Switch Online Should Leverage GameCube, Wii And Deliver "More" N64 Content, Says Former NoA Boss

We aren't getting Gamecube content for a long time. They would be much better served releasing them HD first etc (like they are doing.) Nintendo software sales make subscription services much less appealing to them. I woulda thought Reggie appreciated this...ah well. The NSO is just a new retro delivery. I don't think they be focusing on making it the main way of playing for years.

Come back Reggie, come back and press the “give fans what they want” button

I think that GameCube and wii games would do well as collections or individual releases. I think that GBA would be a perfect fit for NSO, and have no idea why they haven’t done it yet.

"Leverage" "Taking advantage of" - Why are they like this? These are games many of us already bought in the past and we are willing to pay for again. But all these people want to do is feed the fans some crumbs every now and then to keep them hooked to their NSO service. Sad.

Well Nintendo is on the right track with N64 content. I do hope the poor wiiu sales don’t spook them from handheld content.

I’d personally prefer their efforts going into making more 1st party Switch games based on past IP - Starfox, Pilotwings, Wave Race, F-Zero, Donkey Kong etc.
I’ve played the legacy content to death and I barely touched the SNES & N64 games on the online service.

@Platinum-Bucket

Because he always did that when he was at Nintendo?

These are easy things to say when he is no longer there.

It's got to the point where I can't imagine a reality where Nintendo doesn't hugely disappoint with retro content. From Wii until now they've been glacial in their rollouts. And to make it worse they basically start from scratch each generation. 3DS and Wii U weren't too bad by the end given the era but it took ages to get there. The Switch solution has been utterly abysmal. The expansion pass as it currently stands is just about the worst value in all gaming, especially if you're not that interested in the Mario Kart or Animal Crossing content.

They could have a phenomenal service that made the switch worth buying just for the retro catalogue available. Instead we have what we have. 5+ years in and we've got half a dozen N64 games and no hand-held stuff.

@Orokosaki it's not a zero sum game. They don't have their AAA dev teams on NES port duty. It's an emulation service, you don't need EAD in development and Myamoto directing the efforts.

@KindofaBigDeal Yeah, I know. I just wish we could get more GC games in any way, really.

Hey I'd buy a n64 mini in a heartbeat.
If they add gamecube and GBA/GB games to NSO that would be brill. The wii with its controls etc might not translate easily at all.
Why WiiU skip GAmecube under his watch so? The wii u has the ability to be a gamecube just lacks disc.

@Platinum-Bucket

I'm with you there!

Just a straight up HD remaster of all the classics for 20 quid a pop and I would be all over them.

I would question how they could add wii game to NSO but considering how they did Mario galaxy on the switch I’m not that worried.

I'll be the pessimist right now and say that at the rate of how Nintendo is releasing legacy games, it really feels like we won't hit that point where we have nearly everything we want. That level of scarcity Nintendo is trying to impose is causing them to shoot themselves in the foot.

We all know this Reggie but we also know Nintendo. 🤷🏾‍♂️

Come on, Reggie! I still need my Wario's Woods SNES, Startropics II, Super Mario RPG, Duck Hunt, Yoshi's Safari, and a few more on NES and SNES NSO!

GC or Wii games won’t come too NSO, the file size would be too big for a standard Switch. Yes, you can expand it with a memory card, but Nintendo won’t want to make that a mandatory requirement, it’s not a good look.

Compilation carts of various GC/Wii games would be more logical. A cart with both the 2 Fire Emblem games makes too much sense.

This guy gets it.

Reggie still has that marketing speak down, not really badmouthing his former company while coming across as having gamer's interests at heart. Pure speculation: Leverage is the key word. Nintendo isn't interested in selling a legal emulation box. The NSO games are whatever they have on the shelf which are not viable for a standalone product. That yearly subscription fee is nice but they want people buying full priced titles. Someone might pause at buying the new Splatoon and Xenoblade if they have a big library of GameCube titles in NSO. The whole ecosystem strikes as a means to capture an audience who is into retro but can't be bothered to tinker with emulators, and can be leveraged into buying new full priced products as they spend more time on the console. Just as the mini consoles were a stopgap and a means to make short sales while recycling leftover wii components, the NSO exists purely as a minimum effort affair to target nostalgia for sales boosts. Someone there is probably none too happy about the extra time they've had to spend patching the N64 games which would suggest why the slow rollout of new additions.

