Another trio of classic games have just been announced for Nintendo’s subscriber-only Virtual Console replacement, this time Claymates, Jelly Boy, and Bombuzal. They all have one very special thing in common: They’re all games nobody asked for, and nobody wanted.
Nintendo could have released anything at all — like… let’s say Earthbound, just to pull one random and definitely not loaded name out of a hat — and instead they gave us a selection of titles a lot of people had to go to the trouble of looking up just so they could work out what they needed to get angry on social media about in the first place.
I’ll say it loud and proud, though: Nintendo made the right choice, and I hope more Nintendo Switch Online releases contain games like these.
Between understandably hazy memories and the internet providing an endless font of “Best of” articles to peruse the very best of the SNES’ library at our leisure (to which we happily and enthusiastically contribute, of course), the fact is that those games we judge to stand the test of time only reflect a very tiny portion of all the titles available for Nintendo’s 16-bit wonder.
We’ve become stuck in a highly curated rut of overly-familiar classics alongside a sprinkling of rarities nobody bought at the time, weird and misunderstood games that were rebranded as innovative and experimental decades later (now that nobody had to actually pay for them), import games most people couldn’t buy back then, let alone read, and titles that — depending on your region — may not have ever existed at all. Chrono Trigger is officially a DS game for European Nintendo fans, to give one notable example.
And the unfortunate side-effect of all this is that the best of the best has become our expected baseline; genre-molding leading lights oh-so-very-ordinary; the impossibly rare never more than a few casual mouse clicks away. The latter example is an incredible boon, but it has skewed our thinking of not only what the SNES was but what it could be, too.
The Nintendo Switch Online library is infused with an honesty we’ve lost over the years as we’ve busily expanded our palettes and tantalised our gaming tastebuds with retro obscurities
The Super Nintendo was always more than Squaresoft’s RPG plaything or Rare’s pre-rendered powerhouse, more than something to be revered or appreciated, everyone nodding in quiet, uniform awe at the “right” games and not even glancing at the rest. It was a machine for everyone; for people who played FIFA, for kids enthralled with the latest cartoon tie-in (which at the time would’ve been something like Animaniacs or Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose), for teens desperate to play Doom no matter what their parents said. Bedroom shelves weren’t bowing under the weight of worthy Super Famicom imports or Europe-only translation oddities like Pop’n TwinBee and The Firemen in the Nineties, and Nintendo’s “unusual” choice of NSO offerings reflect the broader reality in a way our own retro discussions rarely do.
The Nintendo Switch Online library is infused with an honesty we’ve lost over the years as we’ve busily expanded our palettes and tantalised our gaming tastebuds with retro obscurities with all the speed and eagerness we once displayed when picking up a new console and willingly leaving previous generations behind. Bombuzal didn’t set the world alight on its SNES release in 1990 and it’s fair to say it won’t do now either, but it is something different, something unusual, something a sibling or a school friend would have bought secondhand and placed next to their copy of Wing Commander or Jurassic Park.
That game's new lease of life on the Switch is a chance for us to reset and readjust, to not play the same best SNES games of all time again — the games that everyone knew were the best of all time last year, and the year before that, and the decade(s) before that — but to play a broader, 'truer' selection of SNES games. To play games we’ve never heard of, games we always meant to try out but never quite got around to, games that can offer the most precious retro experience of all: a new experience connected to something old and familiar, something that makes us stop and think, a game we haven’t already formed an opinion on before it's finished downloading.
You don’t have to like any of the SNES games in Nintendo’s latest NSO offering or pretend these are previously hidden gems. They aren’t awful, but they aren’t all that great, and I’m not claiming otherwise. But maybe, if you give them a go, you’ll find they’re a fun way to kill an afternoon. Or a new awful experience to moan to a friend about the next time you talk to them. Or a happy reminder of just how special and how far ahead of the pack your favourite classic has always been. These releases at the very least provide context for all the legends already on there and the others you always hope they’ll add later; a chance to see the highs, lows, and more honest examples of “ordinary” available on the hardware.
This article would take a very different tone if Nintendo’s retro Switch selection was offered on a rotating basis, swapping out treasured favourites such as Yoshi’s Island or Donkey Kong Country for relative unknowns, but as it stands there are now over a hundred games to choose from on the service, including some of the biggest and best Nintendo games of the era, games that commanded premium prices when new or were so hard to find at the time those that were lucky enough to do so still tell stories of long car rides or unbelievably lucky swaps with friends. These games are still there and ready to play anywhere and anywhen for as long as your subscription lasts.
