The NSO Expansion Pack Is...Kind of an Awful Deal? 

As is the Nintendo way, two steps forward, then you fall backwards down the stairs

Nintendo: “Please don’t emulate our games…” Consumer: “Ok fine, what you got?” Nintendo: “$50 a year for 9 N64 games.” Consumer: “I see… Lemme go see how dolphin is doing.”

"I don't want to, but I'll probably do it." That's the reason Nintendo keeps doing this. Everyone complains about their service plan, releasing HD versions of games at full price, and then you buy it anyway. Why would Nintendo stop when you do exactly what they want? The only way to stop Nintendo from doing this is to not buy their stuff. You can't reward their behavior with exactly what they want. Nintendo has shown time and time again that they don't care about the backlash so long as you open your wallet. They're going to continue until they finally cross the line. But they haven't yet. Because you're still going to buy it. You say they crossed the line, but clearly not if you still pay for it. Everyone seems to complain all the way to checkout. I'm guilty of it too, but I understand that complaining and buying it anyway isn't going to solve anything, no matter how much I complain. But I'm still going to buy it, because I want it. And that's why Nintendo wins argument this every time.

It's honestly getting harder to justify any purchase for an online service these days. Money is tight and some people just don't want to spend money on, lets be honest, a useless service. Mostly useless.

Sometimes it really seems like every time Nintendo thinks that everyone feels too unambiguously happy about something they're doing, they get the urge to even the scales somehow...

Ladies and gents, please DO NOT pay for this expansion pack if you aren't okay with the pricing. The worst thing is when people complain about these things and then end up buying them anyway.

I wouldn't be surprised if they stop adding NES and SNES games to push more people to get the expansion pack.

HUGE respect to Arlo for brutal honesty! I don't sub to RU-vidrs to hear them tiptoe around difficult conversations they clearly have feelings about! Not to mention, he even elaborates how STUPID this is, business-wise. So anti-consumer, you know?

RIP Satoru Iwata - "I don't believe it's right to charge consumers a recurring subscription fee to access online play"

The worst part of all of this is the implication. They are saying that their non-premium service is complete, and that it's so complete, they feel comfortable charging more for extra features. That means they officially and openly don't want to fix the many problems with the service.

I really wish they'd just let us buy the games outright instead of going through the service. The way I think they should do it is offer the games in the shop for a reasonable price then also have them through the service like Xbox Game Pass for like $40-50 for the year and get everything even in the future if they add in GameCube games but then have the base service as well for $20 for people that just want the ability to play online but don't want the classic games.

The sheer fact Arlo is using Goomba Village as the music in the background makes this so much harder to resist I just want to replay Paper Mario whenever I want every single year but 50$ is where I draw the line

I think the most aggravating aspect of this entire fiasco is the fact that THIS is the reason Virtual Console never made it to Switch. Say what you want about the Wii U, but that console's eShop gave you games from the NES through to the Wii, with backwards compatibility and the option to transfer previously purchased games for a minor charge. While the prospect of getting my hands on N64 games is tempting, the fact that it is now all or nothing makes it a no-go. Not having the ability to buy individual titles outside of NSO is simply mind-boggling, and combined with the ludicrous price tag, will only drive people further toward piracy and emulation, further exacerbating the problem.

"Man I'd pay anything for an F-zero game with online multiplayer" Nintendo: "ok, bet"

There are supply shortages. Christmas is coming. Parents will buy this when the shelves are empty. It's evil genius at its best.

"I dont want to get it. But I'm gonna get it." Such a mood

Goomba village theme is such a good choice.

Remember this is 50$ for something you will never OWN in your life. Yes, a game is 60$, but you OWN it.

Definitely too pricey at the minute even in the UK where the price point seems much better than in the US. I want to know a lot more about the service, like how often will they add new games? Will it include new dlc or even some of the old stuff that’s no longer selling? Will this improve the online service? So many things need to be clarified before this is a proposition I’m willing to pay for.

Its still a pretty bad deal regardless of price. Its like Nintendo realised reselling the same ROMs repeatedly was starting to look bad, So they decided people can't buy those ROMs anymore you have to rent them them now. You could have easily bought Mario 64 four times now but Nintendo still expects you to pay for it annually.

