Topic: Eshop Question

When it comes to older games from the Eshop. Do the games actually download to the Switch console for offline play or are they online streaming only?

@Vintageliving
Almost all games from the e-shop can be played offline.
The notable exceptions I can currently think of are the online-only games (like Fortnite), or Cloud versions (such as the Kingdom Hearts games).

@Vintageliving When you buy a digital game on eshop, ownership is tied to your nintendo account/email address. You download the game to your console. As long as Switch eshop is alive, you will have access to redownload the game if needed. If you upgrade from an old switch to a new switch, you'll have download the game to the console from eshop, since Nitnendo anti piracy doesn't permit transferring of digital games between consoles.

The few cloud-only games are typically modern games that the switch doesn't have the power to run natively on the console. So, I don't think you have to worry about retro games being cloud-only. (kingdom hearts 2 & 3 from previous console generations are cloud based, though. These may be the only could based retro games.)

I'm not sure how to desribe how the Nintendo Switch Online exclusive retro games. The games do download to your console, but I believe there are internet checks to make sure you are subscribed to Nintendo Switch Online.

Yeah, that's the part my knowledge is lacking. Thanks @Rambler!

@Rambler Good info! Thank you. So if one is no longer is subscribed, the games won't work? How much does the subscription cost per month? Do i need an expansion pack or anything else to download & play games? I'm really only wanting to play older games and trying to figure out if I should buy a Switch or Wii U to do it. Thank you for your help & time.

@Vintageliving
They download to the console.

@Vintageliving There are two tiers of the Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) subscription.

Basic NSO - $19.99/year (NES, SNES games)
NSO+expansion - $49.99/year (N64 and Sega Genesis/Megadrive are exclusives to the expansion)

There are a few other things. Here's a chart with a breakdown of everything that's included. https://www.nintendo.com/switch/online/

@Vintageliving
Buy a Wii U, the switch is seriously lacking in retro games. But DONT get a Wii U if you don’t know much about modding. The Wii U and 3ds eshops are closing sometime in may. so if you aren’t comfortable modding your console then you should probably get a switch instead with switch online (which is the only way to play retro Nintendo games on switch)

Sorry about the confusing post lol