Nintendo Still Has More To Share On Switch Online Before Launch

Realistic expectations
That is all

It's a relatively cheap service, so I'm already planning on buying the service.

I think Nintendo could really do something great with the service. I'm hoping that's the case.

So far...still not eager to pay the yearly $20. No themes, no on-console chat, soooo what's my incentive again?

Look we are giving you the right to use Netflix

All aboard the next Nintendo direct hype train!

I hope basic features aren't locked behind the service. But considering how we haven't heard anything concrete on streaming apps coming to Switch, it probably is.

Will online play for F2P games remain free After September. All I care about right now.

I’m buying it. It’s cheap enough that I feel like I’d get my money’s worth. Pricing is spot on.

....lol, whatever Nintendo. I'm not going for it. lol

I really hope it'll be related to GC/N64, but I've come not to expect it from Nintendo.
Sad, they have so many amazing IPs and game and they can bring them ALL on switch. NES, SNES, GB, GBA, DS, 3DS, N64, GC... they could easily have the console with the most content in no time...

How about they actually announce the other 10 games it's supposed to launch with? That'd be a nice start...

“We are finally ready to announce some new information!”
“But it’s only three minutes before the launch of the service...”

Hopefully Vectrex support.

Would be nice if they surprised us and told the 10 remaining games will be SNES, N64 and maybe Gamecube games, something like 5 SNES, 3 N64, 2 GC.

NES is good and all and the addition of online features is welcomed.....but it has been milked to death, plus wouldnt it be better to have a selection of systems rather than just "8 Bit or nothing"?

SNES and/or N64 Mario Kart with online mutiplayer on day one and boom, watch those subs skyrocket.

Nintendo is going to need more than just NES and SNES I feel at launch for people to feel like their money was well spent

Also, I don't understand why we have a small selection of games at launch, Nintendo should be able to easily get these working on the Switch. Perhaps they are going to do some sort of awkward rotation of games where, say, one month you can get Super Mario Bros, and the next you can get Balloon Fight?

@gamerchick_22 Actually the Switch does have on-console chat, it just depends if the developers want to take the time to put it in. Fortnite did it with it being as simple as plugging headphones in and speaking into the mike.

They might surprise us with 30 more minutes of Smash Bros. developer notes. (Or worse, a recap of what they've already released.)

I'm still hoping for Pokemon 2019 news.

@Deku-Scrub Well, the games are going to have Online co-op added to them. So the small selection to start with could be so that everyones playing the same games so its easier to play Online Co-op with people, and as more people purchase the service, they will update it with more games so that each game has its own dedicated player base for Online co-op

It's like they don't even know themselves...

@superpotion as long as it's a right and not a mandatory download. I don't use the service and it'll just clutter up my home menu. :/

@superpotion he’s pretty much talking about Netflix and YouTube.

A web browser would be a terrible idea, given how prevailing smart devices are.

@patbacknitro18 Ah yes, I forgot about the online co-op, still though, many of us just want a larger variety, and hopefully this online co-op feature doesn't hinder it, but then again, if I remember correctly The Legend of Zelda is one of the apparent games to support it so we'll see

Uh oh there will be an announvement tmof something lackluster and the internet will explode into disapointment

Good stuff. I just hope SNES games aren't too far off and interested to see what the game discounts are too. If said discounts can stack with the pre-existing gold coins and the regular eShop sales, there could be some nice, dirt cheap finds on the eShop.

Themes would be cool. Or the ability to import our own background images, though this would require a functional browser.

i'm expecting disappointment, but only buying because of online. if i wanted to play NES game, i'll play them on my Wii U.

yes, i do know that Nintendo's Online is not very perfect, but if that's the case and it gets worst after the paid online service comes, then I'll just cancelled it, no big deal. although, very unlikly getting it at launched. soulcalibur 6 awaits!

I don't know about assuming a connection to things like Netflix or a browser.

It's a $20 a year service. What do you seriously expect?

Nintendo needs to explain more about Paid Online Service from next Direct.
Plus, the games that provided from Online Service.
I expect something good.

They better give us folders.

Always free WiFi on the go, now that would be tempting. The state of mario tennis and street fighter 30th anniversary online has been embarrassing. There is no way I'm paying a subscription to not play games online after an hour, realising how bad they are connection-wise. Prepare for the big divide everyone, it was nice while it lasted if not a bit laggy.

