NES Games On Switch Playable For Up To Seven Days Without Internet Connection

That's fine. I'd definitely say that cloud saves expiring is the bigger issue.

This is a thing that’s happening. The Direct explained nothing new to me (on that subject). And yet here it comes. Gosh.

I can’t think of one time in the last 3 years (at least) that I had to go a week without WiFi.

Also, like pretty much everyone, I would like N64 or GameCube games - specifically online StarFox 64, Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart DD, Melee, and F-Zero GX. Beetle Adventure Racing and GoldenEye would be fun but I don’t see those happening. Mario Party could also be cool. I know I’m forgetting a bunch of games that would benefit from online multiplayer.

Online WindWaker would be neat if they had it kind of like Mario Odyssey where someone hides a treasure (like the balloons) and other people sail around and try to find it with maps and screenshots.

Unrelated: Now that Animal Crossing is coming to Switch, we should start clamoring for Pokémon Snap 2 in 2020. Let’s make it happen. Imagine playing it in handheld with gyro controls. You could even turn the controller to “tilt” the camera. They could include all kinds of modern editing tools similar to Instagram (tilt shift, filters, etc) and have an online gallery. I’d prefer they make it free-roaming instead of on-rails, however. There’s gotta be other Snap fans out there, right?
#PokemonSnap2020

Of course none of this will happen because it’s Nintendo.

So it seems like this is attempting to be a legitimate Virtual Console Replacement. I just hope that more consoles' libraries are on the way! I want to play Mario Kart Double Dash, Melee, and F-Zero GX online!

Sounds fine to me. More acceptable than requiring a persistent connection.

@ReaderRagfish “How did they get the Keep Off Grass sign on the grass?”

Can't wait for the barrage of hot takes explaining how this makes Nintendo the Evilist Corporation Ever.

@PanurgeJr to be fair they haven't done a good job with the online and MS got destroyed for trying something similar.

@ReaderRagfish Catch22 right there...

Oh nooooo! I have to be connected to the internet from time to time to use a service that depends on the internet? Whatever shall I do!? /sarcasm

This is very reasonable. Even on the most remote patch of planet Earth you can surely get a WiFi connection in 7 days.

I’ve seen some people on the ‘net freaking out about this, but honestly this is much better than I expected. I figured it would check for an active subscription every time you tried to play, meaning you’d essentially always need to be online.

What? Why are all the people complaining again? I can understand it on all the other things regarding nintendo online but this seems pretty fair.

I downloaded SF4 on the PS4 a couple of years ago and it wouldn't let me play it if I wasn't connected to the internet. Not sure if that still applies and if it counts for all ps4 downloads, but that seems a similar deal.

Welp, this at least beats the always online rumors. Seven days seems reasonable unless you run into a string of really bad luck...or like what I put up with for a few days on vacation. I can't speak for other countries, but "free hotel Wi-Fi" in the US is definitely a mixed, overloaded bag....

This stinks. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it sure is inconvenient for those of us without Internet in our homes. 😕

This is the first time complaining.
I have no internet here in remote PA. The closest place that does offer it is 40 minutes away, one way!
I will not be using Switch Online. I was hoping to download some of the games and play them for the year, then re-ure-up at the end. This system makes that impossible.

I can't see myself bother with those, outside of a few hours, out of curiosity. If there were SNES games though..

@electrolite77 You're absolutely right electrolite !

I personally don't care because I owned already all the NES games that I like but what disturbs me is the fact that those NES games are not offered but Nintendo LEND these games to you.

From my perspective, it's disgusting because we are talking about roms of games from more than 30 years old... It gives really a bad image in terms of communication.

It doesnt particularly bother me, but id have said it should really be dependant on the length of your sub. For instance if you sign up for a month then it should force you to connect on expiration of your month, same with a year on so on.

Again its not an issue in this day and age, but if you go on a trip and wi-fi is scarce it could be an issue.

This """service""" gets dumber the more I learn about it.

@frodouk What Microsoft did wasn't anything like this. Microsoft wanted constant internet for the console to work at all. This is an occasional check for a handful of games. It's not even close to similar.

@electrolite77 Because people will change the time and date settings. Actually they won't, but it's more likely than them being away from WiFi for more than a week. This is a total non-issue.

Cue; ”Nintendo are tyrants!! What corporate monsters would do this?? Online ruined, subscription cancelled!!”

I'm OK with it. Besides the 1 guy above how many people are going to pay to play online unless they have a readily available Internet connection? This isn't a rental game service like MS has Gamepass, pay $9.99 a month to rent games, this is a pay to play online service, so they probably expect you to have online before you pay to play online.

And for all those people looking for GameCube and N64 VC, wait for "Nintendo VC Online", $6.99 month NES + SNES, $9.99 + N64, $11.99 month + Gamecube and maybe a Wii game or 2. All the Wii U games are being ported for $60 so...

Dang. And here I thought I was going to get my 20 NES games and then go live happily up in the mountains...

@PanurgeJr
So, basically Xbox1 is 100% UNPLAYABLE if there is NO Internet Connection ?

@Anti-Matter no that was original idea but they backed down after everyone told them to go fffffffffff themselves. my dad plays on my old xbox offline using my account all the time

@PanurgeJr Lots of hotels I've been to require you to use your browser to complete wifi login, so I'm not sure it'll work on a console. It's certainly an added inconvenience for long trips to have to set up wifi on another device (if possible) just to avoid losing your nes games.

