Nintendo Switch Online service detailed: Price, features, details

Nintendo

• The Nintendo Switch Online service is scheduled to
  launch in the second half of September. It costs $20/year,
  and 
  you’ll need it to play most games
  online. 
• But you’ll also get some great benefits: At launch,
  Nintendo Switch Online will give access to a library of 20
  classic NES games, upgraded with online play. 
• You’ll also get cloud saves, so you can backup and
  restore your saved games. 
• It’s an important step toward bolstering the Nintendo
  Switch’s online features, which lag the Xbox One and
  PlayStation 4.

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For years, Nintendo fans have fantasized about a paid online
service that would grant access to Nintendo’s rich, decades-long
library of classic games. For years, Nintendo has demurred. 

In 2018, that fantasy is finally becoming a reality, through the
Nintendo Switch Online service.

Nintendo’s new service costs $20 per year ($4/month, $8/three
months), and is scheduled to launch in the second half of
September. With that subscription price, you’ll get access to a
library of classic games, the ability to play various Nintendo
Switch games online, cloud saves for some games, and voice chat
through the Nintendo Switch online smartphone app.

When the service arrives next month, it’ll only be available on
the Nintendo Switch — Nintendo’s newest game console, which
operates as a portable handheld and a home console.

Nintendo

So, what’s in the classic game library? “20 games, with more
added on a regular basis,” Nintendo said in a press release
earlier this year. 

Nintendo also announced the first 10 of those 20 games: “Super
Mario Bros. 3,” “Dr. Mario,” “Balloon Fight,” “Donkey Kong,” “Ice
Climber,” “The Legend of Zelda,” “Mario Bros.,” “Soccer,” “Super
Mario Bros.” and “Tennis.” 

Even better: Every classic NES game on the Switch will have new
online functionality. In some games, you can play co-op online
with friends or go head to head, and in all games you can watch a
friend play remotely. Friends can even “share” the controller
online by handing off control of a game over the
internet.The
original “The Legend of Zelda” will be included in the $20/year
Nintendo Switch Online service.World
of Longplays/YouTube

The classic games library only includes Nintendo Entertainment
System games, at least for now — it’s specifically referred to as
a collection. Nintendo even gave the classic game library its own
name: “NES – Nintendo Switch Online, a compilation of classic NES
games.”

Perhaps a “SNES — Nintendo Switch Online” library will be added
later? Or something similar for Nintendo 64, GameCube, or other
Nintendo console games? Perhaps — Nintendo isn’t saying. The
Japanese game company told
Kotaku last year, “Super NES games continue to be under
consideration, but we have nothing further to announce at this
time.”

But the classic game library isn’t Nintendo Switch Online’s
primary component — the service is intended as a paid
subscription for access to online gameplay. 

Games like “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe” and “Splatoon 2” rely on an
online infrastructure for multiplayer, which Nintendo has yet to
provide for its Switch console. Both games can be played online,
but the Switch console itself lacks system-wide functionality for
online interaction — stuff like joining an online party, and
voice chat, barely exist on the Switch. 

Online services are the crucial flaw of the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo

It lacks basic functionality that Microsoft and Sony had in their
respective consoles over a decade ago. Beyond missing stuff like
voice chat and parties, the Switch also doesn’t have access to
services like Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon. The Nintendo Switch
app for iPhone and Android enables voice chat for select games,
like “Splatoon 2,” but it’s not a feature that’s built into the
system. 

It looks like Nintendo intends to remedy that situation with
Nintendo Switch Online.

More than just offering multiplayer and a classic game library,
Nintendo Switch Online promises cloud saves — the ability to
upload your save data to Nintendo’s servers, then easily
re-download it. As Nintendo puts it, “This is great for people
who want to retrieve their data if they lose, break or purchase
an additional Nintendo Switch system.”

One thing Nintendo didn’t mention is the much requested Virtual
Console service, which was a digital storefront for classic games
on previous Nintendo consoles. 

Super
Mario 64 box art

Though the Nintendo Switch launched with a digital storefront
(the “eShop”), there’s no way to buy classic games through
Nintendo’s long-running Virtual Console service. That’s an
especially big shame on the Switch — a console more-than-capable
of running classic games, and one you can bring with you
anywhere.

Nintendo
hasn’t offered details on the whereabouts of the Virtual
Console service. A Nintendo representative gave us the following
statement via email earlier this year:

“There are currently no plans to bring classic games together
under the Virtual Console banner as has been done on other
Nintendo systems. There are a variety of ways in which classic
games from Nintendo and other publishers are made available on
Nintendo Switch, such as through Nintendo Entertainment System –
Nintendo Switch Online, Nintendo eShop or as packaged
collections.”

That doesn’t mean it’s never going to happen, but you probably
shouldn’t hold your breath in anticipation either.