Soapbox: We Like To Grumble, But Nintendo Switch Online Is Actually A Very Generous Offer

We like to GRUMBLE, GRUMBLE. Give us some meat, and we'll disappear!

Provide an adequate and robust service and people might just stop grumbling.

People wanted a Netflix, expanding style of classic games for years, complaining they had to rebuy individual titles.

Now they got what they want, and want to go back.

Why?

The online service really has turned out to be better than expected, I feel. Of course there are legitimate issues like cloud saves and voice chat, but (hopefully) they can be resolved with time as the service expands.

The main issue is that Nintendo has presented it in the least exciting ways possible. For example, if we actually knew what kind of special offers we'd get by now, then we might be more content with the subscripiton. Likewise, I believe that if we had gotten SNES games as well as NES titles at launch, this service would have been much better received.

Regardless, for what we're paying, we're getting a pretty great deal!

I think it's just okay in it's current state, give us SNES games and it would be another story

The smart phone app is ridiculous and wildly out out of date. I tried each of the NES games for about a minute a piece (because really, that’s all I could muster) and promptly deleted it. Nostalgia be damned. Otherwise, I have no real problems with what they have to offer. The no Splatoon cloud saves thing hurts though. Still, Nintendo does seem intentionally out of touch with the current times. Wish they’d get their act together. I have no anger or disappointment in their offer, more of just a sigh, in recognition of its more of Nintendo being Nintendo. Yet again.

No, i'm still going to grumble. Unless you put a value on NES games, which i don't, it's worthless. I'm just not going to add a further £37 to the many other subscriptions i have.... oh and did I grumble about still using peer2peer net code? Yes, yes I did!

Complaining force Nintendo to improve the offers and service. So don’t quit complaining my friends. Personally I’m not unhappy with the service, but there is a lot of room for improvements. Adding other platforms (SNES etc) is a valid demand and we most push Nintendo towards it.

I mean overall i'm disappointed because of what we already said. Almost no one cares about NES games, we want an integrated voice chat, better servers. Cloud saves are mostly good since it's only few games that dont have it but that's it. And that's 3/5 points. I'm not saying it's 100% bad i'm just a bit disappointed. I'm positive things are going to improve tho.

Just like your thoughts on “improving” Splatoon 2 by copying Fortnite, this is embarrassing

Come on, ps4 and xbox game offers are about 100$ month, we have... nes games... The amount offered as free games, are around 1k year for 50$. The nintendo offers ... NES games. Please don't even compare the service. Personally I think it's unjustified value, but it's on the article, we knew that would be paid...
But they also promise a Online service, and I expected an online service, not a server to play the games we already paid and games with 30years... and a temporary backup for a few games.

"Free games" There is a big difference between the type of free games on PSN plus monthly and old nes games.

I'm not complaining. Got a family subscription with 7 other friends, it's VERY cheap. I'd pay this much just for cloud saves alone. But of course I want more. This NES library has a lot of potential to be amazing. Hopefully it doesn't take more than a year to add other consoles.

If we didn't grumble then companies would step on consumers and no one would bat an eye. It is important to support businesses when they provide quality products and services. But when anti-consumer agendas are being fulfilled (online paywalls and cloud saves) for services that not everyone wants (discounts and "free" games) it would be a disservice to not speak out. Minor grievances can turn into bigger problems and no one wants that.

Ps+ is very generous too. They offer a monthly worth of free games around €100 to €200. A yearly worth of around €1500.

It is a great offer. We have three Switches in our household so for $35 we each get 20+ NES games we can all play (well two of us at a time can play) together... and in 12 months that'll be closer to 50 or 60 NES games, plus eventually SNES. Plus, backing up the 150+ hours I have in BotW is easily worth $35 to me (not to mention Mario Odyssey, Hollow Knight, Stardew Valley, etc.).

$20 bucks for an entire year. $60 for the competition. No contest.

Backing up 180 hours of Zelda BOTW last night to cloud... PRICELESS.

Best article title & header evaaaar!

Maybe... just maybe some of us wouldn't mind paying a bit more for a better service. It's not always about being cheap you know.

Personally, $20 to play Splatoon 2 online is worth it, especially the discounted price compared to $60 for Microsoft and Sony's services. Everything else is icing on the cake, icing that I don't really care about one way or the other.

I don't fully get about the cloud saves.
If I don't pay a membership to Nintendo Online, I will still have all my save files from the games I've been playing, plus the games I still have to play?
Or I need a membership just to save any game?

Dont get me wrong I would of done things differently, like making it clear That more apps would be joining NES Online later and date GameBoy online for early 2019 and tease an SNES pad for later. Obviously have chat though the console. I like the concept of the app handling parties, game invites, and some smartglass/companion app stuff (like splatnet)

But on the hole I'm currently fine with the current offer. Im not excited to be paying for it but I'm not excited about paying for Xbox live and I've been doing that for an decade now.

On an personal note I've spent more time playing NES titles today than I have on the Wii, Wii U, and 3DS whilst costing me an tiny fraction of the cost. (Which is nothing compared to the amounts btof time I've spent with SNES VC)

I dunno, the app is really off the mark by more than just a few degrees.

The fact that there are games on Switch that do not support cloud save, that cloud-save just fine other platforms is embarrassing to say the least.

It's also worth noting that plenty of Nintendo's online offerings, like to my knowledge Splatoon 2, actualy still rely on P2P hosting, thus raising the question what they are actually charging for.

Also, is anyone saying that $60 for two single-purpose NES controllers is really all that reaonsable?

Which brings us to one of the big features, the NES games. I'm probably not fanboy enough, but these games are roughly three decades old and that dampens my interest in them significantly.

Also, we know for a fact, that Nintendo has much, much, much more to offer. They just decided to withhold that, to cash in on it at a later date.

The worst part, from my perspective though, is that there seems to be a sentiment that this just the start, that Nintendo will listen to complaints and take them into account and improve the service accordingly in the future. This is not out of the question of course, but I dare say that it the next best thing to out of the question, extremely unlikely. That is what bothers me. This is what we got and this is what will in all likelihood be stuck with for the forseeable future.

I just hope I never have any reason to regret that Nintendo felt Dead Cells savegames were not eligible for online back-up on the Switch ... =(

"Up to this point, Nintendo has resisted offering a premium online service"

They still don't offer one.

"The best part is, it doesn't really offer anything less."

Unfortunately, it does offer much less.
Apart from the added games' value (which would justify the price difference in itself), as far as I know, Nintendo didn't set up a dedicated server park so online experience will not be any different from the ones on Wii or Wii U or 3DS. It's still peer to peer.

What I don't understand is, why exactly they are charging money for online gaming.
I can't seem to come up with a better answer than "the others do that as well"...

"Quit your complaining" Lol wow. We have every right to complain. The service is barebones and hardly worth it. If you like it, good. But some of us want more from our online service. I speak with my wallet and won't stand for crappy business practices.

I haven't been one to grumble because I understand from a technical stand point online gaming costs a company money, and Nintendo couldn't go for ever without recouping the cost.

I do have a issues with something in the article "the service that provides access to premium online gaming".

Tell me how it is premium online gaming? It is basic online gaming. PSN and Xbox Live are premium online gaming with dedicated servers, matchmaking, integrated messaging, integrated chat, integrated party chat, etc.. Nintendo Online is no where near premium online gaming.

I'm fine with $20 for basic online gaming and I am fine paying $60 for premium online gaming.

It could get better sure, but as of now it really isn't anything special. NES games aren't a good value (to me at least), and the phone app needs some major work to actually be worth using.

Not worth $20 just to play Splatoon and Smash online.

If I want to play Monster Hunter Ultimate Generations online, I have to get this online service?

I missed this part the first time I read the article. "At $20, it's a whopping two thirds cheaper than PS+ and Xbox Live Gold at $60. The best part is, it doesn't really offer anything less."

It doesn't really offer anything less? This leads me to believe the author of the article has never used PSN or Xbox Live, as they no doubt offer much much more.

@luxoricious You can still save any game's save data to your physical Switch system without the online subscription. If your Switch is lost or damaged, though, (or if power is interrupted while you're saving) you'll lose your save data for good. It's been this way for everyone since the Switch launched and you can continue doing it this way for free.

With Nintendo Switch Online most of your current games (and future games) save data can be uploaded to Nintendo's servers (realistically it's probably Amazon's servers but anyway) to keep it safe just in case the save data on your Switch is lost. You can pull it back down from their servers to your Switch whenever you need it.

It’s garbage. But you get what you pay for. Now you have to pay 20$ to play Splatoon which we’ve been able to play online since near launch for free. Ok woopty doo. Would it have killed them to allow you to play NES games with random people not on your friends list? Yes, I went ahead and bought the year but I also regretted it about 3 minutes after launching the app. Hopefully they will beef it up with better games than a handful of terrible NES games and a few great NES games that everyone has played a billion times.

Didn’t you guys just have an article yesterday about why you’re not excited about the online?

@DTMOF84 Count / Pointercount

@Knuckles-Fajita Are you being serious? Honestly now ... Where do you get the gall to compare Netflix to a service that offers access to 20 ancient, 30 year old games - which are not actually streamed btw, not that this was your point, I gather.

People would be, myself for sure, ecstatic, if it were the "Netflix of Nintendo". If Netflix had started with 20 items from the last century and not much else, it would no longer be around. One of the reason someone might be grumbling is then because it is exactly not Netflix.

If this were a solid collection of Nintendo classics spanning a few generation (it does not have to be 100% exhaustive of course), most folks would be very all over it.

Say it with me:
De-di-ca-ted ser-vers.
Nintendo's always taking things too slow instead of putting their best foot forward.

Bad take

@Knuckles-Fajita First and foremost, many of us never wanted Netflix style services, but we weren't sure exactly what Nintendo was going to do. Now we are: we don't like it. As for the people who kept asking for it, they now have what they want. Why would they come on the internet to complain about it. They wouldn't.

I never wanted to "rent" games on the Switch, it just spits in the face of what the Switch is to me. Furthermore, the whole money argument is ridiculous. I have only a handful of NES games I'd ever want to purchase, mostly because they are beloved classics. They are no more than 10 games in that category. That's a theoretical $50 I'm out. In only three years, Nintendo Switch Online will come out to more than that cost, and I'm not even guaranteed to get all 10 games I want. Then, what happens when the service ends? Oh, you just invested tons of money into these rental games that you no longer have any access to. But me, I still have my 10 beloved games on my Switch. I always will.

*I also understand that with the family plan, you can get the service for just $5 a year. Great! Still doesn't change the perpetual, yearly price tag for games that won't last past the service, and may not even included the games you want.

I've paid for an individual yearly membership but want to change to a family one. Anyone know if this is possible?

No matter how hard you try to justify it, it’s not worth it. We’re still dealing with P2P multiplayer and there are no dedicated servers to justify $20 a year per player. No decent bonuses available (NES games are a bad joke at this point), no better offers than what we already have in MyNintendo by using Gold or Platinum Points, no Cloud Save support for the most critical cases such as Pokemon and Splatoon.

“Generous” sounds like a nice way to spell “better than nothing”.

So basically don't complain because it's cheaper? That's it? That's the only argument you got?

OK. Say I launched my own streaming service to compete with Netflix and the like. But there's no original programming. The content isn't as good as what Netflix offers. How much content is available is also less. BUT it's only £2 a month. How can you complain, it's so cheap! It's a "generous offer" compared to the competition.

The complaints I and others are making are perfectly valid. When Sony made Plus required for online on PS4, it had already been around for years. Plus had already become a much improved service, for example the addition of Vita games. So I already had a Plus subscription even before the PS4 was announced because it was worth the price. Nintendo on the other hand has to start from scratch. A year from now there will be more than 20 NES games. Maybe SNES games will be available. That's great but why should I subscribe now? If Nintendo doesn't want to share what the "Special Offers" are even though it's categorised as one of the five key parts of the service, why should I buy a subscription?

This service has its problems and has promise to be great. But until Nintendo addresses those I won't be paying.

Yo... Nes has online controllers are now available to order.... GO GO GO

it's great!

If they knew what they were doing, they would have launched an E ticket game to go with paid online. Or at least a big Mario Kart expansion to soften the blow of making people pay for something that used to be free. Mario Kart should have been trending on Twitter yesterday!

I'm not going to say that $20 a year is not cheap. That amounts, at most, to me working an extra 10 minutes a month. What I'm against is the service itself.

1. Nintendo is not giving dedicated servers. So, ultimately, why the price tag? Literally, what is online costing them if they don't even have the servers?

2. I don't want to rent games on my Switch. I want to buy them, because rental conflicts with the fantasy of the Switch. I'm not OPPOSED to a rental service if I also have the ability to buy the games that mean the most to me. It would be a great way to expose me to more games. But until Nintendo gives us a proper virtual console on Switch, I don't want to support the online. I simply don't want them to think that I'm content with ONLY a rental service.

3. Cloud saves aren't a huge thing to me, but I hear other consoles allow it for free, so the $20 just seems like a cash grab. Especially when the BIG game that is causing people to purchase online, Splatoon 2, is not supported.

Is it cheap? Yes. But in my opinion, it is the equivalent to saying "Well, you can buy a cake from Microsoft for $60, which is expensive, or you can buy permission to eat a cake from us for $20, which is so much cheaper. BTW, you need to supply your own cake. But we'll also give you some neat 50 cent decorations with it!"

Nah, I'm still gonna grumble. Just because the competition is more expensive does not make Nintendo's offer expensive for what you get.

Reggie said in 2017 that they were looking into dedicated servers and investment was needed for that.

I'd forgotten where it was from, but Spawnwave tweeted about it:
"The reality is, the way that online experiences have progressed, it's an expensive proposition," Fils-Aime said. The amount of servers we need to support Smash Brothers or Mario Kart - these big multiplayer games - is not a small investment."

So, that's what I thought should be coming. I mean, I don't play online, but am paying for cloud saves and would have liked to see servers developed alongside to help modernise Nintendo's infrastructure, That's the main reason I see the whole online as disappointing. I can give them time, but they've had 18 months already... He could have meant just improving the matching-making servers, I guess. As much as I appreciate Nintendo for their games, I can't wholeheartedly support this when to me it feels less than, perhaps not exactly what was promised, but what was implied.

I want the cloud saves so I have to pay and it is cheap and yes that makes a difference. Can't shake the disappointment, though.

My thing is, I pay $60 for PlayStation Plus every year, which I already consider to be too much to play games online. If Nintendo adds party chat, messaging, trophies, etc., they might charge more because we're getting more. As someone who owns multiple consoles and usually plays his Switch games online with friends while in our Discord server, the service we're getting with Switch Online is fine. It really is hard to complain about $20 a year when I'm getting free games and cloud saves.

lol no buddy, i dont pay for crappy P2P connection. get off your high horse

Provide proper in-game voice chat, allow us to setup parties so we can easily get into games together, you know stuff that other online services offer, then I might stop grumbling.

