From its initial reveal where games on Nintendo Switch Online would just be temporary for a month to now when the releases are scraping the bottom of the barrel, the service has been lacking when it comes to the available library. The most recent Nintendo Direct finally unveiled what so many players were hoping for; the inclusion of N64 titles in addition to the surprise of Sega Genesis titles also being added. Although enjoying these will cost an indeterminate amount more for the subscription, it’s a huge way to improve the service and offer titles players have been genuinely hoping to have available forever including the future release of Banjo-Kazooie despite being owned by Microsoft. What’s most exciting is what might come next and what this means for future updates.
N64 is a big one for the vast majority of Nintendo fans. It’s where many of Nintendo’s most iconic first-party titles made even bigger splashes and where many series would start out before becoming even bigger today. Questionable controls and dated design aside, the list of titles we have so far planned to release are fantastic and cover most of the nostalgic titles players hoped to see. Not to mention those who have a Japanese account on their Switch will also be fully able to enjoy any of the Japanese exclusives which is a great bonus that’s always nice to have available. Much like the NES and SNES, this will probably be a way to exclusively play some Japanese titles like Puyo Puyo which was revealed for Genesis in Japan.
Then there’s the surprise inclusion of the Sega Genesis titles. This was arguably a bigger one because no one really expected it, but it opens up the door to more crossovers like this in the future. Imagining at some point the possibility that we get could other systems on the Switch, be them Sega or otherwise, is a nice incentive for players looking for a way to easily access legacy titles that are otherwise hard to obtain and play. With retro game sales in particular continuing to rise for the time being, having an easy alternative that’s arguably a better way to casually experience all these titles is well worth most prices Nintendo could potentially tack on. Although it would have been nice if the price remained the same, it beats having to pay hundreds just to get one or two games that need to be played on the original hardware.
One of the nicest things for NSO is the fact that Nintendo offers wireless controllers to dig deep into the nostalgia of playing these games. The N64 controller might be one of the worst designed in existence, but some games just don’t feel the same without it. The Genesis controller is just a classic especially in remixing how controller designs were at the time with the unique button setup. It will also just be nice to see the rival to the SNES be able to sit side by side as equals when it launches. It’s worth pondering if the sales of the Genesis Mini had anything to do with this crossover, or if it’s just a healthy relationship between Nintendo and Sega that allowed this welcome collaboration that will let many players experience some of these titles for the very first time.
The library of titles that can be pulled from both N64 and Genesis are ones that will hopefully offer up fantastic titles in future updates along the way. The Sega Genesis titles in particular will be interesting to see what we end up getting, as there’s more than likely to be many titles people don’t even remember let alone have actually gotten the chance to try out. N64 will bring the Nintendo classics most people remember so it makes for a good balance that will be exciting to see play out, even if it takes a few months between releases to finally dish them out along the way. There’s hope to see even more in the future, but it’s most importantly nice to see Nintendo actually amping up their NSO program to finally add the titles that people were looking forward to enjoying playing alone or friends with the subscription.
