PSA: Switch Online Includes Switch 2 Edition Upgrade Pack Access At "No Additional Cost"

YAYYY!!! this leaves me happy, im excited. i just hope the switch online prices dont fo up. still expands a great deal, love 😸

Game changer. Planned on upgrading for GC anyway so glad I don't have to buy zelda remasters now

Cool, glad to know NSO + expansion is getting more value between the Switch 2 upgrades and GameCube games

Truly hope this includes more than just first party…. Games like Hogwarts, MK1, Witcher 3, Doom, etc could use some performance patches for Switch 2.

Oh that's the good stuff! Love it. Felt fair enough to me that the upgrades wouldn't be free, after all, takes developer time to make them. But I already have the Online+ subscription for my wife and I, so this is just added value.

I hope they also include Kirby and the Forgotten Land.

It's about time someone else said it's for active members only!
It's the same situation as the DLC for Animal Crossing and Mario Kart

Nintendo needs to tell us how freaking much these upgrades will COST outside of these promos.

The fact that they refused to is telling.

They really should of advertised this more.

Well at least that is one less increasing cost to not worry about.

After reading this more this is actually really nice! Hope they do this with Xenoblade X as well.

@Dm9982 Hogwarts is launching as an entirely new edition so I doubt it. Would be nice though

Incredible, that should have been made clear in the direct, it’s huge news

Oh good, I legit said during the direct, "dude just make it free for expansion pack members wtf"

I'm beginning to think Nintendo secretly hired Sony's communication team. It feels like they omitted most useful information.

@Rhaoulos
I’m still struggling on finding consistent prices for anything. Seriously it’s not that hard for them to take the time to explain this msrp stuff.

They created the problem in order to offer a solution. This shouldn't have cost a thing to begin with. If PS5 can offer it for free, then so can Nintendo. This is BS.

@Hero-of-WiiU Yeah I saw that, but I’ve been surprised in the past when devs decide to reward existing owners. Kind of a pain, especially to the wallet, to upgrade all my Switch games.

Like that would be the new version of virtual console nonsense…, was painful buying say Link to the Past on Wii, then 3DS, then possibly Wii U if you were unlucky enough to not do a Wii>Wii U system transfer or lost your account info….

@dskatter It seems the Zelda upgrades cost 10 each, and the Mario party and Kirby ones are 20 (according to Walmart's listings)

@Bigmanfan don't Mario Party and Kirby actually have DLC to go along with their Switch 2 Editions? I want to believe that's why they may cost more.

So pretty much like how the Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC works in this case.

@Oracles_fanboi to be fair Sony did this at first with PS4>Ps5 games…. A lot of games required a purchase of an upgrade to get the PS5 version at first.

CDPR was the first company to step out and say “nah we shouldn’t treat customers like that”, and announced Witcher 3 next gen upgrades would be free. Some other devs, including MS, followed suit, and soon Sony was the bad guy for telling the devs to charge for upgrades. Lmao.

For simple performance boost upgrades I agree with CDPR and MS, it should be free of charge and part of the original price of the game.

If you want to charge an upgrade fee, then there better be value to back it up. Like in the switch case making use of the new features - camera, mouse, etc.

Those features take a lot more manpower to implement, whereas something like performance can be a quick patch that enables dynamic res and frame scaling, as well as quick adjustments to enable certain disabled / lowered features like volumetric fog and lighting.

One thing that won’t be possible with simple tweaks would be to take advantage of the faster SSD/Express transfer speeds.

A good example would be PS4 versions of games running on Ps5. You get better performance and more stable frames, and slightly faster load times. But without a bespoke patch you can’t take advantage of the NVMe ssd’s super fast transfer rate for instant load times.

Can’t wait to replay them.

I don't care what they offer me, I'm not touching the Expansion Pak without the Gen 1-3 Pokémon games!

@Oracles_fanboi this depends on what the upgrade entails and the level of effort required.

If it's not cost effective for the developer to go back and revise an entire game for free then they absolutely should charge the consumer.

Playstation only did free upgrades for specific titles (often cross gen) for so long before having to announce it would cease.

Nintendo didn't artificially create an issue here, they've actually provided practical solutions and (most importantly) options for both developers and players.

@HammerGalladeBro Yes, pretty meaty DLC.

Switch Online is the additional cost.

What's most insulting about Swotch Onljne is the online play is the worst part of it. Of they made Online multiplayer free and everything else was all the subscription was actually for then I would actually pay for it, but the fact that the centeal feature is the worst in the industry has been more insulting for the past 8 years than the knowledge that $80 digital only games will be the standard and it was Nintendo themselves who pushed us into the yawning abyss.

@HammerGalladeBro Yes the do and I agree, that seems to be the trend. A lot of people are upset about the pricing on them, but I don't think it's that crazy. Like, I would have gladly paid 20 bucks for some Kirby DLC, plus it will look nicer now? As far as I'm concerned, that's a fair deal.