If you're going to force paid online gaming, then you need a robust online experience.
In game chat is already possible in Fortnite, although it's not the best it's a lot better than having to use a phone app. If I wanted to use my phone for voice chat is just use Skype or Discord

Online multiplayer that won't improve, modified NES games that are still just NES games, cloud saves for only CERTAIN games, a smartphone app that is completely irrelevant with discord, and exclusive deals that will probably just be exclusive to Indie games like always. And, "But it's only $20 so stop complaining", is your excuse for it. Impeccable logic.

Good article. I like what you're saying and it all makes sense. I think with the phone app people grumble about, that means you can play and chat for longer too by using your phone's battery and internet connection rather than making the switch use more battery by running a whole other app on its little system, whilst playing a 30/60fps game, all whilst being online. Bottom line, I'm super happy and all grumblers should Shhhhhh and enjoy the fact we've got such an epic creation in our hands.

Most gamers complaining about this weren't gaming during the Xbox Original days. You paid $50/year or $35/3 months and all you could do was text each other and play games (some games had voice chat but not all). Considering this is a launch of online services, you have to expect it to suck at first. This is trial and error time!

@8-Bit_Superman Ya know, I thought that for a long while too. But in the last week, I've really been looking at the writing on the wall... and it's not good. Nintendo have been very explicit in saying that this is JUST NES games. They keep saying "We have nothing to announce at this time." Of course, they would have to be daft to not give us access to such games on the Switch in some way, at some point, but... I honestly don't know if it will be in this service. The only evidence I have to back up that it might come to this service is when Reggie said a few months ago that NSO was the replacement to virtual console, and yet Nintendo has refused to repeat that sentiment since, suggesting to me that Reggie misspoke. Regardless, I just want a virtual console where I can permanently own my favorite games on my favorite device.

@DTMOF84 That was just one Dull Negative Journalist..

@tobibra

We're paying 1/3rd the price of the competition and still getting cloud saves and free games. $20 a year for that is NOT expensive. Maybe you don't find it all that exciting, but it isn't expensive. The biggest kicker here though is that Nintendo offers a family plan for their online service, something I desperately wish PlayStation had for my girlfriend and I.

I can certainly see why there is grumbling. Cloud saves are the only way to transfer data to a new system if one goes down. Online has been free for many years until the latest consoles landed, and all the free games aren't free; they're rentals. What if you want to own them?

@Spudworthy You get cloud saves for free on Xbox and not just for certain games.
Yeah it might be "cheap" but at the end of the day it's still something that was free before and they haven't made the online experience any more robust.

Most ignorant bias article with false information I ever seen in this site to the point that is not not even funny even for a site that I know it's for Nintendo fans, PS4 has more than this
Online multiplayer (not required for free games)
Cloud saves
Exclusive deals
Monthly free games
It also has Party Chat and Smartphone app and fully fledged online features and achievements

@Jasspur

• We've known that we'd eventually have to pay to play online since the Switch's release.
• PlayStation and Xbox free games are only rentals as well.
• $20 a year is much cheaper than the competition, if you want a more robust online experience don't complain when Nintendo charges the same as the other guys for it.

For everyone saying it's a good service - are you even reading the posts that disagree? I mean, sure, some of them will just be angry trolls or something, cause it's the internet. But people keep pointing out that THERE ARE NO SERVERS YOU'RE PAYING FOR. You're literally paying Nintendo for nothing!

And look, it's cool if you don't mind. Really, that's great for you. But that doesn't take away from the people who do have serious issues. Just read the comments, for crying out loud! Again, it's totally cool if you like the service. But please stop telling us we have to like it too. We have made very clear why we don't, if you would just read what we say...

And I'll say it one more time... I just want the ability to own my favorite virtual console classics. I will probably even buy the service just for the ability to try out the other games I've never played, because that isn't a bad idea. But it will never make me not want to own my favorite games on my favorite home-portable hybrid device. I simply won't buy until Nintendo announces real virtual console. Surely you can understand that?

I'm going to get my money's worth with the NES games. I would have bought enough to cover a quite few years of online play.

Also to go with the online, I am very annoyed with no way to message friends. That's how I set up online matches on all other game devices the wii-u included. Makes no sense to not have it.

I still haven't tried out the voice chat. I'm going to try and use a Bluetooth speaker with a microphone. That sounds a lot nice than having to wear a headset

@Hughesy

Yet I almost feel like I HAVE to pay for Xbox Live to get the best experience out of my Xbox One. Nintendo has never made online a focal point before and so I don't feel like I'm missing that much if I don't subscribe.

@bakerboy0017

Where are the dedicated servers in every Xbox or PlayStation game? That's right, there aren't. You're asking Nintendo to give you dedicated servers for their online games for $20 a year when Uncharted 4 STILL has p2p, and I pay $60 a year to play that online.

Do the cloud saves only exist in the cloud or are they a back up to what’s on your switch? If it’s the later then I don’t care if they disappear if I don’t renew my subscription in time, i’ll Just reupload them once I’ve renewed.

It just amazes me that people can't put what's on offer here with the price. They want more features, but won't say that they're willing to pay double, or even triple for them. You get what you pay for, and $20 for these features when compared to the competition seems reasonable.

@8-Bit_Superman Oh, and I totally get you. There are plenty of people sick of buying the same games. I really LIKE that Nintendo is giving you another option, especially one you seem to like. I don't HATE the idea of a rental service, and would probably subscribe if I also had the option to buy virtual console. That's my problem: why can't they do both? Why can't they give us a virtual console, where we can permanently buy, and the rental service where we can try for the yearly fee?

I really do appreciate people who don't want to buy again: I get it. But I do want to buy again, because the Switch, to me, is the ultimate gaming device. I LOVE the idea of owning my favorite classics on it. So why can't Nintendo do both? I highly doubt it would be much trouble, and much money. I imagine they would actually still make money off of it. The system could be set up like "Hey, you can join Online for $20 a year and try lots of our classic games. And if you really like a game, go ahead and purchase it to play completely unrestricted, anytime, anywhere!"

-Online play that doesn't even have dedicated servers.
-NES games with awful input lag online and can burn the screen.
-You don't actually own the NES games, btw.
-Cloud saves... except for games that could benefit it from them most.

And It does offer less. Xbox and PS offer games that aren't 20-30 years old, and Xbox lets you keep the last gen games. They also provide discounts for the shop as well, which could be Nintendo's special offer, but don't even know THAT yet.

I feel like the person writing this article haven't even extensively used the services he compares Nintendo online to.

@Spudworthy @Knuckles-Fajita The problem is it currently isn't as robust as the VC originally was. That's the great big issue aside the obvious problem of losing your cloud saves once the sub is gonzo.

Not to mention them digging their heels in the Phone App as the conduit for voice chat despite people's universal hate of it is just Nintendo showing arrogance. Most people want a proper mic or the ability to VC through the internet via their headsets. That's how XBOX and PS+ players do it.

@Seacliff Name all of the PlayStation/Xbox first party games that use dedicated servers, please. Halo and Forza are the only ones I can think of, and those are basically made to be played online most of the time.

Also, you aren't taking the price difference into account. They offer less because you pay less. Why can't people understand this?

"Quit complaining" well if NSO gets even better thanks to the backlash, will you complain ? I don't think so...

@Spudworthy Well, if the other services don't offer dedicated serves, then that does indeed suck. That's less my issue, and more of many other peoples that I constantly see ignored. So thank you for actually addressing it!

I don't think $20 a year is bad. I just want Nintendo to know that I'm not okay with virtual console being gone. I don't like a subscription based game service for their classics, simply because I love some of those games so much. I have said it before, and I'll say it again: bring virtual console back, and I will probably buy the online subscription service for the chance to try out new games I've never played. But I don't want them to think that I'm completely fine with only a subscription service. That's why I'm holding off. I just don't see why they can't do both... that's what I really want.

@bakerboy0017

I'd love for virtual console to be back as well, but as someone who owns a PlayStation and Switch, I can't really complain about Nintendo when PlayStation insists on that mediocre PlayStation Now service. A service you have to pay for separately.

Is there anyway I can voice chat with friends and still hear the game audio or is that not possible on the Switch?

For all the people complaining about p2p, may I suggest you read this technical explanation from reddit of the comparison between p2p vs dedicated servers? It's the best I've seen and easy to understand
https://www.reddit.com/r/splatoon/comments/9gmn8s/am_i_missing_something_unintendo_america/e6610bm

Nintendo had a full decade to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors and they applied almost none of it. Paying for the "privilege" to use P2P servers is a joke in itself. It's a great value for those who want NES games, that's about it.

All I'm saying is I'll be mad if Nintendo adds a bunch of features and then charges me more for it when I'm already being overcharged for PlayStation Plus.

People complaining about P2P must have bad to mediocre Wi-Fi. I rarely ever see a connection error on Mario Kart and never on Splatoon. It's even more ignorant because the people begging for dedicated servers act like PlayStation and Xbox have them for every game, lol

@construx The problem is they don't need any other reason to lock online play behind their subscription BECAUSE people will pay for it anyway. Most people don't want to linger on the feeling that they're getting ripped off so they'll find any justification to be apathetic to things that technically don't hurt them in the short term and maybe in the long run. I personally find it very dangerous that people are so willing to bend to anti-consumer trends like this just because "it could be worse".

Maybe I’m just getting older now, or maybe I’m just gaining interest in other things, but I’m really starting to lose interest in gaming overall. This service now locking me out of the one thing I ever really played recently (Splatoon 2 online) isn’t helping. Single player games just don’t hold my attention anymore. Maybe Smash will reignite my interest. Until then I’m focusing on other things.

@Spudworthy Locate where I said PS and Xbox used dedicated servers, then we can talk.

@TromboneGamer

Paying to play online is nothing new, though. If it's really so anti-consumer, call out PlayStation and Xbox as well, and then get a gaming PC so you don't have to worry about it anymore.

Oh get the eff outta here. It was free and now it's not. On the most basic level online play has been taken away and hidden behind a paywall. Once you get past that as admittedly it's a petty gripe the online hasn't improved any, voice chat is still laughably bad, and the only value we get is free NES games we have all probably played to death already.

20 dollars is a small price to pay but you get what you pay for. The same crappy p2p internet, the same voice chat app garbage on a console that can support voice chat on the system, still using friend codes, and cloud saves which go away on expiration.

It may be cheap but it is barely worth the price of admission

@Seacliff

Then why single Nintendo out?

Bravo, Nintendolife. Keep on damage controlling.

Any surprised by NL's response here? Keep in mind how they review games and the 8's and 9's they hand out like candy.

Sorry but we're going to keep complaining because we have the right to.
The online service is barebones compared to its competition. Unlike playstation or xbox they actually offer cloud saves for every game and dedicated servers, not the p2p crap we're struck with. And those free games are actually worth more than just a bunch of a old NES games.

Quit damage controlling.

«Monthly free games».

Games are not free if you only have access to them as long as you pay. I’ve never heard anyone talk about a free movie or free song when talking about subscriptions to Netflix and Spotify.

Can I correct a few errors here.

1) "The idea of charging for a gaming console's online component is not a new one. In fact, we can trace its lineage all the way back to the PS3 and Xbox 360, both of which offered similar packages."

You can trace it back to the original XBox, and PS3 was free to play online. PSN+ on PS3 is a bonus for monthly games, cloud saves and exclusive deals.

2) Online: PS4 and XBox One offer dedicated servers. They also have a much larger library of online games. A huge range, actually, from co-op to competitive. From Destiny, to Battlefield, to Borderlands, etc.

3) Cloud Saves: PSN+ and XBLG offer cloud saves for all games, for the current AND last gen consoles. Switch only offers Cloud for some current gen games. And Xbox One cloud saves are free.

4) Free Games: Switch has 3 NES games per month. PSN+ and XBLG offers 2-10 (yes I received 10 psn games this month) and 4 modern games respectively.

5) Party Chat: PSN and XBL have built in cross game and in game chat.

6) Exclusive Deals: PSN and XBL offer extra discounts on top of already discounted games, for all sales. Nintendo Online offers Splatoon 2 skins and the chance to buy NES joy-cons?

I don't expect it to have the exact same offers for a lower price. I think people are complaining because it failed to deliver anything more than the free version had, and because it failed to include basics.

Service seems ok so far. Nothing special. Played a few NES classics and a couple Splatoon 2 online battles. Everything worked smoothly. Really hoping the offer something besides NES games. Would love some GBA games like Pokémon & SNES games. I mean, my PS+ sub gives me a couple $60 games monthly, think Nintendo can do better than just NES games. For the price of my family plan though, I’m happy with what I’m getting...so far.

@iLikeUrAttitude

They don't offer dedicated servers for every game. I own a PlayStation and can't think of a single PlayStation exclusive that has dedicated servers, and only a handful of third party games that have them. This is a big point of contention here and I question whether a lot of you guys have even played a PlayStation or Xbox game online.

I have my complaints. But at the end of the day, the last 24 hours has brought

*** Cloud backups for 99.95% of my games
*** nifty NES app that's super seamless
*** voice chat for more than just Splatoon
*** deactivating console from website
*** sharing games across 2 consoles, even at same time using offline on primary or alternate account on primary

So ya. I have my gripes. Most definitely. But I feel major steps have been taken, and that's awesome. There's a place for legit criticisms, and we've done that extensively, even me, but it's also important to step back and appreciate what we have now, that we didn't have this time yesterday morning

@Varubajia except I don’t work for Nintendo 😅 this is an unofficial fan site!

@GKO900 as I mentioned in another post this is at best 4/10 but Nintendolife will give it 9/10 and this article is the start to justifying that.

@JaxonH Thank you. I'm actually really disappointed with the Nintendo Life community, I left IGN and came here to get away from the negativity but apparently Nintendo charging you 1/3rd the price of the competition for slightly inferior service compared to the competition is so unreasonable. Glad to see there are level-headed people like you here.

@teixeiras "are about 100$ a month"... when they were brand new. I actually got PS+ for a bit on my PS4 for a few of months after buying Monster Hunter World.

But I beat World's core story(up to Xeno Jiiva) in a single month and then realized... the wasn't much reasons I had to keep playing.

Most of the free games in that period? Stuff like Rayman Legend and Absolver. Or XCOM2... where some of the more interesting content was still behind DLCs I would otherwise have been forced to buy to enjoy anyway.

A lot of these games I could have eventually bought used for super cheap if i wanted to.

Meanwhile i HAD to keep the subscription busy in case the NEXT month would have had a game piquing my interest a little because if i missed that month i wouldn't have been able to play that game later

The criticism about a lack of "back catalog" is perfectly valid when someone hasn't been using PS+ long enough to amass a library of "free" game that would be worth having.

And I didn't wait that long because ultimately that's a "maybe" I didn't want to waste money on if I was to get more disappointing months like those I already had.

Meanwhile yes the currently selection on Switch online is only NES games.
But i could cancel my susbscription anytime and STILL access all the games that would have been released since the day I'd decide to resume it.

