Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack: N64 & SEGA Mega Drive (& GBA!!)

[Hero-of-Time]

They said it couldn't be done. They said you shouldn't even try it.

Yeah, that was a toughie. Lots of reloading, changing teams and generally grinding wins was the name of the game in order to bring home the win. Still, I did find it strangely fun. I have to say, Pokemon Stadium is nearly 25 years old now and yet some of the animations look better than what Game Freak are putting out today. Nintendo really put a lot of care and attention into each of the animations and it shows. It gives the Pokemon a lot of personality when they pop out of the Pokeball or pull off a move.

It's such a shame that the original GB games are part of the online service yet so that they could connect to this. Saying that, even if they were I doubt they would go through the hassle of making them so they could be used on this. It would definitely make things so much easier than having to use the rentals.

 

[Dcubed]

Bloody hell! , you mad crazy…

No, really.  Congrats!! Rental Round 2 is no joke! May well be one of the hardest feats in any Nintendo game 

Edited November 6, 2023 by Dcubed

[Hero-of-Time]

1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

No, really.  Congrats!! Rental Round 2 is no joke! May well be one of the hardest feats in any Nintendo game 

Let's be honest though, there's no way I would have been able to do this without using the save feature. Even when using that it was still hard going and I can't imagine pulling it off without it.

[Glen-i]

9 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Pokemon Stadium is nearly 25 years old now and yet some of the animations look better than what Game Freak are putting out today.

More elaborate? Sure. Better? That's subjective. Those animations take bloody forever, which is fine for a game like this, but in a full fledged RPG? No thanks. Give me the snappier modern animations any day.

[Julius]

Jet Force Gemini is being added to the service on 30th November; just the JP video to confirm for now (they still haven't had GoldenEye release over there): 

Well, that came out of the blue 

Edited November 22, 2023 by Julius

[Hero-of-Time]

People who enjoyed it but have not played it since the N64 days are about to realise just how rough the controls really are.

This getting added gives me hope that Diddy Kong Racing will arrive on the service at some point. Shame that it wasn't released now though as it always reminds me of Christmas. Same goes for Donkey Kong 64.

[darksnowman]

December for US and presumably rest of the world.

Great game but never finished it properly due to the Tribal Hunt padding.

[Dcubed]

Not the Rare game I was expecting next, but I’m very glad to see it nonetheless!

[S.C.G]

New Nintendo title added to Nintendo Switch Online December 2023

Now up on the main page.

Placeholder article, may be updated later.

Nice to see Jet Force Gemini being added to NSO.

[Cube]

The original controls were bad enough when it game out and feel even worse now. There's a much better version with the game on Xbox. 

 

It's a shame Rare's games are going on NSO, they deserve a proper release with enchantments. 

[Dcubed]

I've never had any issue with JFG's controls on an original N64 controller myself.  They're essentially Turok/1.2 Solitaire controls...

... that being said though, if you're trying to play it on anything other than a real N64 controller? Ehh...

[darksnowman]

1 hour ago, Cube said:

It's a shame Rare's games are going on NSO, they deserve a proper release with enchantments. 

Can't wait for Kameo et al on the Xbox NSO app.

30 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

I've never had any issue with JFG's controls on an original N64 controller myself.  They're essentially Turok/1.2 Solitaire controls...

... that being said though, if you're trying to play it on anything other than a real N64 controller? Ehh...

Same. So long since I played it I can't mind what exactly the control scheme was but it must have followed whatever was standard at the time because it wasn't out of place.

Remember multi-targeting the bugs and having many a decapitation party with the shurikens. Good times. And a disco on... Ichor? Remember thinking the ship landing scenes were reused for Starfox Adventures (and likely Dinosaur Planet along the way). Tribal Hunt aside, I was slightly disappointed the game wasn't bigger. For some reason I expected it to be more sprawling... perhaps got sucked in by the NMS hype machine on that.

[EEVILMURRAY]

9 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

People who enjoyed it but have not played it since the N64 days are about to realise just how rough the controls really are.