Nintendo we hear you want GameCube games so we're going to offer you that but here it's how it works
Nes - $20
Gameboy/Color/Advance - $30
Snes - $40
N64 - $50
GameCube - $60

GameCube. Streamed.

I'll pay for the online service (I'm in a group with others so it will cost me near $4 a year), but the only thing I don't like about this whole service is that I don't know what I'm paying for.

They should have kept online multiplayer free as it is (and was/is on prior systems), but make the Online subscription a separate service with additional benefits (bonus games, discounts, Club Nintendo style exclusives and what not).

I don't care at all for online multiplayer (except in very rare circumstances, such as Watch_Dogs on Wii U which was very cleverly done), so the main incentive, really, are the extra benefits (of which we know so little about). Come to think of it, I don't think I have played any Switch games online since launch.

Incidentally, given the size of GameCube and Wii games (which can creep into the gigs), I would much rather Nintendo rerelease them at retail, either as individual budget titles or as full-priced compilations.

@GKO900
"Nintendo we hear you want GameCube games so we're going to offer you that but here it's how it works
Nes - $20
Gameboy/Color/Advance - $30
Snes - $40
N64 - $50
GameCube - $60"

Wii = $70
Wii U = $80

ability to message people/streaming services/themes/Eshop background music/voice chat on a system level WITH the ability to mute games/the special discounts actually being good, but I don't expect them to be...

Don't leave the mute option up to developers as they won't bother to add it and it was so darn annoying having to listen to people throw insults at me in Fall of Cybertron back on the PS3 >.<

Seriously, it needs to add all of this for me to be even remotely hype about the Online Service.

I'll be honest, I really can't remember the last time I used my Switch to play online so it will really depend on the free games we're getting as to whether the subscription is worth while to me.

I do have an Xbox Live Gold subscription and even with that I don't play online all that much, fortunately Microsoft give us 4 fairly decent free games every month.

If Nintendo offer something similar to that then I could well be interested.

It’s all about keeping those expectations in check. Given the low price, you can almost guarantee that you won’t see:

-GameCube games (unless there’s a premium service that they add later. I don’t see them giving these games away for free).
-N64 games
-SNES games (this one is iffy. Once again, I don’t see them giving the games away, especially considering that getting a SNES Classic isn’t all that difficult and I doubt they would want to canibalize sales).
-a radically enhanced online experience.

You’ll see modest improvements—maybe even voice chat finally done right—but I don’t see this as being worth the wait. Time will tell.

I never play online. But I might pay if it gives me access to games from n64, gc, wii and maybe some SNES. Not really that into nes age games any more. Those games were good at the time, but today are mostly frustrating to play. I don’t see the attraction with the old arcade games either. I guess it might sell some consoles to those who spent their childhood with them and haven’t been gaming since. But I think Nintendo need to sell this service to those who already have a console. Hopefully they reveal more games for the service. I would love a Netflix style VC where a subscription gives access to all content, and new stuff is added regularly.

For classic games i am willing to join, maybe themes, more apps... some voice chat support? Sure.

Day 1 for me. Have to keep Splatoon 2 addiction going!

I’m just going to wait until they announce everything then make my decision. I’m not going to make a call on something when I don’t know all the details.

Using a smartphone app ? No thank you... I'm not paying for something like that...

@Mortenb : I agree about NES games. They haven't aged well at all and I don't particularly enjoy playing anything from that era. Game Boy games on the other hand, with all their limitations, are a thing of joy to me, particularly as I missed out on ever owning one as a child, and I've always been a fan of the style of games that were commonplace on GB and GBC. I'm quite disappointed that so few Game Boy games are available on the 3DS. Fortunately, most of the games that I really wanted to play over the years (third party titles notwithstanding) are available.

The Arcade Archives titles, particularly Nintendo's own titles, are a nice little curiosity, especially as they have never been released to the public in this way since their inception, so there is some value to be had for those wanting to play Arcade versions of games from that era. As far as I'm concerned, they play no differently to their NES equivalents, but it's still nice that a piece of Nintendo's history has been preserved in this way, and that what was previously obscure is now readily available.

With that said, they haven't aged particularly well either, and I would much rather see Nintendo focus on some of their more recent back catalogue.

It's $20 a year, I'm expecting very little extra than already announced. Personally some chat and voice chat functionality would be great between friends. Fingers crossed it's more than just NES games. GameCube games should play great on the Switch.