It's not a "this month miiiiight have an interesting game... if you're still subscribed" deal. It is a Netflix like catalog that will only get larger as time goes on without penalizing late adopters either because they'll get the whole package the day they suscribe(even if just for the free 7 days) because it's a growing catalog deal rather than a fixed "game of the month and your loss if you weren't subscribed to get it , loser".

It might be small and "meh" for now, but what I see of the NES Online library is much more fair and less manipulative than playstation's "you have to keep subscribing to know what you're getting next month!" deal... which is frankly why I immediately cancelled it rather than syncing to the yearlong subscription once I'd realize I wouldn't be playing more MHW online on PS4.

@Spudworthy Because this is a comment section, not a blog.
I'm not going to make a full easy going over the pros and cons of all the services in a location barely anyone is going to read it.

The App should be dropped and its functionality bundled in the Switch OS and NESflix does leaves a taste of 'I want more' in your mouth but the whining 24/7 is making me lose it. Seriously, it looks like a toddler invasion.

I can't understand I have one switch with three IDs. What subscription do I need for three accounts in one switch?

@Spudworthy I'm not singling Nintendo out. I've blasted Xbox for it from the very start and Playstation when they decided it was okay. I have a gaming PC and enjoy playing my games with all their features at no extra cost. I also had a PS4 and Switch, but gave them up because I had other priorities. I plan to pick them up again sometime soon though. It is good to look at things in a positive light, but I feel like many people who support services like this don't look at things critically enough.

@Steadydiet yes

@geordie amen brother. Whoever wrote this article is entitled to their opinion, but the statement bolt as it is, also comes of as pure stupidity. Comparing it to PS and Xbox doesn't mean ****. You have to compare this to What we had and what we are given. What value do we get from this service that we didn't have before? The nes games are a massive joke, becuase we have purchased them a million times already, only this time we don't actually own them. The app is a total mess that should have been integrated in the switch itself from the beginning. This article for me, just shows that Nintendolife is only trying to soothe the angry fanboys that roams this website. Nintendolife: if this is your take on the nintendo online and you feel you have to make excuses for Nintendo on this topic. This is the final nail that shows me personally, that you have become utterly obsolete. Shame!!

@Spudworthy
Like I said, there's things I'm dissatisfied with. The couple games excluded from cloud saves (although NBA 2K and Dead Cells DO have backups contrary to initial reports), and I would love party chat across the board.

But it's time to dial it back. Grievances have been made, and that's fine. But let's not lose perspective here either. There's a lot of good that's come in the last 24 hours, and I'm just relieved my game saves are secure.

No more worrying. And if I lose my Switch, I now dont need to call Nintendo either. Deactivate on website, download saves on new system... done and done.

I'm glad people made a fuss so Nintendo perhaps took notice of the areas lacking, but at the end of the day, it's time to dial all that back and start appreciating what we do have now. Gotta look at both sides of the coin, not just one.

@Yorumi and you, sir, didn’t factor in the cost of a gaming PC. If you had to pay any more to play online, you’d bankrupt yourself.

To play Fortnite on Switch you need: internet, $300ish Switch, and at most $20 for NSO. That’s around $350. Totally different market to PC.

Back up my 400+ hour Splatoon 2 progress and I’ll stop.

Otherwise this is a sup par service I’m paying $20 for the privilege of playing Splatoon. As I couldn’t care less about NES games.

@FoxyGlen Great article, especially as counterprogramming to yesterday's article. I'm in the disappointed camp myself but you make a lot of excellent points. For me the whole thing is just...meh. Cloud saves should've been standard fare since the Wii U days so paying for them doesn't excite me. I'm not a big online gamer either so I can't play Rocket League anymore but that's it. Back to Steam for that one I suppose. And as many others have suggested, the NES Online games is a very weak offering when compared to Sony and Microsoft. Again, meh.

Please GUYS.

No profanity, no personal attacks.

Try to act like you care.

@FoxyGlen Fortnite online play is still free on Nintendo Switch. NSO isn’t necessary.

@Lord thanks

It’s generous to charge for PvP servers that used to be free instead of at least using the money to maintain dedicated servers?

You know why I don't mind paying for PlayStation online? Because I'm getting game after game, every month, good ones, with that subscription.

We'll see how Nintendo performs with this.

Wow so what we are saying is:
Online package=
Cloud saves 3/5 (great to have but not available on the games that count)
Voice chat 1/5. (Might as well stand in the yard with two yogurt pots and a piece of string)
Nes games 2/5 (Mostly unwanted addition)
Online play 2/5 (no change still player to player)
Total score 8/20 (4/10) or a Nintendo life review score of 9/10

@Kimyonaakuma It's okay for it to be okay. The service will evolve over time. Maybe someday it will be great.

The most frustrating part of reading this comments section is that the people raging clearly didn’t read past the headline, where I justified my viewpoint - which I maintain is rock solid.

People just love to complain, and I’m not going to wallow in their misery. I offered an alternate perspective because I understand what it means to run a business and am genuinely impressed with what Nintendo’s offered versus Xbox Live Gold and PS+ - and I’ve used both regularly for as long as they’ve been going.

So say what you want - get angry, give yourselves aneurisms. I don’t really care to be honest. I’ll be over there enjoying my super cheap new online service and all of those NES games. Life’s just much sweeter when you’re not entitled or angry.

Can we stop referring to monthly giveaways as “free games”, pretty please?
If they come with a subscription I’m paying for, they’re by definition not free.

@FoxyGlen Up until maybe a year or so ago you could build a very competent PC at the $300-500 mark. GPUs are more expensive due to cryptomining which hurts the prospect of building for a lot of people though I'm pretty sure bargain hunting can still get you good parts at a reasonable price. Of course Enthusiast level components are premium priced. Point being the the cost of Gaming PCs is sometimes a valid point, but in recent times not as much so.

LOL!... I love how everything on Nintendo only makes sense if you basically have nothing else.

Nintendo is asking everyone who already has PS+ (and can play 99% of online games worth playing with voice) to pay 30% more a year for basically cloud saves

@niner I appreciate your extremely valid viewpoint! At the end of the day, what Nintendo’s offering doesn’t work for you personally and you recognise that and won’t sign up.

I’d also like to say a huge thank you for being so balanced in your response. It’s really nice to see such a shining beacon of hope amongst the venom this community regularly throws at us.

@bakerboy0017 With this logic, it would be assuming that you will only receive NES games for the next three years. I am imagining that you should be receiving more than just this. I’m certainly not saying this is perfect, but I’m willing to let them work it out for $20 per year.

I paid 19$ for a bunch of games I will never play and thats all she wrote.

Cloud save? I'm starting to get the feeling I'm gonna throw my switch in the garbage in a year or two so lets move on.

@FoxyGlen I do think that some commenters are unreasonably angry, but there are also commenters like me who want to encourage critical thinking and alternate viewpoints..

@FoxyGlen Yeah because not allowing local save backups and forcing you to pay for cloud saves that doesn't even work with all games it's the most friendly consumer practice

Online multiplayer - I guess if you cannot live without Splatoon or MK8 online

NES games - I don't care and don't want them. Sucky VC replacement and already own them on NES Classic and can buy them on 3DS.

Cloud saves - if there are no local backups, cloud saves shouldn't be paywalled, period. Save backups are a basic feature on any console

Smartphone app - throw it in the trash. Unnecessary and no reason for it to exist

Exclusive deals - what deals? I see no deals.

I'd pay this for even one modern game (or N64/GC/GBA games) per month. I don't even like Destiny 2, but that single PS+ game holds far more value than a bucket of NES games to me.

I can't believe people are still pushing this ridiculous Peer to Peer network argument.

Nintendo only has one game that would benefit from dedicated servers. Splatoon. Why in the hell would they invest is a large scale server system for one game?

@TromboneGamer yeah, and I’d love to discuss it with you without having to scroll through all of the manure. It’s a shame the whole community can’t be more like the few of you that are so reasonable even when you disagree.

I’ll be honest I was really annoyed about the service but I blame Nintendo and it’s marketing team. It’s actially really good, it’s excellent if you use all the features like nes games which I don’t. The value is actually there if your being honest. After my free trial I’m going for the family subscription. Cloud saves are all intact. It’s definetely the thing I wanted most and it works so I’m happy. Plus game sharing and the family get all their online accounts with online along with mine.

@Knuckles-Fajita No one wanted a "Netflix, expanding style of classic games for years." Everyone wants backwards compatibility so we didn't need to rebuy the same game every 5 years. That is a completely different concept

I'm upset that you still can't hear the game audio and chat through the online app.

@Yorumi why are you factoring in a second console purchase? You’ve clearly doctored that point to suit your purpose. Who was even discussing longevity? Who cares if your PC is 10 years old? I’m talking price of entry - initial purchase.

Either way, I’m sensing a lot of frustration in your responses and I’m not really interested in having a passive aggressive argument on the internet. Let’s agree to disagree.

Yes, PS+ and Xbox Live are more expensive... but they also have a more robust online community along with achievement scores and trophies. Being a member also means access to "free" games or additional discounts through the online store.

Nintendo has come in and the right price point. It's a bare minimum offering at a bare minimum price.

I'm not online that much. The appeal to me was access to the NES library on the Switch. But, after trying to play a game like Gradius...the joy con controllers just don't cut it. And I'm not compelled to spend another $60 for NES controllers when I already have the NES Classic (not to mention my original NES).

Not grumbling, just not that excited. It doesn't seem like Nintendo has made it attractive enough.

@FoxyGlen Proper discourse is a rare find no matter where you look on the internet these days. I unfortunately phrase some of my thoughts in a negative manner as well. At the end of the day I just hope people can provide discussion with value.

@KcebEnyaw because every other Multiplayer game in the world does so since 2000? its like saying lets keep Lotus Notes, I'm not moving to Outlook or Gmail.

''So quit your complaining''

Really Nintendo Life?

@Rygar

This is exactly it. If these guys want to complain about Nintendo Switch Online's features, they can pony up the additional $40 I pay to get those features with PlayStation Plus.

This writer is deluded beyond belief if he's actually equating Nintendo's game offers to what PS or XBox dish out. Even arguing that the offerings are proportional to the price would be hilariously over the top, but this is on a different level. It's still a pile of thirty plus year old games that have been relaunched ad nauseam, even if you get them all at any time.

Plus he seems to be the angriest one of the bunch. There's a lot of passive-aggressiveness in both the article and his subsequent comments. He begins with an imperative ''quit complaining'', then can't take it when other equally non-PC people lash out at him in return. Kind of funny to behold.

Personally the price has never been an issue for me even if they charged the same as the competition. I just would like Nintendo to stop making artificial barriers such as not all games having cloud saves and the absolutely garbage implementation of voice chat.

Further to that why NES games? They could have easily given us a Mario64 or even a Mario Sunshine, perhaps the GameCube Luigi's Mansion (given we know that an emulator already works on the hardware) at the launch of the service to make it seem a bit special. Where as now I just feel like I'm paying to use my Switch exactly the same as I have the last year or so.

Took the free trial, played 20 mins of the NES titles and that's me done. Wake me up in 2020 when GameCube games start to roll out please!

Well no duh it is, but this is the internet.

@Yorumi It's tough to be the voice of reason on here huh? Reminds me why I stopped trying. 😜

From the article - "all the way back to the PS3". The PS3 never has required PS+ for online. Never. Not ever never even. I stopped reading after that. If the author can't that basic fact right what good is his opionin, it all just sinks into the sand.

https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/get-help/help-library/playstation-plus/playstation-plus/playstation-plus-membership-and-playstation-4-online-play/

The fact that he included $20 for NO in his cost for playing Fortnite online. Seriously, has he ever read an article on NL before? smh

My girlfriend and I are having a blast with Ice Hockey.

"You're not allowed to criticise this thing I bought!"

This has no chance of dividing the site's readerbase. Yes, I understand that the body of the article seems to present a more nuanced perspective than this, but the tone of the bad tagline you went with is not at all nuanced.

Quit complaining! Obey! Consume! Do not question authority!

@parasnail No they don't. The vast majority of Online Multiplayer Games are Peer to Peer. The only Genre that Consistently uses Dedicated Servers for Online Multiplayer is Competitive Shooters.

Edit: and MMOs if you count that I guess.

@Spudworthy its more than slightly inferior, its sub standard. It lacks the basics of what we have come to know as the industry standard ( XBL & PSN+ ). Yes cheaper but still very sub standard.

As for the negativity comment, why would you wish to be in an echo chamber of yes men and fanbois who settle for garbage service, products and paying for the privilege?

@Grogan What is it lacking other than Party Chat and Text Messaging?

@luxoricious if you have a membership, your save files will still be intact

All the membership does is back up your saves to the cloud!

Essentially all we're paying for are the NES games, rather than having it as an optional service. I'd rather have free online service and the option to subscribe to the NES games service.
Sadly, I have a feeling NES titles are a "freebie" for Switch online and if we want to play SNES games or N64 games or Gamecube games, etc, we'll be paying for a separate service for each console. Otherwise the app would be called Nintendo Console Classics or something.

@Grogan You call it cheaper, and then complain about it being sub-standard. The standard we have come to expect on console is $60 a year to play games online. As far as cost goes, Nintendo Switch Online isn't sub standard at all. I would argue that only Xbox Live is worth the $60, and even that's up to opinion. We shouldn't be charged at all to play games online, only Steam realizes this. If I'm going to be charged though, the cheapest service is in my opinion the best service.

You know PS+ and Xbox live may put out new games, but if you don't download them, you won't get the chance to play them again, where as Nintendo will put out nes games to start with, and they will stay there .

My biggest gripe has to be they locked the classic games behind the online paywall and are rentals rather than being like vc we know. Of the 20 games offered currently I'm only interested in playing four and the games coming that are confirmed myself personally am not interested in. At least with vc you bought what you would wanted and didn't even bother with the rest and you didn't have to "check in" to play games you bought and paid for (basically games you "own"). 1 year $20 sounds good yes but then you renew again and again for 5 years and that's $100 and then you realize you've been paying for the same games you've already had access to over and over s d the collection is full of games you never touch nor care about. I hope they have a way to purchase the games outright sooner rather than later.

The issue isn't cost, it's the condescending attitude towards, and lack of choice for, consumers.

This is a backward step from the Virtual Console, where I could buy whatever game I wanted. Renting games on a yearly basis is intrinsically a step down.

There is the SNES mini, but that doesn't have every game people want, such as Donkey Kong Country 2 for example.

It is also idiotic financially. I realise that maintaining an online service costs money, but a lot of Nintendo fans would have spent more on VC games than the subscription cost many times over.

In conclusion, it's frustratingly stupid, but not a bad deal as such.

@FoxyGlen We read your article. We can agree to disagree about the value of the service. What got people upset is the headline, with you trying to silence opinions that don't match your own. If you speak words on the internet then you open yourself up to criticism, no matter who you are or what you say.

