Switch Online 5 Years Later: Finally Worth It? 

Bro, let's all together MAKE INTERNET FREE AGAIN🙌🏼🤝👏🏼

I hate it when people say certain features or items from a paid subscription is “free”. Nothing is free. You paid for it.

I think Nintendo should’ve really promoted the online play aspect a lot more. That’s honestly a huge addition to these retro games. Playing Mario Party 1-3 online without needing to set up netplay on an emulator is pretty big, for example. Yet it barely seems to be mentioned in the marketing

Charging extra for basic online play is scummy. Game companies should be ashamed of themselves for locking what used to be free features behind a paywall.

The Problem is that they add nice stuff, but never Basic stuff, like messaging friends or voice Chat. Even inviting friends is so Limited, not even first party games use that feature 90% of the time. I mean, I don't mind the quirky things they try to add, but they should focus on adding the most basic things. Also, bring Back Miiverse.

I don't know how the Pokémon games still aren't available in the Gameboy and GBA emulators. They were like, the system sellers for those consoles. Being able to transfer pokémon caught there to Pokémon Home would also be huge for most pokémon fans and make it the superior way to play those games, instead of using a third party PC emulator.

it really is SO strange that the switch doesn't have themes, to me the expansion plan would be worth it if they just add themes bc I almost spent real money on buying a 3d printed jailbreaking thingy, especially w smartphones becoming even more customizable it feels like several steps back to just have light + dark. no chat features is also insane, I have so many memories of playing around in pictochat w my friends, it seems like maybe they realized w miiverse they needed more/better mods and they didn't feel like paying for it so they just got rid of chat altogether

I think one of the biggest missed opportunities is not having other SEGA consoles. Genesis games are rereleased so frequently, that most of the ones included with Switch Online are available elsewhere. Dreamcast and Saturn games almost NEVER get reissued in the same way. Dreamcast especially has lots of really amazing games that could benefit from being on an online service. Leaderboards for games like Crazy Taxi, online support for Phantasy Star etc. It’s a really big missed opportunity, and given the lack of those more modern SEGA platforms anywhere besides Steam, it would give Nintendo something truly unique. Otherwise, my only other big gripes are the lack of basic features. Why can’t I message my friends or have parties like I can on other platforms? Why can’t I gift my friends eshop games like I could on the Wii? Why is online still pretty hit or miss? The extras are nice, but I feel they come across a little hollow without the basic framework being solid. If Nintendo actually fixed that and had party chat capabilities and online function that rivals the other platforms, I dare say that they would be the best since the extras they give you are genuinely solid.

They should add a switch essentials library, games like BOTW, splatoon 2, and Mario Odyssey.

If they added the first 3 gens of Pokemon to the online service, even if they made them exclusive to the Expansion Tier, I'd say it'd be worth it

As a PC gamer who can play games online for free, paying a subscription for online play feels like robbery, but if you want to play smash with your buddies, what can you do?? The *free retro games might seem like a nice bonus, but it's not worth dropping the virtual console, especially if you already own a lot of the games worth playing and/or are comfortable with emulation.

The "nope" at the start is all you need to know.

I'm so sad about Miiverse being discontinued because "Nintendo is for kids and some of the content uploaded there was not cool". If they had built on it, tried to work on some AI to get rid of sexual content and kept that arty way of communicating, it would've been one of my favourite social media sites ever. Now they've replaced that with Twitter and Facebook.. are kids any less subject to that stuff on those????

What this guy fails to point out is that while Microsoft started the trend, at the time it was way better than the Wii's anemic online capabilities.

The Mega Drive app is actually one of my most used classic game apps on the Switch because the selection of titles is just That Good. Things like MUSHA and Mega Man : The Wily Wars are otherwise only available on the SEGA Mega Drive Mini console, and the convenience of having a majority of the system's best titles in one place cannot be overstated as a big fan of SEGA.

