Reminder: Zelda II And Blaster Master Hit Switch Today, Plus Two New Special Edition NES Games

Punch out!! is really missing.

I got the Japanese app today just for Joy Mech Fight and have been having a blast playing it.

I have spent little more than ten minutes playing the 'free' games since the Nintendo Switch Online service started.However I may give Zelda a go..

As someone who STILL hasnt finished these games despite owning the NES Carts since they came out back in the day, maybe now I'll finally finish them... One can hope.

Get the knife!

Good games, but should have given Joy Mech Fight to the West as well.

Just played Joy Mech Fight for the first time. I didn't know what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. It's really good for a NES fighting game. It looks great and plays smoothly. Since Sukapon appears in Smash, I knew what moves it had. I just had to find the right button combinations.

I'd love Duck Hunt with joy-con aiming support. It has to be doable!

You don't need to remind us.

I think Zelda II deserves another play.

I've only been waiting 12 years to give Zelda II another go. Stoked.

Both are available on the NES Classic. Difference being once purchased you own said games. I myself haven't been persuaded paying for NSO being the state it's in. Massive fan of the Switch.

Zelda II is the only game from the series I've never played (excluding those terrible CDi games of course). Perhaps I should give it go now!

I struggle to play NES games for more than a few minutes. Super Mario Bros 3 is great and I planned to play through it again for the umpteenth time but I got stuck between some blocks and can't move. First time I've come across a glitch like that in a Mario game,it's put me off from playing it any more. I had been enjoying Adventures of Lolo but even that's starting to annoy me now as the difficulty ramps up. I'll give Zelda 2 a go though as I've never played it before. SNES games I can spend hours with, the difference between the 2 consoles is night and day.

One thing I find amusing about NES Online, Nintendo don't provide any manuals on how to play their rock solid NES games, expecting their audience to figure it out for themselves (which is fair enough) but then they must think we're not smart enough to figure out what the + button does. Why is there not an option to hide the button prompts, it's surely such a simple thing to add.

I'd rather have more games than these "special" versions

@NintendoFan4Lyf I always wanted to play the one were you play as Zelda. The only other game were she plays an active role in the story, instead of just waiting to be saved, is Spirit Tracks.

You could also count Wind Waker and Ocarina of Time, but Sheik and Tetra still mostly appear in cut scenes.

@Moroboshi876 You can play Duck Hunt on the WiiU with a Wiimote, but the fact that the cross hairs are visible on the screen makes it way too easy.

@countzero If I remember right, you could turn the crosshairs off, but that made it too hard as your remote is not really aiming at the TV, it's aiming at the sensor bar, so it was just off.

@countzero Yeah, but unlike most people here I don't want to buy Virtual Console games. I'm fine with this digital renting model, while I like to own the games in my NES Mini (both originally included and added). But most importantly I think the Switch screen is what those games deserve.

The layout for the app is starting to look messy, especially with the sp versions being separate from the standards. Could do with a way to organise the games. Would like some basic instructions for games too. Tried the wrestling game and couldn't work out what to do, even with just two buttons.

Will probably give Zelda II about 10 mins and then get bored of it, just like all the NES games, I just don't have the connection to them like I do to SNES games.
Also I found that some of the games were quite broken

@Moroboshi876 My point is, that it wouldn't be a lot of fun with pointer controls, because it is too easy.

Glad to have Zelda II. Still waiting on Super Mario Bros 2, Punchout!!, Kirby's Dream Land, Contra, Super C, Castlevania, Castlevania III, Double Dragon II, 1943, Star Tropics, and Star Tropics II, not to mention the fabled SNES games, but I refuse to get my hopes up.

@countzero But what if the pointer didn't appear on-screen? I mean using joy-con as the Zapper.

At least they are trying to make up for missing US games.

Another 2 wasted slots for the SP version, essentially it's the last level but you're powered up to the max. Should have had them as separate modes within the regular game.

