Western regions will not be getting the six-button Sega Genesis wireless controller for Nintendo Switch

During September 23’s Nintendo Direct, Nintendo announced that Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis games will be coming to Nintendo Switch Online in an Expansion Pack. The Expansion Pack is slated to launch in late October. Nintendo will also be releasing authentic Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis wireless controllers to go along with the launch. These controllers will be available to any Nintendo Switch Online members and will cost $49.99. No release date was given, but Nintendo claims that more information will be coming soon.

Fans noticed there is a difference between the Sega Genesis controller as seen in Western media with what it looks like in Japanese socials. In the West, the controller only has three buttons on the right-hand side. In Japan, the controller has six buttons.

This is actually an accurate representation of how the Sega Genesis controller looked like in each region. When the Genesis launched in North America it only had three buttons. A six-button controller was later released internationally, including in Japan.

IGN reached out to Nintendo, and they received a response from a spokesperson. The spokesperson responded with this quote: “For the U.S. and Canada, a replica of the original SEGA Genesis controller is the available model. This was by far the more widely used and well-known Sega Genesis controller in these regions.”