Nintendo Switch Online Service details revealed - free games, cloud saves, prices announced and more
Nintendo has announced the details of its upcoming online service, slated to come to the Nintendo Switch this September. While not as robust as offerings from Sony and Microsoft, it also comes in at a much lower price of just $19.99 per year. So what will subscribers to Nintendo’s online services receive?
Online Play
For games that require Nintendo Switch Online, this service will allow for online competitive or cooperative play for titles like Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and more. Future games like Smash Bros will inevitably require this service to play them online with friends or random gamers.
Switch online app
This app is designed to offer enhanced features for compatible games, like accessing your stats, interacting with the game while away from your Switch and more. It also comes with the “Online Lounge”, which connects you to your friends to coordinate invites and other social activities.
Nintendo Entertainment System
Subscribers will gain access to a small library of NES games, with added online play included with your subscription. The service will be launching with 20 titles, with the following games announced so far:
- Soccer
- Tennis
- Donkey Kong
- Mario Bros.
- Super Mario Bros.
- Balloon Fight
- Ice Climber
- Dr. Mario
- The Legend of Zelda
- Super Mario Bros. 3
Cloud saves
Save your games to the cloud, which protects you in the event that your Switch console is lost, stolen or broken.
Special Offers
Subscribers will also gain access to special offers and discounts. No information is available yet, but I suspect it will likely be offers like special sales and free DLC.
In addition to the $19.99 individual subscription, a family option is also available for $34.99 which lets up to 8 people share the same subscription.
My thoughts
While I was hoping for more from this service, at only $20 a year I think it delivers a basic online service. While the inclusion of NES games is great, we’ve already seen these games bundled into lots of stores and re-releases many times. SNES/N64 and especially Gamecube games would have been much more exciting compared to getting Super Mario Bros. and Tennis again.
At this point Nintendo still has more to reveal about the free games, the cloud saves and the rest of the service, so we’ll need to get closer to September before we can make a final judgement on this service. Who knows, maybe Nintendo is testing the waters since they’ve never done a service like PSN or Xbox Live, so they’re getting their toes wet before expanding it to a more robust service.
Thanks for reading. As always, upvotes, resteems and comments are appreciated!
Images: Nintendo
Not sure if i get this right, but...Zelda online play? No, i guess i read that wrong...
I heard a rumor that you could play co-op (one active player, one passive watcher) by passing control of Link back and forth with another online player and you'd communicate using the app. Just a rumor though.
There are a lot of click baity articles circulating, saying that there will be no Virtual Console. I think a wait and see approach is needed in all of this.
I honestly think they're going to trickle out classic releases like they have with Mario Bros. and Punch Out!, but forego a format Virtual Console. Its true that they haven't come out and said they're not bringing it, they have stated that they have no plans for it at this time. But who knows, maybe they drop a bomb at E3 and announce its coming or the online service will be adding far more titles to fill the role of the VC.
Enabling online play via a subscription service may not be consumer-friendly but it’s a smart move to dissuade people wanting to play online to hack their Switch. What’s not so smart though is forcing players to use a separate smartphone app to do online chat. I guess Nintendo just assumes parents will trust their kids enough to let them use their phone, let alone let them hog it for hours.
As much as I love the Switch, they were massively short sighted by not building this with voice chat in mind. As its designed, the Switch would require a bluetooth headphones/mic to support voice chat and I guess they still don't think people want to do that, or they don't feel that its an option that's good for kids.