Fix the voice chat and implement native across all games!

I barely play online (okay never really) so whether I drop £17.99 depends entirely on the VC Service titles and the eShop deals it offers. Honestly if its just NES Games for now I’ll skip. Throw in some SNES titles though and I’ll bite.

I don’t feel its a bad service offering for 20 bucks / 18 quid but will depend on final details and how it works in action.

Maybe an achievement system some developer admitted to have come across before? Not something usually associated with paid online services, but fits in with this comment section since last time I checked, neither were console themes. What else does the fandom want to pay for "instead of phone app voice chat", profile pics? XD

More goodies, good by me.

I'm hoping that there will be some offers like linked game discounts that will sweeten the deal.

With no way to separate out the different elements of the service, as it stands, I'll be paying for online that's currently free and I don't use anyway, NES games that I'm not interested in and cloud saves that might not even include all games.

Waiting for confirmation of details, but not seeing anything yet that makes the service seem worth it for me.

I'd really like to know why it's taken so long too. I suppose one reason might be system security that identifies pirated games online etc.

I'll probably give it a go for the first year at least, but it doesn't seem to offer much value for me, despite being cheap.

@Anti-Matter 😂 You are right I forgot the Wii but not Wii U those are coming to Switch as enhanced ports

They should really lay everything out for customers sooner rather than later. Gamers are waiting on the sidelines to see where the value is, too close to September and they'll be onto playing something else.

But this is Nintendo, so I expect them to reveal generic things like a week before this service goes up. If it underwhelms, I'm not subbing.

I sure as hell would hope they have more to reveal considering they have 10 more games to announce for the online classics and they haven't told us how they will be handling the membership perks. I wouldn't be surprised if they announce console voice chat that is behind a pay wall as well considering they did it with backup saves.

It doesn’t matter for me as effectively, $1.7 per month is a small price to pay for the ability to play MK8 and Splatoon online.

I don't mind paying that amount for MK8, Splatoon 2, ARMS etc online play, but I hope they add more to the Virtual Console side of things. Adding online multiplayer will not suddenly interest me in NES games...

I just hope that they will confirm dedicated servers for games that requires the paid service. Like MK8, splatoon and smash ultimate. On top of that, the Switch OS needs massive update : Themed menus, at least DM or group chat if no voice chat rooms, the use of the home button blue LED that is on every joyconpro controller, folders (baffling it wasn't there at launch...you did it on the 3DS, you knew people like this feature a lot), cloud saving (confirmed).

I've been thinking about what if they release the online service with a headphone which has a build-in microphone, so we can talk with our friends without using any apps on our phone/pc/whatever? Like every one who pays online for a year gets it for free? Like we buy it at our local store and then at home we put a code (which is somewhere on the headphone or so) on the eshop and we get the money back on the eshop?

Where's Dr. Mario.

After launch Online Service of Nintendo Switch crossplay Xbox one and PC is required. But does not helpful sony. However Sony was huge player out there and so greedy company of sony.

I'll buy it since it's pretty cheap, especially when compared to PSPlus and Xbox gold.

Im betting that Nintendo are waiting for a few of the games to be ready before they release more information on the service. Arena of Valor is one that comes to mind. Im jumping on board immediately though, so its no skin off my back what they do or don't show off. I wanna play my Switch online and 20 pounds is childs play. My mobile contract asks me for 100 pounds per month JUST to USE it for its INTENDED PURPOSE!

I just hope they give us features that are on the Wii U and 3DS, like menu themes, folders, third-party apps, and VIRTUAL CONSOLE.

@gamerchick_22 cloud saves, online play, access to a library of classic games. If you don't want any of that, don't buy it. It's dirt cheap though. 20 bucks a year is a steal

I should be very surprised if Nintendo manage to make me go "Yep, that's TOTALLY worth it for me!"

But I love surprises, so lemme have it.

Unless the "more information to come" means a heavy online game of some kind, the release in September still makes absolutely no sense to me. Many of us suspected Smash would launch in September cause it has a heavy online focus, but as it stands now, there is no major online game to go with the release.

It's still pretty ridiculous that the only way to keep save data is through the cloud. There should be a way to do it physically on the console.

Lack of streaming apps is embarrassing at this point. It's 2018. I love the Switch but it's almost like they thought it'd fail based on their complete lack of effort regarding getting an online service up and running within a reasonable timeframe.