And those that aren’t? You can still buy Earthbound directly from Nintendo for 3DS and Wii U right now if you really want to, and for far less than even the tattiest eBay-acquired loose cart will cost you, too. If that’s too much of a hurdle to overcome for whatever reason, other less legitimate avenues exist — and Jelly Boy will still be ready and waiting for you when you’re done.
Comments (114)
I agree that lesser known titles could be diamonds in the rough, my personal issues are (and mentioned in the announcement topic) that majority of the games added as just short time wasters with little meat or content to keep enjoying. Unless it's something that really clicks with you, not many will get what they hope of their money's worth from it.
A more varied selection would be nice. Or maybe just some JRPGs that aren't just the two Capcom ones we got.
There is also the issue with how Japan seemingly keeps getting more high tier games that rub the western fans the wrong way.
Thank you Nintendo for allowing people to pay for games they don't want. 🤣
Like usual, Nintendo is screwing the costumers, and fans are defending it, it's like they are proud of being screwed.
There's nothing wrong in bringing back those hidden gems of the NES and SNES era that almost no one played, but they should also bring back the classics we already know, I defend that all 1757 SNES games should be on the service, but the classics have priority.
Plus, even if Nintendo was bringing back the classics we want, the service still sucks because the games are coming too slow, it's just ROMs, at this pace, only in 2030 this service will have a decent library of games considering it's just retro titles, and Nintendo will probably reset this library and will have to restart from scratch like they already did with the Wii and Wii U library of retro titles.
I do enjoy the occasional glimpse at a game that I just have never heard of at all, despite me spending most of my life surrounded by retro video gaming discussion. It really is interesting, and I do appreciate that Nintendo is interested in presenting these strange titles to us.
However, the thing that gets most people annoyed is the absence of some pretty dang obvious classics that should have been included by now. No one would hate on Jelly Boy if the rate of NSO releases wasn't so ridiculously slow, and priority was given to the more popular choices.
Another thing, for those saying "Bring us N64 games", they would bring us N64 games no one cared to play even in the 1990s.
And most of them wouldn't even be hidden gems, but would be hidden turds instead.
@victordamazio I doubt many fans are actually defending Nintendo on their decisions here for the consumer. All the NSO topics reflect as much.
There is likely logical business sense to what they are doing, but that has nothing to do with our likes and wants.
The article in question here is pretty much in short just saying give the unknowns a try. Didn't feel there was any actual defending of the way Nintendo handles it all.
Why not release 2 lesser known games alongside a big hitter, such as Earthbound. Thats a far better idea than drip feeding fans titles every few months that we then find out are ones no body has asked for 🤷♂️
Anticipation killer or what.
I saw someone describe Nintendo's selections as the "closeout bin at a Blockbuster" and it made me laugh.
I personally like their picks, though.
My Switch Online looks something like this 😉
Interesting take. I do look forward to the new games, whatever they are, even if I only put five minutes into each one. After all,
a) there are a few dozen stone-cold classics in the NES and SNES apps already;
b) I'm not dependent on these offerings, since the Switch plays a lot more than old NES and SNES games;
c) it's a free bonus for people who subscribe to NSO, and that costs pocket change to begin with; and
d) I can't be bothered to get upset over something so incredibly minor.
I think people wouldn't be getting angry if Nintendo would stop the trickle of new games and either open the floodgates or release more than 3 games per month. Maybe release 2 batches of 3 games in a month or a new game each and every week. I think Nintendo should be releasing these obscure games nobody has heard about on the service, I'm not arguing against that. It's a great way to give these games new leases on life and for video game preservation for the next generation. But Nintendo is bringing the hate on upon themselves by not releasing these obscure titles alongside the popular, first-party games like EarthBound alongside them. Especially for first-party games, Nintendo has the power to open the floodgates. They just don't want to put the effort in.
Yeah, a snapshot is the correct description, because we all want everything. Some people are angry that Banjo Kazooie isn't there, others are angry at some other game, but to quote Queen; we want it all!
Ok, the article makes an interesting point. That said, if Nintendo is going to fill SNES online with forgotten games no one is asking for, they need to be quicker about it.
Two things would subside the anger, and I think they are both reasonable:
1. Increase the pace of output. We go several months with no new additions, and this time we got nothing added on the NES side. The old monthly add-ons were much nicer, nowadays we wonder if Nintendo briefly forgets about NSO entirely.
2. add at least one better known game in each delivery. That actually worked with the DKC games. They released one per update alongside some unknown titles, and people were down with that.
I also like being able to experience these games I've never heard of before, and some are quite good. There are only a few Nintendo-produced titles I'm still waiting for (Earthbound, Super Mario RPG, StarTropics 2, Earthbound Beginnings). The other classics are mainly there. Missing third party classics are either bundled in other collections or won't come for licensing reasons. The main issue with NSO is that we need to move on to N64 and GBA.