The xbox plan was certainly worse, but it's also important to distinguish that the xb1 was entirely a home console while the Switch can travel. If the Switch were an 8 pound box that had to be plugged into the tv, I wouldn't mind this at all since it's unlikely I'd be without wifi at home for that long. But for the console that was designed with portability in mind, this is an issue. Especially when, as mentioned above, they could have handled this in a more customer-friendly way.

I think if you buy the NES games you can play them whenever, but if your just on the Nintendo Online service your have access to it as long your connected and with the service, kinda like those free games you would get with PS Plus only a little different.

This isn't a huge deal, but it would have been better if they'd tied it to the subscription expiration.

@NinjaAceTrainer Cloud saves expiring is a non-issue. Those are backups. The local files are untouched even if the backups are wiped out, and those files will be backed up again immediately when you re-subscribe. If the Switch breaks during a lapse, you have no one to blame but yourself.

This is the one thing that actually bothered me about the online service, aside from the list of exclusions that won't have cloud save back ups.

But since people have spent so much time complaining about stuff that shouldn't be complained about or doesn't really matter, I'm not going to waste my breath.

Since complaints about getting excellent games is now a regular thing on the site (because who cares if a game is excellent, if it's ported then it's automatically a bad thing... right?)

And I only have so much patience for complaints. And that patience is now exhausted from people complaining about crap that doesn't actually matter, things that are actually good, and things that we should actually be celebrating, I'm just going to have to pass on this one.

I just don't have it in me.

Because it's Nintendo and Online, I see the next thing we will hear on this is that it also deletes the game locally and all your saves data for you not getting online every 7 days.

I don't find it too ridiculous, because we have to remember for the most part, you need to be logged in to PSN or Xbox Live for their stuff to work as well. I don't think you can actually save any game data if you're not connected to the Internet with Xbox Live. Cloud saves expiring are just backups of your local and service tied games, 7-day expiration if not on WiFi is a little weird, but not too uncommon. It probably is a preventative from downloading NES games on multiple Switch devices and thinking you can leave them there indefinitely. The Switch has to work differently than the other systems, because they aren't hybrids. I feel like I'd consider signing on another Switch Online account more often than I would with my PSN or Xbox Live ones.

@Gold_Ranger
"I have no internet here in remote PA. The closest place that does offer it is 40 minutes away, one way!"

How are you making this comment???
Use that connection to ping the server. Enjoy your next week of access.

I am about to go live on a boat with only one night of wifi on land a week, if you keep adding games this just might work out good enough for me....

Translation: whenever I go to the mountains for a holiday and will have to leech off my neighbours' connection, I'll have to stick with a NES Classic Mini. Hopefully I'll get to get one before then.

I still not in love with the idea of the VC being tied to the Online service. They would have easily got $60 from me for this 20-game collection. Hell, probably would have paid significantly more. I don't think I'll ever be away from Wifi for more than 7 days - but I don't like the idea of losing access at any point.

@klingki Unrelated; What game is your avatar gif from?

@LittleLion My phone, which doesn't do tethering. And it only has 1gb of internet per month.

Really, I'm not the biggest fan of attaching all of these titles to the online service, but $20 a year is a lot cheaper than buying all of the games I normally would, so It's a trade off. For this news specifically, anyone trying to paint this as a terribly bad thing is just looking for something to complain about at this point. I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect that someone who is paying for something called Nintendo Switch ONLINE, has decently regular connection to the internet. This is much better than my initial fear of having to connect each time.

Except for those of us without internet. We'd gladly pay to download the games and have them without restrictions.

@Gold_Ranger I get internet in a remote part of Arkansas in the summer, so why wouldn't you have any?

I cannot believe there are folk wanting full libraries of SNES and N64 games for less than 1.50 a month?

@electrolite77 because your subscription can expire before that.
if you're on a family subscription it's possible to get kicked out on day 1.
the 7 days requirement prevents you from joining a family for a few minutes to activate your NES games for a year.
if the limit wasn't there anyone with a family subscription could hand out a year of free NES games to anyone who doesn't play online.

I love the comment section. A lot of misunderstanding and misinformation.

Let's be realistic, they're NES games. After 20-minutes, you'll be bored and go back to playing something modern. I own tons of NES carts, but they're simple, yet brutally frustrating to play. Save states might get me to come back for a second try, but then again.. I have an NES Classic that makes this service seem dated before it began. Expand further than virtual console and I'll be more excited. Nintendo bores me with typical NES/SNES titles all the time. Between virtual console, original consoles and classic emulators, it's the same recycled stuff, but a new way to charge us for it. Virtual Console NES.. NES Classic.. Switch Online? How many other ways do you want to try and pump me for LoZ or SMB?

How much worse can this "service" get? Absolutely laughable.

@TheLZdragon 40 minute drive to the nearest location that has it, 40 minute drive back home. Service doesn't exist out here where I am. Middle of literal nowhere. Closest neighbour is 2 miles away.

@turntSNACO Browser logins work for me on Switch. I use that at a hospital once a month here.

There was a time when you bought something and it was yours. Now it "is fine" if you pay for something that isn't yours. Get real, people.