It's sad that I'm more interested in playing the "special edition" games but for good reason. I never could finish Ninja Gaiden or Ghost and Goblins. And yet I beat Silver Surfer. That game gets a bad rap but the game was good and the music was amazing.

Can't count how often I startet Zelda 2 without finishing it. Maybe this time!? It's the only Zelda game I've never beaten so it has to be done!

@Moroboshi876 The Zapper (or any old school light gun) could actually detect if you were pointing it a correct part of the screen when shooting. The Wiimote only detects the sensor bar, so it doesn't know how big your TV is. The pointer on the screen doesn't actually match with were you are pointing the controller.

The Joy Con doesn't detect anything. You point it at the center of your screen and press a button to calibrate it. Then it calculates the position of the pointer just by reading the motion sensors. You could point it away from the screen during calibration and it would still move the cursor according to your hand movements, but if you point it at the screen again afterwards it would stop working.

@countzero I understand the technology changed (thanks for the info, though), but couldn't we agree on that there should be a way to make shooting games again, in modern systems, and maybe tweak old shooting games' controls in order to make possible playing Duck Hunt on Switch?

NES games, even on Switch, don’t excite me enough to play them. I’m waiting for SNES

Hm, they drop you at the end of the 1st loop of Ghosts N' Goblins. That's subtly evil, I'd say.

@ryando Highlight a game and press Y. You can move them and reorder them to your liking.

Why do they keep making these SP nes edition with girlfriend mode?: S They should spend more time getting more content on that damn service.

@Medic_alert I'd also love to be able to hide the special games. At the moment I just have em at the bottom of my list, but with two more this month they're kinda starting to pile up.

@Medic_alert They should be under a separate menu.

This is straight up sad compared to how other companies are bringing their retro games to switch.

@Medic_alert I move all of my SP editions to the bottom row. I wish I could hide them too, haha.

Looking forward to trying Zelda II again. It's been, what, 25 years since I couldn't really handle it, plus a brief attempt on small 3DS. I've always been sad I've never played it through, but it was too obtuse for me back when it launched on NES.

Getting our old VC games on switch could be so simple. Take an sd card and back up your VC on 3ds or wiiu, drop the card in your switch, BAM it loads up your nes, snes, GB, GBA etc VC!

As usual, an okay service if the NES Classic didn't exist, or wasn't easily hackable...

@Medic_alert Probably for younger players. The Zelda one sounds vary useful though, since I haven't played any of these games, some are kinda intimidating, so I think it's great!

@Moroboshi876 They should make it so we can point the joy-con at the screen to shoot.

@NintendoFan4Lyf From one old man to another, go for it
!!!

I too have been playing this game on and off since the 80's. I can get to the final boss but I can't finish it. It's also brutal in the fact that you really need to beat the boss the first time. If you die, you don't just go back to the beginning of the level like other bosses. You go back to the beginning of the stage. It's BRUTAL!

@GamingTelescope That. And I wonder how difficult that would be.

I think it's hilarious that people want to hide the SP's! Really? Is it that big of a problem? The program allows you to sort and highlight your favorites. But, to be fair, I think Nintendo could easily include a feature to hide games if the users chooses.

I personally have not tried the SP's yet but I think they're great. Games from the 80's were a challenge. Sometimes a great challenge that was both fair but tough. Others though, were cheap.

410 games across 3ds and wiiu VC and this is what subscribers are paying for?

@Medic_alert
Yes, I agree. I would also like to put the games I finished in some kind of "completed folder". If more games keep coming it's going to start getting harder and harder to find what you want.

I imagie not too hard. Remember when hackers found NES golf on the switch which supported using motion controls?

I'm hoping for Bubble Bobble

Thanks to these additions, I played Zelda II. I never had the chance to play it, and so far I'm having fun with this one. The side scrolling sections are different, but fun.

@NEStalgia
I have never played it either.

@GameOtaku You bought all 410? Wow!

@Dr_Corndog
I bought on 3ds at least 90 so it's up there. But they are games I own, no time limit attached, no need to buy them again and no games that is never touch either!

