Topic: The Nintendo Switch Online Subscription Service Thread

I assume the people who saw 3DS and refused to add Virtual Boy are the same ones who saw the Wii U Gamepad and never wanted to make a new Pokemon Snap for it. Avoiding easy Ws for fans was the MO of that era of Nintendo, which is why despite any other issues things are better now imo. (this is half-serious, I'm still talking about Virtual Boy after all)

Mr Driller 2 and Klonoa Empire of Dreams is the next batch of NSO releases.

Interesting, Mario & Wario is now available outside Japan for the first time.

Babsy is such a weird choice. Not because its Bubsy but because they JUST put out a collection that includes this game.

@skywake
If you have a modded 3DS, download RedViper Virtual Boy emulator. It plays the entire VB library in glasses-free stereoscopic 3D, and lets you choose to output any color from the full spectrum.

I'm telling you, glasses-free 3D Virtual Boy on 3DS is every bit as incredible as it sounds. Don't get me wrong- I'm gonna get the NSO+ Virtual Boy also and experience them how they were originally presented, but I will always maintain the 3DS is the pinnacle of the Virtual Boy experience.

@kkslider5552000 clearly, people will play it on the NSO app and like it so much they’ll go buy the collection.

I wonder which retro Nintendo console the Nintendo Classics brand will stop at? The Wii? The Wii U? The 3DS? Place your bets.

I think most people are considering the GBA and GCN eras to be a stretch for "retro"

Depends on your age I think. DS came out more than 20 years ago so is older than some of the adults who are on this website. To current kids it must feel super retro.

I've said this before, but I personally think that the final "Nintendo Classics" collection will be either the Wii or maybe the 3DS. If they keep releasing them at the same pace they have been doing, they will all be out by the end of the Switch 2 console generation.

If I was Nintendo, I would honestly take as long as possible to add any newer systems than what they already have. Doesn't make sense, because once you have NSO for a system, barring remakes, that feels like the end of selling those games individually, barring maybe certain remakes. Which considering they're selling the Mario Galaxy games as their most recent release, and it'll probably sell millions of copies soon, yeah, take your time on that. I also don't see the point. N64 still has major first party games missing, GBA just recently got I think its first ever 3rd party releases, Gamecube just started, Virtual Boy hasn't even started, and they're still adding SNES games. If they don't add a new system for a long time, that's just fine.

And even if they do, I'd imagine Turbografx 16 happens first. And in a perfect world, Saturn too.

I'm guessing 4+ years before we see Wii and DS, and it'll be a new price tier.

NSW2 era feels like it'll be GameCube, VirtualBoy and DS. And for NSW3, they'll add Wii and 3DS, which will be the final platforms added to NSO. I feel like anything before the HD era is fair game for being considered retro or a classic console/handheld. Wii U was the birth of the HD era for Nintendo, and nearly every game worth its salt was ported to Switch. So they're not gonna add Wii U for at least another 15-20 years, if ever. Those games hold up, will sell on Switch/Switch 2 for a long time, and after that will be prime candidates for remakes and remasters.

So ya. I expect GC and VB to be the platforms they add games for over the next 2 years. Then I expect DS to be added, and games for that to span 2 years, then for the latter half of the generation I think it'll be a random smattering across all NSO platforms, bouncing from one console to another.

Then, in 2033, when they release NSW3, I think their big NSO reveal will be Wii, with an NSO Wiimote and Nunkchuk, as the system will have reached the 25-year-old mark by then. Afterwards in 2036 I think we'll see 3DS, which will be 25 years old at that point, a perfect threshold for being considered retro (much like GameCube is now roughly 25 years old). In fact, N64 was added when it was around 25 years old too. I suspect that's Nintendo's internal goal.

@Don I think DS and maybe 3DS will be it. I am convinced the Wii and Wii U have no chance because of the size of game files. I suspect a lot of people are going to struggle with the Gamecube library as it grows. Throwing Wii and/or Wii U games on top of that would be adding fuel to the fire.

@JaxonH Dear lord, the words "the Wii will be 25 years old" is horrifying. The years are flying by and I am getting old. 😥

@FishyS I'm currently 18, and I've just understood that most things I like are older than me. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think retro is just whatever I'm nostalgic for. I think it's the Atari era to the N64 era.

@MarkSeteth72 You may be one of the rare few who doesn't define things like that in terms of personal experience. 😆

Regardless, the NSO collection is called 'Classics' not retro. In terms of music, the classics bar has moved up pretty consistently and you now hear early 2000s music on classics stations. I would say 20+ years for music; Jason's theory that Nintendo uses 25 years as the classics threshold for consoles is reasonable.

Has anyone else seen that patent Kouichi Kawamoto just filed?
It looks like Nintendo are exploring how to make DS games work on NSO.

From what it shows, it'll all be handled on one screen so no extra peripherals necessary which is surprising given how they were more than happy to do that with the Virtual Boy of all things.
You never know though, they might try selling us some kind of Nintendo Switch 2 branded stylus.

I (slightly seriously but mostly joking) wonder if Nintendo gating the Virtual Boy app behind the Expansion Pack and an additional accessory of limited regional availability is a ploy to make sure as few people as possible actually interact with one of their greatest failures while still preserving it to some extent.

@BrazillianCara I wouldn't be suprised if there was truth in that.
It's certainly an easier pill to swallow than if they pulled this for DS.
If a plastic shell with a couple of lenses goes for $100, god knows what a second screen attatchment would be.

That might be part of it, but I think its mostly just that its an extremely niche product and people who care about it will pay more for it because its better than trying to pay for the actual product online. And also that they didn't want to put it in the work to make it work without its own specific 3D gimmick. (which makes sense, because I'm still certain NSO classics are handled by an incredibly small team for what it is)