I love how I forget that Arlo is a puppet. I literally think of the Arlo puppet as a person just living his normal puppet person life.

I will always be upset that this was the underlying reason as to why we lost the Virtual Console; because Nintendo wanted to sell games as a service rather than let you actually own them. What people fail to look at is the long run of it all: In say, 4 years for now, you will have coughed up $200 and have nothing to show for it. When Nintendo eventually shuts down the servers after moving on the next big thing, so too will the entirety of that library of games. It's infuriating to know that that this is why a Zelda Collection was never made, and why SM3DAS was delisted.

I'm not paying 50 dollars a year for games I've already played, or still own.

Ok, so if we all join Arlo's family plan, we can make this a couple cents every other year or something... That sounds reasonable

You get to RENT the dlc for “free”.

In context of the price, the inclusion of Genesis games specifically over GBA, GC or another console are what really sour it all for me. It's a library that is readily available in multiple forms on a wide variety of platforms for a lower price. So what this is basically selling me on is just 9 N64 games, most of which were previously re-released on both Wii and Wii U with future games coming on no clear schedule or sense of scope for how far they will go with the catalog.

I love Nintendo with all my heart, I really do, but this.... oh man. This is something I couldn't see myself defending in any kind of reality If they had a mix n' match deal, or let you choose one or the other, or had it all be in one package and be priced at like 40 bucks a year, it would have been better

Every American: "This price is fucking Ridiculous." Every Canadian: "You guys haven't come to our country then eh. (cries internally)

Whenever Nintendo does something maybe a little cool, a ridiculous price tag is smacked on. I’ll mod my Wii for free, thank you very much

The most frustrating part for me is this focus on the retro games meanwhile they completely ignore the *actual online service*. I haven't touched NES or SNES games I just want Splatoon and Smash to actually function

I got a question I'm already a member Nintendo switch online I haven't got the expansion pack my question is when I do upgrade well I be charged immediately or I don't have to pay them until 12 months later

Nintendo being the Disney equivalente, cashing out our nostalgia. I really hope Nintendo catches the hint and doesn’t further the price. Add in advance and game boy, it could be worth it but not more.

This is amazing, Nintendo managed to totally ruin my excitement for this expansion pass. I get a good amount of play of Genesis games on my switch, but that's through the Genesis Classics collection, which I now own for eternity. The Animal Crossing DLC is totally wasted on me, I don't play AC. It truly feels like it's there just to hike up the price. And N64 I'm still down for, but it feels like something I would've paid $10 for, and would have to double and then some for that. It's a tough pill to swallow for me to pay $30 extra for games I own physically on switch, useless DLC, and then some actual cool stuff.

Nintendo does it yet again: announce thing that people are quite pleased with, only to reveal details that instantly mark it as the crappiest deal possible.

I remember when the Switch Online was free and when they announced they would start charging for it people were saying: "oh but it will be made to be better because we have to pay for it." It's still stinky to this day.

So if my GF plays Animal X on her profile does she need to buy the NSO upgrade herself to get the DLC? I feel like when I upgrade the DLC will only be available to me on my account...

I don't trust their "trickle release" statement. Look at how infrequently we get any NES/SNES games since they stopped monthly updates.

The part that really gets me is that the access to games is an additional bonus to the actual product, access to online play for the Nintendo switch. A service that would have been considered abysmal 10 years ago, and is an absolute dumpster fire in 2021. Online SSB4 play was terrible, but it was free. With the introduction of the switch, Nintendo made no improvements to the existing product, but had the gall to actually charge for it. It's not like they're the only one offering a library of games bundled with their service either. With the recent price increase, Nintendo is closing in on the price of their competitors' analogous products. Just take a second to compare NSO to the products offered by Sony and Microsoft. Both of the competitors offer vastly superior performance than NSO, while providing significantly larger libraries of free content. With the release of the PS5, Sony just gave away the PS4 greatest hits to anyone with PS+, while Nintendo took the opposite approach and ported all of the Wii U's big sellers and resold them at $60 a piece. The argument that this is optional content, and that the additional cost is justified doesn't hold water when you compare it to the competition. If Nintendo is serious about boosting NSO membership they need to make dramatic improvements to the performance of its games on said service. It's 2021, there just isn't an excuse to have online play as bad as NSO.