I imagine porting the Wii games would be difficult, but the GameCube games would actually add something of value to the package.

Way too often i get made fun of.. calling my switch is a bit small -_-

I responded and bought a gamecube with zelda tp, fzero gx, and super robot wars gc.

Yes we need more content on NSO. It’s still nowhere near value for money. Plenty they can do but I’d rather a more powerful Switch with full backward comparability 1st.

I doubt that even GameCube games will be enough to get me to subscribe to NSO. I have "other means" of playing those games, and the GameCube controller adapter that came with Smash for Wii U works like a dream.

But retail compilations with GameCube/Wii games on them? Hells, yes. And perhaps sell them a la carte via the eShop for those who prefer to go digital.

I would also strongly welcome classic ROMs as a bonus for remakes or games in established/revived franchises. Pokémon Red/Blue/Yellow should have been included with the Let's Go games, and both 1993/1998 Link's Awakening games with the Switch remake etc. They occupy so little space and require so little effort to include that it's baffling that they haven't. It's a win-win for all.

Super Mario 3D All Stars was a step in the right direction and I'd love to see more releases in that vein, as minimalistic as that may have been.

I was so disappointed that we ended up getting an expensive (and 5 years late) expansion pass for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe instead of a Mario Kart "All Stars" compilation. They could have saved the new and Tour tracks for Mario Kart 9 and spared us mediocre remakes of much beloved tracks. Coconut Mall is just a demoralising ordeal now.

The Switch should be emulating, at the very least, every Nintendo system my phone could do 10 years ago.

It is not.

A GameCube NSO app? That sound you just heard was my memory card.😅

Hacked switches could emulate 3ds games surprisingly well but far from perfect. hopefully they could bring back 3ds and ds games to switch online in the future if not this gen it could be the next.

You know what's sad? Nintendo could have made the retro game part of Switch Online their Netflix or Disney+ of Retro Gaming.

A place where you can play NES, SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, and GameCube games as part of your subscription.

We eventually got Sega Genesis titles on these, so Nintendo could have gotten them to add Master System and Game Gear games. Or maybe get with Konami and add Turbo-Grafix 16 games to the service.

There was so much potential here, but Nintendo wasted it.

Game Boy family games still aren't on NSO, they spent a year releasing mostly trash games in 2021, and they act like Pinball arriving on the service in 2022 is a big deal.

Nintendo had a chance to have their gamepass but focused on Retro Gaming, but they screwed up their chance.

Which is a shame because the prices of retro Nintendo games keep going up, while the desire of gamers to play these classics again or for the first time.

Nintendo could have taken advantage of this.

@gaga64 Nothing prevents seperately downloadable games even for just the app.

inb4 the NSO gamecube subscription costs +$100 a year

@KindofaBigDeal
Lol, that is exactly what my reaction was when reading this article. I don't exactly remember Reggie doing all the things the fans wanted. To the contrary, I remember him being constantly ridiculed by fans. Very easy to just say this stuff, now that he's not in charge.

@GrailUK
I agree with this.

Also, a GCN and Wii NSO app would probably be too big for the Switch's internal memory. The N64 NSO app is currently under 1GB in size, which is less than the file size of a single GCN game disc, let alone a single Wii disc.

In addition, Wii emulation on Switch will require some serious tinkering for any motion control-focused titles to function properly. Super Mario Galaxy and Skyward Sword HD needed substantial control changes to work well on Switch, particularly in handheld mode.

@Rocky2418

Exactly.

I like Reggie, he was always willing to poke fun at himself, but he never really did anything for the fans though to be fair his hands were most likely tied by Nintendo of Japan.

Even then though it took sustained action by fans just to get the already translated Xenoblade Chronicles to America! And I am guessing he had more stroke with that decision so no excuses for why it took so long.

Let's not even mention Mother 3!

Imagine thinking Nintendo will release Gamecube content on NSO. Nah, they'll charge $60 for a remaster.

Why do any of this when you can do the tried and true Nintendo business scheme of nothing!

I would buy the expansion pass with Gamecube games. But I would also buy it if they allowed me to buy the N64 controller.