@Gen0neD Same! Dr. Mario was the only one I found playable and that didn’t stay fun for long. Oh well

As others have pointed out here, Xbox cloud saves are free - the online service is not required to use them (so misleading lists in the article). And with the PS4, you're able to physically back up saves to an external drive. Neither of those things are true with the Switch, making Nintendo's system the only one for which you can't backup your save data in some way for free. That seems extremely poor to me.

@Medic_alert Can't decide if I want those controllers or if I should snag up a couple of 8bitdos. Tell me how they are when you get them!

This seems pretty biased in favor of the service, but thats to be expected and I'm ok with that, however, saying the service "doesn't really offer anything less" when compared to X-box and PlayStaion's service, is a lie.
" Online multiplayer (not required for free games)"
Point, but nobody wins at the end with this.

" NES games"
The others tend to have Triple A games, even to the point of releasing not that long ago. Where as NES games are decades old, have been bought multiple times with the Wii, Wii U and NES Classic and emulated to be on Phones, PC's and even PsP's, plus you apparently get locked out if you don't connect to the internet within 7 days.

" Cloud saves"
That doesn't work on every game and gets deleted the moment your sub ends, while Xbox and PS works on every game. PS gives you 6 month period to re-sub before dumping data and Xbox offers the service even if you don't have Gold.

" Smartphone app"
I think this should be changed to "voice-chat" (Which the other consoles do) IMO and we have already have Discord, Skype and TeamSpeak.

" Exclusive deals"
The privilege to buy controllers and an in-game t-shirt for Splatoon 2. Xbox and PS have Steam sales on their stores.

I've already said my piece multiple times, so I'll stop here.

@Kinoen

I'll agree that the article shouldn't have said the service is equal to Xbox Live. They should have talked about how, for how cheap the service is, you get what you pay for.

At $20 I'm enjoying what's on offer, and if they charged $60 and had the same level of service as the other guys, I would cancel my PlayStation Plus. This way I can pay for both without being too money-conscious about it.

@Spudworthy
Agreed.

@Lord I totally agree with you but fanboys will always defend Nintendo no matter what and now even editors don't want you to complain because like you said this is a 9/10 service to them so you have no right to complain

Okay service with okay games, but I won't be happy with it until they come out and say SNES or the occasional Nindie is part of the monthly free games. More than half of people seem to be okay with the possibility of SNES games on Switch, but with how long it took to implement "the successor to Virtual Console" I'm not getting my hopes up of it happening before 2020. If they ever do.

@FoxyGlen It would be wise to stop talking to Yorumi. You won't get anywhere by talking to him.

@Medic_alert

I'm a big retro guy, and they definitely look nice. That was really the only reason why I wanted them over the 8bitdo ones, because they look way more authentic. The 8bitdo ones are compatible with any Switch game, though,and I want to play Celeste, The Messenger, and Shovel Knight with the D-Pad level with the buttons.

@Spudworthy

I called it cheaper. It is
I called it sub standard. It is

Voice chat app - Sub Standard
Cloud Save Not all games - Sub standard
No party chat - Sub Standard
No message system - Sub Standard
No info on offers - Sub Standard

Your happy with a Sh**y service if the price is low enough ? I'm not

Sorry, but Nintendo Switch Online is a garbage service and it isn't worth a single penny. I'm paying for it, grabbed the family membership for a year and all, but that doesn't change the fact that it only comes down to me refusing to limit my gaming just because I disagree with the service.

It's garbage. Nothing less. Cloud saves aren't on the most important games, NES games are old garbage, we've seen nothing in regards to those so-called exclusive deals, and we're no better or worse off with online gaming.

And the app. Don't even. Using it is a travesty.

It's not generous. It's not good. It's not even mediocre. It's not worth it. It's bad.

I pay, and many others will too. But not because we're getting a service. We're just climbing a paywall to continue enjoying our consoles at full potential.

@Grogan

It has nothing to do with being happy with sub standard service and everything to do with having worked in sales most of my professional life and acknowledging that we are getting a lesser service than the competition for a smaller price point.

If you want to pay two $60 subscriptions for Nintendo Switch Online and PlayStation Plus a year for equal service that's on you, but I don't. What's the point? If Nintendo Switch Online was $60 I'd subscribe to that, unsubscribe to PlayStation Plus and take my online gaming to Steam.

You might not be happy with the service, but that doesn't mean it's a bad deal. $20 for what is on offer is not that bad. Comparing it to the other guys means comparing price points, too.

people need to stop complaining, if you don’t like the service then don’t pay for it or sell your system and get a PlayStation or Xbox

if they would just allow save to sd a lot of grumbles wouldn't be grumblin'..

for the saves; i don't believe N said they would be 'deleted immediately on subscription lapse'. iirc they worded it in lawyer speak; something like 'we can't guarantee they stick around' or something like that. sony is the same way with that one though from what i understand some folks have re-subbed to ps+ 6 months later and the saves were there. I guess someone should buy a month of N online, upload a save, then let it lapse and see how long it sticks around. it'd be the only real way to test that.

voice chat is what it is. i don't care (even care about online play) but that's something that should be doable without some dumb phone unless the switch is just too slow to handle the communication, game, and game communication. could be that honestly.

games; i don't care about nes games. they should've released all N published nes/snes games at time of flipping the switch 'on'. i understand having to deal with 10000 different publishers and whatever but N owns what they publish; no reason to hold ANY of that back imo.

N will NEVER get to where sony/ms is so folks that want that level of polish will just need to either shut up, or wait till N is forced 3rd party then pick up a playstation and play mario super odysee plus new plus mario or whatever the dumb name will be by that time.

@RickDias If you don't like NintendoLife or the way they are handling things like this, then it's best if you leave. To me, it would be better if you leave. One less whiner to worry about.

Lol, this article is such click bait.

And it's the reverse of the previous article that criticizes Nintendo Online, so they're covering all bases (given that they are both soap boxes).

Furthermore, I and plenty of other Switch owners travel a lot and don't even have access to Wi-Fi as much as we'd like. Truth be told I don't even use my PlayStation Plus subscription enough to warrant paying $60 a year, but I pay because I have to to play games online. At $20, I'm not going to think about taking my Switch online more often to get my money's worth .

@FoxyGlen - Please don’t respond, as you’re clearly in the midst of a cucco swarm, but I appreciate the alternative viewpoint here. I had fun with the service when I got a chance to try it out last night, and I look forward to its expanding library. Good luck.

So many entitled children in the comments!

When you see the author of a poorly written, clickbait, heavily misinformed article crying about the responses he's getting being mostly negative, really makes me question the integrity of the site as a whole given the fact that this was approved to begin with.

The service is great. Can be improved, but an excellent start.

@RickDias

How mature.

I feel that the paragraph stating "However, no matter when you sign up to Nintendo Switch Online, you'll always have access to every single game included in the library. At the moment, you will only get the games that are currently available as part of PS+ and Xbox Live Gold that month – there's no back catalogue." to be pretty short sighted. Perhaps in initial value there's a difference, but as an example, PS+ has offered 580 unique games during its lifespan. I probably already owned around 80 of them, but in addition to the six new games per month, I'm paying to keep that library of ~500 games. That's a lot more valuable than a slowly growing library of NES games.

I don't have issues with the Switch Online service (already paid for a year). I just think this particular justification of value is off base.

@Yorumi You could add game prices as well if you want. And just stick to a 5 year cycle.
PC games are much cheaper than console games. So after 5 years of buying perhaps 5 full price games per year a console game will have spent anywhere between 300 and 500 more than a PC gamer.

@Alantor28

Basically your telling people to leave your echo chamber because they disagree with you and you don't like what they say?

Bit harsh don't you think ?

@DrJiggle Same here( Having 3 Switch's in the household). Tested out the game sharing as well. I'll probably buy it on my Switch and let my kiddos game share off of it because they will have a steady online connection more than I will.

@bstie1198

I suppose, but the fact that the games are a limited time thing always bothered me. Newcomers to the service won't feel left out because they'll have access to everything from the start, whereas some of my friends missed getting Rocket League for free and I never got to play with them because they didn't want to pay for it.

@Grogan Hmm... Maybe, but if they don't like what they see and can't handle it anymore, it's best if they leave since they need nerves of steel to handle things like this.

Without a decent party voice chat system and a messaging system. I'm not interested.

@Spudworthy regardless of the price you can't get away from the fact its a sub standard online service. $1 $5 $10 It's still lacks basic features.

@Grogan

This isn't an echo chamber for positivity, though. There are way more negativite comments here than there are positive.

@Grogan They aren't "basic" features, though. You're paying $40 more for "basic" features. The service is adequate for the price. If Nintendo Switch Online was as expensive as PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live, your argument would hold water.

People act like this is all so bad, but I’ve always felt ripped off by the sad offers psn has offered me. Pretty much every i game I got has been so i could just sell my physical edition I’ve played 2 years ago and now get digitally. But since the hard drive on it is full, it’s a juggle on which games I have installed. Yea, ps4 is so mush better...
$35 a year for the family as much as I disagree to paying for gaming services, is half as much as the psn has cost the last 3 years. And the only psn game I ever actually felt I got my money’s worth from was rocket league, and since I can play it on switch, I haven’t touched it on ps4.

Don’t grumble, even though more than half the people here on a dedicated Nintendo fan site are not happy with the service and offerings. Come on. Like the article states the paid online service is not a new thing, Nintendo has had years to see what other companies were doing and copy the model. They should have hit the ground running, I’m not giving them any slack because the service is “New”, and of course it will improve and grow theses services have to to survive, just look at the competitors.

Nice point of view +1

@Gkobz
I dunno, going from the services the Wii U had to the Switch, Nintendo back-pedaled.

@RickDias
The more people walk away from issues, the worse it will get.

It's not that we like grumble, but rather that Nintendo doesn't like clarity. Heck, even a small "with more consoles to come in future updates would have gotten us nodding all throughout the Switch Online video during the last Direct.

@Kinoen

So true. Totally agree
No VC. No streaming other than Hulu.
Feel they went back to before the Wii

Okay guys I'm defo just as unhappy as eveyone else....

But i just tried this phone app with Mario Kart (1 week free trial)... And im gonna have to admit... This thing actually isn't so bad. I got to talk to random people during games, it just needs more integration

I mean if they allow messaging to friends and people you've recently played with, as you can already add people you've recently played with anyway....

To be honest, this app could be better than both PS4 and Xbox communications options.... The sound was super clear, something thats never not been an issue with the other two.

And if they add a messaging option to the app, well i for one prefer sending messaging on my phone rather than over a console.

This app is a couple of tweeks away from being a solid communication option.

I dont even like the rest of the service, those NES games especially... But I dunno... This app is not so bad to be honest. It certainly needs some work... But it has a lot of promise.

@Razer
Glad to hear the app works well, haven't tested it yet.

You can buy a shirt for $10 or $50. Both are called 'shirt' but they differ in quality and experience.

Comparing PS+/Xbox Gold to Nintendo online is like comparing paying to keep your own crappy shirt (not even getting a new one) to getting a nicely tailored $50 new shirt.

And you wonder why people are pissed.

I preferred prior in which playing games online was 'free' as opposed to now where (yes, it's a small fee) you are required to pay for the service.

Not everyone wants to pay for two $50 a year shirts if they're both of the same quality, especially when you can get a nicely tailored shirt from Steam for free.

@Yorumi My gosh, you PC fanboys are the worst.

@Spudworthy

I can't even message someone who has been on my friend list since day 1. It's the most basic system & O/S. All features that are common on all other consoles are missing. What part of this isn't getting through to you. I tell you what...YOU tell me what's amazing about the online & the O/S, change my mind.

@Yorumi I know right, it's sad that even now writers defend anti consumer practices, compare it to other companies by putting false information and on top of that don't expect you to complain

My primary issue is that membership is account based rather than console. I have three boys under 12 and we play mainly local multi-player on one Switch. Splatoon 2 is the only game that we really play online. I've not only got to start paying a subscription to keep on playing, I've got to pay extra so that my children can play under their own sub accounts. I think we'll all bundle on one account for now and see how it goes.

@Grogan I'll tell you that it's amazing that I'm only paying $20 a year to play my Switch online compared to the $60 I pay for PS+. That's really all I need to say at the end of the day.

@Syrek24 my man/woman.

@Spudworthy Yes, that's why both have a solid customer base.

What I'm trying to say is the comparison is nonsensical. It's not a good deal because they all offer the 'same things'.

And while Nintendo online is not terrible, the way it's introduced left a pretty bad experience and that's why people are pissed though it's only a measly $20/year.

@Syrek24 I know. And the even worst people on the internet are trolls and PC fanboys. PC fanboys think PC gaming is a honest way, but in reality, it gave birth to arrogant PC fanboys who bash anything that isn't PC gaming.

Pathetic

Generous? Man you have a twisted sense of things. Generous is what you call ps+ back on ps3. Back when you could play online for free and plus was this nice optional club for gamers to get free games and huge discounts. There was no breaking up my friends from uncharted 2 or 3, killing my clan from killzone 2 and 3, there was no expectation that it was needed, just the perks spoke for themselves. This sort of online was good and still is. That was generous. Now we have ps+ and xbl as some sort of requirement with perks as a means of justifying the 60 a year. What is Nintendo bringing to the table. Nes games that terminate access after 7 days if not always on? Bunch of broken old classics that only retro enthusiasts can get excited about.

Look Nintendo's perks aren't bad, they are good first steps to some interesting ideas, but you need to look at what we lost. We can't buy our classics library's to take with us. We have to live in a space that allows online play, a feature most probably won't use ever. An app nobody likes is no excuse, especially when gamers are pointing at a pic gamers solution for fixing this problem, thank you discord.

Nintendo should have kept online free. It's cheap sure, but it's a lame way of justifying something so you feel better about it. In the age of loot boxes and battle passes, how can we even think this is remotely ok. That price tag will go up like a the cost of tickets to Disney world. We've seen how that price has remained the same on the other platforms, which it hasn't. So expecting that in 2 or 3 years we don't see this price start it's crawl to 60 I'll be amazed.

@Curlybobs

The family plan is a beautiful thing, though. I REALLY wish PlayStation Plus had a similar plan, because she doesn't even want to pay for her subscription anymore seeing as that's $120 a year for the both of us. That's a ludicrous price, I don't care what's on offer considering Xbox Live is better, and Steam is free.

@Yorumi
Maybe, but you don't walk away after one thing. You're just letting things get away at that point.
Well this is a Nintendo fan site, it's to be expected that the people running it will always be in Nintendo's favor, doesn't mean you pipe down with your criticism though. I'm criticizing the service so the people who visit here knows there another side and or, the article they read is wrong.

Maybe, Xbox already tried being worse before it released the X-box One, boy did that go poorly and is a reason why the X-box is the least selling console of this gen. However, the Gold service from 360 to One did get better, as you were just paying to play games online, where as you get free games a month, daily/weekly deals on the store and I think that cloud service, I'm not sure if cloud was always there, maybe it was added towards the end of the 360, I can't remember, but the service got better. The service will only get worse, if we the costumers, allow it.