@FarkyValentine Having a bare-bones console is inexcusable in this day and age. Oh wait... we have Breath of the Wild... so all is as it should be. Give me a break, Nintendo...

Well I'd say a BROWSER, NETFLIX AND YOUTUBE would be a fantastic surprise as well as some themes , my guess is they are adding Spotpass to Switch though I have to admit at first I was upset that Switch did not have a browser at launch and to my surprise I really don't think my Switch needs a browser it has a fantastic lineup of games with more and more on the way I have fallen for the minimalist interface it just functions so amazing I now love the fact that Switch is a gaming console first and foremost with all that said I will gladly pay 20 bucks for the Big Ns service I mean for me its worth that for the classic games alone .

20 dollars per year is cheap, but I'm still not sold. For now I don't need the cloud saves, and because i've got an NES classic & SNES classic I don't think any of the launch games are going to be interesting enough to sell me. Maybe when Smash comes out, but I tend to play smash more with friends than do online smash play.

At this point all their first party NES and Super NES games should be launch day one with the service. No need to slowly release them like the Virtual Console anymore otherwise we'll be going through every gen with every one of the same retro games being re-release. If they can't release them on a weekly basis then have HAMSTER do the work for them. I'm sure that would work best.

I think this will come with obvious big changes to the operating system in general. I foresee customizable home screens!

Buying a 1 year family sub, letting my friends freeload on it coz why not. Don't really care for the virtual console stuff though, so the only benefit so far for me is cloud saves + continued access to online play.

@retro_player_22 I think the games will be released for limited times. For example, we'll get Super Mario Bros. for one month and then the following month it will go away and we'll get Hockey. All of them will be rebuilt to include online leaderboards and online play....that's just how I interpreted it though, I could be wrong.

@Blizzia I wasn't super interested in the virtual console games since we own a lot of those games in some capacity or another, until I heard about online play and leaderboards. I can't wait to post a high score for Balloon Fight so that my brother who lives 3+ hours away can try to break it.

It'll be interesting to see what Nintendo has in store for this service. Since I'm a regular online Splatoon 2 gamer, I have no choice but to buy in to the program regardless. Still, it's cheaper (and more useful for me) than PSN is.

@NEStalgia...told ya!

How about a browser? It's already in the system somewhere but just give me access... If I ever want a walkthrough I have to get a second device out to look something up.

Don't have high hopes for this, at least at the start. I'm holding onto my Wii U, and if they're just sticking with just NES titles, then the 3DS counts too, if I want reliable access to older games. Ditto the Gamecube demand, at least put Metroid Prime there to build hype for the next installment or something.

Xbox was the only one to do this type of thing right, and I don't even have an Xbox.

@GKO900 Actually I'm predicting something more along the lines of:

NES (with rest of Switch Online features): $20/year
SNES (with all of the above): $30/year
N64 (with all of the above): $40/year
GameCube (with all of the above): $50/year
Wii (with all of the above): $60/year

I think that would be neat considering apparently Switch Online is being viewed as the successor to Virtual Console. Handheld support might come a bit in the future once the 3DS is ready to be dropped.

@Ryu_Niiyama LOL, don't get so excited yet. It kind of feels like the Edsel. A year of buildup, the next big thing, the big reveal will happen soon, prepare to be blown away, we can't tell you more until you see it! Then they lifted the cover and it was....a car....not very different from every other car.....

It's possible they will have some amazing new thing to say, but I still get the impression there's much ado about "more info" and when they say it there will be nothing there. I may be proven wrong....but what else is there really to say about it we don't know?

@FarkyValentine " it's almost like they thought it'd fail based on their complete lack of effort regarding getting an online service up and running within a reasonable timeframe."

You may be right about that. Ishihara of Pokemon had told them he thought it would fail. No doubt others at the top felt so. It was Iwata's baby. With him gone I'm sure others thought it was time to jettison consoles and just go big money on mobile and theme parks and were shocked that he proved them wrong from beyond the grave.

> Perhaps he’s referring to a system update that’ll add an internet browser and themes

But, but what would people complain about if they do that? Think of the internet!

I hope so, because right now they are tight lipped.
For all members free ness - snes games.

If they don't add some kind of trophy/achievement system I'm going to be so upset. Hopefully with the ability to warm silver and gold coins.