@GrailUK
I would definitely take Gamecube HD remasters over an NSO thing mainly because i would want to buy them.

plus remasters can often add things like QOL features and other improvements.

its the same thing why i would love to see some nintendo retro collections.

I don’t know why they don’t take the mini consoles to the next level. By this I mean releasing a console mini for say £50 then selling individual retail carts (mini of course) for £15-20 each.

Surely loads of us would be into that and could see it being a real money maker for them…

I gave up on Nintendo giving us Gamecube support ages ago. Honestly, I’d rather slowly rebuild my library. None of the top-tier games are unaffordable. Expensive, maybe, but how many of the must-play games top $100? Cubivore? Not really a must-play.

Doshin the Giant. That brings back some good memories.

N64/GC and Wii games would be great, but not only hidden and locked within the NSO subscription, all games should be also available for a purchase! Everyone I know avoids the NSO just because it’s an unreliable access to retro content, and that wont compare with an the option of actually purchasing and owning the software in some form. Wii had the option so why not give consumers options?! Someone finds the subscription better to try some games, and if they like it they could still purchase them afterwards. Everyone would be happy!

Honestly, just check if your phone is strong enough to run Dolphin and grab a wireless controller and a phone clip. If you have a Wii you can hack it and copy the game data from Gamecube+Wii discs and run them in Dolphin emulator and bypass $200+ for Fire Emblem Path of Radiance and waiting on Nintendo to put it on an expensive, piss poor emulation service.

@KindofaBigDeal,

In total agreement, easy to point out a companies mistakes, when you are no longer involved anymore, but very willing to take the credit for things when he was there.

Bring back virtual console!

@LuigiBlood true, I just can’t see it happening that way

So he says the same thing as everyone else...uhh cool? Doesn't mean it will happen or that it will still be worth it to RENT these games.

Considering that practically every GameCube game nowadays is worth nearly as much as it did at launch and oftentimes a lot more, he does have a point. People WANT to play these games. People WANT easier access to them besides paying reseller prices for them online. If Nintendo cares about legacy gaming at all they'd have offered these games to us by now.

@SteamEngenius I mean I'd definitely be willing to "rent" Fire Emblem path of radiance instead of pay upwards of $260 for a physical copy.

If Nintendo included GameCube games on the service, and they're some of the rarer games, then I'd definitely subscribe...and I'm not a NSO member right now.

I'm NEVER going to subscribe to any gaming service that replaces traditional, permanent purchases and access with a drip-feed of games (past or present) and where games can and will eventually and inevitably have the plug pulled from the corporate side. I want to KEEP and play what I'm interested in, on MY schedule.

As others have also stated, I would readily pay to purchase legacy Nintendo (and other) games on the Switch. Nintendo's entire approach with their online service is about one thing: CONTROL. And I've seen my rights as a consumer be diminished enough already by EULAs and greedy business practices to give up anything more.

Kinda what they had already on the Wii, Wii U, 3ds you know virtual console? Nintendo rather charge a monthly fee instead for the three or four actually games people play on nso.

❗️I L🥰VED the GameCube, I really did but the more time passes, the more I realise I dont want it on NSO.

'Mario Sunshine' can already be (legally) played on Switch and isn't there a 'Metroid Trilogy' coming out on it soon?

For me regarding first party Games, that leaves 'Double Dash' and 'The Wind Waker'.

I have a feeling TWW HD WILL be released on Switch at some point, most-likely in the further future.

DD is my favourite Mario Kart but I would rather they add ALL the tracks UNCHANGED to MK8dx and have a Double Dash mode.

These days, I mostly care for Licensed or exclusive Games, such as 'P.N.03', 'James Bonds' (AUF & EON), 'NFS: Underground 1/2', 'Burnout 1', both 'True Crimes'.
I care for these because despite some having bugs and glitches (mostly both True Crimes), I had fun in these Games but they are currently STUCK in the past.

And as regards the 'GameCube Mini', UNLESS Hackchi can add ROMs, I probably wouldn't be bothered as I don't use the S/NES/MD ones I have now.

Everyone really likes to think it's impossible to make a GameCube NSO app because they assume every game would have to be included as part of the data.

Nintendo could technically just put every game seperately, or, another alternative, have games as DLC for the application, that's just a basic Switch feature. Nothing really prevents to use it that way, really, just to have a list and then the application goes "would you like to download the game" and then you download and everything would still be intuitive enough.

