Nintendo’s new gashapon toys can be used as extra parts for real controllers

A new line of Nintendo gashapon toys available in Japan can seemingly be used as extra parts for the real controllers that they are based on.

The new gashapon toys launched this week across several of Nintendo’s official stores in Japan. VGC’s Chris Scullion reported that the Tokyo store saw long queues “out the door” on Tuesday.

It’s unclear if there were any limits imposed on the new toys.

Surprisingly, according to social media users, several of the components in the gashapon toys can be used as replacement parts for official controllers.

So far, it appears that the face buttons and the  C stick for the GameCube are identical to the original hardware, as is the analog stick for the Nintendo 64.

X user Mizure3213 also claims that the SNES buttons are compatible, allowing players to change the colour of the face buttons of their controller.

The red, blue, green and yellow configuration was the standard colour palette of the Super Famicom, however when it was released as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in the US, the buttons were changed to purple and blue.

It’s currently unknown if Nintendo will offer these items outside of Japan.

Currently, the only Nintendo store that operates in the west is in New York. Smaller Nintendo stores exist in Florida and California Super Nintendo World theme parks.

The company plans to open a new store in San Francisco in 2025.