No chance in hell Nintendo will release Earthbound in the current Reeee climate where activist websites will immediately begin a smear campaign for Nintendo daring to release fiction with some stereotypes included.
This is a soapbox article right?
The mind wants more. If Nintendo released EVERY SNES game I would still want more SNES games! Xxx
the problem isnt that switch online is releasing obscure games, the problem is that switch online isnt releasing GOOD obscure games.
Huh I never thought of it that way. Granted I would still very much like to have earthbound playable on switch in some form.
Good article and many of the obscure games that have been released in the past, for the NES and SNES were actually fun to play and some of them never heard of. Fans are used to the typical Top best and forget that both NES and SNES have lots of oscure gems that deserved to be tried.
Also, like I said before, we should stop waiting for the big ones from Capcom, Konami, Square et al. They won't canibalize their own games selling on the eshop. And old licensed games? That's IP Hell. Forget about them.
I still don't understand why we can't have both the Wii/Wii U full VC library for those that wish to pay for individual titles and keep the current NSO bonus offerings as well? I'm sure there us a market for both, especially at the current low price for a subscription.
Pretty much exactly where I stand. I can play Link to the Past on nearly every system Nintendo ever released. It was rare once, but I now have 3 legit ways to play Earthbound available to me (Not counting my treasured actual copy from the '90s). Square has been happy to port over nearly everything they ever did to the Switch (With the "Pixel Perfect" collection likely to come soon). Know what I haven't played in 30 years? Claymates. It wasn't a perfect game, but it had some neat ideas. It only occasionally surfaces in my memories of gaming back in the day. It's a game that's never going to get ported to anything. Unless I missed it, it didn't even make the Virtual Console back when that was a thing. I am extremely looking forward to playing it. And I haven't even HEARD of the other two. And I've played a LOT of video games. Are they good? Who knows. Can't wait to find out!
@DarthFoxMcCloud Currently we seem to be 3-5 games per season. That really doesn't help things much. When we got them monthly (think was like 1 nes and 2 SNES?) even then it still felt to many as very much drip feeding.
This was a good reminder to uncheck auto renewal from my Nintendo Online account.
it's like a snapshot of the discount bin at KB Toys
I mean, Claymates is a better game than Balan Wonderworld, so there's that.
You make a good point but I still don't want to subscribe for these games.
Tiny Toons on SNES is an awesome game, love it!
@onex “better than Balan wonderworld” should become a meme.
Also can’t wait for NSO to fail so they are forced to do better, but like that’s ever going to happen with all the sales. But I can wish 😞
Getting these lesser known games would feel like less of a burn if Nintendo just released the far superior, glaring omissions people are actually asking for. You know, Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger, Act Raiser, Earthbound, Cybernator, etc.
I think a lot of people seem to forget a lot of the bigger third party NES and SNES titles are available at the moment on their own compilations or stuck in legal/licensing hell so I can appreciate Nintendo using NSO as a means to give a spotlight to some of the lesser known more obscure titles
@OldManHermit I forgot about Mario RPG, I love that game! Mario RPG definitely deserves to be on NSO.
I suggest the next article be an in depth explanation of 3rd party ownership and licensing, with the challenges involved in getting such games on a service like NSO.
So, when it comes to nintendo adding games to the nes/snes virtual console, do they have to go through the same rigmarole, as xbox or ps? Licenses and copyrights, dead companies, etc. It's not like all of the games on there now, were developed or published by nintendo.
It's not a problem to bring lesser known games to the service. That's great. I applaud that wholeheartedly.
It is a problem to charge for a service that ostensibly gives access to a backwards-compatible library but omits beloved classics you've also charged money for in the past on previous consoles within the same basic functionality, making it impossible for specifically your most loyal and happy-to-spend fans to have a comprehensive collection without resorting to piracy.
Everything that was available for NES or SNES on the Wii or Wii U Virtual Consoles should be on this service. It shouldn't even be a question. It's the entire point of the thing.
But only a snapshot and only the 90s.
To be frank, I am kinda sick of the love the 90s get. I mean, I was born in 92. So I played a bunch of these as a kid kid. But I feel much more nostalgia for the late 90s and early 2000s. N64, GB Color, GBA and GameCube. Folks like me are working adults now too. Where's the catering to our nostalgia?
I do not condone piracy. But I understand why people do it. The NES/SNES/Mega drive kids get their nostalgia everywhere. You can play SMW and Sonic on basically everything with a screen made in the last 15 years.
Where are the GBA era Fire Emblem titles? How about MK64? Where is Golden Sun? Or MK double dash? And so many many more?