I freaking love the paper mario for N64 music you're playing in the background.

im confused...i already have NSO family plan, do i HAVE to get this shit or can i just stick with the usual plan and buy the AC expansion separately without changing anything

I remember some Discord people telling me I "overreacted" when we first saw the Switch was going to paid online and while it was ok if I didn't want to buy it, it was still "better than everyone else's paid plans". Now look at this shit. Can we please go back to the time game consoles had FREE online? I barely play console games anymore (especially no multiplayer games) because now you basically need to pay extra for the games in order to have the full experience...and not even permanently! At least more people aren't defending the expansion, but now it is going to "well some countries aren't AS bad with the price!" so I think some people have learned nothing.

I’ve defended a lot of Nintendo’s decisions in the past. I even defended the base NSO to some extent because, to me, it was a decent value for $20 a year. I was still annoyed, but I was relatively fine with it. The expansion pass, though… Let me make this absolutely clear. This is _not_ worth an additional $30 a year for individuals or $45 a year for 2-8 people. It just isn’t, full stop. And that’s on its own. The fact that you have to have a year-long subscription to NSO in order to get the content on top of that makes that asking price way too high. For that price, you’re getting: 1) a subscription to DLC for a game that you may or may not own _and_ that can also be purchased separately with a one-time payment of $25; 2) the ability to stream a limited (though growing at an unknown rate) collection of games for the Sega Genesis (some with online play), which is a 30-ish-year-old console _and_ which are already available through the Sega Genesis Collection (also on Switch); and 3) the ability to stream a limited (though growing at an unknown rate) collection of games for the N64 (some with online play), which is a 20-ish-year-old console, with one game being available (in an improved form, though without save states) on the Switch already via Super Mario 3D All-Stars, three of which have improved remakes available on the Nintendo 3DS/2DS, one or two of which are available with improved graphics and performance on the XBox One or XBox Series X/S as part of a collection of Rare games, and most being available on the Wii U Virtual Console. You also have the online play, cloud-save data (though not for all games), and a limited library of 25-to-30-ish-year-old NES and SNES games for streaming as part of the whole pack. Let’s contrast this with PlayStation Plus, which gives you better online gameplay, cloud-saves, and a larger collection of PS4 and newer games for just $10 a year more than NSO+expansion. That’s a much better value. Honestly, for me, the expansion pass has only two things I’m interested in: Banjo-Kazooie and the Animal Crossing DLC. (I already have the other N64 games I want on my Wii U, and I also have the Sega Genesis Collection on Steam.) But frankly, I’d rather just buy the DLC as a one-time purchase and have it forever (since NSO isn’t going to be around forever), and having to pay that much for just a single N64 game isn’t worth it. I also think this is a terrible value for early-adopters. The initial slate of games on release is, frankly, abysmal in size and missing a bunch of great games for both the N64 and Sega Genesis, so early adopters would be betting on having a bunch more games being added within the first year, which I wouldn’t count on. So, frankly, I don’t think the service will be successful right out the gate. Maybe later on, but without any major things like online play for Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Super Mario Maker 2, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, main-line Pokémon games, Fortnite for Switch, or Splatoon 2/3 requiring the expansion pass (unlike the base NSO), there really is no good reason to buy this early on if at all. Even the DLC can be purchased separately with a one-time purchase that’s even cheaper than the yearly subscription fee added on to NSO for the expansion pass, and only players of that one game would get _any_ benefit from that inclusion in the first place, so it doesn’t sweeten the deal _at all._ Basically, you have to be willing to pay a lot extra every year just to get a collection of N64 and Sega Genesis games on your Switch with online play. That’s just not worth it. If it was $5-10 extra per year (with or without the DLC), $15-20 extra per year (with the DLC, maybe), or if they also added GBA, DS, GCN, Wii, or decent non-retro games to the package, it’d be worth the asking price. As it is, it’s just too much money for too little value.

Hey Arlo. Do I need an n64 controller to play this in my switch?

So if I decide to get this and since I don't have Animal Crossing, am I just stuck with the DLC for a game I don't own?

