Nintendo Switch paid online coming 2018

[Julius]

From Stephen Totilo’s most recent interview with Reggie for Kotaku:

Quote

“As we look to the future,” Fils-Aime said, “our subscription service, NSO, Nintendo Switch Online is going to be the place where you can play our classic content…”

“Beyond NES?” I asked.

“We’ll see what comes next,” he said. “As you have already pointed out, we haven’t even made the full library of NES games available yet. So this content has to be optimized for the Switch environment. That’s something we’re working very hard to do. Like you, I look forward to playing Metroid through the Nintendo Switch Online service and we’ll be continuing to release content that way.”

I understand that Reggie wouldn’t come out here, of all places, to outright reveal the future of classic games on NSO, but it still strikes me as odd just how non-committal he and Nintendo remain to classic games from other legacy systems coming to the service, especially after the service was originally described as being home to some SNES titles, too. 

I don’t think that they can drip-feed NES games for too long, and would be genuinely surprised if we didn’t have some SNES games on the system by the end of next E3, but it’s this sort of language and quiet which results in consumers becoming heavily invested in the idea of, say, a Virtual Console type of service, and being disappointed if it doesn’t come to fruition.

We’ve been saying it for a while now, but they can’t keep us waiting for news on this too much longer...right? Because I genuinely can’t think of too many good reasons (from a corporate perspective) to keep all of this under wraps. 

Edited November 15, 2018 by Julius

[Hero-of-Time]

Honesty, I think the lack of a fully fledged virtual console, paid games or subscription, has been one of the biggest misses by Nintendo this generation. The Switch is the perfect platform to have all your Nintendo classics on the go but they've completely dropped the ball. It's a big reason I keep my Wii I hooked up. Being able to play N64, NES, SNES and GBA games on console/Game Pad is great and Nintendo really should have had these games/consoles ready to go for the Switch.

[Julius]

13 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Honesty, I think the lack of a fully fledged virtual console, paid games or subscription, has been one of the biggest misses by Nintendo this generation. The Switch is the perfect platform to have all your Nintendo classics on the go but they've completely dropped the ball. It's a big reason I keep my Wii I hooked up. Being able to play N64, NES, SNES and GBA games on console/Game Pad is great and Nintendo really should have had these games/consoles ready to go for the Switch.

Absolutely. I also feel like having these games available would shore up the Switch’s catalogue considerably, especially in some places where a number of genres are somewhat underrepresented. 

Subjectively, as much as I do want a Switch, there are still probably only a handful of AAA games that I’m actually interested in purchasing the system for: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate when it releases next month. There are quite a few indies which have caught my eye too, and a few ports that I’m also interested in, but truth be told, I have tens of AAA games lined up for my PS4 and 3DS, so I’m in a good place when it comes to games for now. That’s why I don’t mind waiting a bit longer — though I’ll undoubtedly have purchased one by the time that next year’s Pokémon game is released

But, case in point when it comes to all of this talk about legacy titles: the Wii eShop finally closes next March (I think?) —  though you can already no longer fund your virtual wallet — I think that it’s crazy that once it closes, so too do the most recent, well-running releases of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger on a home console. And that was in 2011.

I think what I’m trying to say is...Square Enix, what the hell are you thinking?! Do you not like money?!

[Sméagol]

I still think it's to the benefit of the e-shop releases. Even if that's not the actual reason why we don't have an VC (though I think it is). I also still think they will, or at least should, release a VC service near the end of the Switch life cycle. They can still continue to sell cheap Switches like hotcakes to function as a VC device, while they can sell the Switch2 for normal price alongside it. The Switch by that time will then function as the (S)NES classic minis.

I love a VC service, but fact is I personally don't miss it much (yet). I have plenty to play.

[Ronnie]

1 hour ago, Sméagol said:

I still think it's to the benefit of the e-shop releases. Even if that's not the actual reason why we don't have an VC (though I think it is). I also still think they will, or at least should, release a VC service near the end of the Switch life cycle. They can still continue to sell cheap Switches like hotcakes to function as a VC device, while they can sell the Switch2 for normal price alongside it. The Switch by that time will then function as the (S)NES classic minis.

I love a VC service, but fact is I personally don't miss it much (yet). I have plenty to play.

I think @Hero-of-Time made this point a while back, the eShop is a big winner without a Virtual Console and they're clearly wanting to focus on modern games from talented developers than keep pushing the same games of their own.

