Switch Online Service

Daft Ada

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Nintendo have finally announced all their plans for paid online access for Switch. PR blurb below. In short, it's coming 2018 now, includes access to NES games while you have an active subscription, and will cost around £20 a year.

NES games at launch include Mario Bros 3, Balloon Fighter and Dr Mario. SNES games are apparently under consideration.

Guess this means no VC?




You’ll be able to play compatible co-op and competitive games online by signing in with your Nintendo Account. Online play will be free for Nintendo Account holders until our paid online service launches in 2018.
After the free-trial period, most games will require a paid online service subscription from Nintendo in order to play online.

This service is only for Nintendo Switch. It does not affect online play or features for the Wii U or Nintendo 3DS family of systems

Coming in 2018

Online lobby and voice chat
Our new dedicated smart device app will connect to Nintendo Switch and let you invite friends to play online, set play appointments, and chat with friends during online matches in compatible games─all from your smart device.

A free, limited version of this app will be available for download in summer 2017.

Classic Game Selection*
Subscribers will get to download a compilation of classic titles with added online play, such as Super Mario Bros. 3, Balloon Fight and Dr. Mario.

Nintendo eShop deals
Special offers for subscribers may include discounts on select digital games and content.


“Nintendo Switch Online subscribers will have ongoing access to a library of classic games with added online play. Users can play as many of the games as they want, as often as they like, as long as they have an active subscription.
Nintendo Switch Online subscribers will be able to play a wide variety of classic games, including Super Mario Bros. 3, Balloon Fight and Dr. Mario. More games will be announced at a later date. At launch the classic game library will include NES games. Super NES games continue to be under consideration, but we have nothing further to announce at this time.”
 
From what I read, they've stated you can play the games as long as you have an active subscription, same as Sony's PS+. It looks like they're going to make a library of games available to play rather than the one game a month they originally said in January. That seems better value as long as we get a decent library.

This sounds good but goes against what Nintendo have done historically with the virtual console so it will be interesting to see how this pans out. SNES games are under consideration so perhaps it will only be NES games and the VC will be for SNES, N64 and Gamecube games.

I'm disappointed that it's delayed until 2018 though. I was hoping we'd have the virtual console service online after E3 and the full online service up and running by September. If the VC is also delayed until then it will be nearly a full year before they get their online act together.
 
From what I read, they've stated you can play the games as long as you have an active subscription, same as Sony's PS+. It looks like they're going to make a library of games available to play rather than the one game a month they originally said in January. That seems better value as long as we get a decent library.

This sounds good but goes against what Nintendo have done historically with the virtual console so it will be interesting to see how this pans out. SNES games are under consideration so perhaps it will only be NES games and the VC will be for SNES, N64 and Gamecube games.

I'm disappointed that it's delayed until 2018 though. I was hoping we'd have the virtual console service online after E3 and the full online service up and running by September. If the VC is also delayed until then it will be nearly a full year before they get their online act together.

You know what they say, all good things come to those who wait. :D
I'm sure Nintendo has something held back fro E3, perhaps Switch VR or some un-announced games.
 
Online features aside, I can't see why Nintendo just doesn't have a subscription service for every game it can get licenses for from NES until Gamecube on Switch, I'm pretty sure this could be done within the next month or so rather than next year? You could double the subscription fee and I'd be happy with that!
 
This sounds like the TV button on the Wii U again.

Hope it works out. Being able to just play any NES game should be fun. Although I can play a bunch on the NES mini I have.
 
Perhaps that's why they withdrew the NES Mini? They want people to go for the unlimited playing on the Switch instead as long as they get an annual fee for it?

Also, it has been confirmed that the NES games part of the online subscription (NESflix if you will!) is separate from a VC service coming soon but they just don't know how best to implement it or Switch.

Also, the subscription is tied to the Nintendo Account, not the Switch console, so if you have 2 or more family members using the one Switch and you have your own accounts, you each have to pay the £20 annual fee.
 
Online features aside, I can't see why Nintendo just doesn't have a subscription service for every game it can get licenses for from NES until Gamecube on Switch, I'm pretty sure this could be done within the next month or so rather than next year? You could double the subscription fee and I'd be happy with that!
At least the nes to N64 would be good, I'd think they'd make more selling it this way than selling titles separately, I'd happily £5 a month for a service of it's offering that much content.
They keep talking about these game collections as part of this, I hope it's not a collection and then they just ditch it and replace it every so often cutting off access to the title. It'll definitely be interesting to see how it all stands up, but at £20 a year I'm not as fussed if it lacks the polish of the other offerings.
 