@Razer

The app might turn out to work just fine.
It’s just another piece of hardware you must have with you to chat. I myself multi task while playing, on my other systems I’ll play, chat, and play/google things on my phone all at the same time.

Still don't get the fuss about cloud saves being deleted if you forget to renew your subscription. They're still saved locally as normal and the odds of your Switch going kaput or losing it in the few days/weeks you're not subscribed are very small. You'd have to be very unlucky for that to happen.

THANK YOU. All the negativity is getting old quick. It really is a good deal, and they made it as painless as they could. I see nothing but good ahead as the service will no doubt continue to improve.

I'm enjoying the service so far. The NES games are fun, and gameplay for online games is pretty much as it was. No reason to complain.

@Gkobz

Yeah, I use Discord no matter which platform I'm playing on with my friends, so this really doesn't bug me. I think it's cool that you can chat with randoms on the Nintendo Switch Online app now, I didn't expect that at all.

@Alantor28 sound advice 😅 thanks!

Luigis mansion
3

@FoxyGlen love the avatar, and I liked the article, for the positivity above all else. I'm looking forward to seeing this service improve as time goes on.

I love NES games. I think it's a fantastic service and great price. And SNES games + more will definitely come down the line. It's going to be excellent.

People complain about they never going to own these games, and that VC is gone. But has anyone thought about, that Nintendo could just remove the DRM verification of the Nintendo Switch Online app, and you would then suddenly "own" all the games it contains? The games are directly downloaded to your Switch storage, so it is all there until you remove it yourself.

In many years when the Switch isn't getting produced anymore, and everyone has moved on to Super Switch 3, Nintendo could close down the Online Service for the Switch, and in the same time remove the DRM from the app. Making all it's content available to you forever.

Not sure they would bother, but it could happen. Would be a nice gesture from them, and they would not loose to much, because Switch would just be an old legacy system at that time, that not many people would use anyway. Like the Wii today.

I love the Nintendo fanboys telling others not to complain because it’s cheap. Lol

Yes let’s not complain, if we don’t like something let’s all keep it to ourselves. Definitely don’t say anything to anyone, makes total sense, and let’s just wait for Nintendo to read our minds, and improve what they see fit.

@Spudworthy It might work for some people, but ironically I think the family plan is actually punishing families the most - where a typical family has more than one family member sharing a single console. They've even ditched the more affordable single month or three month payment options for the family plan.

@Spudworthy

I didn't think you could. Nice chatting with you. Respectfull Etc.

I thought it had been cleared up that your saves are not deleted as soon as your subscription is over, simply that you can’t access it without a subscription. Eventually it’d probably disappear but not like it immediately is gone.

@Syrek24 And what are you doing? Complaining about complainers. Seems a bit hypocritical.

Look at the Switch online dislike ratio on youtube. A vast majority of people don't like the service. Doesn't that raise any red flags?

You expect people just to shut up and take it? I don't think anyone actually thinks complaining on here will do anything, but we want to vent anyways.

What happened when Nintendo sold the 3DS for 250 dollars and not many people bought it? They did a price cut and gave people free games to compensate for the high price. If enough people don't buy into it, Nintendo might get the message and change their ways.

People like you who are just complacent and accept the status quo are the problem.

You don't need Xbox Live Gold for cloud saves.

@Curlybobs

Overall the family plan is cheaper than the single month or three month plan though, right? Wasn't it $5 a month or something? I can't remember.

@Spudworthy

Glad it works for you.

It is so Nintendo that I’ve heard many people surprised that you can chat with non-friends, you know like every other video game system has since they launched their services

@NakamaRise I just don't see how this is a problem. Either Nintendo keeps the service as is for $20 a year, which I think is worth it, or they charge more for more features. Either way, people will complain. All I know is I'm not paying over $100 a year for Nintendo Switch Online and PlayStation Plus. I'd drop Plus if that happened.

@Syrek24 I could not agree more with your comment!

@Gkobz

And you've been able to voice chat and play games online for free on PC long before consoles started doing it. The only difference is that you can still do it for free on PC, and consoles are charging you $60 a year to do so. Nintendo is at least allowing you to for a cheaper price, though I'm still sad that they had to go this route.

@NakamaRise That’s the thing though, people didn’t buy the 3ds and so they lowered the price and pushed some great games and it became a great system. Complaining doesn’t do anything but bring negativity which just invited more negativity. Whatever you feed is what will survive.

If you don’t like it, don’t purchase it and that will communicate more effectively without all the constant negativity. I’ve found myself staying away from these sites more and more just because all the negativity really gets to me after a while. This is a hobby after all; I’d rather have fun with things I enjoy than complain about things I don’t.

@Spudworthy People will always complain about something, yes. But give people a reason to spend the money in the first place. A lot of us are willing to pay more for a better service period.

@sr_388 This. This. This. This is why I left IGN, because people spend more time comparing systems and being negative about all of them, bringing politics and all this other garbage into the conversation than they did being positive about anything.

@Spudworthy
#244
I don't know much about the Family plan for Nintendo's service, but if one person has Plus or Gold, everyone on that console gets it free.

My dream is that they drop 1 NES, 1 SNES, 1 N64 and 1 GC game every month. This is a nice way to start the service, will be exciting to see where it is in a year.

@NakamaRise

Who? People who only own a Switch, or only a Switch or PC? That's the only way I can see Switch Online being $60 as a good thing. I am already getting overcharged for Plus, I don't want to get overcharged for Switch Online too. I'm already contemplating dropping PlayStation when the PS5 comes out in favor of a gaming PC.

Nintendo would’ve done better by calling it the Nintendo cloud

@Kinoen I see. That's cool, but the family plan is still cheaper on the Switch overall, right? You can be on the family plan and have multiple Switch consoles tied to it.

@Medic_alert that sounds good too. I won’t say the service is perfect but having a family subscription and having all 8 of us having cloud backup and digital game sharing is good

@NakamaRise do you actually believe that everyone who disliked that video was a Switch owner? Most never had any intention on ever purchasing one.

My only complaint is that I can't remap buttons on the NES games. Why??

@Yorumi I made the choice to not even get the switch because of payed online. I have owned every Nintendo console since the SNES. Still feels a little sad but i am not going to abandon my priciples for a console.

@teixeiras If you expected an online service saying you were ok bc yo uexpected it but then you say its not a good online service because it has the typical features of an online service

Be better if we had a better cloud service for ALL games, a full VC of NES/SNES/N64/GameCube, super cheap games on deals and so on

@BAN They want you to buy the NES wireless controllers is my guess. I said the same thing, I want to change the control layout but it isn't possible.

@NotSoCryptic M8 When you ever gonna be without internet for 7 days. Even then you can briefly just connect it to your phones mobile data for it to register you've been online and disconnect it again. And if by a small chance you've somehow lost connection because of that there's always the entirety of the rest of the switches library. Im not saying there isnt issues with the service, but that aint one of em

BTW for 20 bucks I won't complain but for 40-45 bucks a year Sony's online offering simply blows away Nintendo's. It's not even close. Tons of great games, even some Triple A games included. Nintendo? You still pay 59.99 for games they released a decade ago.

@hatch i wouldn't mind getting together with a few like minded people on NL, is there a topic on forums for friend code trading?

I’m getting value out of my $20, and am happy with it. That’s all I have to say anymore.

I’m getting value out of my $20, and am happy with it. That’s all I have to say anymore.

@FoxyGlen I don't want to be "that guy" but the original Xbox was the first console to have a premium online multiplayer service. Not the Xbox 360.

Also, the PS3 does not require a premium service to play online. That's only the PS4.

Quit complaining? Come back and say that when it's actually worth paying for.

Cloud Saves ( for some titles and you will lose your saves once your subscription expires)

They're not known for actually having good internet, which now they're wanting you to pay for it.

Party Chat still requires you to use your phone which is stupid oh and by the way you need the app as well.

NES games online have been reported that they run horribly.

Plus I'm like their competitors you don't get games from older system as well as handheld systems. PSN offers games for PS3, Vita and PS4.

@Yorumi can't argue with your comparison, some people deny the investment that is a gaming PC either stubbornly or unknowingly. The last standing platform with free online multiplayer and I'm appreciating that fact now more than ever, try and stop me boys, you're going to hit me with your empty pockets?

@Razer If this is the case, why isn't every Nintendo video disliked to oblivion?

The Mario trailer has 286k likes vs 18k dislikes. Are we to assume that most of those came from people not interested in ever buying a Switch also? including the likes?

Let's be naive and pretend all dislikes are just "haters" and everything else is from "real Nintendo fans", though we still run in to a problem because only 8k "fans" liked the online overview video.

The reality is that there is a real disconnect between the service and the gaming community. The sooner people accept that, the better. To do anything else is just living in denial.

@Blizzia Well I mean they don't have to offer any bonuses. The main reason anyone should pay for it is to play online, just like the other 2 consoles. So you know you just kinda bought it for playing online. Thats what your supposed to be paying for....

@Amrulez i am so glad im not the only one who hates the layout...

Price is the big selling point for me here and its hit the sweet spot. Sure NES games aren't the equivalent of the monthly Ps Plus or Xbox Live ones but it's not priced same at all. Also neither of them ever offered any family group account discount . Forking over 60 euro every 12 months for them isnt an insignificant sum.

@FoxyGlen What Yorumi said about me isn't true at all. I still can't believe he resorted to lying to make him look like he's the victim. Guess to show what a troll Yorumi is.

@Richnj Maybe because Mario is a game and this is an actual Service. A service that competes with others. A lot more directly than a game like Mario.

Btw 35k dislikes isn't representative of all Switch owners...

I know you want this to flop... Hell i want it to flop, force them to do better. But it isn't gonna. For reasons I've stated before and you know.

Now you can continue to stress yourself out and get more white hairs or just drop it and move on.

Edit: if you decide to buy in then my FC will be in the forum section 😎, ive taken the free trial for now but I'll prob grab it after.

@hatch yep im defo up for reviving that.

@Spudworthy
#269
I dunno, guess thats up to what you want. There isn't a cap for the PS and Xbox, but it is tied to one system.

@Yorumi
#271
Aye!
Also, thats what Alantor told others yesterday to do to me, so he isn't just after you, to an extent.

I just want better online for Splatoon man. Just use our money to invest in servers to store our ranks instead of locally, and add anti-cheat. Also increase the tickrate PLEASE. It's waaaay too annoying to play at a measly 16Hz.

The comments get longer everyday it’s starting to feel like reading a big book. I’m also learning to cook

It's not the price that's the problem here. It's the subpar service. I won't spend that much time with retro games, really. My backlog is big enough as it is. And it's not like having NES games on Switch will be that much of a draw anyway. Not supporting every game with cloud saves is just not customer friendly. There's no way around it and it's inexcusable. They had more than enough time to figure it out. They even postponed the service to get it to THIS point. How bad was it initially? The smartphone app is something nobody cares about. Why is making you use another device to use your "service" properly even called a service? It's a major inconvenience. I don't need my phone to use voice chat on my PC or PS4. And I'm pretty confident in saying that I wouldn't need it if I had an Xbox One. So, why does Nintendo do it? There is absolutely no upside to this app. They don't even bother to give us an example of those "special" offers! How about starting with something big right out of the gate? That way some people hesitant to jump in might give it a try. But so far, "special offers" shouldn't even be mentioned as a feature, since there aren't any. Overall it's not about the pricing of a service that is really NOT good. It's about the service not being good. They had the examples to nail this service right in front of their noses. And they decided not to take notice. There is a chance that all these mistakes will be corrected in the future. Thing is, these are all mistakes that shouldn't have been made in the first place.

This reviewer did not get to see Alex video.

I don't play online. I'm not sure what part of the £18 is the cost to play online and what amount is for the nes games.

But unless you are a die-hard retro player, these nes games are not what I bought my Switch for, they look and feel basic. Packaged together on a 3d card for a one off payment would be ok. But otherwise Nintendo needs to rethink this one.

@BarFooToo How would it ever be 37? It's like 3 if you do the family plan and 17 solo. And if you don't want online play and don't want classic games, then don't buy it. Doesn't make the service bad just because you don't want to play games online.

@OveDue I agree.

@zool It's an ONLINE service. If you don't like online play, then it's not for you. What's there to rethink? That's like saying McDonald's needs to rethink selling hamburgers because you're a vegan. They're not selling to you, mate. They're selling to the millions of people who DO play online. No amount of rethinking will make you want to play online.

Can someone explain the whole p2p vs servers? Cause from what Im reading Im feeling a little ripped off if for p2p nintendo doesn't have to do any work for the online to work

@VexingInsanity Quiet often. First off I don't want to configure my portable game devices to use my phone, in this era of data plans with data caps, that is the last thing I want to do. Just takes one time of me forgetting to turn off the feature on my phone to cause my switch to eat up an entire months of data from my phone when I push a game out to it.

Secondly I don't reconnect my switch to the internet every time I go somewhere. There are times where I'm out of the country for 7+ days at a time, I just want to dock the damned thing and charge it. I'm not looking to hop online to play a game.

Third, what if Nintendo has an incident similar to that of PlayStation Network where their service was down for a month because some jackhole breached their security. I haven't seen enough from Nintendo to indicate that they even understand how to protect their consumers in the online space. Why would I trust them to have their servers up for a duration like that.

Hell as I type this I'm two system software updates behind. Goes to show you how often I connect my switch to the internet. As it stands my 3DS is a better device to get my retro fix. So much for the ultimate portable, Nintendo couldn't even get that right.

Throwing out the rest of the Switches library when I want to play a very specific game is also not a counter argument. That's like coming to me and saying "here have vanilla ice cream cause we're out of cookie dough". I didn't come to their shop for vanilla, I came for the cookie dough. If you don't have something often enough, it just becomes an irritant.

Just because you can't fathom something happening too you doesn't mean it won't happen to someone else. Right now my Vita is the only portable I keep consistently updated and online, because I need to for cross saves. A feature Switch has no reason to worry about because of the great design choices they made. Just let me buy the NES, SNES, N64, GC, Wii, etc games I want to play on my switch. I feel like this was a waste of time and is trying to appease some share holder happy to see a subscription service instead of a sellable product. Subscription services are usually very consumer unfriendly, unless that service gives the consumer a means to chooses a path that is right for them. In this case Nintendo Online isn't it. I don't play games online on Switch. It's just not the space I want to play in. All the games I want to play online are not on switch and if they were I wouldn't be inclined to rebuy them.

This article has been deliberately written to wind you all up. It's how clicks are gained on this website.

@Knuckles-Fajita I don’t think people ever asked for a Netflix style virtual console which block the usage of games behind a paywall. All they wanted was a universal account system that remove the necessity of repurchasing the titles. Just like the PSN account that when you bought a PS1 classic on PS3 you could redownload it on your PS Vita.