EDIT: My point is still that NSO apps are not bound to strict rules, Nintendo would probably look at how they could handle this technically and then do what they feel is right. They don't have to work like the 4 NSO apps we got so far.

I love old Nintendo stuff, but the slow trickle of material is just asinine at this point. Xbox Game Pass has such a wide selection of both old AND new games that I don't understand why Nintendo can't do a similar model with all of their IPs. Their online service could be so much better than it is right now.

This is why I’m buying physical. Sounds like we’re going to get less and less rereleases of legacy games.

@Platinum-Bucket I don't think the guy who dang near made fans raid NoA headquarters (not real, hyperbole on my part, but I'm making a point here) over Xenoblade Chronicles, Pandora's Tower and The Last Story has a "give the fans what they want" button.

Reggie was completely tone deaf to the cries of fans. Go look up his interviews with Matt Cassamassina of IGN from the GCN days.

@GrailUK You are absolutely right.

Third party publishers realized a while ago that there's more gold in rereleasing old games as compilation packs/HD versions/remakes than putting their biggest legacy games on a subscription service. They can market the new versions of the games themselves and sale at or not far from retail price along with collector's editions and DLC. That's why we haven't seen many of the NES and SNES' heaviest hitters like Castlevania and the Final Fantasies. Many of them you can go and buy in a compilation pack or spruced up remake/remaster on the eShop.

Nintendo is aware of this too, so instead of giving us GCN and Wii games on the NSO, they're going to mine that content for all it's worth first with HD remakes/remasters, then maybe give us the original releases years later after the dust is settled.

@Degenerate_Mii

Hire this person, Nintendo!

I just want to play Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Luigi's Mansion, Smash Melee, and Super Paper Mario and Smash Bros Brawl without having to physically buy a tv (or find one) with the three prongs for the cables that come with the GameCube. I don't think they have those old tvs anymore.

Nintendo really could use a common sense manager… but they’d need a common sense manager to tell them to hire a common sense manager in the first place

What a brilliant idea I'm sure no one else has ever said that 🙄

I like Reggie, but unless he takes up another leadership role somewhere in the games industry, his opinions on it are about as important as anyone else's. Nintendo does neither the things that will make their fans happiest, nor the things that will make them the most money. Their plans and goals are inconsistent and indecipherable, and I don't really care as long as they keep producing great games and avoid the live service/microtransaction obsession that's tainted every other major game company.

@KingBowser If you have a Wii, you can get an HDMI converter that plugs into the back of the console and allows you to use and HDMI cable with a modern television. The Wii plays GameCube games with no issue and uses your GCN controllers and memory paks.

I recommend doing your homework on the ones that are out there, but they're usually in the $10-30 range and easily available on sites like Amazon. Much easier than getting an old CRT television, lol.

A Gamecube onwards app would take up too much space, it be better suited to a Switch 2 with GBs in the 3 digits.

Yes there are SD Cards, but you're limiting it to those who can afford an SD card of decent size. Kids who only have the onboard 32GB for whatever reason would either have to delete a ton of things or miss out.

@boxyguy I would gladly pay $100 a year for a complete library of NES, SNES, N64, Gameboy and GBA games.

Absolutely 💯! Nintendo Switch Online should expand and have every Masterpiece of Nintendo Game Available.

I think in time they will bring some of those games over. Nintendo has such a deep catalog, they don’t seem to be in any hurry to pull it all out of the vault yet.

@Angelic_Lapras_King I think a big microSD is already a necessity for Switch unless you have no interest in indies or DLC. I remember how annoying it was to save up for games as a kid, but since there's always a couple 9/10 indies or year-old third party games on sale for $5-15 these days, the $50 for a 500GB microSD seems like a pretty fair investment.

Emulating Sunshine in the Mario 3D collection is already pushing the Switch's CPU to its limit, and Galaxy had to have its CPU code modified and recompiled into native Switch code because it would not have ran at full speed otherwise. Even if Nintendo wanted to provide more GC/Wii games on Switch, it would require a lot of work and time for modifying/recompiling the games if the games cannot run at full speed under emulation, and Nintendo isn't going to risk hardware problems by allowing the CPU to be clocked faster than what it is set at for the sake of them.

