Nintendo Updates Switch Online's N64 Release Schedule

Perfect Dark would be great and of course DKR.

The Crusin Racing Games

@ekwcll

i too would like to play crusin, and also the sequels world and exotica, which i never got to play!

also, sf rush and especially the excellent rush 2!!

and even 2049, which i never played!

more racing games please, in general.

I just want Smash 64

Quite frankly this is a pisstake.

The "speed" at which these games are added to the service makes me running to the bus look like Usain Bolt running for Olympic Gold.

Nintendo's refusal to take full advantage of the golden egg they are sitting on baffles me.

@-wc- Beetle Adventure Racing

That September 2022 Direct N64 NSO announcement sure lasted a long time:

• October 2022 - Pilotwings 64
• November 2022 - Mario Party 1, Mario Party 2
• January 2023 - Goldeneye 007 (outside Japan)
• April 2023 - Pokemon Stadium
• August 2023 - Pokemon Stadium 2, Excitebike 64
• October 2023 - Mario Party 3
• November 2023 - Goldeneye 007 (Japan)
• TBA 2023 - 1080 Snowboarding, Harvest Moon 64 (Japan)

It feels like they add N64 at a faster pace than GBA which sounds absolutely impossible, their library of GBA games they personally have is massive yet the app is still barren.

Good. Hopefully this is the time that Banjo-Tooie and Donkey Kong 64 will join the round table where Banjo-Kazooie sits at to complete my N64 trifecta of Rare Ware 3D collectathon platformers.

Also, Diddy Kong Racing.

Bring Diddy Kong Racing, Perfect Dark, Banjo-Tooie and Conker!!

Iggy’s Reckin’ Balls please!!!

@IceClimbersMain same. Still my favorite 64 game.

I want Rogue Squadron and Star Wars: Episode I - Battle for Naboo.

Remember when Banjo-Tooie was confirmed when this launched?

Me too.

...Can we also get Diddy Kong Racing, Mischief Makers, Mystical Ninja, and Goemon's Great Adventure, please?

Surely when an addition is announced, they should add it immediately. People are paying by the month for access and these are really old games.

All I want now are:

Mischief Makers
Hybrid Heaven
Mega Man 64
Banjo-Tooie

To my surprise, Jet Force Gemini is here, so I've got a few hopes rejuvenated at least.

Just renewed my sub, Such a good game, but dam that last boss was impossible. I got to him and that was it. Never could beat him. Trying to find all the ship parts was also hard.

@ekwcll yeah, I kinda would like to play crusin USA again without hooking my n64 back up

Mischief Makers is my top want. JFG is great, but damn, MM was perfection and I'm so sad it didn't become a thing.

@justin233

you said it! great game.

im also a fan of the various top gear games on n64, especially rally. 👍

i never got to play the extreme g games on 64 either, and i always wanted to. also hydro thunder, i loved that in arcades and the 64 port ould be pretty cool on switch!

i never see bangai o mentioned for NSO but here i am, mentioning it.

@Moistnado
really good point 👍

I remember getting to the "endgame" of jet force Gemini and having no clue what to do. Hope it controls well on switch so I can try and beat it

I was really hoping for stuff like Body Harvest, Hybrid Heaven, and Ogre Battle 64, but I get the feeling I'll be playing those carts through the Analogue 3D before Nintendo gets them on NSO.

One thing that will ultimately convince me to pay for Expansion Pack is if 64DD games/expansions, Sega CD games, Sega 32X games, and CD32X games are all introduced into the N64 and Mega Drive/Genesis libraries. There are some cult classics on the Sega side, and I'm sure the very small amount of expansions from the 64DD are still worth including.

@justin233 Beetle Adventure Racing was such a great N64 game back in the day! I could’ve swore I owned it but I can’t find it anywhere I must’ve rented it a lot back in the day. I would love for it to hit NSO but I have a feeling the license will prevent that from happening sadly. I wonder if it still holds up today. I’ll have to keep an eye out for picking it up at a good price

@-wc- Bangai-o was a fantastic game. Still have my Dreamcast copy and the DS version that I guess was a sort of sequel? I remember it being noticeably different from the DC version. That would be a nice import to get on the US NSO since the story is really inconsequential it should be pretty import friendly

@ModdedInkling definitely agree on Sega CD and especially 32X games. I would like the chance to try Knuckles Chaotix finally and Star Wars Arcade. 64DD I can’t see anything really that would be worth the effort to emulate. The Mario Artist series would be useless on the Switch, don’t know how import friendly Doshin the Giant is. The F-Zero expansion to create courses would be cool, but what else really is there? I imagine even though it’s an add on to the N64 it would require a whole new emulator, can’t see that much effort going into emulation for it

For the time being I really just want Harvest Moon 64 outside of Japan, quite possibly my favorite game on the console.