They need to add their own version of achievements-trophies, maybe call them stamps or something? Would be a great reason to replay some games like Mario odyssey etc

I think online access should just be free man

This is what we need on each retro console: *Nintendo Entertainment System (64):* Games we need on NES online: Adventure Island II Adventure Island III Batman: The Video Game Battletoads Battletoads & Double Dragon Bionic Commando Blades of Steel Bubble Bobble Castlevania Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers Contra Super C / Probotector II: Return of the Evil Forces Duck Hunt DuckTales Dragon Warrior IV / Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen Faxanadu Gargoyle's Quest II: The Demon Darkness Mighty Final Fight Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom Life Force Little Nemo: The Dream Master Pac-Man Tecmo Super Bowl Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II Total: 90 *Super Nintendo Entertainment System (56):* Games we need on SNES online: Mario is Missing! Mario Paint Yoshi's Cookie Yoshi's Safari Super Castlevania IV ActRaiser Batman Returns Chrono Trigger Contra III: The Alien Wars Harvest Moon Illusion of Gaia Killer Instinct Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals NBA Jam Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen Rock n' Roll Racing Secret of Evermore Shadowrun SimCity Soul Blazer Sunset Riders Super Bomberman Terranigma Tetris Attack The Adventures of Batman & Robin The Legend of the Mystical Ninja The Lost Vikings U.N. Squadron Zombies Ate My Neighbors Total: 86 *Game Boy / Game Boy Color (15):* Games we need on Game Boy / Game Boy Color online: Super Mario Land Super Mario Bros. Deluxe Mario’s Picross Donkey Kong (GB) Donkey Kong Land Donkey Kong Land 2 Donkey Kong Land III Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 Wario Land II Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman! Kirby's Pinball Land Pokémon Red & Blue Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition Kid Icarus: Of Myths & Monsters Game & Watch Gallery Game & Watch Gallery 2 Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge Mega Man II (GB) Mega Man III (GB) Mega Man IV (GB) Mega Man V (GB) Mega Man Xtreme Mega Man Xtreme 2 Castlevania The Adventure Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge Balloon Kid Catrap DuckTales 2 Harvest Moon GB James Bond 007 Kid Dracula Kwirk Mole Mania Motocross Maniacs Operator C Parodius Pinball: Revenge of the 'Gator R-Type Solar Striker Super R.C. Pro-Am Tetris 2 / Tetris Flash Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break Qix Quarth Total: 59 *Nintendo 64 (22):* Games we need on Nintendo 64 online: Super Smash Bros. Donkey Kong 64 Diddy Kong Racing Mega Man 64 Castlevania 64 Banjo-Tooie Bomberman 64 + Bomberman 64: The Second Attack! Blast Corps Conker's Bad Fur Day ClayFighter: Sculptor's Cut Harvest Moon 64 (not only Jp exclusive) Jet Force Gemini Perfect Dark Rayman 2: The Great Escape StarCraft 64 Total: 42 *Game Boy Advance (14):* Games we need on Game Boy Advance online: Mario vs. Donkey Kong Mario Party Advance Mario Tennis: Power Tour Mario Golf: Advance Tour Dr. Mario & Puzzle League Mario Pinball Land Donkey Kong: King of Swing Yoshi Topsy-Turvy Wario Land 4 WarioWare Twisted! The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords Metroid: Zero Mission Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire Pokémon Emerald Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire F-Zero: GP Legend F-Zero Climax Mother 3 Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones Sonic Advance Sonic Advance 2 Sonic Advance 3 Game & Watch Gallery Advance Super Street Fighter II: Turbo Revival Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Castlevania: Circle of the Moon Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow Astro Boy: The Omega Factor Crash Bandicoot: The Huge Adventure / Crash Bandicoot XS Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced Crash Bandicoot: Fusion / Crash Bandicoot - Purple: Ripto's Rampage Drill Dozer Golden Sun: The Lost Age Gunstar Super Heroes Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town Rayman: Advance DX (in reality is a port from PS1) Shin-chan: Contra los Muñecos de Shock Gahn Spyro: Season of Ice Spyro 2: Season of Flame Spyro: Attack of the Rhynocs Spyro: Fusion / Spyro - Orange: The Cortex Conspiracy *Sega Genesis / Mega Drive (40):* Games we need on Sega Genesis online: Sonic The Hedgehog Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Sonic & Knuckles Sonic The Hedgehog CD Knuckles Chaotix Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle Beyond Oasis Combat Cars Dune: The Battle For Arrakis Earthworm Jim 2 Flashback: The Quest For Identity James Pond II: Codename: Robocod King Of Monsters II Landstalker Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament Monster World IV NBA Jam T.E NHL ’94 Quackshot starring Donald Duck Rocket Knight Adventures Samurai Shodown Taz In Escape From Mars ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron VectorMan WWF Raw