Like Vinny said: Nintendo has been very successful now for couple of years and when companies like Nintendo get successful, they tend to become annoying. That may lead them to make more and more mistakes and we might see a situation like Wii U, where Nintendo gets humbled big time and become a lot less annoying

"If Nintendo wanted you to buy the games, they would let you buy the games, so just emulate them and be done with it!" - Not Arlo

So I have a question: is this a one time payment or can we also do this monthly.

Yooo where did you get that Metroid on the table??

When Nintendo first announced that they were going to add an expansion pack to Nintendo Switch Online that included N64 titles I thought, "Awesome, I'll happily pay to be able to play Ocarina of Time again." Now that I know the price however, I have decided against it. Even for die-hard Nintendo fanboys there's no defending this; the pricetag simply beggars belief.

That's just great, when Nintendo finally does something that everyone has been begging for, they make you pay an extortionate amount of money to get it.

do they even have a monthly option for this "Exspansion pack" or you HAVE to pay yearly? why cant they just make it where you pay for the service and then you are asked to select the 2 Emulators you want access to between the 4 available? and if you want access to more it costs extra.

Dude, if you pay for the service, then you're contributing to the problem. Nintendo is doing this because they know they can get away with it; because they know YOU will still pay for it. You have the platform here. You have the opportunity to make a stand and say "No, I won't accept this, and you shouldn't either." Money talks, and that statement goes both ways. They'll listen if sales drop. Don't buy into their BS. Also, butternut squash? Yes please.

Being a Nintendo fan is like being in a toxic relationship. The highs are Sora high and the lows are this. Yeesh.

35$ I would have considered the upper end of the reasonable price range. 50$ is just beyond what I will spend for what is offered.

wait do you need the special plan to get the Happy Home Paradise DLC? Or can you buy it separately and its like an extra addition when you get the special plan

It's nice to see your face again Arlo. The voice overs just aren't the same.

Everyone is talking about the price. I am just wondering why these weren't included into the current program for free. Adding SNES into the mix after NES felt natural. Logically, the next step would be the eventual inclusion of N64 games....for free. Imagine if in two or more years, Nintendo decides to add another expansion pack with GCN games for an even further additional price.

I might have been more willing to get this if I had faith nintendo was going to keep adding great games to the lineup over the years. But after seeing what they did with the nes and super nes libraries I'm not holding my breath.

Just sell me the games I want, dont want to "rent" them.

A few months back, after getting impatient for Nintendo to actually port their best classic games to Switch, I brought a GameCube that came with Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, I brought the Mario 3D All Stars collection when it came out last year and I already have access to the 2D Zelda games with the base Nintendo Switch Online package. I know this is a pretty specific scenario. I'm not new to Nintendo games, and most people are not going to go to the trouble of sourcing and buying vintage consoles. But for a one-time investment I now own all the N64 and GameCube games that I am likely to want to replay on a semi-regular basis. I don't have a *massive* interest a lot of the N64 titles beyond Mario and Zelda. I think this really sums up Nintendo's approach to their library of games over the last few years. The fact that they have such a long history of significant first-party franchises *is* their USP. The Switch is their best selling console since the Wii, and Breath of the Wild has introduced a large number of people to the Zelda franchise. But they have waited too long to release their classic titles and overcharged for them now. Can you imagine if Xbox Game Pass had a base price, but they you had to pay extra to play Halo CE or Fable? It's inconceivable that they'd do that. But Ninteno just gotta Nintendo, I guess.

This is one of those little moments where I’m like “yay, I have a Wii U!”

Going from the Animal Crossing Direct to the NSO expansion pack was like being shown a massive, delicious chocolate cake before someone came up behind me and poured a gallon of ice water over me. I don't endorse piracy, but Nintendo really has to stop and think about this. If they really have such a problem with hackers and pirates and whatnot, maybe the problem is that their model is actually encouraging people to "sail the high seas." But remember, their current president is someone who came from the accounting division- as in, all he sees is dollar signs. At least Iwata was a game developer himself, so he understood the art and the passion behind the business. All Furikawa sees is maximum profit potential.

Nintendo sees their classic games as worth more monetarily than they actually are

I’m wondering if you were to purchase the acnh DLC, would it cost less?