Some and only some are on Wii U VC. Or 3DS VC. But both of those systems are just far less ideal than Switch could and should be.
Having a blast with Nightshade on NES online rn. It's a point and click style adventure like Maniac Mansion!
@Wolfgabe where are the Snes Final Fight games? Capcom doesn't even care to put them in a collection...
@XenoShaun if someone didn't get their money's worth from Switch Online that's their own fault, nobody to blame but themselves
I’m digging the oddball games I just don’t understand why they don’t have some of the touchstone Virtual Console games and/or the ones that were on the, now discontinued, mini consoles. Like it seems to me a lot of the work is done already why put more effort into getting oddball games when you already have the library of the mini consoles running in HD that could be on this service. I know it’s not as simple as copy/paste but surely it must be less work to translate from the mini console to the Switch than it is to start from nothing the way they are with some of these titles.
My online subscription ran out last month and I didn't even notice until yesterday. I won't be renewing it.
There is no way u can defend nintendo for this. I hope the steam deck takes a lot of their money.
Right on! While I have a choice of PS Plus, Game Pass, PS Now, there's really only one option for more discerning players. And NSO let's me spend $30 a year to rent obscure games I didn't even want to rent for $3.49, 30 years ago.
I have a Zippo and a wallet. Let's party!
@Finntendo64 Haha I was referring to the gameplay mechanic in Claymates where you change into different characters to use different abilities, similar to Balan.
Don’t understand the bellyaching about 8 and 16 bit game availability. Those games have been available online since the 90’s. Portable emulators easy to find since mid 2000’s. What haven’t people been able to play by now? Good grief
@victordamazio screwed how? You are paying for online servers. These games are just extras. Don’t like it, cancel your membership.
It's nice to see some hidden gems for the new generation to try. The people asking why Nintendo doesn't just give us beloved classics are the same idiots complaining that Nintendo kept rehashing and reselling the same games to them every gen. You got something new this gen just be happy you got something new to try. Besides these games would be incredible to play on the OLED.
We need Soulblazer/Illusion of Gaia/Terranigma.... I'll try these new randos but I do feel like we are being disserviced every 8-12 weeks when we get 3-4 titles we've never heard of.
Totally agree with the writer. I'm sick of people complaining about what is essentially a perk of a subscription that people pay in order to play online anyway. SNES and NES games are an addition. You don't like them? Fine. You didn't pay the fee for them anyway.
Plus, I love having the opportunity to play obscure games instead of (well, besides) the must haves we see again and again, most of which we already have on cartridges, Virtual Consoles or mini consoles.
Can't speak for others, but my gaming shelf wasn't plugged full with a bunch of games I didn't want and will never play, while only having a minority of good ones in there that I actually want.
When Nintendo was doing Virtual Console, nobody was doing retro releases. It wasn't a problem to get Square to put Secret of Mana on there, because Square had no interest in releasing Secret of Mana anywhere else. Castlevania? Why not? Konami wasn't gonna be releasing them. Recently, like in the last 3 years, there has been a huge uptick in "Classics" collections. Now companies are actively trying to make money on games like River City Ransom and The Lost Vikings. They don't want Nintendo to release them for free when they can bundle them up in a package and make $20 - $30. I'd imagine the pickings are a bit more slim than they used to be.
I feel like several people here are confusing the content and the container.
What Nintendo is selling is online service. The NES and SNES collections are bonuses to help sell the service, but they are not the service themselves. Nintendo didn't have to offer anything at all, but they did as a way to give something extra to buyers.
I'm not saying people don't have a right to criticize, but people are acting like Nintendo owes this to them, when they don't. It's a very self entitled point of view.
I'll never understand why they didn't just migrate the Virtual Console to Switch.
Is this an article about the games or about worrying what someone is crying about on the internet?
I don't mind lesser known games being added. It's no secret both the NES and SNES held tons of lesser known gems, flawed though they may be.
Personally, I take more issue with the rate at which they're being added. But I'm also sure a lot of that comes down to backend licensing deals and concerns.
Do I wish more "well known" games were added? Sure. But more than that, I wish that some companies, Nintendo included, could use the service to put out games that never got releases in the past. As a good example, Atlus released an official translation of Shin Megami Tensei for iOS devices a few years back. NSO would be a wonderful opportunity to re-release it.
Will it happen? Probably not. But I can dream.
In the meantime, I'll continue playing more Panel de Pin online.
I really don't think people would mind these games and would actually be curious about them if all of Nintendo's 1st party games are on there... even aside from the bigger names that are still missing there's lots of smaller titles like Mario and Wario that could be chucked on there. Why not add one Nintendo game each time at least? That's not to even get into the other consoles...
