Everything we now know about Nintendo’s online service.
Nintendo has, as promised, announced something about the upcoming release of Nintendo Switch Online. This paid online service makes it possible for players to play games online together.
At the moment, online gaming is still free on the Nintendo Switch as part of the trial period, which actually would have stopped last year.
Versatile online service
In Nintendo’s own words, the upcoming Nintendo Switch Online service is an affordable, versatile service that allows users to play online in Nintendo Switch games, access classic NES games with additional online functionality, save backup data for most games and additional features for the Nintendo Switch Online smartphone app which enhances the online experience.
Nintendo revealed more information about the content of Nintendo Switch Online, including pricing, backup of stored data in the cloud and additional information about the classic NES games that subscribers can play.
Subscriptions Nintendo Switch Online
There are four different subscriptions available:
One month: € 3.99
Three months: € 7.99
Twelve months: € 19.99
Family membership: € 34.99
With a family membership, up to eight Nintendo accounts can use the Nintendo Switch Online service, even on different systems. This makes this option the most advantageous if you share it with several people. A family membership always lasts twelve months.
NES
Nintendo Switch Online subscribers receive access to ‘NES – Nintendo Switch Online’, a collection of classic NES games. The collection initially contains 20 games, but regular more titles will be added. At the launch, previously announced games such as Balloon Fight, Dr. Mario and Super Mario Bros. 3 are joined by Donkey Kong, Ice Climber, The Legend of Zelda, Mario Bros., Soccer, Super Mario Bros. and Tennis.
In the future, the remaining ten games that will be available at launch will be announced later.
Nintendo also promises that players can play the classic NES games online. Depending on the game, players can participate in online multiplayer, both against each other, in co-op, and in turn. Friends can also watch how other online games play for one player, where it is possible to “pass the controller” to the viewing player.
Each classic NES game supports voice chat through the Nintendo Switch Online smartphone app. It is also possible to play these games offline.
Cloud Saves
The last big addition is saving data in a cloud backup. By using Nintendo Switch Online, a backup of Nintendo Switch data for most Nintendo Switch games is stored online for easy access. Ideal for people who want to retrieve their data if they lose or damage a Nintendo Switch system.
Nintendo Switch Online will appear in September 2018. From then on it is no longer possible to play games like Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and ARMS online for free.
What do you think of Nintendo Switch Online … with this new information?