@turntSNACO The Switch has a browser-style app specifically to allow signing in on public Wi-Fi.

Honestly, I'm just kinda glad that they CAN be played offline, so that you can properly play your switch on the go without needing to be within a few yards of a wifi router.

Nintendo are so stingy with their stuff! Why does it matter if someone’s paid for a year why can’t they access the games for a year? Picky and unecessary.

I anticipate a steady stream of NES releases this year, SNES games trickle out next year (as well as a slight price hike for online), then N64, etc. And then a separate option to buy the legacy games with the online features disabled.

That sounds okey to me, but I’m still hoping there’ll be a way to actually buy these games on the Switch down the line.

@MH4 All you'd need to do is connect it to your mobile hot spot for a minute to sign in and you're good to go again.

@justin233 First of all, people have been asking for Pokémon Snap 2 sinche the Wii U and we had nothing. Second, Nintendo doesn't develop Pokémon games. The original Snap was developed by Hal Laboratory IIRC, which I don't know if it is still around. You could ask The Pokémon Company anyway. They are in charge of whether they do it or not.

All i need is 3 days to beat LoZ anyway so im good

It is NOT okay. You're being robbed. Don't buy it.

How can they mess up something so simple? Every single detail about this online service is anti-customer.

I believe a rotation system will be implemented once they have enough games. For example, Balloon Fighter is available for six months and then they retire it for a year until in comes in a new batch of games. Knowing Nintendo, I would not put my bets on having (for $20/$35 a year) the whole NES/SNES libraries.

@MH4 got a cellphone?

Tether for 30 seconds.

@GrailUK The Wii, an overclocked Gamecube that came out 12 years/2 gens ago with only 512 MB storage, still had SNES, N64, Genesis, and Turbografx-16 VC games available at launch. (Seven NES, two SNES, one N64, four Genesis, three TG-16.)

No reasonable person is asking for a full SNES/N64 library at launch. They just want SOME non-NES games at the least.

@nesrocks I don't support this, but as far as I know, you are paying to play online, the rest of the features (like the NES games) are just add-ons or bonuses. You aren't really buying them.

@Waluigifan Wait until you see the special offers for the games that you already own.

Until I can purchase and download I think I'll just stick to my NES Classic Mini or the few that I do got on my Wii VC.

@Gold_Ranger
Your phone doesn't have WiFi hotspot? Or just no USB/Bluetooth tethering?

Data plan is irrelevant. It takes maybe a few kB's of data to ping the server. You don't have to download anything. Just verify your subscription is still active.

If all else fails you can find a free WiFi hotspot.

And if even that's not possible you lose access for the short period you can't find any way to connect.
I'd think you have other things on your mind about in those situation.

@Devlind If it is possible to play offline then that should be possible forever. It's either never or always. An arbitrary amount of time is just that, arbitrary. I'm baffled that people don't find this unacceptable.

OF COURSE IF WE HAD THE OPTION TO PURCHASE THESE CLASSIC GAMES THIS WOULD NOT NEARLY BE AS BIG A DEAL!!!! 🙄🙄
Don’t you dare go to Hawaii for 2 weeks lol!

I try to be optimistic, but it's crazy how much worse Nintendo Switch Online gets with each new tidbit of information.

I went a period of about 2-3 months without playing my PS4 at all (PS Plus subscription was still intact) and I still had access to all the free offline single-player games I previously downloaded.

@klingki You thought the worst and anything else seems better. This is how Nintendo staying tight-lipped until the last minute helps them. I remember how PS Plus games worked on the PS3, the games would be marked with a date and they could be played offline until that date. That date was when your subscription ended. It didn't need to check in once a week.

@nesrocks It is just a security measure so you don't play them if your subscription ends. Netflix doesn't allow you to keep watching the shows if you cancel the subscription, even if you have been paying them for years.

As I said, you are not buying the games. If you were buying each one from the eShop and then they don't let you play them, you would be right, but this is just a bonus for the online membership. It sucks, but I can't think of another way to prevent people for cheating the system and keep them without paying.

@joey302 Why would you be playing NES games in Hawaii instead of, you know, enjoying Hawaii?

@Devlind It sucks, but I can't think of another way to prevent people for cheating the system and keep them without paying.

They could mark the ROMS with an expiration date that matches the end of your subscription.

@nesrocks I guess you own a house never set foot in a library or video store if renting something is such an alien concept for you.

@ReaderRagfish Because the talk they did in the direct was pointless, we knew everything they have said except the fact that subscribers will be able to buy more things

I can't imagine someone who has Nintendo Online who wont have internet for seven days... seems like you shouldnt have Nintendo Online in the first place.

@KcebEnyaw @OorWullie My plan doesn’t have the mobile hotspot or else I totally would. I have unlimited data, but the hotspot would’ve cost extra.

@PanurgeJr Thanks, didn't realize that.

@turntSNACO
You don't loose your Nes games, you just can't play them if the 7 day long subscription token is running out.

Getting online with your phone, and connect it to Switch to renew this token won't use much of your data plan anyway. Almost nothing a actually. It's a non issue. I can't understand the complaints about this at all.