It's an odd service that feels very cobbled together... one of the recently added games they seemingly didn't even bother Googling the boxart and it just has a screenshot of the title screen among all the boxart for everything else. It just looks unprofessional and sloppy. :-/
Look I agree with a lot of this article, but the massive elephant in the room and point that has so clearly been missed is that NSO should have a much bigger library of games and should be prioritising the games more people have played and thus have made memories with.
Nintendo's absurd, random, scatter gun (generous at the rate they are releasing!) approach is rightly annoying people. Games people have played, backed up by the sales data, should be prioritised.
Or at the very least, combine the two? Here's 3 new games - two that sold loads, and one that's entirely random and did nothing.
This is a great and extremely necessary piece, Kerry. I feel like Youtube channels/Twitter have created a groupthink for an era of gaming where, when it was actually happening, such a thing was nearly impossible. Part of the fun of visiting a friend's house back then was seeing what games they had you'd never heard of, and finding out first hand if they were any good. I would much prefer this service be a more realistic collection of games of varying quality than just yet another "these are the CHOSEN games" curation.
I already have Kirby Super Star so anything else they add is fine. I'm a happy.
The only thing this is a snapshot of is the clearance bin at Toys R' Us lol
I don't mind games like this coming to the NSO, on the contrary. But, like others have pointed out, there's still a Final Fantasy I-VI / Chrono Trigger / Earthbound / Super Mario RPG / Actraiser / The Legend of the Mystical Ninja / Illusion of Time/Gaia / Bionic Commando / Battletoads shaped hole (not to talk of all the Turtles, Ducktales etc.) in the catalog.
Internet users justifying ROMs: Games should be preserved.
Nintendo releases old games from the SNES that people may not have played.
Internet uses: Nobody asked for these.
Aren't they preserving the games by making these available? Or are you hypocrites and thing game preservation only applies to popular games?
If we had the virtual console as well, then sure. But this is the only access we have to classic Nintendo games. It's only natural for updates like these to feel like missed opportunities.
I tried to see the positive aspects of this article. I try to like a game with a pot belly that hits objects. I wanted peanut butter not a Jelly Boy. I wanted to like the NSO, I wanted Clayfighters not Clay mates. That sounds like friends with mold to me. Bombuzal looks like Mr. Potato Head on crack. I apologized it is Potato Head to all the Non-binarys.I never had high expectations. I guess after a few years of having the service I got a little disappointed. I went on a few rants on social media sites. It is what it is. A not very good perk or a not very good substitution for the virtual console. I just realized I’m going to be using the online service when Pokémon comes out in November. So I guess I’m stuck with a subscription. I don’t know if I’ll rant again. I know I did find it a bit entertaining to do so and somewhat cathartic. So I guess what I am saying is, I apologize if I offended anybody because those games do leave a taste of vomit in my mouth. OK rant done.
@Sinton At this point the only way the NES/SNES Final Fantasies come to Switch is if/when the Pixel Remasters get ported to consoles after PC/mobile
The ones that complain about not getting these games fall in to two categories usually. First the ones that won't play any of the games the "want" past the first few minutes anyway and the second lot have already played the games countless times before and probably have several physical and digital versions of the game already. Some times a lot of the games that are being released haven't been given much attention not only at the time but also the years since and can sometimes be actually fun to play something that you don't know what it is or to expect from it.
I think it would be helpful to compile a list of the NES and SNES games that (A) Nintendo could release, but (B) have not yet/won't release for whatever reason.
It's one thing to say "I wish the Ninja Turtles games were on NES Online!" but it's totally different to say "Nintendo sucks for not releasing the Ninja Turtles NES games on NES Online!"
So really, what NES/SNES games does Nintendo have the rights to release that they haven't yet put on the platform?
It's an entirely separate discussion to talk about GBA/N64/NGC support, etc.
Removed - unconstructive; user is banned
Claymates is objectively amazing, 10/10. Next we need the insane Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures, the SNES Jurassic Park, and Secret of Evermore.
a lame 90's gaming shelf maybe
@Zenszulu Some times a lot of the games that are being released haven't been given much attention not only at the time but also the years since and can sometimes be actually fun to play something that you don't know what it is or to expect from it.
Yeah right. After all these years no one has made a YouTube video praising these games but NOW that Nintendo released them on NSO they may be good? LOL no.
I like that they release games I’ve never heard of, just wish they would release some more that I have heard of. I’d especially like them to release more consoles like TG16 or N64. I have the NSO for these releases . There is nothing I play online. I would even pay more annually for better releases.