Nintendo had to start somewhere right? Comparing it to Xbox Live and PS+ isn’t totally fair either, Sony and Microsoft have had 10+ years to fine tune their services. If you look back at Live on the OG Xbox it wasn’t much to look at either but Live is now the bar that others try to reach. I kinda think Nintendo is trying to show some love to the consumers by only charging $20 a year currently. They know its a ways off from the others, and they’d rather face complaints for a $20 “bare bones” service than a $60 “bare bones” service.
TL;DR give them more than a day to improve and fine tune things

No review site should ever have "quit complaining" as a sub-heading in its' articles , as it puts the reader on the defensive before you can even explain your position. It also hurts your credibility in that the article reads like a Nintendo sponsored piece. That said I hope the service improves as it is pretty bare bones right now.

a turd is a turd never mind if it only costs $20

@KingBowser86 Dedicated servers won't help your bad wifi.

@Razer 35k isn't representative based on what data? You have zero evidence for that. You are just making this up as you go along. The Nintendo Switch reveal trailer has a similar positive response. That is a product that competes with others. But I guess you'll make up another excuse why that doens't count. Just like you made up that most of the dislikes aren't Nintendo fans.

And no, if you actually read the stuff I wrote you'd know I never even hinting at me selling my switch. I said I wouldn't buy 3rd party online titles on the Switch, but that I was still very much looking forward to Luigi's Mansion.

Can I also make clear that I don't want it to flop as such. I want Nintendo to quickly recognise that the service needs an overhaul to be a real online service. I want them to acknowledge the issues and commit to bringing in the basic features fast and heavy so that players can start gushing over this service, and start enjoying a thriving online community.

I mean, I can see you on here admitting the NES games aren't that great. So do you still feel that they are a selling point for the service given the underwhelming response there?

PS. You can download an XBox and PS app and message people directly through that already. They've been available for years now. Along side being able to clear chat on system. So the Nintendo app being able to message players isn't a way that the service would be better than the other 2.

Wow. Just wow. I honestly didn't think fanboyism this delusional existed.

@BarFooToo I’m gonna grumble with you. Telling consumers not to be like, “hey, corporation, suck less,” means they’re never gonna suck less.

"Very generous offer" please put down your nintendo goggles.

@Amrulez I’ve seen this argument, but I don’t know if I buy it. We had the same problem with Virtual Console games on 3DS, and they obviously weren’t trying to push us into buying extra controllers there.

I've been holding back commenting until I'd had chance to really sit down with my Switch this eve and start playing.

For me, I'm not particularly impressed. I've not really been impressed with the Switch this year to be honest. Most of the games have been sequels and ports, very few original games. This just feels so typical of how the year has gone so far.

For a start the NES collection is just plain poor, these are games most people will play for two or three minutes and put down... most of us have played these games to death already. Yes, it's nice we have them but I'd happily pay £20 more for the subscription if that included more games, games from the snes, n64, GameCube and wii. I can see they are going for a Netflix style approach but it's sooo underdeveloped. Xbox Live and PS4 Plus are so much interesting subscriptions. Even the GamePass on Xbox is quite neat.

We still don't have proper voice chat, the interface is still bare bones, there's no trophy system or rewards. It just feels undercooked.

Being cheap is not always an appealing feature. Nintendo doesn't need to be cheap, the Switch is doing well. Even with a pretty slow year of quality first party games the console is doing great. I literally played all the Nes games this evening, each for about 30 seconds then deleted the app from console. If you enjoy retro games, great! But very few people in 2018 are going to keep coming back to them. I actually hope Nintendo get burned a little here, maybe they'll be more ambitious in the future.

Yh so disappointed...

I'll accept that when Nintendo stops nerfing and handicapping a good thing, and instead gives us cloud saves for ALL games, not just some. My Splatoon 2, Animal Crossing, etc save games shouldn't be at risk from their shoddy product design just because Nintendon't what Sony and Microsoft apparently already figured out re: cloud saves and the associated risks. The other guys sorted out the issues, why can't Nintendo? I want ALL my data safe... Nintendo's lame excuse could be applied to a frightening number of current and upcoming games and it's just pathetic and arbitrary, and screams of laziness.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2018/09/09/nintendos-explanation-for-limiting-switch-cloud-saves-is-baffling/

I love it, between this and the Sony copying Nintendo article, NL is really poking at the hornet's nest today.

Seriously though, I can see where the author is coming from here. For $20 a year, Nintendo is obviously pushing a more budget version of an online service, which is fine. Myself and others have brought this up before, but given the price and all the NES games you can play, we're actually getting a good deal in that regard. Especially considering Nintendo and third parties has always put a $5 price tag on NES titles.

Yes NES games isn't exciting at all compared to brand new AAA game or two for free every month..so sorry but i fail to see why Nintendo offer is so generous.

@Deltath For me I would be paying for the family plan not my kids, am I play loads online, just not on the switch going forward. We have switches, ps4s, xboxs and PCs so we have lots of options, just won't bother with any switch online till it has something I care about... But at least I get to be a grumpy old grumbler

@FoxyGlen well you should apply for the job. This article of yours is like a music to their ears.

@nonprophetmusic 100% agree!

@nonprophetmusic People tell Nintendo that they suck on a constant basis. The aim these people have, without even realizing it, is to effect some kind of magical transformation that somehow makes Nintendo become the perfect company for every single customer they’ve ever had, and the stupidity of thinking that’s an even remotely viable goal is obvious.

You have to take giant companies on the whole, and weigh the balance between their good output and their bad output. Nintendo aren’t perfect, but I think they do more than enough good to outweigh the few bad choices they make from time to time. If that balance reverses, consumers will stop giving them money, their business will become unprofitable, and then you won’t have a company to complain about.

@NotSoCryptic Yeah but, your in a minority. Also all you gotta do is connect your switch to your data, when you need to reconnect turn it on, wait 1 minute, turn it off. WOAH! I appreciate there might not always be data but all the switch has to do is confirm it is connected wver so briefly from what I understand. I doubt that'll eat your data + if you leave it on thats no nintendo's fault

One other thing. Like i said b4 in this day and age its extremely unlikely you'll be somewhere for 7 days where you have no form off wifi or data. So this makes sense and is fair. Your unwillingness to turn on data briefly is a minor issue. Also this is kinda the ultimate portable, given its the only one of its kind and the fact that you need brief wifi for one feature doesn't knock it down a peg.
And ye know just bc YOU dont want to play online doesnt mean that this is bad. I mean besides that one easily fixable issue, the sub service is pretty cool as it is ever expanding for the forseeable future. Idk how they can rip you off with this as each game would cost about a quarter of the price of the online anyway.

@KryptoniteKrunch I don't understand why one of the most popular consoles has to have a 'budget' online service...

My only beef is that I can’t back up my Splatoon 2 save. And it’s kind of a big one for me.

Aside from that, I’m good.

Except for the voice chat, still garbage

It’s kind of a meh for me. They’ve been giving it to us for free for so long, that it’s just weird to have to pay for an online service. Also, I think it was a very bad business strategy to give it to us for free for over a year, and then make us pay.

Errrrrr no.

The service as it stands right now is complete rubbish and vast improvements need to be made or a great number of the community is gonna ditch it.

@KryptoniteKrunch "Nintendo is obviously pushing a more budget version of an online service"

Can I ironically use the argument of the guys defending the Online Service for a moment.

£40 is only £3.333 a month, if you can't afford that, you can't afford a Switch. Like, just don't buy a coffee one day that month.

Honestly, I never felt like the Xbox and PS were all that expensive when spaced out over the year. I feel like a budget version of a cheap service (especially when compared to Netflix or other streaming service) isn't actually a good thing. I would have rather had a more feature rich service, than one that charges for next to nothing.

Long term, without the much needed online features, the online community will (as Orswellianson puts it) ditch the service, especially for other consoles that offer them the tools they need to build and maintain the lively communities.

@Richnj Agree 👍

If we are going to count the cost monthly, then we need to use the actual monthly fee of $3.99 a month. That is what it costs you if you make monthly payments. You can't make monthly payments at the yearly rate of $19.99.

So, is the Switch online service worth $3.99 a month?

@technotreegrass
Facepalm?

@VexingInsanity I feel like the number of gamers with data plan sharing are more the minority, especially when it comes to Nintendo products, than my issues. If you don't understand why what you just said is in error kind of misses the point. I'm at the airport, I turn my data on for my laptop, suddenly a push to my switch I forgot about starts pulling down because OMG THE SWITCH FOUND AN ACCESS POINT TO USE when I powered it on. Suddenly I'm getting a notification on my screen that a download and updates have finished. In any case you're making an added annoyance for me ot have to deal with. Making an excuse for something that you yourself don't really want to deal with, but would rather just take the beating then try to do anything about it. So I do think its nintendo's fault for not providing me an option that suits my needs as a consumer. If they don't supply it, then I don't have to buy it.

as far as your "I doubt you won't be any where were there is wifi" really isn't the point I was making. Sure my hotel room has wifi, sure my parents home when I fly clear across the country has wifi, my work place, that little coffee place down the street. The whole point is I don't want to have to go through the hassle of setting up wifi for something that exists on my switch. That's assuming you can even get the wifi working because of what ever stupid thing the onsite wifi has setup. Or like in some places in the US where for some baffling reason the concept of a free wifi still eludes them. You consider it a minor issue. That's subjective. It's a hassle. One I don't have to deal with on my other hardware configurations. Often times you'll find some locations even block gaming services. Like the hotel I was in for 2 weeks when I moved to san francisco. I couldn't play Overwatch on their connection or even really download or buy games.

As far as "only one of its kind" goes. What planet are you living on where this is a reality? When you get a free PS+ Game, the expiration date is set to the end of your PS+ subscription. Clearly not the only service of its kind. Everything Switch Online offers, PSN also offers. Games With Gold and Xbox Game Pass also operate in the same way as the system established by Sony. Those systems are unlikely to be offline for the year plus you may have on your subscription, but they have more sense than 7 days.

I think you miss the point as to why I mention not wanting to play online. I don't give two shakes about whether there are people who are using switch for online. In my case I have no reason too. Putting a subscription pay wall up for the one NES game I might want to play right now is the problem. 20 dollars for one game is too much. I'm not likely to play 5 NES or 10 NES games to even make that a deal in a year. Just like me pay 3 to 6 dollars like I have been and give me access to the game as something I own. It's a rip off for me to forced into services I don't need and would not use that I find inferior to the competition which I do have already. That fact that you fail to recognize that there is a sub group working in that context just shows how out of touch you are with the community as a whole and how self centered your point of view is. It's not relevant that my issues are my own, its a state of alienating a customer, where there is one, there are usually others. Even if it is just 10% of switch owners, that is still 10% of their audience they are alienating. That's 2 million customers you've managed to cross out of 20 million system owners.

I'm just one person in one minority in a collection of minorities not happy with the Switch Online services right now. Nintendo needs to address this problem. They need find a way to reach all 20 million. This is a very negative reception and I'm not even just considering the NES games when I say this. It casts Nintendo in a negative light.

Anyway the simplest solution for me is to stay on my 3DS, wait for homebrew to get around Nintendo's foolishness and just install retro games on the system myself. Just keep gaming on PSN and PC for the foreseeable future given how short sighted Nintendo is on getting all of this working right and failing to solve problems that were worked out 12 years ago.

@Syrek24 "Good retort, I guess? Comments like yours more or less confirm my frustrations in regards to interacting with others on the internet. Baseless insults aimed to get under another’s skin. Really petty of you."

I don't condone people insulting others over an opinion, but I have to ask what did you expect people to say when you yourself say stuff like "we have a bunch of grown adults whining and nashing their teeth in protest?" Saying stuff like that only adds more fuel to the fire rather than putting it out. I just find it hypocritical for you to be cool with calling others whiny babies, but when someone else calls you one you claim it is a baseless, petty retort.

The more I think about this the more it doesn't really make sense... I have no idea why Nintendo have gone with a 'budget' approach with console so popular. This service could have been a statement. A Nintendo all in one hub!

Couldn’t agree more. Sure it’s not perfect but for the price it’s pretty sweet.

Vote with your wallets, people. Nintendo will soon change the service if nobody pays.
But fanboys will buy anything that's thrown at them.
Honestly, if Nintendo said you have to buy your own treadmill and power the service with 10 hours hard running a day, fanboys would argue Nintendo are helping people stay fit.
Consumer power is still a thing, exercise it!

@FoxyGlen Referring to your users comments as manure is rather insulting don't you think? On average I'd say most of the people I see commenting on this site are pretty level headed.

In my experience the most obnoxious attacks I see in these comments sections are usually against anyone who is critical of Nintendo.

@Alantor28 wow! Who made you the arbiter of what people are allowed to say on this site? Who elected you the representative of this community, to determine what opinions are acceptable here?

@EvilRegal I cannot think of a more perfect response.

With SNES,Gameboy,N64 and GC game from the start NOW it would have been really interesting.I mean they had a year and a half, why do we only have NES games? Why don't we have AT LEAST SNES games in there,they already have the emulator with the SNES mini,use that,make the games online and boom.

@tedko It's best if you don't answer that question. The Online Service has its pros and cons, but I believe it will improve over time. Yet the whiners are complaining about it and it's not making it any better.

@Alantor28 Do you literally pay for this site? Are you Admin for this site? If not then stop being rude. You do not have the right to tell people to get out.

@Varubajia @kmpyj

That’s literally all he does in every single post. And he’s absolutely oblivious as to how he comes across.

I see his name and I already know I’m gonna need some safety goggles to stop my eyes from rolling into the back of my head.

@BAN That is how it goes. I don’t think Nintendo sucks, but I think they’ve definitely made some poor decisions, and I think this service is one of them. The, “suck less,” is supposed to sound more like, “get better,” because they can. I guess this has come close to almost approaching being nearly acceptable.

They knew from the start, charging was gonna result in some sort of backlash. It’s to be expected, on both fronts. My, “hey, Nintendo, try to suck less,” is $20 a year for this is flat out asinine. I’d be happy to shell out more money for service that approaches the level of value their competitors have. I don’t even own the competition, but I see my friends getting really cool games all year long, and I’m like... “Uh, do... do y’all wanna play Ice Climbers?” And then I get shot for sounding like a fool. Not today.

But acting like, “oh, not everyone is ever gonna be happy, so whatcha gonna do,” is a poor attitude.
Expressing dissent is necessary for progress. People are complacent being spoon fed the same junk. But if they take the criticism and learn and grow from it... psst, everybody wins.

So many babies won't stop crying.

Nobody's forcing you kids to pay up. If you don't like it then don't buy it.

Nintendo's method of voice chat is pretty terrible. And it's impossible to ignore the fact that online gaming has always been free on PC when talking about subscription fees for consoles. So there are some legitimate complaints about the service.

Buuut $20 a year is a negligible price. And we have cloud saves (finally) and some sweet NES games with more being added monthly. So the complaints aren't worth the fuss that some people are making about it.