I miss when Nintendo was lowkey failing during the wiiu era and was throwing crazy shit at the wall to see what stuck and got even more creative. Sure a lot of people hated the wiiu but nintendo really learned during that time. Now with the switch being so insanely successful theyre getting too greedy

Whoever proposed it at Nintendo was probably like "c'mon-...! Let's just try it... maybe they won't be that upset. We already got away with charging for peer-to-peer! We can always lower the price if they get too upset!"

There's nothing I would want from the Sega library I can't get for a buck fifty on PC to _keep_ forever. Just get emulators for everything else and buy Happy Home Paradise separately.

You hit the nail on the head. It's nice to have all that extra stuff I didn't ask for but if it's gonna make it cost that much, I'm no longer interested and best case scenario for them, I'll consider forking over some money if and when they put more games I actually want into the service.

It really feels like Nintendo grouped the AC DLC with the expansion just to artificially inflate the price. That they are trying to trick non AC players into buying the DLC anyway even though they have no reason to do so. It is just so sleazy, it's flat out disgusting.

9:18 "I don't wanna do it, but I'll probably do it" This is why Nintendo (and other companies, really) pull stuff like this. They know people will grump and complain, but in the end only an irrelevant minority will actually refuse to pay for it.

I was thinking I was an early adopter to NSO, but even though there were few games, I was expecting more to come, and that other consoles would be added. I was happy to sort of support the thing until then. But then we pay over double for just the ability to play some N64?

3:49 “And not just that they seem to kind of run really well it even said like kind of in higher resolution- looks like really really nice emulation.” If only you would have been correct on that part at least.

When I was watching the animal crossing direct, I was thinking, “Man this update looks pretty good, but it’s Nintendo so it’s too good to be true. There’s gotta be something stupid they’re gonna do” Then like 20 seconds later the price is expansion gets revealed.

People REALLY need to vote with their wallets on this one. I was so excited for N64 games as it was my first console and I still have my original system I got on my 6th birthday, but this makes me want to go and buy an everdrive 64. I never did before because I thought they were too expensive but now I think it might be worth it.

Oh btw I heard RetroArch released on steam a little while ago, wonder if it can run on the steam deck.

Can the animal crossing be ordered separate from the pack- and still have online feature??

The fact that they were surprised people would be mad that they didn't fix online before introducing a 50+ usd option is amazing

As someone who has refused to buy NSO since it released, this expansion pass feels like a slap in the face to people who want NSO’s core issues fixed.

So what happens after one year when you cancel the expansion? Do you lose the Animal Crossing DLC?

You are the only RU-vidr who was able to voice all of my opinions about this NSO expansion. Everyone else seems to be happy to pay, and I'm just kind of frustrated about it. It's like we all should be expecting better from Nintendo, but nope. They can do no wrong, apparently. 😕 Edit: I don't play Animal Crossing either, I'm super annoyed that they're forcing me to pay for a DLC I don't even own the game for! 😩

nintendo: here's the animal crossing update with tons of stuff and a reasonably priced sequel to hhd in the form of dlc! me: wow, this is really cool! wait, nintendo sure is being generous...? nintendo: also, NSO is $50 a year me: ah, there's the nintendo i know

My sister is literally the only person I've come across who is okay with this pricing and is going to gladly pay it. I'm a lifelong Nintendo fan but _hell no_ I'm not going to pay that! Those games are 25+ years old and you only get a hand full of them. That price tag is absolutely _ludicrous._ Don't pay it, Arlo. Show solidarity with your wallet.

so IF I buy the online family expansion pack does that mean everyone in the plan can download the free DLC for animal crossing? Thanks in advance!

They still haven't added Earthbound to the SNES games like. What games are they planning on adding to future systems- (I think a neat thing would be if they added N64 DD games to online though since for the NES they had no problem adding Japan exclusive games and it's not like the switch needs an add-on for the extra power to run them)

Here's how I break it down: Base NSO provides 6 different features (online play, NES, SNES, cloud saves, voice chat, bonus offers). Divide that into $20 and you're paying $3.33 per feature. Now when you do the same thing with the Expansion Pack, we're seeing 3 additional features (N64, GEN, and DLC) for $30 more, meaning we're paying $10 per feature now. This is Nintendo being greedy and they probably regret not charging more for the base service since it's so popular.