I have no problem with this. But let me guess: "THAT'S ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS AND NINTENDO SUCKS BIG TIME!!!", right? 🙄

@electrolite77
Maybe because you could pay 3,99 bucks, download all available NES games, disconnect your Switch form the web, never connect it again and play the games free forever? 🤔

This is infuriating abuse of customers! Nintendo apparently didn't see what happened when Microsoft tried to control their customers by announcing "always online" bullcrap in 2013. Nintendo, either give us virtual console or allow us to accumulate classic titles like Sony allows online subscribers at add titles to their accounts. We should absolutely be able to play NES, SNES, and other games offline as well as after Nintendo stops supporting the Switch. I still enjoy Advance Wars on my Wii U, and would love to have Nintendo's awesome games on the go without being controlled and manipulated by online requirements! Nintendo, please make it fun to buy your games! You could also keep it fun by allowing us to "collect 'em all", accumulating classic titles month after month. It would be exciting to see what comes out each month, instead of knowing that these fun games could become unplayable due to loss of internet or some corporate bean counter deciding it's not profitable to let people keep playing games they already have on their console.

This is fine, I kind of figured there'd be a check in situation with these games anyways since they're tied to the subscription. Just glad I can take them offline at all.

@Medic_alert in all honesty its just a different way of doing things. With PS Plus the games have an expiration coded, so if you don't have PS+ when that hits, it doesn't renew and you can't play. And to make it check and renew, you guess what...have to be connected to PSN.

Imagine the nerve! You need the Internet for something called Nintendo Online.

I find it hard to believe that anyone who signs up for Nintendo Switch Online won't have some sort of internet connection at least once in a 7 day period

@MH4 If you don't have internet in your house, then why would you buy an online sub. In the first place?
Just for the nes games?

Well that's lame. I mean I usually run my Switch a few times a week in the house but what if I'm busy and dont play for a week then go on a trip... not liking this. It's a rare case but something I'd rather not have to worry about.

@justin233 could be a mix of free roam and on rails. Certain out of reach areas of maps can be on rails. Maybe you need to purchase tickets to do with money youve made by selling pictures

@Devlind I’m just expressing my love for the game.

How is this a bad thing? Much better than I expected. I thought the NES games would work like Netflix, meaning you always had to be online. The fact that you can be offline for 7 days is a big plus in my opinion.

And really, just create a hot spot from your cellphone if you cant access the games. Problem solved.

@Crono1973 You can change the date of the system. Unless each one carries a timer by itself, it would not work.

I need a gif of Reggie coming out of a TV set dripping water, aka Ring/Ringu girl, to take our NES games in 7 days... STAT!

@justin233 And you were also suggesting we should beg for the game in 2020. I just noted that if you want to, you must ask The Pokémon Company instead of Nintendo.

Not a big deal, streaming services do this with downloaded episodes and I get why, totally fine with it. 7 days is a long time.

This online venture sounds worse and worse everyday. I’m definitely not getting it now.

@ReaderRagfish @ReaderRagfish Why is belly button fluff always blue?
Do penguins have knees?
What would chairs look like if our knees bent the other way?

I expected Vita-like subscription expiry stamps and checkups myself, but eh. Not sure why everyone' giving public wifi as counterarguments when most smartphones have a tethering mode and the involved data exchange is negligible. Simple checkups wouldn't last long enough for a battery toll either. You pretty much have the internet as long as you have signal reception. And living in a country where browser inputs are mandatory for public Wi-Fi anyway, I have stuck to my phone hotspot outside home for years.

Blimey, people are getting there panties in a twist, about a non issue. 99% of switch online users will never be with out any form of internet for longer than a week!

What I really hope, is that the first 20 games is a single download to a NES app, and when the new ones get added, they have auto download.

@Medic_alert so at the very worse, you would have to do with out some NES roms for a week ? Bit of a first class cabin problem.

I bought the new, state of the art, Nintendo Switch to play new state of the art Nintendo games. These nes games belong on the DS.

Loan for 7 days but we pay for a year.... Horrible!!

@MasterJay So I can play online when I do go somewhere with Internet. A friend and I are splitting the price.

Another absolute non-issue.

@Devlind noooo Lol the Switch stays behind at home on the dock like it’s been since I bought it launch day! Wife would be pissed if I brought to Hawaii or anywhere else for that matter lol

Cool!

@joey302 I was talking specifically about NES games. One would thought that NES games are the last thing that comes into mind when you are in Hawaii. Unless you are just playing those, you should have no problem finding something else to play on the Switch in case you aren't enjoying yourself over there.

It's fine for me. I just want it to play online. But I have friends who bought the Switch for on the go and don't have Internet every seven days. So thinking about them, it's a bad decision. Why not just watch when their discription expire?

This is crazy. So I need the internets to play online. Can’t I play online without being online.
/s

I wonder if you have to have be on wifi for a bit to re-download the games or just reverify. But the Switch is portable.... So super easy to get to a McDonalds haha
I hope SNES, N64 games rae added later, with the data mine of the classical controls, I assume Nintendo will release more controles (snes, N64, etc) for the added games later down the line

@ReaderRagfish It's not about time spent on Online, it's about details given. They basically were like "hey online is internet to play with friends. Did u know u can internet to play with friends?" Instead of saying anything improved experience, etc. Ppl need to not buy this for awhile. This sucks

@MH4 Oh, ok, makes sense

I've had trouble connecting my Switch to some wifi networks and to my hotspot phone. Vacation and cruises are times I could see the 7 day thing being difficult. But overall not huge as I don't really need to have access to Urban Champion to make a vacation enjoyable.