Ultimately, corporations will do what they think will get them the most profit. This is why the planet is being killed, and incidentally is also why switch online exists and sucks. We need systemic reform that places people over profit if we want a non-hellscape planet and a user-friendly Nintendo experience.

Great video! Subscribed. Love the use of the Zelda music in the background ❤

I wish they would just make the subscription no longer required for online play and gave you the option to buy games outright like on PSPlus and Xbox Game Pass - give the option to pay once to be able to have access to Super Mario Bros without a subscription. As it is currently NSO is everything I hate about the Switch and subscriptions in general.

Man, what about a punch out 99? How cool would that be

I actually bought expansion pass recently just for the entire Mario Party trilogy alone

Considering you don’t really pay to play online when using a pc, I think the fact that companies like Sony, Nintendo and such is just downright stingy.

I think Sonic 1, Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles might not be available due to music licensing. Surprised you didn’t mention Game Trials much. I got a surprising amount of value out of it. I’ve played Slay the Spire and Cult of the Lamb recently because of it. Now I like them and will buy them eventually on the right platform. I also like rougelikes now and am more interested in Splatoon 3: Side Order being a rougelike as well as other roguelikes. I probably would have never played them without Game Trials.

I feel like the subscription would be 5 times better if they just added actual chat features with vc that’s not app locked, playing and making friends on switch is almost impossible naturally. I have so many friends on my switch I never play or talk to cause it’s so difficult to get them in a game again

Is it worth it from a conceptual standpoint? Yes. Is it great? No. The biggest draw is that it made certain experiences officially available worldwide, meaning you can finally play stuff like the japanese version of Metroid Fusion or exclusives without import-shenanagans or piracy. The emulation for Gameboy and Gameboy Advance is pretty good and they offer other perks as a bonus. However, this is just looking at it isolated. if I had the choice between just reverting to how it was on the Wiiu or keeping it this way, I would honestly take virtual console and free online. It is not like they particularly do anything special from a pure game-perspective here(Like patching in translations for the games) to warrant this even being a service charging us 40 bucks a year for temporary access, they simply should have started giving us multilingual options in the eShop like I have seen them do with Pokemon Gen 1 on 3DS. I would be singing a diffrent tune if the previously mentioned bonus-perks weren't the *only* thing needing the service to function. If your main offering has no business being an offering, you built the menu wrong.

I do really enjoy switch online but that has a big asterisk next to it. When the expansion pack launched it did not have nearly enough content to justify its price. It wasn’t until the N64 games had doubled and the GBA was added that it started to feel like it had a decent amount of value. Thankfully by that time I was able to split the cost of the service with 5 other friends which made the cost significantly better. That’s the only way I think I could justify paying for it.

I find it HILARIOUS that originally there were going to offer a SINGLE NES game for a month and it being delayed a whole year. Great video! I also made a retrospective of Switch Online a few weeks back, if you checked that out I’d appreciate it.

i didnt even know pacman 99 was shut down while it had less of a play incentive as compared to tetris 99 or mario 35 its still somewhat disappointing to see the game didnt perform well enough for nintendo to want to keep supporting it

Honestly the fact that you have to pay for it to access online multiplayer in general in 2023 is embarrassing. Coupled with the ass infrastructure of Switch it's a solid NO. Saw the bullshit with payed multiplayer back in 2013 with the PS4 and XB1 and switched to PC and haven't looked back since.

