NSO N64 Controller

The wireless NSO N64 pad works in RetroArch on Mac — analog stick, C-buttons, and triggers — with The Vault writing the right driver and mapping automatically at launch.

Button map

LTriggerD-Pad→ D-PadZTrigger (underneath)Control Stick→ Left stickRTriggerC-buttons→ Right stickBGreenABlueCaptureUnassignedStart→ StartHomeUnassignedZRUnassigned
The analog Control Stick drives the left stick and the four yellow C-buttons drive the right stick. Home, Capture and ZR are NSO / Switch-2 additions with no emulator function, so they're unassigned. The N64 pad is the one controller with no controller hotkeys by design — binding them interfered with the analog + C-button combos — so use the keyboard for save states here. With keyboard mode, this pad can still drive any system.Controller art from the Linear theme for ES-DE (MIT).

💾 Save & load hotkeys on N64

The N64 pad has the standard hold-modifier hotkeys. Hold its Select-equivalent button (the same role Select plays on the other NSO pads), then press R (Save), L (Load), ▲ / ▼ (state slot), or Start (Quit). The C-buttons stay on the right stick, so the classic analog + C-button combos are untouched.

How it connects

Connect the pad over Bluetooth (never USB — macOS doesn't surface its input over USB). The Vault writes the N64 profile into RetroArch's mfi driver before launch, so you never touch RetroArch's input menus. The four C-buttons are mapped to the right stick as real axes, which keeps the classic analog + C-button combos intact.

Mapping

N64Maps to
Control StickLeft stick
C-buttons (yellow)Right stick
D-padD-pad
A (blue) / B (green)Face buttons
StartStart
L / R / ZTriggers
HomeHotkey modifier (its "Select"-equivalent — hold for save/load)
Capture / ZRUnassigned (NSO / Switch-2 extras)

💡 Keyboard mode

In addition to the controller hotkeys, keyboard mode lets the pad drive save states, menus, and any other system — the pad's inputs are translated to keystrokes.