@bigpale By my count, these are the first party games not on NSO yet that wouldn't need new English translations, don't require peripherals, and don't have major foreseeable licensing issues:
NES:
Anticipation
Clu Clu Land D (already have first one)
Devil World
Donkey Kong Jr. Math
Earthbound Beginnings
F-1 Race
Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally
Golf (already have NES Open Tournament Golf)
Kung Fu
Mach Rider
Mysterious Murasame Castle
NES Play Action Football (already have Tecmo Bowl)
Pinball
Urban Champion
Zoda's Revenge: Startropics 2
SNES:
Earthbound
Kirby's Avalanche (already have Puyo Puyo 2)
Super Mario RPG (actually probably would have licensing issues)
Super Play Action Football
Sutte Hakkun (the big controls screen filled with Japanese text would be a bit intimidating but it seems like it'd be playable with some explanation in the NSO description blurb)
Vegas Stakes (actually they probably can't release this and keep an E rating)
Wario's Woods
Winter Gold
Wrecking Crew '98 (menus and cutscenes are all in Japanese, but it seems like it should be playable)
I couldn't agree more... It's fun to try out these games.. sometimes they generate laughs with us if nothing else. I would not have tried them otherwise.
Honestly I never heard of Spanky's Quest on the last NSO update, but after playing it I really enjoyed it. I don't think i would have ever sought that game out on my own. Also psycho dream was fun too.
I'm the minority. I'm fine with the Switch online service. For $20 a year, I'm fine with it. No, it's not great. No, it's not terrible. It's fine.
For the record, the Virtual Console was overpriced and not as great as everyone thinks it was. With the games on Switch online, plus the game compilations released by Capcom, Konami, Blizzard, Disney and others, you are getting about the same amount of games as the VC on the Switch.
@Adamario Great work!
There's also the light gun games (Duck Hunt, Hogan's Alley etc.), the R.O.B. games (hard to pull of) and the mouse games (only Mario Paint?).
I wonder if there are some complications with games such as Pinball (was it based on another game?) and Super Mario RPG (licensing with Square Enix).
And, of course, all the games made by other companies, such as Rare (R.C. Pro-Am, Killer Instinct), and licensed games such as Popeye, the Tetris games etc..
If nothing else this service must be setting a record for the volume of teeth gnashing & pointless list making relative to the cost. I spend more than the cost for a whole year of this service just getting a fast food dinner for my family. Maybe Nintendo knew people wouldn't be able to stop talking about it and is getting a cut of the ad revenue made on all these articles. That said, this was a nice article. Personally I tried Nightshade for the first time with NSO and it's a new favorite.
I dont know about anyone else, but I dont remember my blockbuster being this lame. Hell, even my local grocery store had a better selection than this.....
Fall 2018 - NSO starts with NES games
Fall 2019 - SNES games added
Fall 2020 - ???
A new console should have been added last fall, but the Mario celebration stole the spotlight. Hopefully soon we get GBA games.
I appreciate the different take. It is nice to learn a bit about the duds and titles that were too weird to make an impressions, if only as a learning experience to build off of. The mention of a snapshot of the 90's does make me wish that we'd get something like that for what gaming was like in Japan at the time. Nintendo's tried that out with Panel de Pon and Mario's Super Picross, so it's at least possible if the text needed to understand a title is minimal.
I'd also be fine with Nintendo just charging for titles separately for straight up localizations. If they followed the pricing system for Fire Emblem, I'm sure obscure stuff like Famicom Wars and Sutte Hakkun would garner interest if thy could just be brought to NSO without english text.
Too bad there's no way to actually OWN these awesome titles.
No one has a problem with these titles on Switch, it's that they aren't offering more. I think many NSO subscribers would be happy to pay more for popular SNES games (and N64 etc.) but we're approaching 2 years since the SNES update and there's been no major improvements to the surface. (Which are desperately needed, as seen with the whole Metroid series stuck on Wii U debacle)
Can we stop trying to do damage control for Nintendo consistently doing Mother fans dirty.
To all the people saying the 20 dollars is for online gaming, and not the SNES games: There was no subscription to play online on Wii or Wii U. Playing an online game was free, as it should be. Nintendo do not use dedicated online gaming
servers, as far as I am aware it is P2P connection. Individuals pay their own internet subscriptions, to their internet provider and can use the internet, why would people need to pay Nintendo for this?
Who the hell had Claymate and Spanky's Quest on their shelves?
I'm sorry, Japan has gotten way more attention than it deserves at this point, I'll take everything short of games on the C64 and ZX Spectrum
@XenoShaun It would be better if these Games had the n-word, y'know, for "artistic" reasons.