Nintendo need to treat to treat it legacy content better.

And this is precisely the reason why handhelds such as the Steam Deck, AYN Odin and other retro console hybrids are becoming more popular as of late.

@Kevember I can't believe 8 people liked your comment. Reggie's a marketing person and those are standard buzzwords used almost daily at work. It's not just a marketing thing though as it's used on English-speaking offices around the world on a regular basis to the extent that they might be considered overused - which begs the question, why do you see it in such a negative light?

He's clearly referring to content not us consumers when he uses those buzzwords so you can't even claim that they are dehumanising. I'm very puzzled.
https://www.themuse.com/advice/10-annoying-buzzwords-the-whole-office-would-be-better-off-without

Who cares?! why are we still listening to him? He is not working there anymore. He wasn't that good. He was more a media personality than anything else.

@pneumaticgnosis I dont think they even want to complete the NES/SNES library. I'd agree a complete retro bundle with ALL those consoles would be a good deal. Just sayin, they'd hyper inflate the price for GC alone since theyre bigger games that age better

@SeantheDon29 Sure, jan

@burninmylight I only have a Wii U though now.

@Degenerate_Mii
I don't play Smash Bros online lol

There hasn't been a game out there besides Monster Hunter Rise that has made me want to pay the $20 to play online, so I don't pay it.

I just GBC and GBA games.

@SeantheDon29 I am definitely planning to buy a steam deck and the power of its emulation is one of the many factors. Once I get one in my hands it will undoubtedly replace my switch as my travel companion.

@BanjoPickles

yeah I just realized u can play gamecube discs on a wii, I was gonna start collecting

@GrailUK 32 million NSO subscribers × $50 is 1.6 billion dollars. You don't think Nintendo is interested in making money? Part of the reason Nintendo sees this as a better business model than mini-consoles is the chip shortage, cost to produce the hardware, and transportation costs. Nintendo knows that in order to sell old games, you have to package them in new ways.
That's why I do agree that HD releases for GameCube and Wii titles makes more sense. But the Gameboy doesn't need HD. So will that make the service?? We shall see June 29th.

"Former NoA boss" oh, you mean Reggie "My body is ready" Fils-Aime, aka THE REGGINATOR?

I get it but I was kind of saddened that reggie became just "former NoA boss"

@jsty3105 Hey dude, my bad; I wasn't aware I work at Nintendo's corporate office and I'm supposed to support every scheme they come up with to give customers as little as possible for as much money as possible.

They should go the Disney+ route and make their entire 1st party catalogue available at once, and then gradually add 3rd party classics.

They should, be the service shouldn't be locked behind a further paywall. I really dislike the plus subscription, not a good idea. Also, whatever comes after the Switch should continue the service and not start from scratch again. The service as it is pales in comparison to what we had on previous consoles but at least it's starting to shape up into something, it'd be such a pain for them to start from scratch again.

There is something unappealing about playing the retro games on the subscription service tbh. I haven't play the games as much as I thought I would. Or as much as I did on the Wii

I don’t think we needed the Reginator to tell us this, every Nintendo fan has been saying it for the past 10 years or so.

Lol give us legacy titles that nintendo is absolutely capable of emulating on the switch?? Hahahaha no way! Why would nintendo try to make money easily by giving fans exactly what they want? Thats just not the nintendo way 😉 lol free money? Nahhhh

This statement feels weird coming from him, because if he had still been NoA boss I highly doubt anything would be different. It feels like he's throwing Nintendo under the bus for his own clout.

@BanjoPickles
Cubivore is great game, which unfortunately, I no longer own. Nor my GCN. My kids and I played the hell out of that game.

I can't believe Nintendo can't find a way to bring GCN games to online. They really no longer care what we want.

Please understand...

@Kevember Agreed. The day they try to rent my favorite GameCube games to me is the day I fully commit to emulating them.

Just do something like GamePass with only Nintendo made games for NES , SNES , N64 and Switch . It`s that easy and also easy to do .

ALL Nintendo made games I mean

@k8sMum To be honest the dolphin emulator does it better. It's not as user friendly as the Nintendo option would be but it gives you more freedom to do as you please.

It's actually arguably better for kids to get acquainted with emulation because it actually teaches them stuff beyond turning a system on and playing a game.

Preaching to the choir on this website!