@patbacknitro18 I don't know anyone named Mike

An announcement of an upcoming announcement. How quaint.

Still not sold until I have more information.

@NEStalgia I'm not excited at all. I just stated that they had something else to announce and they do. All I cared about was the pricing...which I know what that is. So I'm good. lol.

@Ryu_Niiyama We have something to announce! Our announcement is that it will come with 20 gold play coins!

@Link86 Hehe
Imagine you play games and you get golden coins from playing the games and you could spend these coins to buy games. That would cost Nintendo so much money. It sounds like a good idea to me haha I would play games more fanatically and buy more games. It is like playing for money. It sounds cool to me haha

What does this mean?

"Our aim is to provide consumers with variety of ways to play and the ability to use the system in a more convenient way."

I was planning to sign up day one, but the more I think about it the more I realize I would only use it for Splatoon right now. I wouldn’t really play the NES games, as cool as many of them are. I’ll wait for a new multiplayer experience I can’t live without, or N64 and GC games to join the lineup. The pricing is fine, but if I can live without it why bother.

Gladiator style death matches between Mii's in a tournament to claim the Princess Peach trophy.

@Agramonte Do they remain F2P on PS4? Nope,
Do they remain F2P on Xbox Nopee.
Will they remain F2P on Switch, I am guessing thats a Noo.

@Sakura What are you talking about "Cloud Saves that might not Include all games" OFC it will include all games, why wouldn't it lol?

All games save to the Switch (except server based stuff like fortnite) its not possible to save to the Cart, all saves go to your save data folder, so that is backed up. There is no possible way a game gets excluded from that.

@MoonKnight7 Umm lol, Splatoon 2, Fortnite, Warframe, Mario Kart, Smash.

@cyberlocc huh? Paladins, H1z1, FortNite Battle Royal, WarFrame, Smite are all free online play on PS4. You don't need Playstation Plus.

@Agramonte Hmm that's interesting. Well then I assume switch will do the same.

That must be new though when I had to pay for Plus to play ESO on PS4.

They also told us then we didn't need Plus, But I sure couldn't play without it.

Switch did say that not all games would require the Online Service, and if PS isn't charging for those than switch probably won't either.

@cyberlocc it depends on the publisher since end of 2016 I think. But it needs to be a F2P game.

Yeah, it has been super confusing on who is or not. Publishers started putting it on the FAQ pages now (3rd one down)... helps a bit

http://hirezstudios.force.com/support/articles/en_US/Knowledge/Paladins-PS4-FAQ

The lack of information this close to launch as we are now (what's two months in the grand scheme of things heh?) raises some serious concerns whether or not they will even be ready to launch it in September. The way it is phrased is particularly worrying :

"I will have to ask for your patience until we are ready to discuss any further details.".

So they are not ready? What's not ready? It should bloody be ready by now, the service has already been delayed by almost a full year at this point, remember the service was supposed to launch in Autumn 2017 originally when it was announced for the first time. And now two months away, they still aren't ready to talk about what it will be all about? It feels like the announcement of the two steps update to the Wii U all over again. A full year to update a system to what it should have been at launch.

@cyberlocc It was reported that it was Nintendo themselves that mentioned in their press release that only most Switch games will be backed up to the cloud. I just want to know which ones might not. Like you, I thought it should be all of them. Apparently not, though.

"Save Data Cloud Backup: By using Nintendo Switch Online, a backup of Nintendo Switch save data for most Nintendo Switch games will be stored online for easy access. This is great for people who want to retrieve their data if they lose, break or purchase an additional Nintendo Switch system."

If you think about online only games maybe being stored on other companies' servers (like the streamed Res Evil in Japan), then I don't care and can't see that as any problem at all - data is already backed-up in the cloud.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180507006260/en/Nintendo-News-Nintendo-Shares-New-Details-Nintendo

@Sakura I think they are just meaning like Fortnite ECT saves won't be cloud backed.

I don't see any way for certain games to be excluded.

@mr12calvin lol well it's not like Nintendo let you net more than pennies worth of gold coins. I had several hundred gold coins from buying games that I just redeemed for like, 5 bucks lol.