@Oracles_fanboi Well that was balony. There was a large amount of PS4 to PS5 games I had to either rebuy fully or pay an upgrade fee.

Heck, even some games on Steam I have to pay an upgrade fee to have the remastered edition running a newer engine. Even recently.

This isn't some new thing only Nintendo does.

Very glad to hear the upgrade packs work with physical games. I don't have to rebuy Tears of the Kingdom now lol.

I think this is a pretty decent deal, I can one "trade" a digital game with my wife or anyone listed on my family, and two get the upgraded version included with something that is 80 dollars a year for 8 people to be on. I think I can skip a monster eneegy drink like 2 times a month and break even.

Do you keep these upgrades, or will they go away once your sub is over?

@OctolingKing13 please no, nintendo already asked me to give up a kidney today.

For no additional cost we will provide you a treasure map phone app for all the little turds you couldn’t find

@squidduforeal Where the hell are you seeing 90 at. Nintendo themselves has it at 80.

@Dm9982 that aint on Nintendo to front that.. those developers will have to see if their budgets allow for it

The additional cost is the Switch Online + Expansion Pack.

Cool. I do have to remember to buy the DLC included in this (so mario kart and splatoon) for switch just to make sure I actually have them but this does mean I can hold off on buying these two games on S2 for the life of the system. Love NSO.

This makes the NSOn+ Expansion worth it.

That's awesome!
Also it seems to me the paid ones will be those that are adding actual content beside the performance boost. Which makes a lot of sense.

Wonder if that means Scarlet and Violet will finally be playable on Switch 2

Doesn't that mean you access if your membership expires though? Or is it yours to keep forever membership or not?

@Oracles_fanboi Sony don't offer anything for free its a £10 upgrade or full price.

Good thing I have NSO now and I want both GameCube and these Switch 1 upgrades

All of the incentives to try sweeten the deal for gated-off Online have always felt super slimy. I would happily take no Retro games, no Tetris 99, no free game upgrades or DLC expansions, if it meant that I could play Splatoon online for free.

Consoles requiring paid online is the most successful swindle in gaming and for me it free online was a legitimate selling point for the Wii U.

Except the Expansion Pack membership will probably be bumped up to $100 and will be a monthly subscription starting after the console launches

Has Nintendo officially stated if Switch save files will be compatible with Nintendo Switch 2 Editions? I'm assuming they will be, but....

Has anyone heard of Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition will be getting the "Switch 2 Edition" treatment? That game is absolutely worth the extra $10, $15, or $20 to play at higher res and fps.

Have they said whether your save data moves to the new console? I'm excited to try the upgraded versions of the Zelda games, but not sure if I want to start completely over in TotK especially

Missed opportunity to state somewhere in the direct: Play [most of] your Switch games upscaled for free with NSO. Cut the C-button and camera portion in half and spend that time talking about this.

@Repurposed_Egg_Salad Yes, you can transfer game save data. https://www.nintendo.com/us/gaming-systems/switch-2/transfer-guide/?srsltid=AfmBOoo-hCogpUjw-47Yddyy4JTA8hjBNk7uOCsrMre1DzMydMSwPPw6&utm_source=chatgpt.com

@MarioLinkSamus Thanks, I caught that, but what I want to see confirmed somewhere is that both the Switch version and the Switch 2 enhanced version can utilize the exact same save file. I see that I can transfer my save to the Switch 2 in order to play backwards compatible games. But it doesn't specifically say that Switch 2 edition will allow me to continue the game I already started on the OG Switch. I have 300 hours into TOTK. If I just want to verify that I can hunt koroks in HDR without restarting the game.

@Repurposed_Egg_Salad ​Yes, your TOTK save from the original Switch will work with the Switch 2 Edition. You can continue your game or start fresh using an extra save slot. Details here:
https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-2-Edition/The-Legend-of-Zelda-Tears-of-the-Kingdom-Nintendo-Switch-2-Edition-2787249.html?srsltid=AfmBOoo_Z0JkJ4I2xslWlpSYvezxwaxtIiFCdiLXweLNu-YEsS7dawZc&utm

Thank you, that's exactly what I was looking for.

I have the online sub, its not much IMO. Hopefully it will give me access to all the SW2 upgrades I need.

@dskatter it's like $10

Nice that it brings NSO+ a bit of extra value.

But honestly, it really shouldn't have been put behind a paywall like that. If people already bought your system, the successor system and the game, I think they were drained enough to at least get a basic upgrade...

Will we lose the upgrade if the NSO expires?

That's not too shabby actually. Gives me more incentive to buy in.

Just adding more value to something I already find to be worth the price and then some.

So it should. We should also get Welcome Tour as part of the subscription too. They'll probably announce that after backlash. I can see there being a price rise next year after the free online access ends though, sadly.

@squidduforeal because it obviously took money and manpower to develop this tutorial that's why