Topic: How Nintendo Could Add SNES/N64/GC/Wii games to Switch – Price Tiers for Nintendo Switch Online

Hi everyone,

I was thinking about how Nintendo announced there would be no classic games offered under the Virtual Console banner on Switch, but emphasized that classic games can be offered through other avenues. What if SNES, Nintendo 64, GameCube, and Wii games were available on Switch through Nintendo Switch Online, just like NES games? Of course, Nintendo values their back catalog highly and would probably not offer games from all of these systems for $20 a year. As a result, I think it's possible that Nintendo could introduce price tiers for Nintendo Switch Online. For example:

Online Play, Cloud Saves, Exclusive Discounts, and NES games with enhanced online --> $20 per year
Everything listed before plus SNES games with enhanced online --> $30 per year
Everything before plus N64 games with enhanced online --> $40 per year
Everything before plus GC games with enhanced online --> $50 per year
Everything before plus Wii games with enhanced online --> $60 per year

I think this is a fairly believable way in which Nintendo could introduce classic games to the Switch. They've already announced that they're bringing NES games through Switch Online; why wouldn't they do the same for other classic systems' games as well? Plus, the highest tier (Wii games plus everything else) neatly ends up at $60 per year, the same price as the yearly subscriptions for Xbox and PlayStation.

If they choose to go along this path, they could announce this as soon as E3; after all, better to announce this earlier rather than later so people can pay for the highest tier from the beginning. If this were to end up true, Nintendo may have chosen to delay announcements of the tiers so that people can understand the basic tier of Nintendo Switch Online and what it offers (and recognize that you only need to spend $20 a year to get online) before announcing more tiers and making the picture a bit more complicated. Notice that Nintendo said you would be able to pay the money for Switch Online starting from when it is available – it might just be that they don't want people paying for it before Switch Online requires a paid subscription, but it could also be that they don't want people paying for Switch Online before all tiers are announced.

What do you guys think? Do you think this is a plausible way Nintendo could introduce its older games onto the Switch? If this were to happen, would you pay for one of the higher tiers?

Firstly I don't think that this is such a good idea and I also think that people are reading into this a bit too much. Nintendo hasn't actually said that they won't be selling classic games on the Switch directly as they always have. Infact they already do sell classic games on the Switch. They also haven't said that this will be a massive library across multiple consoles they've just said NES and earlier on SNES games with added online features.

I think it's more likely we'll see the Switch online service offer a small selection of games. Mostly NES but also SNES and maybe a few other systems down the road. But for the newer "retro" systems the bulk of the content will be something different. HD remasters, compilations and possibly even directly selling them on the eShop. Remember there were only ~20 N64 games on the Wii and Wii U VC services. I don't think there's much reason to make specific tiers for systems that could be handled better in other ways.

@subpopz I thought about that, but there'd be two reasons Nintendo would be against the ability to choose tiers:

1. Mixing and matching can make things potentially complex for people.
2. [The more important reason] Nintendo would make more money from people (people who want Wii games have to spend the $60 per year).

I doubt Nintendo would let people get access to Wii games along with all the other NSO perks for just $30 a year.

@skywake I see what you mean. They've said they won't sell them under the Virtual Console branding, which literally means classic games won't be sold under the Virtual Console banner. But I doubt they'd be getting rid of the Virtual Console name if they were planning to still sell the games a la carte like they did for VC on Wii/Wii U/3DS. I think HD remasters, compilations, or subscriptions are more likely. If they were going to pursue a subscription model, I could see them adding tiers to the existing Switch Online service instead of having a completely different subscription service (since they are already offering NES games through Switch Online).

Well except for the fact that they already do sell classic games on the Switch. And it'd also not be the first time Nintendo has sold classic games without the VC branding. Wii games on the Wii U were not branded as Virtual Console releases, 3D classics on the 3DS were also not VC. They also toyed around with the idea of game demos with Amiibo which even if we turned out nose up at it I doubt Nintendo saw it like that. Additionally there's the fact that between Sega and SNK have been largely going it alone with their own VC on Nintendo.

I'm not convinced this will be as rapid, clean or as dramatic a shift as people are assuming. At this stage we don't even really know if this content will even be exclusive to their subscription.

There is already enough confusion regarding their online service, adding another layer would be a mistake at least initally I think.

Well, this thread certainly predicted some things.

@GamingBread 😂😂😂