(Honestly, I sort of felt it was merely an eventuality before Nintendo started charging for online play, anyway. I was surprised they kept it free for the Wii U's lifespan.)

"Generous" is what Nintendo were last generation, during the dark days of the Wii U. It confounds me that they are so stingy/greedy this generation considering how successful the Switch has been. We are basically being charged for what has been free for the last 13 years (i.e. online play on DS, Wii, 3DS, and Wii U). How is this suddenly okay now?

I can't help but feel that Nintendo have arbitrarily been adopting the worst practices in the industry (as well as introducing some of their own) since the untimely death of Iwata-san.

And I can't play the Dark Souls Demo/Network Test without a subscription? Are you kidding me? I wasn't even considering buying the game, but now I know I won't.

And Nintendo are crazy, CRAZY for using NES games as a selling point for the "service". The "service" should have launched with a Netflix-style library from the get-go (with titles from various generations). This is just embarrassing. Nintendo would have gotten more money from me by dumping the ROMs on a Switch cartridge and selling it for $60-$80. The idea of renting ROM dumps from 30 years ago, no matter the cost, is just obscene to me.

I'll sit this one out, at least until I see something else that I think may be worth paying for (or if I can find a way to make the most of a family subscription).

The problem with the industry is that online backlash means nothing when people still acquiesce with their wallets, hence why the industry is in the state that it is in today. It drives me absolutely bonkers when consumers make excuses for the idiotic/anti-consumer decisions of multi-BILLION dollar behemoths. God, people can be so ridiculously stupid.

people in this comment section acting like Nintendo's going to send the boggie man to steal your £20 😂😂😂

@Richnj

Stop replying to me your i care what your opinion is... We done this dance before, if you dont like the music... Here is your exit:

https://m.ebay.com

@BAN

Yes I am sure the real truth is some technical issue but you have to admit they could probably fix it pretty easily and decided instead to make 60 dollar controllers available JUST to play those games and those games only. Any time there is some issue that doesn't make sense as to why it is that way you have to follow the money.

I was still hoping for a purchase option for the online classic games. Already i would’ve picked off 4 or 5 Nes games!! Oh well 😔 guess I’ll have to keep that subscription ongoing!

You’re missing two key features for PS+ Why did you leave out party chat? Also, the mobile apps, which you don’t even need PS+ to use as they are not behind a pay wall. PS App where you can access the PS store from your smartphone and download games, as well as check which friends are online and even mess with your online status.

You also have PS messenger where you can message your friends and even randos. You can even use emojis and they’ll register in text on PS4 🤙🏾

Next you have PS Communities which is a mobile extension of the built in community forums on PS4. It’s super neat honestly.

Finally, you have PS second screen that can allow your smartphone to perform certain commands straight to your PS4. And boy oh boy, how could I forget, PS4 has Spotify which is sick! Looking at all 3 services objectively, PSN is the best. You get what you pay for. No way am I paying for NSO, it’s just not worth it.

@Ryzaerian lol

@Alantor28 you’ve been nothing but pleasant and respectful to me in our brief interactions so far, while @Yorumi has been nothing but aggressive. That speaks volumes.

@FoxyGlen Thanks. ^_^

@tedko there is a lot of manure here though. I’m totally up for debate with people who disagree if they can remain civil and respectful. Anyone who just screams abuse at me because my opinion differs is not worth responding to.

I give up. I’m gonna sleep.

Final words
ANTI-CONSUMER

@NovaCam True as that might be, there's simply nothing else worth that kinda premium.

@FoxyGlen Just out of curiosity, why doesn't Nintendolife set up the comments section so that replies are posted under the comment being replied to? It might help foster better discussions. I do like this site and visit frequently, but I always find the comments section a little hard to follow.

@FoxyGlen On the plus side, you're less likely to bump into these people online when you play...

@Silly_G I completely agree. It’s seems everyone has their small quarrels here and there. I wish people had best for the consumers interest rather than the corporate interests

@ekwcll no, on PS+ as long as you click the “purchase” button (which is priced as free) of the free game, you get to put it in your games catalogue. You can download them anytime as long asbyou have PS+

@electrolite77 thank you. It is disturbing and I see a repeat of it again.

What’s more disturbing is the compliment he got from @FoxyGlen

I'd prefer it if we all just calm down and have some coffee, do some painting, maybe eat some comfort food and just not worry about things for maybe an hour.

@Deltath rethink the games selection, you seem to have missed the point.

I honestly don’t know why people can’t let others have a different opinion without insulting them or calling them names. The value of the service is fine I guess but as an online service with regard to communications and a few other things it’s massively behind. The whole thing is just a bit ‘meh’. Really thought it would launch with a bang.

@Yorumi “PC Fanboys are the worst” especially when you back up your claims.

You all want to know what is truly sad though..... All of this drama aside.

I am never going to be able to play as Toad in any game without thinking I'm playing as Trump's "Johnson".

😂

I've been very critical of this online service, because Nintendo could have done so much better, but I will say this: allowing people to set up family subscriptions with any 7 other people anywhere in the world is actually pretty generous.

@tedko NintendoLife's comment section is behind.... just like Nintendo when it comes to online lol. Don't get me wrong I like my Switch but jeez.

@NotSoCryptic They do not ever need to reach 20 million. There are minorities in the market like you who are not worth the hassle to appeal to. They create a service and if it is not profitable to adjust that service enough to reach you then why would they.
When I said only one of its kind I was referring to the console not the service. It is the only hybrid console as of now.
It is not Nintendo's fault if you dont choose to try find a way to connect to the Internet. Your argument is the switch will drain data? Well turn it off then. that's your responsibility not nintendo's.
This is not an annoyance Id like to deal with you are right. But it isn't anything massive for the majority of the market. The majority of people with a console of any kind tend to have an access point every 7 days. I think you're the one being self centred and entitled actually since you admit your in a minority yet you expect the company to pander to your needs.

After reading the comments I learned that apparently that if you criticize Nintendo you're going to be a labeled a troll and that your comments are "manure" and should be ignored.
The fanboys defending this just want everyone to have the same opinion.

Yes it's so generous of any company to sell us stuff. We should all be grateful they continue to do so.

Even if a product is inferior we should be thankful that the company will take our money to provide it. /s

@saintayu Watch out your opinion doesn't agree with everyone else!

Somebody probably pointed this out but I'm.not reading through all the comments paid subscriptions can be traced all the way back to the 360 and ps3? Skip back a gen Xbox live has been around since the original Xbox. Also Xbox cloud saves only require a silver account. That's free. Like proper free and they don't delete your saves. There's not much Microsoft gets right. But that they've smashed.

I'll pick up the sub when Diablo 3 comes out and my mate wants to play it. We will probably just use Xbox live to chat though as we have headsets and subscriptions for that service.

I would also say if it was a SNES library that'd be cool. But NES well, yer ok.

@tedko it is and that’s the best part of this service. The family sub.
Truth is no one will buy the online service for their 280 pounds switch to play 30 year old games we had on gba. Wii. Wii u. 3ds. Samsung toasters. Philips freezer. Bosch coffee makers.

@tedko that’s a good suggestion actually! I’ll pass that on

@LeFooly lol

Yeah, the switch is a great system. Maybe that's what's so frustrating about this whole online debacle. The switch has the potential to be so much more than what it currently is but Nintendo apparently doesn't want that.

Family plan for me. Amazing deal

@MarzipanD you know, to be fair, the app isn't too bad, not sure if it'll be integrated with 3rd party games but it actually isn't so bad.

I connected to random people i was playing with online, it needs a bit of work, like adding the ability to send messages to friends, that would be good.

But yeah the app is better than i first thought at least, not perfect and needs some work, but thats like the rest of this service really.

Few tweeks here and there it would be decent.

Edit: i played Mario Kart.

@1UP_MARIO Yeaaah. I dunno, everyone’s been talking about this site being on a general decline. This a new writer?

I think this has all gotten a bit out of hand so let’s all try and calm down.

We all have different opinions, and that’s fine - but let’s all try and be respectful towards each other. Even if people are being rude to you.

Also, just for the record, I’m not saying that I don’t want to hear negativity towards Nintendo or a criticism of my article. I just don’t want to see aggressive behaviour and inflammatory remarks. They shut down discussion and hurt people’s feelings.

I accept that the tag line was provocative and may have put a few of you on the defensive right away. I’ll consider that for future articles.

@iLikeUrAttitude oh boy. What will they do? Make a straw man shaped like me and argue with it?

@zool I think YOU missed MY point. It doesn't matter what the game selection is. They could offer no games. Pennies a month for online play is a steal, even if it included nothing else. And people are definitely going to pay anyway because they want to play Smash and Pokemon and Splatoon and Mario Kart, etc. So from a business stance, it makes no sense to rethink.

@tedko Totally agree. It's a shame because I just bought Splatoon 2 last week and it's really fun. I'm definitely going to get Smash Ultimate and stick to local matches. Plus I go to a huge university so there are a lot of people I can play with without the need of online. I'm not buying into NSO until Nintendo makes improvements and add actual worth to it. Gamecube games would be super sick IMO, I don't give a crap about NES games. My old Samsung Galaxy S6 can run Dreamcast games.

People think "It's just 20 bucks a year" but think for a sec. Just 1 million people paying that 20 bucks is 20 million dollars for Nintendo. The fact that friend codes are still a thing, we still have to use our phones to voice chat, among other things, I cannot stand for buying this sorry excuse of an online service. I still love my Switch, but this online service is trash when it comes to its worth.

@LeFooly all I want is easy communication between people and voice chat, Stuff my Xbox did back in 2002, and I’d give them 20 hell I’d give them 40 for it. Call me spoilt but I’ve come to expect certain things with an online sub. The games I really couldn’t care less if we didn’t get any. I just want what I consider the basics done right.

@Mr_Pepperami @Deltath you know whats funny... Most dont know it, but but this is all planned by Nintendo to begin with... If they gave us the whole cake from start, people would still find reasons to complain and not subscribe, instead they give us a piece and people slowly start taking bites...

Lets say from the offset... 1m people subscribe... All Nintendo has to do is:

Make cloud saves last for 3+ months after subs end - sub numbers will double.

Integrate better voice chat or even the app through the Switch itself, better messaging and partying functions - numbers double

Announce the first batch of SNES games - numbers double again.

All while getting more subs daily while more people come around and the service catches on... Not to mention the boost in numbers IPS like Smash will bring.

I've said it before and I'll say it again

They won it... Everyone just has to wait and ses.

@Syrek24
The issue isn't people being dissatisfied. Even I feel dissatisfied with a few things about the online service.

I think anyone who feels dissatisfied that there are a few exceptions to games that are backed up with cloud saves, is well within reason. Although it should be noted NBA 2K and Dead Cells do work, which means Dark Souls is also probably going to work, they just had not updated it yet. So in truth it's really just Splatoon 2 and Pokémon, that are the key ommissions. And that definitely sucks, and I think Nintendo needs to rectify it, but at the same time perspective must be maintained. One or two games not having cloud saves versus hundreds that do, shouldn't be misconstrued to be the end of the world.

If someone takes issue with lack of voice chat across the board, I think there's definitely merit in feeling that way. I know I feel that way. And a messaging system goes along side that. I think any online system should at least provide that. And in no way do I think someone voicing dissatisfaction about these issues is unreasonable whatsoever.

The issue is blowing those things out of proportion. We haven't had voice chat at all for 18 months. And now we have half a dozen games added today. Admittedly it's not much, but it's certainly a step forward from what we had previously, and I'm sure it will improve. There's nothing wrong with saying hey, we should have this. We should have these things. The problem is when people start going on a rampage crusade about it, like a $20/yr online service is worth getting that emotionally invested in. It's not.

At the end of the day I pretty much agree with all the complaints being levied against the online service. What I don't agree with, is acting like it's the end of the world (it's not), or acting like there's no value offered whatsoever, or trying to shout from the rooftops so loud as to drown out any voice of reason in the middle.

It boils down to this- yes the service is lacking. Yes there are a few games omitted from the cloud saves and that needs to be rectified. Yes the voice chat and communication system is simply sub par. It is what it is. But it's not the end of the world, and at the end of the day 200 of my 202 games are backed up with cloud saves, and that's awesome. If I lost my Switch and I keep my saves for 200 games and lose it for 2, I'm not really going to care that much. Doesn't mean it shouldn't be rectified, but it does mean that it's not that big of an issue. For 18 months people have damaged their Switches and lost all their data. That ends today. And yes I'll pay $20 a year for it, especially with automatic backups and accessing saves on other consoles. We got some NES games with a really slick interface, and there's no denying that's pretty awesome. It works excellent. They took a giant leap forward into the modern era by letting us deactivate our accounts from their website and share games on other consoles by signing in... that's absolutely fantastic and I'm thrilled.

So ya. That's the problem. The problem isn't the complaints, the problem is the those who 100% blindly defend against it as if people aren't well within reason stating dissatisfaction, and those who are 100% railing and crusading against it as if there's nothing of value, like it's the freaking apocalypse or something. Very few voices of moderation and reason in between.

@LeFooly @1UP_MARIO I swore I wasn't going to sign up for switch online until it improves, but some friends asked if I wanted to join their family group, and man, that family rate is hard to pass up, so that's how Nintendo got me.

@Mr_Pepperami I hear you, voice chat is pretty much the biggest deal breaker for me as well. Couple that with the annoying friend codes, but if they just had built in voice chat it'd do wonders.

@Razer you’d think they’d at least start with the sponge base then. I feel like I have the candles and maybe a bit of jam filling but not the rest

@tedko You one of my friends I added to my family group? Doubt it, but hey, small world if it was!

@tedko That's actually pretty smart that you and your friends did that. I gotta say it is damn near a good deal. As long as you didn't have to pay more than 10 bucks for it then it's all good IMO lol.

@Razer mate I'll be honest I don't think the switch needs voice chat. I could live without it on the switch. But the fact that it's faffing about with an app on my phone I'm not convinced. When I get the service ill give it a go as its there. I just think at this point as others have said for a company that oozes innovation at times and always look to up the ante when it comes to their games and hardware this is very lacklustre.

@EvilRegal No you wont. You'll just find something else to grumble about.

@tedko yeah that’s potentially what me, my brother and some friends may do. None of us are particularly in a rush though. It’s def the best deal on offer.

@BenRK hahaha, well, I actually have no idea who you are, but it would indeed be a very small world if that were somehow the case.

I purchased Online last night I'm now seeing the value in the those expensive NES controllers. For real. Nintendo must be doing something right to do that. No way I wanted to buy them at that price. Feels great on the Pro controller but man now I need that two button goodness. The gameplay feels TIGHT something I felt was lacking in all the other virtual consoles for some reason. Hideous controllers or bad emulation. Who knows just know its the closest I've come to the feel of my original experience so far. They keep it up adding great content people will be buying their consoles just for the online service gaming part.