Cool video, again well done 😃😃

I subscribe to NSO primarily for the peace of mind of having cloud saves for my games, but paying a little extra for all the NSO consoles and ever growing titles is a nice touch, as it lets me revisit part of my childhood when they release titles I used to play. It was such a joy when they released Crusader of Centy on NSO!

i feel like something that could make switch online actually worth it is if they added a collection of switch games as a feature like xbox game pass or the ps plus game catalouge

Considering the Game Boy and GBA emulators have been available for so long and we still haven't seen original classics such as the first Super Mario Land, it's really quite unfortunate. Nintendo recently added two Golden Sun games to NSO, so I do have hope that they will add many other classics still missing from the online service. Personally, I didn't purchase the expansion pack until there was more of a reason to do so. Having access to Online Play, NES, SNES, N64, GB, GBA, and Sega Genesis emulators, Animal Crossing DLC, Splatoon 2 DLC, Mario Kart DLC, and more with the "premium" tier is honestly not horrible. However, Nintendo really should give us more exclusive features and dlc to make the price a little more worth it. In regards to Gamecube and Wii coming to NSO, I think we'll DEFINITELY have to wait for Switch 2. Speaking of which, Nintendo should automatically launch the console with all of the retro games already available on Switch 1. It may sound far-fetched simply because they didn't do this when launching the Switch, however, I would argue that's because the Virtual Console feature on Wii U and 3ds was completely different from the NSO feature on Switch. Nintendo started with a clean slate and I think it's only fair for us consumers to expect them to keep going from here:)

good video! i think you dismissed the ever growing handheld emulator scene a bit too easily. you mentioned how emulaton on pc does not having the convince of the switch, but most of the new powkitty, abernic and retroid products are more portable than the switch and some are even pre-loaded with the roms. its hard to defend the tiny switch onlinecollection againt the massive catalogs packed in dozens of emulator options out there for so cheap.

The fact that every first party game still isn't available on what's essentially an emulator is insane. They could make it a fantastic deal, but they're choosing not to

I think you forgot to mention the 7-day game trials. I wish Nintendo just gave them for free or at least, 7 day game trial way more often. The last game was cult of the Lamb and I quite enjoyed it.

Nice video, though hearing Kakariko Village music while seeing Tetris on the screen gave me an unsettiling feeling.

They need a Better online interface like party chats , game invites , messages , being able to add players you just played with then it will be worth it they need a community like Xbox and ps does

Honestly, since last summer, the biggest seller for me has been the profile icons. Due to their hesitance to add icons for anything more niche than Star Fox, or not seen as first party Nintendo, I never had a profile picture I really resonated with on the console, and used stuff like an Inkling, Samus, and Mechanica as my icons. With NSO finally adding Xenoblade icons, I finally have something to make my profile feel like my profile. I use a Xenoblade pfp on all four of my accounts now, and it’s great. Fire Emblem and Pokemon getting batches is nice too, though I missed one of my favorite FE characters because I slacked for a week. The pfps, ability to play Smash however scuffed it may be, and Mario Kart DLC alone I feel make it worth for me.

bro wtf is wrong with RU-vid recomendations, i have been following your channel, for a bit you try to try something new, and people dont get to watch it, this is an awesome video, it's very annoying is not so apreciated in numbers as the others... Thanks for the great work

I also was let down by the price increase for the Expansion Pass tier. However, I got around it with a Family Membership along with some friends, which all slots are full. That means I only spend $10.00 a year.

I wish they’d make the online better and even then I’d pay more for more features, better online etc.