I'd be happier with 30 days, since that's the smallest amount of time you can purchase for the service, but I seriously doubt 7 will be any major inconvenience for me unless I end up in a hurricane or some other natural disaster where infrastructure's out for long periods of time. If I find myself in THAT kind of position, keeping the Switch charged at all would be a headache.

@Ttimer5 I'm going to take a guess here and say most likely reverify. It'll probably just update a license file, meaning it'll be ten seconds at most once you're connected to wifi.

I can't imagine that a person who would spend money on an online subscription service would be in situations where they couldn't access the internet for a week very often. Still, seven days seems shorter than necessary, and is probably just another example of Nintendo being paranoid about how people use their services.

People who don't have internet.use your phone as a hot spot lol

I don't know why this is even a thing when the NES classic is out.

Hopefully the classic 64 comes out soon.

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST GIVE ME EVERYTHING I WANT, HOW I WANT IT, WHEN I WANT IT, AND CHARGE ME NOTHING FOR IT?!"

-Y'all, apparently

@Devlind oh for sure...i gotcha! Nes games would be at the bottom of the list for certain if i had to choose within my Switch library! lol 😊

If you want to play the games forever, hunt down the physical copies like people had to for decades, buy a NES classic, play your virtual console versions on your old consoles (since people keep complaining about rebuying). There are many alternative options (although I understand endless whining is easier)

It amazes me how entitled people are. Just because you shell out 20 dollars a YEAR, does not mean you deserve to play any game whenever you deem fit or have it forever. If you ran your own business that way you would be penniless pretty fast.

@joey302 If they don't, you should start to look for better games. I don't have anything else to say about this matter.

@Devlind I’m just saying fans need to voice that they would like a sequel, whichever company makes it. I know people have wanted a sequel for a while.

@justin233 Never said otherwise. Just pointed out that Nintendo isn't in charge of that decision.

@LordVal

Really? They don't have internet for 7 days? And no data on their phones either?

And still they can afford a Switch and wants to subscribe to a online service, witch main purpose is online gaming? But they do not have access to internet regularly?

It sounds so wired.

@Ttimer5

It's just to verify your subscription. Doesn't even use a MB of your data plan. Anything else would not make sense.

You download the games, so you have access to them locally. Every 7 days your verification token runs out, and needs to be renewed. But only if it didn't allready happen earlier.

@Devlind well with a personal library of more then 7000 games which includes 80 retail Switch games and probably 200+ downloaded 😁this is not an issue for me lol

If i pay for an online subscription i want to be able to have access to the nes games and play them offline. Well seven days without an internet connection i can't play the nes games. It's garbage, but Nintendo's fanboys will defend anything lol. I don't want anything for free, your access to the games should stop when your subscription ends.

All those defending that... let's turn the problem the other way around. Why is this necessary in the first place, why not a check on expiration date like other competitors do?
Assuming this is an legit system, you can totally have an internal date that can't be modified and base your certificate on that. If it's a hacked system then nobody cares about cause they can already access all these games.

You're trying to sell a "oh it's not that bad" narrative when it could in fact be much more convenient with next than no additional work from Nintendo. This is a corporate, arbitrary, extremely dumb decision.
Does it really matter? Of course not, but it gives a terrible image of a company that still not quite live in the modern age.

Steam didn't almost eradicate piracy by adding a video at the beginning of their games to remind players that stealing is bad, they did it by offering CONVENIENCE to players. Social features, integration to services, cloud, achievements.
Sony and XBOX have similar features, where if you choose to cheat/pirate, you're actually missing on a lot of cool stuff.

Nintendo? Nah, let's put that anti-piracy nagging bit for legit players.
It's ridiculous, nobody should be defending that.

If SONY did this (and delete the saves with no other way to back-up) same people defending this would be claiming it is "anti gamer" 😉

I could care less. Loosing archaic NES games would be the least of my problems if I had no internet for 7 days.

Hell, loosing out on reading NintendoLife for a week would be more upsetting 😂

That's fine imho, esp. since I have unfortunately no interest in NES games. Wake me when they are up to the SNES...

@Gold_Ranger I think the NES classic may be your best bet for NES games or an actual NES. They’re pretty cheap these days.

@BensonUii
I can't do much up there. Being in a valley a few miles away from the Swiss border makes mobile reception... complicated. Hopefully we'll switch to Eolo soon, but it's still not like everything's fine and dandy for everyone just because I solved my problems. It's still a problem for people who might happen to travel often, if internet connection is an issue in any of their destination, know what I'm saying?

NoComplaintsHere👌🏽

I realize as an American who's the head of a corporate office...the people I work for would have a cow if I took more than an entire week of vacation at once. Non-issue for me, but for people that want to take their Switch to an isolated cabin for weeks on end, I see your point. Wish it were tied to your subscription expiration.
Also, I hope Nintendo transfers over our library of NES and others to the Switch 2 when they inevitably shut down the service for Switch in 10 years or less to encourage us to move to their next platform...but I know they won't.

@617Sqn 91.3% of statistics are made up.

