Nearly 13 years after first introducing online play to its gaming consoles with the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection on the DS — technically, the GameCube had online play first but it was so limited that it barely counts — Nintendo has started charging for online play. Much like Microsoft’s Xbox Live and Sony’s PlayStation Network, Nintendo Switch Online is a paid service requiring a membership fee in order to access online play. In addition to online play, Nintendo’s new $20/year service offers cloud save data back-up (about time), an accompanying smartphone app, special offers and, most interestingly, access to a variety of complimentary Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) games. with added online play.
With the sheer volume and quality of Nintendo’s back catalogue, it’s disappointing that the company isn’t offering anything better than 30-year-old games with its new online service. That being said, Nintendo Switch Online is only 1/3 the price of a PSN or Xbox Live subscription, so perhaps it’s unfair to expect the same level of service. Some of the games Nintendo are offering right off the bat, such as Super Mario Bros. 3 and The Legend of Zelda, are some of the greatest games ever made and getting to play them all on the Switch for $20/year sure beats buying them up individually for $5-10 a pop.
The service launches with 20 NES games to start (you can find the full list here), with 9 additional titles scheduled to arrive through the rest of 2018. The lineup is already looking really good, but we can think of a few more NES titles we’d love to be able to play on the Nintendo Switch.
*Note: We didn’t really take licensing issues into account when making this list, so there very well could be several games on here that would be next to impossible to get on Switch. Consider this more of a wish list.