Responding to something at the end: Even though you're the best of the Nintendo guys, we'd still support you for not buying the BANANAS overpriced service, I promise! You don't need to check this one out, we can see it's bonkers

I bet you that within a week of release there's gonna be a cracked version for modded switches that lets you add any N64 under the sun to these "online" programs. Once again, pirates are getting a better experience than consumers. Thanks Nintendo.

I have a question, if i may? The animal crossing expansion that comes with this service are you buying or renting it? I heard it was also an expansion that you can buy separately for a one time fee like the other expansions! So my main question is would you be spending extra money for nothing, With the animal crossing expansion each time? Because apparently that seems to be the case, your paying extra for nothing when you can get it for a one time fee! So what kinda screw up job is that?

I am absolutely the customer Nintendo lost with this price. When I heard N64 games were coming I was like "Finally, I couldn't care less about anything currently in NSO but I have been waiting forever for an N64 mini and I'd absolutely pay $30-35/year for that N64 lineup on the switch instead so who cares what else I'm paying for and there's no way they'll more than double the price for an expansion pass so I should be fine. I am excited about this announcement." Jokes on me I guess. 🙄

I'd would've heavily preferred it to be a one time purchase. Paying an additional 30 USD (I'm Canadian) for some N64 games and an update, but having to repeatedly pay it every year is honestly just a bad financial decision for me. They aren't even improving the poor online service? If they put NES, SNES, GB/C/ A, GC, Wii, N64 games all together in a pack for like $79.99 CAD, that would've been a better deal imo. It still would've been overpriced, but damn. Obviously they wouldn't put all the games released on because that would be impossible, but just like do what they're doing now, but in a one time purchase game? Or make it a separate subscription fee for cheaper? Idk this just seems like the worst way to go about this for some N64 games (don't really care much about Sega Genesis tbh). Also the fact the ACNH DLC is "free" with the expansion pack is dumb. You literally have to pay $50 a year to keep the update... this is honestly a scam lol

So my question is, when the switch goes the way of the dinosaur and inevitably Nintendo switch online does the same, will we not have access to the games that we paid for? You know the emulated ones?

I really hope, though I don't see it happening, that Nintendo drops the price on this thing through the floor or makes it a one time payment to upgrade. All this expansion does is add more games to the library (poorly emulated I might add), and some random DLC based on a 3DS animal crossing expansion that was actually not that popular if I remember correctly. I would have been fine with like a 10 dollar price hike for this since it's annual, maybe a 12 dollar price hike, but this is just objectively too expensive for what you get. Remember they haven't even improved the service for those who pay more, the same NSO issues continue to exist no matter how much money you give them

If you factor in the Japanese mindset towards refusing to download roms and mames for old games because they believe you're obligated to either buy the original release first/second hand or buy the rerelease/official emulation if it's made available, then this is a really sinister move by Nintendo. By making this so expensive they're basically cashing in on their Japanese fanbases constant obedience to their brand while knowing full well they don't really have a choice if they want to play their games. Don't let Nintendo exploit your decency and boycott this blatant cash-grab. Every cent they make from this only legitimised this kind of business strategy, so don't give them anything for this service. They're a wealthy company with nonstop growth, they'll be fine without you throwing your hard-earned money at them for this little "expansion pack" of theirs.

Not only did this completely kill my hype for the expansion pack, it also greatly devalued the base service for me as well to the point where I straight-up cancelled my subscription this morning. Now that they're locking additional systems behind a *massive* price hike, I seriously doubt they're going to add anything worthwhile to the base NSO subscription from this point onward. I'm down for a Game Pass-style approach to Virtual Console on paper, but the pricing has to be right for me to even consider it. New worthwhile content has been so sparse I haven't truly felt like I've been getting my money's worth for quite a while now, and now they have the audacity to ask for over _double_ what I've already been paying??? lol no, im just gonna dust off my Wii U instead

A thing I hadn't seen mentioned (forgive me if I missed it), the dlc pack for ac, I know hard to believe but not everyone owns ac or WANTS to own ac so for some people that is literally worthless

