You can now use your Switch's retro controllers to play Steam games

Switch Online controller
(Image credit: Nintendo)

Thanks to a new update, your Steam games will now support those sweet retro Switch controllers you can only get if you're a Switch Online subscriber.

As quietly revealed in Valve's latest patch notes, Steam has "added support for Nintendo Online classic controllers." You know the ones; they're exact replicas of the NES, SNES, N64, and Sega Genesis controllers, and as mentioned before, you can only buy them if you have an active subscription to Nintendo Switch Online. Well, technically you can't buy the latter two either way because they're all sold out.

Anyway, Steam's language in the patch notes does leave some room for interpretation, but thankfully the good folks at The Verge were able to confirm that the latest Steam update does let you use your Switch Online NES, SNES, N64, and Sega Genesis controllers to play Steam games now, just in case you want to play your favorite retro games with period accurate hardware.

There are a bunch of games that were originally released on those older Nintendo platforms and which are now on Steam, so this gives you a way to play them with the same controllers you used as a kid. Indeed, there's just something about those old gray gamepads that can't be replaced by modern controllers or mouse-and-keyboard setups, and now PC players don't have to try.

If you're playing more modern games on PC and you want to use your PS5 controller, here's how to connect your DualSense to PC via wired or Bluetooth.

Jordan Gerblick

After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer, I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.