@victordamazio
Hey Nintendo might as well screw the costumers cuz not many others will 🤷♂️
@Moistnado If you play two SNES games and one NES game on NSO per year, then you're getting a better value than the virtual console (without even adjusting for inflation or splitting a family plan) plus free online.
Really it just makes me sad that the NSO is in such a poor state after all this time, it's a huge missed opportunity for Nintendo to do it right this time. I gave it a chance for 2 years, believing it could be better and a confidence vote. Instead 95% of the games have terrible connection problems when playing online and the painfully slowly released games offered as "extras" are just not enough to justify it's price at all. The cloud save functionality is so barebones that its laughable, having to download the saves manually after every single game install, risking forgetting to do it. So why bothering? The SNES and NES libraries are not the problem, I would be OK with them if the other functionalities were just good enough. Unfortunately not, the service is just terrible, let's face it. For the first year, I'm not renewing my subscription and will never do it again.
@Sinton Games I left out:
Need the Power Pad or ROB (definitely not happening):
-Short Order/Eggsplode
-World Class Track Meet
-Dance Aerobics
-Gyromite
-Stack Up
-Super Team Games
Need the Zapper/Super Scope (could happen but unlikely they'd put that much effort in at this point):
-Hogan's Alley
-Barker Bill's Trick Shooting
-Wild Gunman
-Duck Hunt
-Gumshoe
-Battle Clash
-Super Scope 6
-Metal Combat: Falcon's Revenge
-To The Earth
-Yoshi's Safari
Needs the SNES Mouse (even less likely than light gun games; would feel awkward in docked mode and would take a decent amount of reprogramming to get it to feel right on the touchscreen; you could plug in a USB mouse but i doubt they'd want to require that):
-Mario Paint
-Mario & Wario
Games that would need a translation:
-Famicom Wars
-Fire Emblem
-Famicom Detective Club (definitely not happening now)
-Shin Onigashima
-Yuyuki
-Marvelous
-Shigesato Itoi's No.1 Bass Fishing
Originally published by Nintendo but would probably have licensing issues now:
-Cobra Triangle, Pin Bot, RC Pro Am, Slalom, Snake Rattle n Roll (Rare)
-Faxanadu (Hudson)
-Rad Racer, Final Fantasy (Square)
-Tetris, Tetris 2, Tetris Attack (already have Panel de Pon anyway), Tetris & Dr. Mario, Yoshi's Cookie (Tetris)
-Nintendo World Cup / Super Spike V'Ball (actually Kunio-kun games)
-Pinocchio, Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow, Uniracers (Disney)
-Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball, Ken Griffey Jr.'s Winning Run, NHL Stanley Cup
-Terranigma
-Mega Man 6
-Popeye
-SimCity
-Derby Stallion 98
-Nintendo World Championship (has Rad Racer and Tetris)
-Nintendo PowerFest '94 (has Ken Griffey Jr)
-Nintendo Campus Challenge '91 (has PinBot)
Games I should have included:
-Tin Star (can be played with Super Scope, mouse, or gamepad)
-Kirby's Star Stacker (Japan-only SNES version of the GB game)
-Nintendo Campus Challenge '92 (Super Mario World, F-Zero, Pilotwings)
-Smash Ping Pong (Famicom only, was already renamed Smash Table Tennis when released on the European virtual console)
The online catalogs are great for newcomers, but those same newcomers may not think Nintendo released any systems other than the NES, SNES and Switch as the big N has ignored everything else.
@Adamario
1) With NSO, after your year is up, you will have ZERO GAMES! Zero value.
2) how is the online free, when it used to cost nothing but now it costs money! The logic is baffling hahaha.
Good point raised in the article, but as others have said, this would be more tolerable if the quantity of the titles weren't so low. I'm all for throwing random stuff on the service, but when it's the only stuff being added, and at such a slow rate(what is it now, once every three months?), it makes what could be an 'oh, okay, this could be entertaining for an hour' into 'another day without GBA/N64/GCN/etc games on the service.....*sigh *'.
As much as I bemoaned the Wii U's slow rate of adding VC games, at least we got a decent amount by the end.
I do not mind weird and unknown titles, but the best way would be to include at least one big game altogether with those unknown titles
I appreciate the perspective and the point about preservation, but my time for playing games is limited and I’d rather have a strongly curated selection of titles that are undoubtedly worth my time than a collection that is watered down over time by adding lesser known and sometimes derivative games.
@Adamario
Great list, but Kung-Fu was a port of the IREM arcade game Kung Fu Master so they would need permission from the shambling remains of IREM before they could bring it to NSO.
