Topic: The Nintendo Switch Online Subscription Service Thread

The cloud saves aren't just for NES/SNES games, they're for (almost) all games, even those that take up Gigabytes of space.

Hi! Yes; I knew native Switch games also utilise cloud saving with NSO. However, I'm criticising it as a service for removing cloud saves after 180 days, as they're extremely small save files for rom data. There could be greater incentive to re-subscribe NSO if the saves were kept for longer, rather than held at ransom

To back up my statement, I have 245 cloud saves on Steam Cloud - not one of them takes up a gigabyte - and I have a lot of AAA releases (as opposed to NES/SNES roms , not just small titles. 182/245 of those games are KBs - not even MB saves. The biggest are Skyrim 63MB with 27 files. Witcher 3 has 74.7 MB with 67 files, etc. This is also a free service.

@scannerdarkly7 To be fair, if you've not felt the need to re-sub within 180 days I doubt holding onto your NES/SNES save files longer is going to be the thing that changes your mind! Having a longer period would actually make you less likely to subscribe - that's why they keep it relatively short; to force you to either keep a subscription active, or to not let it lapse for more >180 days.

6 months seems like a reasonable amount of time to keep save files for games that are included as part of the subscription that you are no longer paying for. I sure it's the same for PS+ subscribers too, although I have heard of some folk re-subbing to PS+ a few years later and their saves still being there, so their obviously not that strict in implementing it. Xbox don't have cloud saves tied to their paid online service (likely due to the fact you can often cross-save with PC), so they don't "expire".

@scannerdarkly7 Yeah, but your 63MB Skyrim and 74MB Witcher save data is nothing compared NBA 2K's 5000MB save data.

Very surprising, re Xbox. 180 isn't that bad a time frame, it's just that these files are extremely small, of course it doesn't benefit me - it's a smart business decision to keep me paying after all — at least you can probably imagine I'm definitely hesitant to be locked in to services. In all fairness, it was exactly what changed my mind! Just a month's sub to finish ALTTP - but then it's almost as if I'm being pressured into playing nothing but those particular NSO cloud titles for as long as my sub lasts. Perhaps I'm just old fashioned.

One good thing is that you don't have to opt for a full annual sub. I'll drop a lot of my playtime into MH Rise, then drop it for a good while. It's a flexible service. As always, it's great to touch base and see why others do or don't continue to sub to the service.

Wow! I was genuinely surprised looking at my Steam Cloud data - it may be compressed. 5GB for a save file is insane in comparison. Honestly would not have expected to see one so large. Great insight--cheers.

@scannerdarkly7 I actually don't use the online that much personally; a bit of Mario Kart with my brother and his family occasionally and I used to play Rocket League online a fair bit until I got a Series S so don't really play it on Switch anymore, but with 3 Switch users in the house I just get the family sub. Can usually pick it up for <£25 a year if I shop around so it's a no-brainer at that price.

My teenage son probably gets most use out of it as he plays Smash, Splatoon & Pokemon quite a bit and he's more of a 'don't-buy-a-new-game-until-you've-finished-the-last-one' type of player, so plays a lot of the NES/SNES stuff between games too. I've got a backlog that I'm probably never going to finish in my lifetime as well as Game Pass on XBox, so haven't really spent much time with any of the NES/SNES stuff TBH, although there are a few games I'd like to try at some point.

If Nintendo were to introduce a new pricing tier, which included; N64 games + Gameboy/GBA games + Mario 35 + maybe some other content, and it was say £40 a year, would you pay for it?

@MarioBrickLayer I'd probably sub for a month to check out some of the games then drop back down to the 'regular' tier if I'm honest. Most of the games I've played from the N64 era haven't aged that well; I'd be more interested in GB/GBA games. They'd still make more money out of me if they brought back the virtual console though.

@MarioBrickLayer - For comparisons sake, how much is the current NSO plan in £?

@FullMetalWesker It's £17.99 / $19.99 for 12 months.

@MarioBrickLayer - Then probably not. A jump from £18 to £40 would probably translate here as a jump from $30 to $70 which, while still not terribly pricey, is a bit much for just N64, Gameboy and GBA games.
A jump from £18 to, say, £30 (translated here as $30 to $50) on the other hand, wouldn't be too bad.

@MarioBrickLayer For me it is always a question of quality, rather than quantity. I use NSO mostly just to play Rise online, I really don't make much use of any of the other stuff they offer. I have to imagine that if they did anything like what you are suggesting, they'd most likely exclude the most obvious N64/GB(A) titles you could think of, as they'd rather save those for possible rereleases down the road. However, if they included the big hitters as well, then I'd probably consider it. My fondest Nintendo memories are linked to the Gameboy.

Even with the addition of N64 to NSO I have zero interest in re-subscribing.

Having said that, the addition of Sin & Punishment to the service is amazing.

The best rail shmup few people outside of Japan have played.

I was excited until I saw that there were just going to be nine N64 games in the initial offering, followed by another six dribbling out later, and that there was going to be a price hike.

Sure, I'm guessing that the library should expand over time, but that's a fair bit less than I was hoping for. The one bright spot on the horizon was the inclusion of a Rare/Microsoft game. I guess that shows that certain other games might be possible, at least if the stars align in licensing terms.

As for the pricing, I'd think that an extra $10 a year would be about right. At least it's going to be optional for those who aren't interested in the retro offerings. Getting roped into a price rise when all you really want is, say, cloud saves wouldn't be much fun.

Yeah even now, my big concern is that N64 was very lacking on VC, so I don't have much faith they'll turn that around. They have two 3rd party games so far, which is exactly as many as they had the last two times on Wii and Wii U (somehow, never the same games at least).

Yeah, I'd hope that we eventually get a selection of N64 games that's broader than the Wii and Wii U VCs - and if Microsoft are willing to open up the entire Rare back catalogue that's at least possible - but in all likelihood they're just rationing out what's likely to be a very meagre supply.

Also, it's hard to view the Genesis as anything more than a makeweight. If you wanted those games, Sega have put out many different compilations over the years as well as some great individual remakes. I've already got six distinct systems that'll play Ecco the Dolphin. Do I really need another?

@kkslider5552000 It sure isn't promising now either.
Increasing price with only 9 games on day 1... and 6 future games.?

I still own around 75 real N64 carts on my N64, but i prefer to play N64 on NVIDIA Shield TV instead with a real N64 Gamepad + adapter.

Many are requesting certain N64 games, but why not just emulate them? Even a toaster can run N64 games nowadays..
After all, they are only emulated on Switch too.

I mean being able to play those games online is the real big feature they're counting on (also Genesis games as backup when they can't get many N64 games), but it still could use a lot more than they've done in the past. Like there's some I get you can't for various reasons but why not Cruisn, the N64 versions of games Nintendo owns on some level? Why not Rayman 2 or at least the weird, B tier platformers that...quite frankly no one has done anything with since the N64?

Now that Nintendo 64 is coming, i'm hoping to see Super Smash Bros, Pokemon Stadium, and Animal Crossing (N64) for this. would be fun to play Pokemon Stadium and Smash Bros online (including Conker's Bad Fur Day and GoldenEye 007. not holding my breath for Goldeneye though.)

Well it's been a while since I played Majora's Mask and Banjo- Kazooie, so I'll jump in and play those again. Want to play the original Paper Mario as well. Not bad at all.

Curious how they are going to map the buttons for non- 64 controllers. For example, are they just going to map the ocarina controls to A,B,X,Y? The 64 had a really eccentric button layout.