-game crosshairs leap around the screen when I try to make fine adjustments, so aiming is more difficult than it should be.
The manufacturer says that these GameCube-style sticks are “high sensitivity;” a quality that some customers complain about in the Amazon reviews. I’m not sure whether this extra sensitivity is due to the GameCube stick’s design or its construction. The original N64 joystick is tall and skinny, so it naturally has a wider range of motion than the GameCube stick. Plus, Nintendo’s original analog sticks utilized an optical system, which could offer more precision than potentiometer-based analog sticks. Just look at all the weird complicated stuff going on in my photos of the original joystick—it’s got a spring, it’s got a weird pivoting floating thing—I’d spend a lot more time looking at it if it weren’t full of nasty plastic dust.
But I’d rather have an overly-sensitive analog stick than a broken, 30-year-old crusty stick. And I don’t really plan on playing the N64 every day, I just wanted a few hours of nostalgia. The $12 replacement stick fulfilled its role. (This is also why I didn’t bother cleaning the controller, in case you’re wondering.)
Some companiesdoselloptical N64 joysticks. These sticks supposedly offer a more faithful experience than the GameCube-style or Hall Effect stuff. But a “faithful experience” is, in this case, fleeting. Reviewers say that the replacement optical sticks fall apart just as fast as the originals. They’re more expensive than the chubby GameCube joysticks, too, and I’m not willing to pay extra for this kind of authenticity.
Old Skool N64 Optical Replacement Joystick
If you want to repair your N64 controllers without giving up that authentic optical joystick experience, this SHARPSHOOTER replacement joystick is the way to go. Just know that it suffers from the same durability issues as the original Nintendo 64 analog stick.