I think I remember Nintendo tweeted the expansion pass, and the FIRST reply was how to download and play emulators for free. Also, probably a stupid question but something to keep in mind: if the DLC for other games will be tied to this new service, does that mean you lose access to it once your subscription runs out? I doubt it, because that sounds stupid, but at this rate I can’t be sure what they’re willing to do.

nintendo really doesn’t understand how gamepass-type subscriptions work. if i wanna play mmos, battle royales, online-centric games, it’s reasonable to subscribe because these games are fun right now. but these n64 classics have stood the test of time. we don’t want to have them for now, we want to have them indefinitely. if i dropped $50 on this service, i’d be rushing through masterpieces to get my money’s worth. when i first played ocarina, it kept me occupied for months. these are not the kind of games you play once and the novelty wears off, they’re the kind you come back to again and again.

I never liked NSO all that much, but I felt like that $20 was going towards 1) paying for the online servers for multiplayer and 2) paying for the online servers to hold save data backups. The NES/SNES games were basically a "sorry you're paying for something that was previously free. Here's some bonus games for you to enjoy." So the expansion feels like they're just adding slightly more recent bonus games and expecting you to pay over twice as much. The AC DLC feels even more like a bonus thing, since it costs less than how much this is over So yeah, it does feel ridiculous, and I'm definitely not buying it. I already let regular NSO expire once the one game I got it for stopped getting updates, so it'd basically be paying $50 for whatever N64 game I wanted to play. Which definitely isn't worth it.

I wonder if anyone's actually gonna try to defend what Nintendo has done here. I can only imagine the kind of defense points that they'd make a claim to

I do have a family plan but that's because I own 1 Switch & 2 Switch Lites, the second Lite is primarily there for my cousin's daughter to use when she visits & wants to play Splatoon 2 with me but I also have an Animal Crossing game on it for myself, it's my time travel island I use to get out of season stuff & hoard Nook miles on so I can have many tickets for my others. I also use it as a bit of a revolving theme island, currently it's prehistoric themed. I use the family plan so I can access online on all three of them, two of them have more than one user, I like having multiple save files in Pokemon, alright? I've bought multiple copies of the same game in the past like I have 2 Platinums, 2 SoulSilvers (would of got HeartGold instead but I scored a used copy of SS at GameStop for $20 years ago), 2 Xs, 2Ys, & you get the picture. I can have one Sword & one Shield yet have multiple save files. Family plan is a way I can access online on those multiple save files. Heck, I would of just had Shield if I wasn't so use to playing two Pokemon games at a time. I had only one DS Lite & no other systems to play multiple Pokemon games on but things changed when I got a 3DS, suddenly, I could play multiple DS Pokemon games at the same time then later down the road when I got a New 3DS XL, I could play 2 3DS Pokemon games at the same time & I could never go back to just one at a time. In June, I even played 2 SoulSilvers & Pearl at the same time when doing Safari Week, it's a thing in the Pokemon shiny hunting community. So yeah, I figured might as well get both Sword & Shield since I knew I'd play both on two different systems at the same time. I do that sometimes with Animal Crossing where I visit my other islands playing my Switch & Switch Lite at the same time. You'd think I'd want to go with that $70 a year family plan after hearing all of this? Uhh no. I don't. Too expensive for too little. Maybe it'll be worth it to me if they introduced Gameboy games onto it but that's a strong maybe & depends too like are we talking GBA as well? If that's the case then yeah, I'm interested because I just have Sapphire, LeafGreen, & a copy of Ruby in Spanish (long story) when it comes to gen 3 Pokemon games & having access to them on the Switch would be great but if it's just like Gameboy & Gameboy Color, I have both Yellow & Crystal on my 3DSs so I don't know if that'd be enough to push myself to pay $70 a month. Maybe if they shut down the transporter & Bank, that'd be enough to push me but if they did that, I'd be mad ticked because I filled up Bank on both of my 3DSs, I ran out of room lol. So I have three islands in total, that equals up to one payment of $75 for the expansion pack & even so, I'm just getting it for my primary island right now but I might get it for my secondary later down the line. Pretty much, I'm paying for it spread out so for now, it's a $25 payment for the paid DLC & I'm good to go. I do believe they're asking for a lot, sure it can help families who use their plan for actual families & I like that but the price is just a tad too high for what there is now.