The nope .1 seconds in was peak 😂

Great video, neat bit of info tho. It wasn’t Microsoft who started the trend of a subscription fee to play online on a games console it was sega with the dreamcast

I just stopped paying for it and modded my Wii to play all of the retro games from the subscription on emulators

It's insane that the switch is at the end of its life and Nintendo's still refuses to sell or make the GB/GBA pokemon games available. They have been developing Home/Battle Tower online connectivity for R/S/E since 2018 (confirmed in leak of the Sloop/experimental gba emulator way back when), where the heck is it lol? Bruce, it's been 5 years! If they're ever added to NSO, i'll consider it worth it for pokemon home connectivity and online battles. Until then, emulations still free. The NSO library should be double or triple the size to be considered worth it.

I swear if anyone here is interested in just playing the retro games, get an emulator console. Better peformance, cheaper and you are not locked to whatever the heck Nintendo decides to put up. Your so called setup is also easy peasy as most of these come with everything preinstalled. So all you have to know is know how to drag a file on your pc.

Fabulous assessment of NSO! 💙

Before I clicked I was thinking "Would be funny if it started with no, then the entire rest of the video was a thanks for watching screen"

Imagine being a member and not subscribing to the person

The 6 classic consoles on the NSO are my most played. Cumulative hours are around 650 hours

May be a hot take, but i dont think adding any amount of old games will justify the poor online play many games have.

Great video. I have one burning question. Please somebody answer.... Is it possible to play the original gameboy tetris online multiplayer on switch with a friend? Thanks

Just to ask for other opinions, i am considering getting the expansion pass basically for the n64, genesis and gba games cuase i already own the splatoon 2 and mk8dx dlc any advice? (Btw i dont play animal crossing lol)

The wii shop actually had genesis games in virtualconsole back in the day

The thing I think most people really don't understand with NSO is that it is paid. Sure Nintendo Network was in many respects terrible when compared to XBL or PSN. But it achieved what it set out to do, and it was free. A lot of the things that NN didn't have that XBL and PSN did, could be excused by the fact that NN is Free. The Fact that NSO is paid, and yet isn't in a much better spot than NN is, is really jarring.

We'd get the best of both worlds if they keep adding older console games yet to be added like Wii or DS AND they had the guts to release them available for purchase. I'd happily buy a physical Switch cartridge that has all the SNES games for instance. Imagine if they did that with every console. Easy money, and everyone happy.

subbed !

Donkey kong County series aged perfectly, was do happy to replay those games.

I would LOVE to be able to send messages and screenshots to my friends. I feel Nintendo prioritized having a fast, small system UI because of the lack of storage and ram on the console. I feel like it's going to be alot better on the next system. Also I have 8 people on my family plan so I pay like $10 for over 200 games with online play! It's awesome. I feel like if I was a kid with easy access to such great games would have been awesome. All of the games on the genesis app are BANGERS and super fun online!

I like your vids, but I have a suggestion if you'll see this. I keep seeing artifacts in your videos, and I believe it's due to the encoding format and related settings for the recorded clips or the whole video project. I think figuring this out would greatly improve your videos. I think the issue is called frame de-sync?

Thank-you Sakurai!!

They don't add a boarder. They remove the boarder when the image gets stretched.

As of the time I wrote this comment, F-ZERO X on N64 Switch Online still has frameskipping issues and a ridiculously high control stick sensitivity rendering it near unplayable vs playing on the original hardware. (Even the NSO N64 controller has too high a sensitivity, but is more bearable due to the button layout being more familiar)

only paying for the cloud saves if it was not for that I would not be paying for any of nintendo online

thank you for getting right to the point lol

Well about the controlers... you only can buy them if you had online suscription and live in selected countries.

Fire Emblem (7) alone must have sucked out 100 hours of my time.

Perfect intro

All I ask is one thing: give us the option to make individual purchases. I totally understand why some Nintendo users may be sick to death of paying for the same retro titles again for the umpteenth time, but at least allow an option for those who would prefer a one-off transaction for games that they actually want.