Past that, Diddy Kong Racing and Smash Bros. would be nice, Hybrid Heaven would be cool, no clue who owns Mischief Makers at this point but would like to see it, the Castlevania games... That about covers the things I'm particularly interested in I believe, at least within the realm of possibility since something like No Mercy is obviously never happening.

I wont he signing up again. These old games just dont do it for me anymore.

@Lizuka Mischief Maker and Ogre Battle 64 are likely not coming to NSO if Square Enix is involve with both. Ogre Battle 64 for sure won't be coming as it was a Square Enix game, the Ogre series dev are part of Square Enix now so if Square doesn't want Ogre Battle 64 on NSO it won't come. Mischief Maker is debatable, if it's own by Treasure then it'll had a chance at being available, if it's own by Square Enix then it likely won't be coming, if Nintendo still had rights to the game then it may likely will. Enix published the game originally in Japan, Treasure are the developer of the game and Nintendo had publishing rights to the game in NA and EU back then.

Is there a reason why Harvest Moon 64 is routinely listed as a Japan-only release for NSO? I assume it’s a rights issue, but Harvest Moon SNES is available for NSO outside Japan, so I’m not sure why HM 64 couldn’t also be released.

My NSOEP expired and at the moment I've no real desire to renew it, don't get me wrong there are some amazing games on there but I've had my fill of them.

I opted to buy the Mario Kart expansion separately so I don't need it for that.

The only game I can think of that would get me to renew again is Diddy Kong Racing.

San Francisco Rush 2049 would be a dream.

@Member_the_game Didn't renew mine either. Too little and too late. Only Goemon Mystical Ninja could tempt me back.

And you don't even need the expansion pack or booster pass to play the new Mario Kart tracks online. Only if you want to do the cups offline which I'm not bothered about.

@SBandy1 It is a subs service, so actually releasing things all at once is not recommended as you need a regular feed of content to drive engagement and keep the funnel working

Still do t understand why they don’t add an option to individually purchase those games while having them all on NSO- I am sure there are audiences for both! Anyway, I bet there are people like me who have their N64, and won’t ever touch NSO- so enabling to purchase these games-they will finally convince people like me to waste more money, because most people I know hate subscription platforms, because we all know that this platform will be gone one day as it’s predecessors and the money for subs wasted. Nintendo let us just buy them too!

I really just want Wipeout 64. I still love that game. But I'd really want it spruced up too, so maybe I'd prefer an eshop release. If it just ran at 60fps that alone would be a dream I'd play for many many hours!
Would also be cool to have Blast Corps, Body Harvest, San Fransisco Rush (all 3!), Tetrisphere (I've played it relatively recently on steam deck and I still love it), The New Tetris, the Micky Mouse Tetris game, Robotron 64, and Worms Armageddon.
I'd also love it if they would fix Fzero X. It runs at 60fps on original hardware and on my Wii U virtual console version, but drops frames on Switch. I can tell it's at a lower resolution on Wii U, so I'd like an option to choose a smoother lower resolution.

Just give me DKR please. And missing alot of snes titles. Keep it coming!

I dropped my plus membership and have zero regrets. It was an epic waste of money.

Poor selection. Seriously. Who wants to play harvest moon 64. Give us some serious stuff

@Dringo

If this were a service equal to Game Pass or PS Plus I would agree. But this is just old games, the appeal is having them all on the service to play at your leisure. Release them all already.

Still not the content I want from a + premium package.

I wish Nintendo could give 007 Goldeneye more modern controls for the Switch. Something closer to the Xbox version 😒

I genuinely do not understand the vitriol that comes for the NSO subscription in the comments. It's $50 a year, less than $5 a month. You get access to some of Nintendo's best games from the 20th century as well as some genuine classics from the Sega Genesis library. New titles may not come as quickly and thickly as you want, but there are dozens of quality games on the service already for less than the price of one modern AAA game.
What more do people expect for the price?

Desperate for dk64

Is that the American version of the cart for Jet Force Gemini? I have no recollection of it being that horrific. Juno's dead eyes will haunt my soul tonight.

@Znake

What on earth is that logic?

First, money spent on a sub isn't "wasted" if the sub and items stops existing later. You're paying for access then and there and can use it during that time. If you don't use it while paying for it then yes, it becomes wasteful, but otherwise it just is what it is.

That second part ... you won't pay for the sub because you already have the old hardware/software ... but you'd buy them as individual products knowing that the downloads can go away someday too?

That's...not motivation for nintendo to do anything different at all.

He has no style, he has no grace. This kong... has a funny face!

@Elitepatriot The final boss took me loads of tries. That was a really satisfying game to 100%, looking forward to playing it through again.

@Grumblevolcano: "That September 2022 Direct N64 NSO announcement sure lasted a long time".

