Topic: The Nintendo Switch Online Subscription Service Thread

@FaeKnight

I have 5 profiles on my Switch, including my 3 kids.

@1UP_MARIO
This service has been called "the successor to Virtual Console", so I would like it to be like VC.
If they are choosing to go the "Netflix for games" route and charge a subscription, that's fine, but offer the same type of content we used to get on VC for Wii/Wii U and even 3DS.

As a side-note, I do wonder why Nintendo has chosen to essentially pretend the GCN never happened when really it has some incredibly solid games. It was a majorly underrated system when you really look at the catalog of games it offered.

@KevinLo9 Maybe because the system didn't do very well overall? Yeah it's a good system with some good games. But most people didn't actually have a gamecube. Hell, I didn't get one till 2 years ago, and have only found 4 games I considered worth buying. The 5th game I want, I'm having trouble tracking down a copy of.

I reckon there's more chance of some GameCube remasters coming before they're added to the service. It may be that they will be added in their original form sometime this gen, but if they are they'll be sold individually, not included as part of a $20 per year service. Next gen perhaps they'll be part of it, but not this gen, not a chance! They've got enough NES, SNES and 64 games to keep this service going till the end of the Switch's life. Next gen will likely just be a continuation of this service and by that time the library will be huge. That's when the price of subscription will likely go up with the draw being GameCube and Wii games added regularly to an already huge retro library.

Now that I have given myself to think about this whole thing, I'd say the service is improvable. If Nintendo can use the money to enhance the service as a whole, then why not? However, I'll wait and see how this goes.

@FaeKnight
Fair enough. It didn't sell very many units.
But when you think that it had the following games on it, it's pretty amazing:

• 2 Zelda games (WindWaker & Twilight Princess)
• Mario Sunshine
• Metroid Prime series
• Animal Crossing
• Pikmin
• Eternal Darkness (if you haven't played this gem, pick it up immediately!)
• Smash Bros. Melee (still considered by many to be the best Smash game)
• Mario Kart Double Dash (I never played it, but people still rave about it today)
• Ikaruga
• Viewtiful Joe

Anyway, my point is that its games have never been offered on any VC yet. Hopefully that changes. But I'm not optimistic that it will.

@FaeKnight

You've covered it across two posts there. The reason for criticism is that while they are just about doing the basics, they're doing it all in a 'weird, suboptimal' way i.e. in an inferior way to their competition that does offer better social services, doesn't lock things to a smartphone app, have voice chat, occasionally use dedicated servers, offer really good discounts and allow the user to amass a huge library of game rentals that aren't 25-years-old or more.

I'm not bothered about it being free, I'd have paid a lot more for a lot more. As it is it reeks of Nintendo at their most 'will this do?'.

@NEStalgia

Post 389 pretty much hits every nail on the head.

As someone who's been alternately a 'troll' (Wii U days) and now a 'fanboy' (Switch era) it's amazing to see people manning the barricades over this. Some seem really hurt by the criticism. To me it's a missed opportunity, and will cost them in a similar way to, if not to the same extent as, Iwata and co dismissing Online gaming as a whole did back in 2004.

@KevinLo9

I've given up on Gamecube VC. Their calculations regarding the effort involved clearly don't think balance out against what they perceive to be the market. I reckon there's a few that are ripe for proper HD remakes though. That will appeal to the Big N.

Yeah true. Maybe they want to consign it to the dustbin of history with the Virtual Boy and Wii U. Or Maybe I’m applying too much logic to their actions 😀

Oh hey, looks like if you don't subscribe to another subscription of Nintendo Online before your current subscription ends, you lose all your cloud saves...neat.

@ReaderRagfish they’re keeping it the back pocket along with all 13 virtual boy games.

@Kinoen WHAT?! That’s prepost——wait, that’s been complained about, beaten to death, resurrected, drowned, flogged in the square, and left in the sun already.

@Kinoen But you just reupload your regular saves when you resub? No harm no foul.

@Kinoen the odds that your console breaks between re-subs is a risk you've been taking for almost 2 years

don't over react to how small of an inconvenience this is

@HobbitGamer
That may be, but I didn't know about it before now.

@GrailUK
From what I understand, you lose all the saves (in the cloud). Which means if you don't sub before your sub ends, you lose the saves.

@ValhallaOutcast
I'm not, I'm just adding it as another point against the service.

@Kinoen that's not much ofa negative really. Only Microsoft keeps saves indefinitely, and cloud saves are free on xbox without the sub, so everyone gets them (an extension of ther OneDrive model for free storage with a windows live account, bolstered by pushing OneNote on Surface.)

That part is fair. If you sub again you just upload your saves again. Most cloud providers work like that.

@NEStalgia
Honestly, it's only a plus for Microsoft cause they do it free of charge, but Sony gives you 6 months to re-sub before deleting your cloud saves, Nintendo gives you no time. However, if it works like how you say, that you can re-sub whenever and your saves will still be there, I'll be on the look out for that in the coming time.

Yeah as soon as you resub you can upload your local saves, nothing happens to them when your sub lapses. And I just noticed last night that even i choose to delete software, I have to manually go delete save data.

@subpopz nope in fact, if you’re in the eastern time zone you can’t do anything till after 11pm tomorrow night. EShop work ends then, followed by 6.0.0 update, THEN we can sign up and get our hot mitts on goodies