@Moistnado i'll try this one more time:
on the wii, if you wanted to play three snes games, it would cost you $24. playing games online was free.
on the switch, you can play those three snes games and also play games online for $20.
so if you are playing three different snes games per year and playing online, it is cheaper to do that on the switch than it was on the wii. if you have absolutely no interest in nes or snes games and only want to play games online (or if you want to play nothing but those same three snes games for several years in a row), then that is more expensive on the switch and my comparison does not apply (but if you had no interest in nes and snes games why would you be commenting on this article).
One man's garbage is another man's classic. I doubt many people were excited about Prehistorik Man, but I played the PC version a lot as a kid, it's one of my earliest memories. I would love to see Earthbound or Chrono Trigger, but I am also awaiting the day they announce Battle City, which most people outside Slav countries don't care for. Lastly even Indie devs aren't making simple linear platformers these days, they're usually either ultra hard, ultra creepy or metroidvanias. Where's my Jazz Jackrabbit spiritual successor? Nowhere, because that kind of game (medium difficulty linear platformer) ironically wouldn't stand out.
@Toy_Link ah! good point! also i forgot that Clu Clu Land D and Smash Ping Pong are already on the Japanese app, so they go with Joy Mech Fight in the category of "probably could've done it but decided not to"
@victordamazio "There's nothing wrong in bringing back those hidden gems of the NES and SNES era that almost no one played, but they should also bring back the classics we already know"
The only real glaring classics missing for NES are:
The only real glaring classics on SNES are:
That's 9 titles. 5 of them are Square games, 3 of which would be solved just by the "Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster" coming over. "Duck Tales" would be solved if the "Disney Afternoon Collection" came over.
If those 2 things happened, you could count the missing "stone-cold classic" titles for the NSO on one hand.
I think it's neat that "Jelly Boy" was never released in North America. It's got that "Rare Import" allure for me.
@Adamario LOL, thanks for the breakdown!
"(or if you want to play nothing but those same three snes games for several years in a row), then that is more expensive on the switch"- Bingo!
With retro games, we have nostalgia, we want to play specific games, maybe next year, maybe in 5 years. My 3DS, has Super Metroid whenever I want to take it on holiday, it will never expire because it isn't rented, it's bought. I played it two summers ago but have not been away again because of covid. It will be there when I come back, maybe next year. I can play a game I bought on an old PSP in 2009, on my Vita today. Sony remembers I paid for it, lets me redownload it, and does not ask me to pay again- they don't ask me to RENT it either LOL!
Just purchased an Atgames ultimate legends cab, a USB loaded with Nes, Snes, Megadrive, Mastersystem. Its pure gaming heaven. So many hidden gems!!
Us: Would you add ClayFighter?
Nintendo: Best I can do is ClayMates.
@Moistnado Definitely see where you're coming from there, but also if you really want to play Super Metroid on your Switch in 2035 and Nintendo doesn't want to let you pay to do that anymore, you could just hack it (gonna have to open it up to replace the battery by then anyway). Renting instead of "owning" isn't great in general but it's not like we're in danger of losing the SNES ROM library any time soon. I still feel like NSO (especially splitting a family plan for a few cents a month) makes the most sense for most people during the console's active lifespan.
@XenoShaun May I recommend opening up a Japanese account on your Switch? It's not very complicated to do and won't cost you anything. Then all of the Japanese NSO titles will be available to you. I don't even play them very often but just looking at all the Japanese game box art is fun for me. Cheers!
The selections are pretty nice. Again, none of them were available on Wii, 3DS, or Wii U Virtual Console, so it's all new for everyone and retro stuff keeps being exciting, especially for long-time fans. This, together with the weekly Arcade Archives games is something Nintendo retro fans haven't gotten before. Still, the whole NSO thing is not better than the old Virtual Consoles, and I hope it's just a temporary change.
@Adamario I think this rental thing might work for those who are new to SNES games, which isn't me. If it bugs me in the future, you are right, I could hack the console.
I enjoy paying money for nintendo wifi connection
You make a solid point, but the problem remains the same. People simply don't want these unknown titles. Nintendo is acting in opposition to what's in demand. Fans want the titles they're familiar with, and there's sooo many great games Nintendo could have picked. Their roster of games is loaded to the brim with fantastic classics. People are upset because out of all the games that could have been chosen, not even one game of remembrance was included.
Despite the popular demand, and with Nintendo neglecting to give us new games anymore, fans got this.
If Nintendo was dishing us games on a more regular basis, then people wouldn't be so angry that games like these were given priority.
A little off subject but I always dreamed of a Captin N the Game Master game. I mean right!?
I don't think people are upset about these games being added, it's more so that Nintendo is taking forever to add some really important titles, especially ones that they already released on VC and could easily do so on NSO.
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