@tedko I'm just some random guy on the internet! You know. That one guy?

@Razer Yeah, we don't need no discussion on here. Speak with your wallet and shut up!

@Mr_Pepperami mate its an age old story though... You give them a finger thet want the whole hand...

It wouldn't of mattered what Nintendo had done, they'd have gotten torn for this anyway.

Think about it... Had they released EXACTLY the same service as the other two, for exactly the same price...

You honestly dont think therer would have been backlash to that? Come on now...

Only way for them to do this was to do it this way.

@Metal_Slugger "buying their consoles just for the online service." That sir is hilarious.

Wow what clickbait are you on?

Fellas I have had the wii u, the wii etc. And this is not even attempting to offer anything outside of what has already been offered!

Let's look at a breakdown

• no voice chat (oh but fortnight has it hmm)
• NES games online - then Wtf when I boot it up am I not playing online! It says friends only. That's not online that's me trying to find someone's friend code "online" so I can play online. The switch is new, who knew you still had to use friend codes!? Cause ya know every other gaming company and their own games allow you to play with people at random!
• Cloud Saves - except Nintendo neglected to mention their not opting in on some games. Wow that's like me selling something and expecting all my other 3rd parties to opt in but I myself am not.
• No lobbies, no way to message people online. What is this? Do they not get we want to have the experiences without being shoved down their "green" money pipes. (Yea go ahead us that I'll give it away this time)
• There's an enormous sore spot, that ya know when they launched they admitted online was half baked. They said wanted to offer something "worth" paying for. And even the president months back said "in its current state it's not worth it but we're going to release it anyway" at an investors meeting. wow. Their own words. We were waiting because thought get some of features ya know like steam has, Xbox live, or Sony. It took 18 months to add a hand that claps? I mean why not allow co-op in these games with people "online"
• no dedicated servers shows their not dedicated. Using our connection to fund this campaign. Are they afraid to spend thier money on setting up dedicated servers?
• Screen overlay at the bottom? Really? Emulators designed by a few team of guys and Nintendo the ones who actually own the ip can't do better? What have they been doing?
• This is unacceptable in 2018, anyone who says this is worth it. Is probably either got their head so far up Nintendo's ass or they are in bed with them. Either way it's a disgust and a total slap in the face to something that has been requested since the Wii!

This is Nintendo: "don't worry were not making the same mistakes again"
Me/ENTIRE Gaming Community: "no you're making, you're making entirely new ones"

I almost wanna say screw Nintendo. Greed. Pure greed. Just like with the Wii, apparently they still refuse to pay attention to what's going on and bury their heads in the sand.

I invite everyone to call in and ask "why" it doesn't do these things like play with random people online. Why still need friend codes. Why Nintendo doesn't allow cloud saves on its own products or why the hell you need a smartphone. "Oh mom, I know the guy at the gamestore said I just needed this, but I need a smartphone to chat and that wasn't included and yea he didn't say anything about that." She grabs the box: Yea doesn't say it's required are you sure?

Yea that'll go over well...around Christmas time. What are they have a cell phone company that is investing and they feel the need to help him out. It makes no sense. Especially when fortnight allows it. It's not even a hardware limitation. Another game developer who isn't Nintendo is doing it better. Wow.

Enough! It's not okay. And this is article is like saying it okay to let someone who is Nintendo come in and give you shite for a service.

It's beyond comprehension. Ask yourself why an article like this is saying this. Why do they care is people are upset or unhappy with a service clear throat ahem they are "paying" for! Think it over. Frustrating...so frustrating you are Nintendo - anyone who can put on a pair of pants can understand this is NOT worth it. My question to Nintendo is who is putting on their pants for them?

They should offer just cloud storage for a cheaper price, because the rest of the Switch Online features are of no use to me. I'd be paying £18 a year just to backup my saves. :/

Okay, I agree with the article but you made 1 small mistake; PS3 Online has always been free, it wasn't until the PS4 came out that they started charging and even that was only for the PS4, even to this day the PS3's Online is still free.

@Crono1973 what's there to discuss? You should be old enough to decide what you want to do... Spend your money or not... Whos forcing you to?

You feed yourself an illusion that your being forced to pay... Nobody cares if you pay or not... You do you...

Talking about it wont matter either... You want someone to change your mind for you? Have your little internets debate about "i refuse" and "its not fair". For someone to give you a reason to pay? You know how pathetic that is? Just move on.

The article basically seems to boil down to three points: Nintendo announced this in advance, it’s cheaper than the service offered by rival platforms and it has potential, therefore it’s a very generous offering- so we should all take our medicine without complaining.

The writer of this article and others complaining about other people complaining will be grateful if enough people’s complaints lead to improvements in the service.

Dreadful article, in my opinion.

@Razer Then you should stop posting since you think there is nothing to discuss.

I bought my yearly subscription but there are some complaints like no button mapping for NES games.

@Razer it’s hard to tell. Know what you mean though. Nintendo aren’t exactly helping themselves though. Pretty much every feature has some kind of caveat to turn it into a negative. The NES games thing though totally doesn’t bother me but I want a basic service done right.

The article sub heading has proved problematic. I get that it's a positive counter to the previous article, but the negative subheading and a few inaccuracies was always going to lead to comment section meltdown.
For the first time in 10 years, I wont be playing Mario Kart online. I appreciate the 'free' online time I've had, but I'm not subscribing for such a barebones service. The games on offer don't really interest me, and any that did I've bought more than once previously on Nintendo hardware. Their handling of most online matters has been for generations average at best. Unified account promised last gen? I've got games on my Wii U and 3DS that I would pay to access on my Switch. I'm sure Ninty will have better cards to play in the future, but at the moment I'm out.

@Crono1973 I'm not trying to change anyones mind or justify my purchase. You can complain all you want but you already made the choice to purchase the service... Isn't that within itself counter intuitive of your complaints?

Do you often make random impulse buys then get annoyed at it? Shame Nintendo didn't add a free trial... O wait... Never mind....

@EvilRegal Ah ha! I see what you did there! XD

Is there any popcorn left?

@FoxyGlen Pretty disappointing to have a member of NL's staff refer to user comments as "manure". I mean, some people are being critical of your column but some agree with you. The same thing happened witht the opposite view which was posted the other day.

If what you were talking about are the comments that violate the rules of the site then you shouldn't be scrolling through them but deleting them.

For the record, I appreciate your work, and optimistic takes are always welcome.

@Razer LOL, so with you it's either 'don't subscribe if you don't like it but don't complain' or 'even if you subscribe, don't complain because you already gave your 100% approval'.

Wow.

I think it’s serviceable but not very exciting. Nintendo puts so much effort into small details of their game software, but their online service isn’t nearly there yet.

I would have paid for the year membership for the nes games alone. The only games I play online with any regularity are Splatoon 2 and Mario Tennis. As it stands I was playing Hockey and Double Dragon all last night.

What the hell Nintendo did with the CRT filter for the NES Games ?
My goodness, it's absolutly horrible ! What a shame !
And it's not done yet because I dunno who had the idea to upscale the games by 5 but he is a morron, I'm sorry but a NES game is 256 x 240 native...
Now, 240 x 5 = 1200 ! On a 1080p screen ? Nintendoooo, are you kidding us ?

This is how it looks with the "Nintendo Shader" (check the image fullscreen)

Now, this is how it looks with the shader that I'm using in my game (again, check in fullscreen)

You clearly see the difference and the image of the NES games are cropped on the Switch, 24 pixels in height are missing... :/ Good job guys...

I agree with this article, which is why I haven't been complaining much about it. I'm personally pretty okay with what I've seen from the online service so far. It has a lot of potential and right now it's in its infant stages. Give it time. PS Plus wasn't so great either at first.

@Cobalt Yikes!

@Lord You totally nailed it, mediocre at best, 9/10 lol

@Onion

Yes PS Plus wasn’t that good at first, but Nintendo had years to copy Sony or Microsoft’s model.

Also PS Plus wasn’t needed to access online,as it started on the PS3, it was only for discounts and games, hence the plus.

@HAL9000
$20 to back up your saves. $0 for the competition. No contest.

@LeFooly I paid $4. Just hard to pass up there. Sure, I want voice chat and a few other things, but I'm liking what I got for it.

“The best part is, it doesn't really offer anything less.”

I’m a Nintendo fan and this a Nintendo fan site, but c’mon you can be more objective than that. Clearly there is a huge value divide for a great many people between a bunch of 35 year old NES titles compared to the free games being offered on PS+ and Xbox Live, many of which will be around 12 - 24 month old AAA titles that were actually developed and designed for the system you are getting them from, not some decades old emulation of titles we’ve seen time and time again.

The handling of multiple systems by MS and Sony is far smoother too and things like online chat and how those are handled are exceptionally relevant too and shouldn’t be dismissed.

You’re paying less but you’re clearly getting much less for the dollar. I’m happy but let’s not pretend that the experiences are the same.

Also as an FYI, cloud saving on Xbox isn’t tied to Gold, it’s free for all users.

@FoxyGlen You’re just a person, guy. Ya learn and grow, I encourage, accept and appreciate that. I look forward to your contributions in the future. Defending your work is admirable, itself. (And I’m no stranger to it.) We all do and say things that are going to be regarded as, “controversial,” now and then. If you’re pleasing everyone, you’re surely doing it wrong.

Getting all derogatory and coming off as attacking your audience is bound to leave a bad taste in some of their mouths, even if that wasn’t the intention. I’m seeing a lot of it, lately, not just here, but everywhere, nearly, in this modern culture. People thinking, “oh, I’m so cheeky, roasted,” type stuff. We’re seeing it from corporations, people, in social media, television, etc. It’s not always praise worthy, and many times it comes across as baiting, and it’s not going to lead to anything more than unpleasantries, and irritation. I guess at this point, I’m bending ears on a moot point. Y’all take care, this evening.

@Alantor28 Have you heard of NDA’s? Many people can’t speak of their work, because they’re legally bound to silence. Not that I care one way or the other, and I’ve read so much of this comment feed that I could hardly even want to try to read through to determine what’s up entirely, but... phew, man. This is that, “derogatory,” stuff again.

Wow. this comment section is a dumpster fire!
I agree with the majority of this article.
Hopefully the internet will find something else to burn at the stake next month. I'll just go back to enjoying games now....

@Gen0neD The NES games you get are some of the best games ever made. Not all of them are but a lot are. You get a handful of games that are better than any of the indies available on the shop for a lot less money. It's a good start. Sorry you suck?

@Alantor28 yorumi is quite literally unemployed

@Yorumi Oh look, you're lying again.

@Yorumi ...Ya know what. This feud is getting us nowhere. So I would like to say I'm sorry for attacking and insulting you. I can understand why you're upset about things like this and it was wrong of me to attack you for it. So I hope you forgive me for acting out of line.

@Varubajia

You see what I’m saying? He’s oblivious.

He writes these insane, self-absorbed, condescending, hypocritical essays every time he gets on.

No one takes him seriously on this site. Nobody. He’s arguably the most obnoxious individual I’ve ever met in any online interaction, and that’s saying a ton.

It’s gotta be a personality disorder or something. No one’s head is that far up their own ass.

@JaxonH

"*** Cloud backups for 99.95% of my games"

You have 2000 Switch games and only 1 doesn't have cloud saves? That is pretty solid.

@Alantor28 I'm sorry dude but Yorumi is right, you attacked me and even @Octane asked you to stop... Maybe you forgot but not me... ^^

@Cobalt Yeah, so I'm ending this feud with both you and Yorumi. I know both of you are upset about the Online Service and I can understand that. But I am gonna enjoy it. So I will respect your opinions about this and I hope you two forgive me for attacking and insulting you two.

Everyone. You get on your knees and swallow everything that Nintendo gives you to swallow. Don't you question our corporate overlords!

Oh man this site is such a mess. Holy crap

@Ryzaerian I think he’s pretty alright, and I think he has valuable opinions and an interesting point of view. Several times he’s brought things to my attention that would’ve gone unnoticed, otherwise. Quit bein’ a hater.

I don't think the value is there and I'm not going to get it. But I think getting really upset is an overreaction too. It's a price increase for games simply.

Surprisingly, Switch is Nintendo's first console where the MSRP standard is $60. But Sony/Microsoft have had that standard since 2006. Instead of Sony/Microsoft raising the price of games to $70, they've locked features behind a membership paywall getting you to pay more than $60 for your games. Nintendo is now doing the same thing. So depending on how many games you buy, the actual cost is a small amount greater than $60. And if that is really such a big deal to you, then buy used games and hurt Nintendo alot more than boycotting this online program.

@nonprophetmusic

He literally gets on, tells everyone how stupid and immature they are for having some particular opinion, offers nothing to the discussion, and then goes into a ridiculous, condescending, long-winded tangent about the correct way to live life.

Every. Single. Time.

@FoxyGlen While I agree the comment section could be more civil, it is very ironic that you all of people are suggesting this.

You are the one who wrote the header that was either designed purely for clicks or is the worst header of all time.

You are one of the main people attacking other users.

You are the one accusing Yorumi of being aggressive for merely disagreeing with you and either moved the goalpost during the PC cost debate or have no idea how much parts cost considering they can be used for multiple console cycles.

And finally, it's bad form to agree with users known most for attacking other users, attacking like Mods, and constantly being told not to do these things.

@cleveland124
200+ games, with 2 that don't work for me personally. But I'm banking on that being about it. And there's far more games out that I don't own. So the estimate will likely be pretty close when everything is said and done.

But ya, it's actually not bad at all. I feel safe now. If, God forbid, something happens to my Switch, I'm covered. That's all I wanted. Turns out Dark Souls might be working as well, since Dead Cells and NBA 2K work despite previous reports. I preloaded, and there's no warning like Splatoon. It's identical to all the other compatible games.

I can live with that. But I do think they need to address communications. I'd like to party chat in Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate. Ahhh well. At least my saves are secured, and with the new policy allowing accounts to be deactivated on their website, that pretty much covers the worries of what to do if it's lost or stolen.

And that was a huge concern for me. I have so many games and saves, it would be disastrous to lose them like dude from IGN. Oh man... I feel for him.

@Ryzaerian Even though he's on my ignore list, I know exactly whom you are talking about. I like to call him "Delusion of Grandeur".

@DanPan16 Accurate. 😁

@Ryzaerian Did you know the site has a nifty feature to ignore users you don’t wanna see? I’m not about to run through reading comments to play detective, mods kinda needa get it together on this place, ‘cause the discourse nearly always degrades into oblivion, and this is supposed to be a fun place, ya know? I’ll admit, more than once, I’ve let myself be dragged into it, and I know when I got here nobody knew how to take me, but come on, guys. Be decent. Crapping on random internet strangers shouldn’t make you feel better, and if it does, I really hope you’re doing alright, and I hope you get through whatever you’re dealing with you can chill tf out.

@HAL9000 so 20$ is worth it because cloud saves and nes games you dont own... lol stupid