Do people complain that they can’t download and keep things off Netflix forever? No. Why oh why are gamers getting their knickers in a twist about this. It’s an online service. The clue is in the name. To me 7 days seems reasonable for offline play. If you go to a cabin without internet for a few weeks and you really can’t get internet at any point then yes 7 days sucks a little. I feel for you. Just play proper switch games instead and enjoy NES gaming another time. That’s not so bad surely? We’ve had decades to enjoy NES game.

Why is there always a "if" or a "but" with nintendo ?

It's almost a trademark now, they should brand it honestly.

It's a love hate relationship 🤔 😁

7 days its a lot of time to save your progress. Its fine for me, i am alkost all day connected to the net so thats not a problem.

Bleh, lots of rules for this thing. I'm still waiting until SSBU has proven to work with very little lag before subscribing. So in december

@joey302 Hawaii has no internet service? News to me.

If folks are seeing this as an issue because they don’t have reliable access to the internet.... then WHY does it concern you at all? Wouldn’t your first legitimate question to ask yourself be “why am I subscribing to an online service when I don’t have reliable access to the internet”?

@HobbitGamer I don’t really care about this but your argument does not work for me. They have tied in VC to online. No one is complaining that they can’t play online without a connection. They are complaining about nes games that come with online. Don’t confuse the two and it wasn’t the complainers choice to tie in the two.

My biggest confusion with this online service is wondering what took them so long. There has been nothing particularly impressive anounced that wasn’t already part of splatoon 2. A bunch of nes games hardly qualifies. I think a lot of people, myself included, thought they would be doing something unique and catch up at the same time. It’s pretty disappointing overall.

This is standard practice with Music Streaming subscriptions like Spotify, Apple Music, etc.

Otherwise people can subscribe for a month, download all their favorite music, go offline and stop their subscription and keep all the music for free.

Same here. If Nintendo won't do this. People will subscribe for one month, download all the NES games, go offline and cancel the subscription.

Personally, what annoys me the most is that can't download any of the games. I completely get why, because as @Jeronan says, people will subscribe for one month, download the games, and then not renew their subscription. However, this a big problem for me.

I like to actually own my games - what happens eventually when the Switch is succeeded by another console? Presumably, we just lose all these games...what a waste.

Hands up to Sega and Capcom for stepping in and effectively delivering a good Virtual Console service, by releasing their old titles in retail form - which what most Switch owners actually want.

well its not like these ancient games take much space anyway

@PanurgeJr Not evil, but definitely behind the curve with online offerings.

Without even looking at the comments, I can already tell there's salty children in here whining about how they won't be able to play if they somehow lose internet for seven days. Grow up...

Meh I don't really have net where I live and I'm not always on my switch now so even more reason not to get online... Why have you done this so crap Nintendo

Some people don't have internet at home. Vc was so much better that you could buy the games you wanted and play them anytime you wanted. Let's be honest it's very likely to be a long time before we see a lot of third party games on the switch (if at all). Why the need to start over with every iteration?! Why not have a constantly growing library built from the current wiiu/3ds and have crossbuy so you could buy a game on any system and play it across all Nintendo consoles that support the service? Good grief it's not rocket science.

Incidentally, just to add to my previous comment, there is a way Nintendo could solve this. Let people download the games, but link a part of the file to the cloud. That way, if you don't renew your subscription, the game will be deleted off your Switch - but as long as do renew the subscription you should be allowed to download the games.

I bought a boat last month, and it's hopeless. I live nowhere near any water, and this boat is almost completely useless. It doesn't move. I am going to email the manufacturers to tell them what I think of this so-called 'mode of transport'!

@subpopz
But you technically "own" vc while this is rental.

This doesn’t affect me personally, but it’s still poor business practice. Nintendo (like many companies) have tailored this to cater to the small minority who may abuse the system, as opposed to tailoring to the small minority who this adversely affects. It’s anti-consumer.

Heaven forbid someone should let their subscription lapse, and then never connect their Switch to the internet again, and play 20-30 year old games for free!

@beazlen1 I have one. I'd like to have them on a bigger screen than the new 2 do xl

Bigger portable screen

@Nehalem No, many people are complaining that they can’t play NES games without having to check in online every 7 days. Then they state it’s a problem for them because they have unreliable or limited access to the internet. That’s sort of the whole shindig of this article.
If there weren’t complaints about that, I wouldn’t have said what I did. I don’t walk into a room and start randomly saying nonsensical or unrelated things. My argument my not work for you if you’re not paying attention to what I’m saying. I’m not talking about VC. VC is dead. VC is gone.

Consumer has limited/unreliable internet access, so consumer subscribes to a service that focuses on online features. Consumer complains that such features require internet access. Consumer is not thinking this through.

Oh look the Nintendo Defense Force is here making silly and outright wrong comparisons again. This isn't like you taking a vacation off from work it's more like your boss having to check in and remind you weekly that you still have to come to work the next week. I love the fact no one has tried the bill or apartment argument with this one after last time so at least we got some critical thinking going.

Also for the people who act like you can't have online services, I know for a fact PS plus checks at most once a month for this and may actually license your games for the duration of your membership for offline use. That is what would make sense for Nintendo is well. They have absolutely no reason to do this. The Switch is already hacked so I'm happy I'm not seeing people trying to make this about that at least.

But please continue drinking the Kool aid.

@subpopz
Originally the plan was you could buy the nes switch games so I sincerely hope there's a way to do just that.