Wow, I had forgotten that that particular Direct was so long ago. You know, I had naively assumed that the N64 games that were announced at that time would cover something like the first half of 2023, not ALL of it.

I'm not ordinarily critical of NSO as a service, but that really is a slow output.

Still waiting on Super Mario Land for Game Boy as well, approaching 10 months since the emulator launched.

And Wario Land also.

And Donkey Kong '94.

And Alleyway.

And Donkey Kong Land, perhaps?

Yet we've had Quest For Camelot in the time we've been waiting. Who was even asking for that one? 🤨

But I've gone somewhat off-topic now, so...

@Darthmoogle

i had it on dreamcast way back (and subsequently went through an "everything must go," 20 something anarchist phase and sold it and some other treasures 😆) and absolutely loved it. GREAT game!

I never got to play it on n64 but would love the chance. seems like a natural fit for the 64s controller, as im sure it was designed for it. would translate to twin stick really well, too!

I also have the DS followup... something about this one never clicked for me. they kind of made it into a puzzle game, with gimmicky set-piece style levels, if i recall. may have to break it back out to see if i just didnt "get it" before. 👍

Is it confirmed that we are really getting Jet Force Gemini outside of Japan? The articles seem to only mention Japan.

I would be interested to revisit this game. I played a bit on N64. I am not sure if it would have aged well or not. I was excited for Banjo-Kazooie which I played a bit of on N64, but (maybe unpopular opinion) I did not feel it aged well. I probably played about the same portion of it that I played as a kid.

I swear I thought Harvest Moon 64 was already out on the jpn NSO. I remember thinking damn, why not in the US too? And proceeded to make an account and download the japan versions to play it, which didn't last long since I couldn't read anything lol. Unless I dreamed it?

@Darthmoogle Probably a pipe dream, but I would love to see Nintendo using the 64DD's capabilities to release the Master Quest version of Ocarina of Time. The original one, not the map flipped one from the 3DS version. The one that still requires a Gamecube disk that's more rare than museum artifacts.

It's not unprecedented, given the work that they did to re-release Super Mario Advance 4 on modern platforms with all e-reader levels included.

@SBandy1 Then that wouldn’t be a subscription service.

jet force gemini needs a full blown hd remaster/remake.

@CainTheConfused lol how old are you? Yes naturally you can lose anything from even physical cartridge! The main point is, which you clearly don’t understand- if you pay for NSO, you never own the software so once the service discontinues you can’t access it anymore. If you have it downloaded and paid for it, if the service discontinues- it stays in your system. What’s hard to understand?

@JohnnyMind yes for sure it will continue on the next system but what next. You still won’t own it and if you wanted to try the games in 15years it’s gone. This is about game preservation. I wouldn’t mind paying 10-15 bucks for each N64 game. So if you consider how much people might pay for NSO in 7-10years. Many people would spend much more and still keep the service so they would definitely make more money.

I know this will never happen but it would be so freaking awesome if they could ever release sports games like Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey and NFL Blitz/2000 or even NBA Hangtime. I was addicted to those games during that era and it totally sucks due to the licensing and player likeness issues they'll never be released ever again

It's unfortunate they can't figure out some way to essentially strip these games of all that stuff and release them with generic teams, no name players and just keep the colors.

@Fizza I hope it does happen because the guy that did the current crusin on the switch has expressed interested in remastering the other crusin games in the collection

@Krytture yeah all three games were good

@-wc- same here and I also like sf rush too

I haven't paid for the sub in years. I really want to buy both the online and the expansion but I really want more games added to the N64 and GBA side to make it worth while.

@ekwcll No offense, but those were always pretty rough, and I never got the appeal. Is this strictly nostalgia or am I missing something here?

@LikelySatan Nostalgia for me because they were arcade and fun racing. Plus to me educational because you are racing across the country.

@ekwcll The arcade releases were much better than the home releases. I don't know if it's just because I was such a huge Rush fan back then, but they were always so offputting. The new game is pretty good...I need to try again with that one. It felt more Raw Thrills than Midway, from what I played.

@Ganner WG3DH is great fun to this day! That and Ken Griffey MLB Baseball N64 are two of my favorite team sports games to this day; I also enjoyed International Superstar Soccer '98.

I agree, I'd love for older sports games to come to NSO or even better as a standalone eshop purchase but as you said, like 99% impossible unfortunately because of licensing. I say 99% because of the licensing miracle that was the official rerelease of NHL '94 with the 2020-2021 NHL rosters for PS4 and XBOX One. Personally I've been waiting decades for a new official Tecmo Super Bowl with current rosters and online.

As for more precise release dates: Jet Force Gemini will likely actually release on November 30th at 9 PM New York time or December 1st at 2 AM London time. Whereas both 1080° Snowboarding and Harvest Moon 64 will likely be released together within the final two weeks of December.

