A breakdown of Nintendo Switch Online

Among the many announcements that came from the most recent Nintendo Direct were further details on the Nintendo Switch Online service, which launches next Tuesday, 18 September.

We already know how much it will cost, and now we know all 20 NES games that will be available on launch day:

• 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

Certain games that are currently available to play online will now be locked behind the membership, such as Splatoon 2 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

The online service will also provide the long awaited (and waaaay overdue) save cloud function for games.  As someone who has experienced the fear of potentially losing their 120 hour Breath of the Wild save file forever due to a hardware issue with my Switch, I feel like Nintendo’s complete failure to provide this very basic feature up until this point is more embarrassing than something to be highlighted / celebrated, but… better late than never, I guess?

Furthermore, the online service will come with a corresponding smart phone app, allowing players to voice chat while gaming together.

Finally, the online service will also offer subscriber’s with exclusive offers. To really cash in on the nostalgia theme / coincide with the launch of the online service, the first of these exclusive offers will be old-school NES controllers. The OG-looking controllers will be wireless, come in packs of 2, and retail for $60 (USD). They’ll also be able to be charged on your Switch like regular joy cons. They have a limit of one purchase per Nintendo Switch Online account, and aren’t available for those who are just trialing their membership. Shipments will begin from mid December.

You can see for yourself if Nintendo Switch’s Online Service lives up to the hype when it launches in Australia on September 18th.