@HobbitGamer lol no I’m sure it does! But IF i went there I’d leave the games behind is what I was saying

@John_Deacon my man Deacy what up!! Queen rules forever!! 😁😁

My phone doesn't have tethering. What is so hard to understand about that. Until this, I didn't need internet. The infrastructure does not exist in my area. I barely have cell service as it is.

@Platinumhobo It’s a game called Roof Rage. It’s kind of like if Smash and Street Fighter had a retro baby. Only on Steam now, but supposedly it’s coming to Switch.

@John_Deacon yes, like the NES classic every NES game on Switch will have 4 savestates that you can load or save in 1 second any time you'd like. Probably for non-online multiplayer sessions only though. 30 second video of it in action is available on Mynintendo if you look through the news on Switch online NES games. On the US site at least.

@Crono1973 Well yeah, not saying Nintendo is doing a great job here, just better than I anticipated. As usual, they have a lot of room for improvement. I still miss the Wii’s VC. That was their best retro game service by far. Just do that again with more games from more systems and not as drip-feedy and I’m satisfied. Wishful thinking though.

@joey302 Gotchya! yeah, I would to, for sure

@TheDanslator That’s me exactly except for the last “charge me nothing” part. I’d be willing to pay, and pay handsomely, for a service that added a substantial back catalogue of games from all past Nintendo consoles and handhelds. I’d even be willing to buy all the games I want individually, all over again, for the third or fourth time if I could actually keep them on my Switch and play them forever.

imagine paying for a subscription for online and being offline for more than 7 days in a row? would have to be rare scenarios

@Gold_Ranger do you have 4g out there and a mobile hotspot cause if so you could connect to the hotspot for a second then disconnect because it never said anything about redownloading every seven days

People keep arguing that this is a cheap service compared to others. Yet for those of us who share a Switch (ie, families) and need a family account, I just bought a year on Xbox Live for almost a tenner less than the Nintendo 'family' account costs. So not such great value for many...

Fine by me.

Seems reasonable by me. But I have learned that everything about this service is an excuse for entitled angry people to throw complaint fits.

DRM of any kind only benefits the publisher, not the consumer. We're SOL whenever the servers go down in a decade or so.

@belfastgonzo can't the family account be shared with like 8 people?

So thats £35 divided by 8... Thats 4.30 a year.

Lets say 3 of you use it... Thats still only 11.65 for the whole year.

Much cheaper than Xbox... But does it have value? Thats subjective.

Do you like NES games?

@ValhallaOutcast what like a holiday? Never been to West Africa for a week or two? How about to the Galapagos islands? Or even to the highlands of Scotland where the air is clean and the internet is non existent.

The world is bigger than you know 😉

@Mati Many consumers fall over each other to protect the poor corporations.

@Razer thats why I said rare not never gonna happen, some people will get effected by this but not enough to swing the thought process when they came up with the idea at Nintendo

@Razer Not really. I have 3 young kids, but none of them will be paying anything. So £31.49 Being aged under 11, they don't pay for Xbox live either, and that was around £26, with as many accounts as we like (I was wrong... the difgerwnce not actually as much as a tenner). Xbox live offers cloud saves and modern free games too, and while Nes games are a novelty for 5 minutes, they won't cut the mustard in our house, sorry! Most kids couldn't care less about 8 bit games I'm afraid.

Aight.
Don't really care about anything related to Switch Online. I pay 20 bones to play online now and that's all I expect. Anything after that is just a bonus.

People need to remember this is tied to an account, not a device (right?).

So you can go to a friends house, log into your account, download the games ... and they can play them for a week (being offline) after you go back home and continue using your Switch...

If they only checked on expiry date ... it would only take 1 person sharing their account details online, and people could abuse this badly.

@justin233 seriously, they need to retire the NES library for a while and bring us stuff from the SNES onwards.

I will get online for cloud saves, but the available games is seriously underwhelming so far.

Nintendo really has overvalued these games too much. As a service this limitation is acceptable but not being able to own the games is a clear step down from the legacy left by the Virtual Console.

Remember when they easily gave away more than 10 NES games in Animal Crossing? Or did they think AC wasn't worth the full price so they padded it with NES games ?

@turntSNACO (on the switch) for those concerned about having to log in at hotels, libraries etc, my experience has been a pop up arrives upon entering the password for wifi, that enables you to accept their terms and you are then checked for stable signal and cleared for take-off from there.. even without the browser..

I’m guessing from the comment count that a lot of people are mad for no reason.

Since nobody has drawn the comparison yet; a year of Xbox Live gives you permanent and offline access to 36 games (12 Xbox 360 games, 24 Xbox One games).

These are yours in perpetuity until the Xbox service or store is dead. You get them offline forever, even after your subscriptions expires, and you can still redownload them to new/old consoles even after your subscription expires. They are treated no different than normal everyday game purchases.

It's incredible how people still keep complaining about such small things. What is wrong with the world?

VC is dead folks. Move on! This is a new subscription service, and therefore by nature a "rental" service. We new this for a year now.

I think it's great value for money, because they keep adding games to this service. It's Nintendo's Netflix, and It's so dirt cheap. And I love NES games

Why do people stil complain about VC is gone? And were you really going to keep those VC games until the end of times?