18:13 that isn't that weird. Sonic 2 is generally considered better than sonic 1 in every way. With sonic 3&k being in limbo at the time it makes complete sense

Personally I think Nintendo made you have to pay to play online because of the failure of the Wii U

I feel like to charge for online service you have to actually provide a service. There’s not even something as simple as a messaging system. It’s embarrassing lol

Finally a long form RU-vid video that has the answer in 5 seconds, now I can go back to shorts and forget what I'm doing

Thank you. I was wondering if the Expansion pack service was worth it. I hope they eventually add the GBA pokemon games. I loved Fire Red.

8:48 Uhh, why is there a Yoshi holding a gun? 😅

I mean emulation is pretty easy for the games offered on the expansion pack. And Nintendo themselves are emulating those games on the switch. Anything from the gamecube/wii and below takes like 2 mins to setup, even less for the handheld games. And from the N64 and below even 2002 PCs can run games smoothly with 1gb of RAM and a 2GHz CPU. As you said the games are a nice bonus but getting the pass for them is up to argument.

It’s much better than before if nothing else.

Depends

Wow the first video that I only needed to watch the first second, thank you man!

Japan’s NSO has a bigger collection. They even have SMT games on it.

I was happy to buy roms off the eshop i could play when I wanted. And the free online for wii u.

For me the issue isn't even the fact that classic games are only by subscription, it's the fact that the catalog is still so small. No GBA Pokemon. No famous series like Megaman which are seperate buys. No original Mario RPG, etc.

I got the expansion pack for a year to play all the retro games and the Mario kart 8 dlc. I’m new to the Zelda series and that expansion got me access to 7 games so worth it for that year but afterwards I cancelled subscription as wasn’t worth it once I utilised lol

Only reason I got the family plan is it's $80 rather than $400 if I got individual plans. I get Sega has a pack you can own, what I don't get is why Nintendo doesn't offer their titles individually? It's simple and could work. Either buy the online service to gain access as a pack and play online, or own individually offline. It's not like they would lose subscribers but they're running out of great games and taking too long to keep subscribers interested if they're not careful.

The only way it would be worth it to me would be if they added the ability to have servers dedicated to playing with other people online with their older games like Mario kart

Is it just me or does the way the Nintendo 64 controller look satisfy me?

If you don't mind buying digital games instead of physical copies, it's definitely worth it for the game vouchers alone. I've saved at least twice what I've paid for NSO subscription on game voucher discounts.

Honestly, they should be adding more of the dlc with the expansion pass. Like add the botw dlc, XB2 dlc, MH DLC, Smash Character pack 1 and 2 plus others as the years go on. Tho with the social stuff, like come on Nintendo, let me message my friends or make a party before playing the game. This has to corrected when the next gen system comes.

It kinda sucked having to pay for internet after being free for so long. People spent like $100 on Splatoon 2

My daughter, 10, and I were listening to hold on just last night 🤣

Maybe in ten years they'll finally have a decent N64 lineup.

I pay 10 a year for the expansion pack. It's definitely worth it at that price

I think it has a nice price if you intend to play Retro games, especially compared to how much Virtual Console titles and Collections used to cost. If you're absolutely not interested in this stuff then yeah value is pretty low

I miss virtual console and owning my games.

Honestly online wise I would like to get the scarescraper online side mode from Luigi’s Mansion get it’s own spin off it’s probably the only reason why I use NSO next to Splatoon 3 and Smash Ultimate so honestly it would keep the series alive while they work on part 4

I rather just buy the VC games and own them rather than a subscription service

That Splatoon 2 bonus gear isn’t anything special but it sure is rare in Japan now. It’s not available in Japan anymore since they decided to stop supporting the email system they used to give codes to players. In face there is some gear that was only available in certain news posts that are also deleted now. Not too related but shows that Nintendo would rather discontinue parts of their game rather than just add it in through an update.