[Hero-of-Time]

7 hours ago, Ronnie said:

I think @Hero-of-Time made this point a while back, the eShop is a big winner without a Virtual Console and they're clearly wanting to focus on modern games from talented developers than keep pushing the same games of their own.

Indeed and I stand by that point. However, while I think that it certainly helped indie developers during the first 8 months or so on the Switch, I honestly don't think it would be much of an issue now. The eShop has turned into a digital store like on any other platform where the market is saturated. This is a far cry from the launch period where most of the games were top tier and the games were curated specifically for the platform. While you do still hear success stories from indie developers, they aren't as frequent as they used to be due to the sheer amount of garbage that is burying the good games. At this point Nintendo may as well unleash their back catalogue but sadly that isn't going to happen.

[Kav]

I’m a right fucking masochist when it comes to my relationship with Nintendo, I just love them being shit to me... I caved and bought the online service and pre-ordered Smash Bros.

[Helmsly]

The Three games being added in December are: Wario Woods, Adventures of Lolo and Ninja Gaiden:

 

[Hero-of-Time]

3 quality titles this month. I love Adventures of Lolo and hopefully more people will give the game a go now that it's part of this service.

I still need to play last months Bomb Jack. I loved that game as a kid. I'm pretty sure I first played it on my cousins Amstrad. I also played and enjoyed the Gameboy version.

[Ronnie]

Another month without Rygar, Cobra Triangle or Bubble Bobble

[Glen-i]

11 hours ago, Ronnie said:

Another month without Rygar, Cobra Triangle or Bubble Bobble

Annnnnd now that music is stuck in my head all day... Thanks for that, you jerk!

[S.C.G]

2 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Annnnnd now that music is stuck in my head all day... Thanks for that, you jerk!

You mean, the Bubble Bobble theme doesn't just go around in your head all the time by default?

Oh... that must be just me then!

[drahkon]

2 hours ago, Glen-i said:

Annnnnd now that music is stuck in my head all day... Thanks for that, you jerk!

 

In case anyone else needs this. I sure as hell needed this  

Edited December 6, 2018 by drahkon

[Hero-of-Time]

I can't pinpoint when I originally played Bubble Bobble (I know I was pretty young) or even what console it was on but the music has remained with me for all of these years. It's such a catchy tune. 

[Kav]

Inject Bubble Bobble into my veins, it’s the dog’s bollocks!

[Ronnie]

The "secret door" in the penultimate level BLEW MY MIND as a kid. Still remember playing it every day with my older brother.

[Ike]

Got an email saying my card wasn't able to be charged for the NES controllers and to contact customer service. Except they only help page I can find redirects to the normal Nintendo Store?

[markderoos]

11 hours ago, Ike said:

Got an email saying my card wasn't able to be charged for the NES controllers and to contact customer service. Except they only help page I can find redirects to the normal Nintendo Store?

Got the exact same message. In very poor English and without any contact details or links in it. They aren’t clearly stating it’s for the the NES controllers though, just stating my card couldn’t be charged for ‘the pre-order”...

[Dufniall]

Almost sounds like a phishing mail. Is the sender a real Nintendo mail address? Any obscure clickable links in that mail?

[Nicktendo]

2 hours ago, Vileplume2000 said:

Almost sounds like a phishing mail. Is the sender a real Nintendo mail address? Any obscure clickable links in that mail?

Yeah I was going to suggest the same. I know 4 people now who’ve had the same email. Must be a scam.

[Ike]

The email is from [email protected]. There are 2 links, one takes you to the German MyNintnendo Store URL and one to Google maps.

I spoke to someone on chat from https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Support/Contact/Nintendo-eShop/General-Customer-Service-1106610.html who said they would escalate it and check the order.

[Ike]

Got en email saying the previous one was sent by mistake. 

[Helmsly]

On 12/5/2018 at 6:33 PM, Helmsly said:

The Three games being added in December are: Wario Woods, Adventures of Lolo and Ninja Gaiden:

 

It looks like they added the "SP" versions of Metroid and Dr Mario with these three games as well.

[Hero-of-Time]

It's just a rumour at the moment but Nikkei are reporting this.

Quote

“The Switch’s monthly online service launched in 2018, and plan to launch a new service aimed at game enthusiasts willing to pay more sometime in 2019.””

 

I can't see this going down well. I wonder what it could mean? Better online features? Paying extra for SNES games? 

[drahkon]

17 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Better online features?

Oh man, there's one thing the online service really needs...but I just can't think of it. @Kav, maybe you know what I'm talking about?