I would pay £5 a month in a heartbeat if it means I can play all the old super mario games.

Because I'm not interested in things like voice chat on the switch and purely just want to play games I'm not sure what I want them to add.

Are game saves done on the card or does that require the SD cards
 
Game saves are an issue presently. They're saved to the Switch's internal memory so if your Switch dies, the saves are lost. Nintendo really need to do something about that. Either allow the saves to be backed up to SD card or store them in the cloud as part of their online service.
 
Cloud saves are here - finally!

20 NES games at launch - with online functionality (challenges/leaderboards/online chat/2p online) - No mention of the SNES games they previously said were coming at launch and were still only getting NES games when XBOX and PS4 give you access to much more recent games and they are yours to keep even after you cancel. Nintendo won't even let you have a free NES game to keep!

Nintendo Family Account - Up to 8 members share one account and all have access to the online service on different Switches (not sure how this isn't gonna be exploited and groups of friends get access for cheap)
 
Cloud saves are here - finally!

20 NES games at launch - with online functionality (challenges/leaderboards/online chat/2p online) - No mention of the SNES games they previously said were coming at launch and were still only getting NES games when XBOX and PS4 give you access to much more recent games and they are yours to keep even after you cancel. Nintendo won't even let you have a free NES game to keep!

Nintendo Family Account - Up to 8 members share one account and all have access to the online service on different Switches (not sure how this isn't gonna be exploited and groups of friends get access for cheap)
You can't keep ps4 and Xbox games, when my ps+ runs out I can no longer play those games until I cough up the sub again. Still think the all you can eat virtual console could be amazing if they were to release say 10 extra games a month to add to the library and never take any away. How much work it's really involved in porting games from back then even with the added multi player.

But, the big gripe, why oh why are they still persisting with the blasted smartphone app for voice chat, I just can't get my head around what they are thinking. Sure enabling it from the phone and managing lobbies ect I can understand, it means you can easily keep your kids away from it by not letting them have your phone. Suppose if using voice chat you usually have a headset but wiring in to 2 things just isn't practical.
 
Nintendo Family Account - Up to 8 members share one account and all have access to the online service on different Switches (not sure how this isn't gonna be exploited and groups of friends get access for cheap)
They might go down the same route as Apple & Amazon with their family accounts.
The family account is administered & paid for by a single user/credit card. All subsequent eshop purchases by any family member is then charged to that single user/credit card. Many people would be uncomfortable with sharing that access with non-family.
 
They've also said there's no plans for virtual console on the Switch at the moment:

The Virtual Console Isn't Coming To Switch, Nintendo Confirms

Bit disappointing but if it means that eventually snes, n64 and gamecube games become part of the games given with the online service that will be fine. In the meantime I'll play the snes and n64 games I want to play on the wii u (which I'm having a bit of a resurgence with at the moment) virtual console and no doubt buy the inevitable n64 and gamecube minis.
 
They've also said there's no plans for virtual console on the Switch at the moment:

The Virtual Console Isn't Coming To Switch, Nintendo Confirms

Bit disappointing but if it means that eventually snes, n64 and gamecube games become part of the games given with the online service that will be fine. In the meantime I'll play the snes and n64 games I want to play on the wii u (which I'm having a bit of a resurgence with at the moment) virtual console and no doubt buy the inevitable n64 and gamecube minis.
Just when I thought Nintendo couldn’t put a foot wrong with the Switch, they announce this :rolleyes:.
 
Wow, other users of the same Switch can't use the online features. That's appalling.
 
I'm ok with the whole pay to play scenario, and £20 for a year will be decent value, but to only have 20 NES games available at launch is pretty poor if you ask me.

They should have a ton of NES, SNES, N64 and GC stuff all ready to go by this point.
 
Don't Xbox and PSN work the same way? My missus can't go online with her PSN account unless she pays for PS Plus.
No if you set the PSN account as ‘Primary’ on the console, then any user on that particular console can go online, but no cloud saves for the extra users.
 
No if you set the PSN account as ‘Primary’ on the console, then any user on that particular console can go online, but no cloud saves for the extra users.

You may have saved me some dosh, cheers. My wife wants to play Pure Pool against her friend but on her own PSN account so she can track her stats.
 

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