@jon128 No confirmation of Jet Force Jemini outside of Japan as it stands, itless I'm missing something...
(However, it looks likely it should arrive at some point) 🙄

@JohnnyMind That's great news to hear, I still thought we would get it, but a December release is sooner than I expected. 😄
Looking forward to playing this. I'm hoping it controls better than it does on Rare Replay with the Pro Controller.

Are we going to get Golden Sun (and it's sequel) on the GBA app any time before the new console?? It was one of the games featured in the announcement at launch. Just wondering if this service will continue on the next console in it's current state or if they'll do the Nintendo thing of scrapping it and starting entirely from nothing yet again. You'd hope it's the former, seeing as it's only streaming content.

@Baker1000
They better not restart everything from scratch because if they do, I’m canceling my subscription instantly.

I wish Nintendo would allow us to actually buy some of these classic N64 games.

For me, there is only a handful of games I actually want and paying $50 a year to rent them isn't worth it.

Now can we get an update on GBA games? I've been dying for a chance to play Golden Sun

@ChameleonBros Ken Griffey 64 was pretty good but our household were more into the All Star Baseball/2000 games from Acclaim (I think?). We preferred that one because it had a more 'realistic' approach to baseball and the graphics for its time were mind blowing.

I forgot about Internation Superstar Soccer! We rented that one a lot but Fifa Road to World Cup 98 was our real jam

Ah Tecmo Bowl My brothers and I played the hell out of Tecmo Super Bowl 3 for SNES. Seriously we'd play for many hours especially when we had friends over. There was something to that game that was just so fun football!

Sadly those days/games will never happen again.

Guess I wouldn't mind if they threw Conker up there, but I really don't think that's going to happen. To be honest, past Nintendo and the Rareware hits most of the 64 library doesn't interest me.

And frankly I really don't like Jet Force Gemini.

@Don honestly it would be such a mickey take if they did that. The service shouldn't be tied to the console the same way the downloaded VC games used to be. Makes sense if they just launch the next console with all these games ready to play on day one and keep adding more. But this is Nintendo, who knows what they're thinking.

@JohnnyMind Thanks! I’m interested in at least giving this one a try again to see how it is. Unrelated to this article, but after some comments you and I exchanged in a Mario RPG article a while back about me wanting to like RPGs, I’ve been playing Paper Mario on NSO and have been enjoying it! Going to try out some other non-Mario RPGs as well to see if I can get into them (although I will likely fall off of them due to length).

@Baker1000 Golden Sun has been rumoured to get a reboot or a sequel to Dark Dawn since leakers found out evidence that Camelot was working on it during the pandemic. I suppose it's just a 2D-HD remaster of the og Golden Sun

The Bomberman games would be cool, both on SNES & N64. Especially if it means getting all five of the SNES titles translated.

@Baker1000 It'll probably come in January/February 2024 to have Super Mario RPG, Golden Sun and TTYD equally spaced out. Definitely see the other announced GBA game (F-Zero Maximum Velocity) happen first.

DKR. Blast corp. Conker and turok and perfect dark and mischief makers to name a few.

@SBandy1 I’m letting my membership lapse this year after the goldeneye controls fiasco and still no sight of any decent titles. I mean where the hell is Gamecube? I would happily pay annual membership to have F-Zero X and GC Starfox in my library.

What, no Castlevania 64 or Donkey Kong 64?

@SBandy1

Typical Nintendo, but the big N has legions of fans who think they can do no wrong and I feel that's one reason they underutilize their online offerings.

Yeah, Switch Online isn't as expensive as the competition, but the competition offers far more value than Switch Online, especially since most of the Switch Online offered games are old and likely owned multiple times by a large if not majority portion of Switch Online subscribers. That being said, it'll be a cold day in h*** before Nintendo ever adds newer games to their online service.

@Dringo

Nintendo has far more games in its backlog to release more frequently. The service still pails in comparison to the competition, even if it's cheaper.

Everything on offer are decades old games that most Nintendo fans likely own multiple times already. This is Nintendo though so they're highly unlikely to ever put newer games onto NSO.

In my case, the only reason I even have the service is because I'm forced to use it to have cloud saves backups. God forbid Nintendo allow us to manually back up our save files. They have to stick it in as a feature of NSO to entice subscriptions.

To be fair, even the competition has made manually backing up saves a hassle to do, no doubt to also push paying for their services to access cloud saves storage. It's all about the money, and businesses want everything to be a service these days.

@PoundShopOrwell

Probably on the Switch 2, but it will likely increase the subscription price like the N64 did.

@Brianst0rm I haven't heard about that. Do you have a link to where it was discovered?

I would love to play Snowboard Kids on Nintendo Switch Online! It's one of my favorite games of all time on the N64!

Thanks Rare and Nintendo for Jet Force Gemini! Would love to see diddy kong racing and dk64