All the Nintendo Switch Online details from the Nintendo Direct
Nintendo did a big information drop about the Nintendo Online Service during the Nintendo Direct as promised. And while there still are some questions to be answered we did learn a little more.
The Nintendo Switch Online service as we know launches on September 19th, so here’s a quick recap of what’s being added then – including the full lineup of NES games.
Online Play we know, soon most games with online play will require the Nintendo Switch Online subscription. Save Data Cloud will allow you to backup your saves and keep them safe should your Switch get stolen or breaks. The smartphone app doesn’t appear to be too much different with Nintendo still only showing off Splatnet 2.
So what about these Exclusive offers for members? Well, that had a “more information to come” attached to it but we did get a good look at how the NES games will work. First up those NES Controllers.
Subscribers to the Nintendo Switch Online service will get access to purchase these Wireless NES controllers. They only work in the online NES games, and you can only order one set per Nintendo Online account. How we’re buying them is still a mystery, but Nintendo will check if you have a subscription before you do (and you can’t use the trial). We suspect/hope Nintendo has a store coming for us!
Here’s a better look at them;
The other ‘perk’ about online we know about so far is that there will be custom Splatoon 2 gear. Download codes will be sent to subscribers to redeem the Online Jersey and Online Squidkid V Shoes in the game. Here’s a look at them.
So NES Games then!
Here is the full list of 20 titles that will be available to play at launch.
- Soccer
- Tennis
- Donkey Kong™
- Mario Bros.™
- Super Mario Bros.™
- Balloon Fight™
- Ice Climber™
- Dr. Mario™
- The Legend of Zelda™
- Super Mario Bros.™ 3
- Double Dragon
- River City Ransom
- Ghosts ‘n Goblins™
- Tecmo Bowl
- Gradius
- Pro Wrestling
- Excitebike™
- Yoshi™
- Ice Hockey
- Baseball
And here are the next three months of games that will be added.
October 2018
Solomon’s Key
NES Open Tournament Golf
Super Dodge Ball
November 2018
Metroid™
Mighty Bomb Jack
TwinBee
December 2018
Wario’s Woods™
Ninja Gaiden
ADVENTURES OF LOLO
The games appear to be in their own “app” and it has a unique interface for selecting them.
All of the games support suspend and save points. There’s online support for multiplayer games, games that are single-player you take turns at the controls. You can also help out a friend with the pointer on the screen. The games also support the Nintendo Switch Online app for voice chat.
So that was it for now – Nintendo Switch Online launches on September 19th with a 7-day free trial.
What an absolute rubbish proposition. First they charge us for what they have provided at no further cost for the last 13 nows (even during the dark days of the Wii U). The extra stuff (aside from cloud saves) isn’t even worth a mention. I would much rather have the option to buy and own the NES games a la carte (or in the form of a Switch cartridge) than this subscription based nonsense.
To think that many of these games were included as a free bonus in the Gamecube version of Animal Crossing. You would think that Nintendo would be inclined to be a little less stingy considering how successful the Switch has become.
I meant to say “13 years”.
Totally agree. This is very underwhelming and the decision to make the controllers only work for the NES Classic games is a slap in the face. Nevermind people 8bitdo do what nintendon’t and has been creating quality products for years which will have you covered. Sure the controllers are limited by design given its button count and layout but this artificial limitation put on the controllers is by design is silly.
In regards to cloud saves I would prefer local microSD card saves but then again idiotically large save files such as those found in nba2k18 (most likely 2k19 also) 5gb save files will quickly fill up the much needed space on your microSD card.
I would absolutely prefer to buy the games digitally and play at any time or even better yet physically than a subscription. One thing I am not sure about is if these games require an online connection or just a subscription flag of some sort otherwise it would defeat the purpose of the switch being portable. Nothing has been specifically been said and as usual Nintendo has been anything but direct.
The one way I could see them redeeming themselves one this is if after say a year of loyal subscription the games be unlocked to play without the need of a subscription and then follow it up with a new batch of games and so forth and so forth.
Nintendo need to pick up their game if they want to entice new customers or keep the new ones they have procured over the coarse of the switches inception.