I think that's what convinced me to flog my copy not long after getting it (from a car boot sale so not a big loss, I actually made profit at Special Reserve [REMEMBER THEM KIDS?!])

But I'm all about second chances (lie), but as it's in my subscription I'll give it a go.

 

And boombastic props for the Stadium fisting. I did give up.

[Dcubed]

Oh! Interesting...

https://www.installbaseforum.com/forums/threads/media-create-sales-week-45-2023-nov-06-nov-12.2134/post-210405

https://store-jp.nintendo.com/list/software/70010000074092.html

Looks like Nintendo are launching a separate N64 NSO app in Japan for Cero Z/18+ rated games; with Goldeneye and JFG being the first two games released in this new app.

Guess that explains how they're gonna handle the launch of Conker's BFD and Perfect Dark when they eventually come to the NSO service then.

Edited November 22, 2023 by Dcubed

[Hero-of-Time]

1 hour ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

I think that's what convinced me to flog my copy not long after getting it (from a car boot sale so not a big loss, I actually made profit at Special Reserve [REMEMBER THEM KIDS?!])

Man, that takes me back. They always used to advertise in the back of gaming magazines.

[darksnowman]

3 hours ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

I think that's what convinced me to flog my copy not long after getting it (from a car boot sale so not a big loss, I actually made profit at Special Reserve [REMEMBER THEM KIDS?!])

But I'm all about second chances (lie), but as it's in my subscription I'll give it a go.

Is this a banking thread now or wot.

Excitement Direct was where to place your orders over the phone in quainter pre-online days.

 

[EEVILMURRAY]

2 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Man, that takes me back. They always used to advertise in the back of gaming magazines.

 

4 minutes ago, darksnowman said:

Is this a banking thread now or wot.

Excitement Direct was where to place your orders over the phone in quainter pre-online days.

 

I was lucky to be near an actual physical place... it was the CEX of its time

[Glen-i]

Never played JFG. Defo giving that a go.

[Ashley]

Yeah likewise. I was thinking yesterday maybe I'll get a NSO subscription next year and if I do I'll give it a go. During that 5 hours a year I play games nowadays...

[killthenet]

I've always wanted to play Jet Force Gemini so will definitely check it out, just hope it means more of Rare's output is on the way too

[WackerJr]

Spoiler

I wonder if they’ve kept the ending, as that won’t have aged well!

The Jimmy Saville reference doesn’t seem quite so funny nowadays… 😳

I think I’m more excited that this opens up the possibility of more Rare games on NSO which I hoped for, but realistically didn’t think would happen.

I haven’t played JFG for such a long time. I don’t remember having an issue with the controls, just an issue with accidentally decapitating the tribals I was supposed to be saving!  Great music and difficult towards the end.

[Hero-of-Time]

Despite the control issues, I'm still pretty excited to soon have JFG on the Switch. Time to listen to the amazing title theme before the game arrives.

 

[darksnowman]

Played the first few stages of JFG. For whatever reason, my eyes were trying to read STARTWINS first as Starwins (like Starwing) then Start Wins before I got it. It's like one of those optical illusions that once you see it, you can't not see it: Star Twins. Duh.

Game's good and looks great. High production values for the N64. Just need to let the old muscle memory kick in with the buttons and you're away—it's simply third person GoldenEye. An extra joystick for independent camera control would be nice but only because it's the norm nowadays. Treetop snipers and flying enemies are the most bothersome though with further acclimatisation to the controls their threat will easily be nullified. You gotta love the sound of shots zipping past! And widescreen to boot. Rare were majestic.

[Ashley]

2 hours ago, darksnowman said:

Played the first few stages of JFG. For whatever reason, my eyes were trying to read STARTWINS first as Starwins (like Starwing) then Start Wins before I got it. It's like one of those optical illusions that once you see it, you can't not see it: Star Twins. Duh.

Much like #susanalbumparty

[BowserBasher]

@Glen-i, @Dcubed and myself had an impromptu N64 evening of gaming. some highlights.