They were digital folks, and tired to the hardware. If your old Wii brakes they are gone forever, unless you send it in to Nintendo. And I am not sure they are fixing those Wii's anymore?

Yes, I think Nintendo should have made these NES games available offline for a month, or at least 14 days. That would have been more fair. But I can live with 7 days also. It's such a minor issue, actually.

But as a subscription service, and because you are only renting these games, they have to make this verification check once a while. It's just how these kind of services works.

@Razer if you make it to the Galapagos then I'd suggest putting the Switch away for a while.

Checking once a week seems entirely reasonable to me, it's an online service after all.

@Azathoth nobody has drawn that comparison as your information is incorrect.

On 360 you got to keep your Games with Gold if your sub expired but that's not the case for the Xbox One, see the FAQ below

https://support.xbox.com/en-GB/my-account/xbox-live-membership/games-with-gold-faq

What happens to my Games with Gold games if I cancel my Xbox Live Gold subscription?

On Xbox One, you’ll no longer be able to access your Games with Gold titles if you cancel your subscription. However, if you decide to renew your subscription at any time, you’ll be able to access and play your previously redeemed Games with Gold titles again.

@Galenmereth the NES games do have online play actually.

I do see your point though, if you've paid for one month then why not just have the online check be inline with that (or whenever your cancellation date runs to).

I suppose we should just be thankful it's not like Mario Run and doesn't work offline at all!

@electrolite77,

All modern consoles are designed to be connected to the internet,it's not just for things like this but for updates etc.

I can't imagine there are many people that will not have access to the internet in a 7 day period.

I've no plans to play crappy Nes games!

I wouldn't mind this if Nintendo gave us the option to buy the games to own instead of renting them.

@Galenmereth I completely agree with you, all I want from Nintendo is the VC, YouTube, and a web browser, and instead they give us this crap. I love Nintendo's systems and games, but they have some of the most anti-consumer practices I've ever seen, especially having to pay yearly to back up your save data. I don't know how that's even legal!

While in this day and age. Unless you do illegal l stuff with your Switch, you pretty much have to be online every once in a while (all those indie games almost always arrives on the eshop first before physical release, if ever). Seven days is still a bit stingy. Heck, PS Plus allows you to play downloaded games until the end of your subscription period, AFAIK without checking the mothership. And Sony just suspend your account (if your subscription expire) not delete your cloud saves. Nintendo should have A grace period before deleting your saves...

@Cobalt lol damn you Wario. Not sure who would want to buy honestly.

You know how Nintendo delayed the Nintendo Direct because of a big giant earthquake in Japan? That's where I live! Due to the power outage that affected 3 MILLION homes throughout Hokkaido, we had to go without wi-fi for an excruciating 15 hours. Barring another horrible disaster like that, I'm pretty sure I can log in at least once a week. Also, by the time we got power back and turned on the TV, they said that approximately 30 thousand homes have power. Apparently we chose our neighborhood wisely. Yay top 1%!

It's fine by me. I mean, why subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online if you're offline/barely online?

@dres they just want the NES Games on their journeys.
Like I said, I don't understand it either, but for them it's a problem. There are countries on their trip with no free wifi and it's an issue when you always have to keep in mind to go online every seventh day with your Switch.

@dls81uk Its also called, buy a Wii or Wii U and hack it. I really dont care about playing classic games on Switch. There are so many other devices that let you play these same games.

@Galenmereth,

There will also be places on earth that have no power either,so what will they do?

I think most people that will bu a Nintendo Switch will have internet connections.

@KraniX I stand corrected. Since what I said was so radically different from reality, let me clarify.

A year long subscription to Xbox Live gives you permanent online/offline access to 12 Xbox 360 games, and 24 Xbox One games online/offline until the end of the year with no need to "check in".

@Azathoth but essentially you do have to check in each month on Xbox as how are you going to access the next set of games without going online?

@klingki Bless thee.
I will def be looking out for that.

Not getting this for sure. Nintendo is trying to pull a Microsoft here..

If some of you do not have internet, use your phone hotspot for the internet.

7 days seems more than fair. The games need a way to make sure your account is still active, so this makes sense.

I have been a loyal customer of Nintendo for over 30 years. I am also about to deploy on a Naval vessel for seven months without WiFi. Hopefully we will get a port visit or two to reload the seven days, but this move by Nintendo is a huge F-you to the deploying military community.

I assume those also go away if you lose access to the subscription? Honestly, those are pretty much the only reason I am considering it.

That is why I've bought this console with all retro games from Atari, Nintendo and more for cheap price included SNES controllers and it works offline forever without any subscription http://www.retrogamescreations.etsy.com

@Galenmereth Why would you need 30 days without wifi though?

Although I do think PS+ handles this more conveniently. It literally tags the game with its expiration date, so it can work offline until that date. Renewing your service updates the expiration dates.

I just want to play TurboGrafx-16 titles on the Switch already as well as Arcade ports and GEN games just like on Wii. Maybe throw some Commodore 64 games in again.

I think it was said that you could keep those games forever, even if you ended the subscription. Well, that doesn't seem to be true. Since if you are out of internet for a whole week (maybe if you live in a very crappy area) you lose your games. Well done Nintendo!

When I don't use my Switch it's always in sleep mode in the dock, I never turn it off...so for me this 7 days thing is a complete non-issue as it's pretty much always online.