It's a huge shame that nintendo didn't release Mecha Joy Fight for the western NES Online Service. It would've totally got more attention over the games that we have played a thousand times over...

Yes, we could just download the Famicom Service, but there's a plot that's written in Japanese, and I'm not so versed in Japanese!

Come on Treehouse, you could've translated it, and made the service more interesting for us by releasing a title us westerners haven't seen before!

2 new games, 2 SP versions. Yeah, sure... This is what we all asked for. So I guess we are guaranteed to always get 3 or 4 "releases", with either 3 being "new" and 1 being SP, or 2 being "new" with 2 being SP-- Or in other words, wasted releases wasting time. Just 10 games a month, Nintendo, it should not be THAT difficult even if you are trying to have the element of surprise. Ten. I'd say nothing more, honestly. Minus licensed games, I'd suspect the proper NES library still has a number somewhere between a few hundred and the 1000 games in its full library, but that's just speculation without research. I'm so glad I've resolved myself to just not think about the NES App anymore. Wake me when a rare gem shows up, like Faxanadu, Vice:Project Doom, Journey to Silius, Shatterhand, or Powerblade, and THEN you'll have my attention. Anyway, back to the main Switch attractions, the Switch games themselves...

Can’t really get on with the original Zelda but willing to give 2 a chance and see if it’s as bad as people say.

@MaxlRoseGNR The last dungeon’s music is amazing

@dkxcalibur Save states prevent that now though

I haven't tried the one for Ninja Gaiden yet, but if I read correctly, this lets you start off right before the boss and presumably at full health. That could be really handy for practicing against the final boss since losing to him even once sends you back to like 6-1.

@Illusion they have the double dragon II arcade game for the Eshop.

@Medic_alert
That would be sweet. Of course folders and themes in the main screen would also be great.

@WaveBoy Are you saying Ninja Gaiden is harder than Ghosts n Goblins?

@BenGrimm Zelda 2 is a great game and one of the very best NES games. At the time I remember it being held in high regard and now it tends to be younger gamers who've grown up with a specific Zelda template that don't like it

2 excellent games added here but Nintendo needs to stop the drip feeding as 2 games a month isn't enough. As for Zelda 2 it is one of my favourites in the series and one of the best games for the system which was well received at the time.

I have no interest in the SP games but can see why they are there having witnessed my stepson attempt to play these classics, it shows how easy modern gaming really is. For me though I get no satisfaction in beating these easy/short versions and only use save states at the beginning of a stage as some kind of modern password for when adult life gets in the way.

Today I learned that Ryu's father is Ken.

@GameOtaku If those things are important to you, great. But you also spent several hundred dollars on them, whereas I'm spending only $20 a year, so it's not really a fair comparison.

@Dr_Corndog
Of those games you are renting from the service how many will you actually play though? Probably not even half, my self I'd never touch any of the sports titles or most of the puzzlers. Most of the games j bought were usually on sale, but even then I can play the games at my own leisure and not have to worry about lapsing my subscription. Paying once and owning indefinitely sounds far more appealing than renting a hodgepodge of games you'd never play. Do the math, in 5 years you'd easily spend $100 on rentals.

If you play online everyday then this service may be for you. But to lock it only to those who play online is ridiculous. They stand to make more money from individual sales (and its help Nintendo know what games or types of games to add).

@NintendoFan4Lyf I was tempted picking up a CDi on ebay last year, but inevitably I put the money towards other Switch game purchase ha! I may just watch a YouTube playthrough at some point ^_^

Nintendo should include a digital version of the original game manuals in the service... Nes manuals where great! (Except Capcom ones, those where really terrible!!!)

@WaveBoy Well, I have finished Ninja Gaiden and only the last few stages are difficult. And once you learn them, it isn't really that hard. Ghosts n Goblins on the other hand I find insanely frustrating, and I never even beat the first run-through. Maybe I should give it another go. As for NG3, I hope they put it on the Switch eventually so we can play the Japanese version with unlimited continues.