What the nibelsnarf is Nintendo doing ? Since E3 we didn't had poo
The online service ? The said "games" that are still coming ? Do you really have something ? Cuz this year was a pretty bad year compared to 2017 ... We were waiting since January for some news, we got a little bit just to wait for E3, and now there's nothing, all the focus was on Smash Bros and then what about the online service ? Cmon you can't stay silent like that forever

20 bucks a yr is already a steal to me, but sometimes I wish Nintendo would just do the logical stuff that makes people happy.

But I guess it wouldn't be Nintendo if they stuck to the "logical" route.

Nintendo: "We'll let you know as soon as we figure out what it is ourselves."

While I love Nintendo systems and games to bits, they can be a frustrating company to adore. When it comes to online and virtual console I don't expect anything that'll make me very happy. (But would be delighted to be proved wrong.)

@dkxcalibur Ah true, forgot about that. Still, I don't play any of those virtual console titles because they stopped entertaining me when I had already been playing them for a while (aka decades ago), but it does put a fresh twist on it. Either way, I'm happy to fork over whatever the equivalent to 35 USD is for a year sub, so that I, 5 friends and 2 lucky randoms get to enjoy online with (at the very least) the ability to play virtual console titles with leaderboards and stuff

I don't see any killer game launching with the service as some people are hoping.. it would be more of a soft launch in September to give Nintendo a little time before Smash launches (which is when more people will jump in I guess).
I just hope that the 10 unannounced games are SNES games (I can't see it but I can hope)

I have barely played anything online on the Switch since the early days when I played alot of ARMs. I had hoped to get into Splatoon, but that never really came to pass and I doubt it will any time soon. I guess, what I am saying is that even for just like $20 I would need some good incentive beyond online-play to be willing to shell out for this.
I mean, it's not that much, true, but at the same time you could get something like Game Pass for it for two months, with more stuff than one could hope to play. I'm saying this is all rather relative. If I find a game I really end up playing online on the Switch, I'm happy that it'll be a much cheaper affair than on other platform, but unless they announce something else amazing, or run some really good sales for NO users or anything along those lines ... well, it's not use to me, certainly not essential.

Watch it be, like, "comes with a free Nintendo Switch Online 3DS theme when you sign up" or something.

🤞Please be family sharing, please be family sharing 🤞

Paid online mandatory to get game patches. So if you don't you don't get additional added characters/levels like Arms and Smash Bros will add.

I hope they give us YouTube so I can record gameplay videos and immediately upload them without Nintendo banning videos recording using recording equipment.

I understand that it's difficult to make a voice chat solution to works in both handheld and docked mode, so I think it's time they make a dongle that is USB C with a stands USB adapter so that it can be used either way that offers full bluetooth

VOICE CHAT and MESSAGING! Matchmaking is really bad on the Switch!

@Blizzia That was my favorite aspect of the new subscription program. I have two sons, a nephew, and a brother who all have Switches. I'm planning on buying a new one as soon as Nintendo announces a special edition Smash Bros. Switch! So I already told them that I'll cover the first year for all five of us! This is brilliant! For years I thought that Xbox Live and Plus should do something similar. I know you can if the other people sign into the one system but what happens when your family owns multiple systems. Nintendo gets families. Now we just need them to sell games in bulk bundles!!

@dkxcalibur Definitely Looking forward to seeing what they have in store!

Hopefully that if you're playing at home you can chat through a headset either wired through the 3.5mm jack in handheld mode or wirelessly with a USB dongle connected to the dock in docked mode. The mobile phone chatting should ONLY be for when you're out and about away from home.

I think it's going to be a good service!

I know we got it free for this long but a 14 day trail would be nice lol.

@Silly_G
The first statement you made (about the online feature being possible Club Nintendo style and such) is a perfect incentive for me, if it turns out to be real.

@DownRightSam
Why would I enjoy Nintendo making my games half-playable with the other half locked behind a yearly fee 😒? I couldn't care less about the retro games, nor are there any incentives that'll make me wanna throw my 💴 at them. Guess I'm better off buying games that aren't heavily reliant on online-play 🙄

@Misfit410 why not just use a USB C to USB A female adapter, they are small, I have like 5 fromy phones lol.

Discord will be implemented as the official VC solution

Well cloud saves to back up save data, lol. Seeing as the Switch has no way to back up players save data unlike the PS4 and Xbox1 using a SD or USB stick, so if something goes wrong with your Switch you might well lose hundreds of hours of gaming time, it's happened to some owners already. Basically we can pay for this basic feature which Switch owners should have had from the get go anyway!