We got a glimpse of some new information about Nintendo's Switch Online Service yesterday during the Direct, but most of what was shown there was already known. To help shed a little more light on just what a subscription entails, Nintendo put a FAQ up on their site. The details are as follows:

• As already stated before the Direct, all Switch users (used to be only launch users) can get a 7 day free trial. This gives you access to online, voice chat, cloud saves, and the NES games.
• Those two wireless NES controllers are only purchasable if you have a current paid Nintendo Switch Online sub.
• The full list of 20 playable NES games for subscribers was revealed: Soccer, Tennis, Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 1 and 3, Balloon Fight, Ice Climber, Dr. Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Double Dragon, River City Ransom, Ghost's N Goblins, Tecmo Bowl, Gradius, Pro Wrestling, Excitebike, Yoshi, Ice Hockey, and Baseball.
• Each month, a new set of games will be added to the group.
• October will add NES Open Golf, Solomon's Key, and Super Dodge Ball
• November additions are Mighty Bomb Jack, Twinbee, and Metroid.
• December brings Wario's Woods, Adventures of Lolo, and Ninja Gaiden.
• Additionally, if you ever lapse in your subscription, you will lose all cloud data. "Save data stored with Save Data Cloud cannot be kept outside of the duration of your Nintendo Switch Online membership." If you cancel or let it expire, you'll lose all data saved on the cloud.
• If you play the NES games, you need to check in every 7 days by going online to verify your account.

Source: Nintendo UK
Source: Nintendo of America

 

[Paulsar99]

Wow this is like treating your save files like hostages and you either pay the ransom or see your save files gone.

 

[Delerious]

I can't help but wonder how many people there are here who aren't yet banned and are still going to pay for the service and act like they aren't going to?

 

[osaka35]

Wow this is like treating your save files like hostages and you either pay the ransom or see your save files gone.

I thiiiiink your saves should still be local. They're just backed up online as well. This is a redudancy service, from the wording, not a cloud service.

 

[Jayro]

Hopefully hackers can find a way to inject ROMs into the VC titles and distribute them as installable NSP titles, or at the very least make a tool so we can do it ourselves.

 

[ninjistix]

"A Nintendo Account is required to access online services. Online play will be free until the Nintendo Switch Online membership launches on September 18, 2018. Not available in all countries. For the latest list of countries, please visit Customer Support."

so that means move to a country not supported to continue having free online access? (until they decide to milk that market)

 

[Naster]

Not gonna buy it. Airplane mode on.

 

[Jonna]

Those two wireless NES controllers are only purchasable if you have a current paid Nintendo Switch Online sub.

Purchasable?


So does this mean those controllers can only be sold by Nintendo themselves? Because I can tell you, the retailer I'm at, and several other electronic retailers, will not go through some rigorous process of identifying and verifying that some one has a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. ESRB ratings, yes, that is a standard for all games and is the same check as anything else for underage individuals. But to have to find out if the person has the subscription, and prove it, and...

yeah, no one is going to expect their staff to go the extra mile for Nintendo's weird discrepancy here - so I can only conclude it'll be on their online store or something.

I like to support the stores who sell them instead of the companies who make them! ...because of crap like this!

Except buying the products from a store instead of directly from the company doesn't make a difference.

The store buys the product from Nintendo to put on their shelves. If you buy the product, even from the store, the inventory will go down and the store will see it needs to be replenished, ergo buying more of the product from Nintendo. You are essentially contributing to Nintendo getting their money whether you get it in the store or from the company or digitally.

If you want to not support the concept/product, the best thing to do is not buy it at all.

 

[lAkdaOpeKA]

Time to enjoy online multiplayer on my 3DS more than ever!
... although knowing Nintendo that'll probably get shut down in a few years

 

[bluhacks]

What the actual fuck? You'd thought Nintendo would do better, but no just make some crappy cloud save system that deletes your saves if you don't verify and those NES titles everyone and their mother played a thousand times instead of SNES, GB, GBC, N64, and other surperior Nintendo consoles that would made the online service way better. The worst offender is the NES controllers which can only be brought from having the online service, and I'm betting that it's only compatible with the NES titles anyway. Oh, and who can forget needing a fucking smartphone app to communicate with friends and still having to use friend codes since the Wii.

Like many other people I'm convinced to hack a Switch when I finally get my hands on one. Homebrew stuff most of the time are better than the official things anyways.

 

[B.B.Link]

Y'all peoples trippin. Since when do anybody give a fuck about cloud saving all of a sudden? Is your Switch THAT fragile that your saves are that exposed to danger? Bullshit. Once again y'all always gotta find some reason to justify pirating and hacking the Switch.

 

[WhiteMaze]

Paid online is one of the main reasons consoles need to die

I am totally fine with paid online, as long as it is a quality service, with real world offers and better than the competition.

As it stands right now, it doesn't look like it.

 

[radicalwookie]

The price on those controllers is absurd.

 

[eworm]

Why is everyone acting like the cloud saves vanishing would impact anyone in any way? It's not like they allow for additional saved games that you can switch between and it's not like the saves disappear from the console upon being uploaded. It is not a hostage situation. Unless you wreck your Switch and then somehow forget to pay, you ain't losing jack.

And why is everyone acting as if Nintendo invented at this very moment the idea of paying for online play? This has been a standard for consoles for a while now. Yes, it's an unfortunate and stupid standard, but Nintendo is the last company that could be faulted for it.

And why do people complain in one breath about how stupid it is to release the old NES games again and about the price of the optional NES controllers? The latter are for the biggest NES fans out there, an optional gadget for people who love the nostalgia these games bring. If you're rolling your eyes as a reaction to these games being given attention again, chances are you're not one of these people and the controllers are not for you. Just don't buy them, what's the big deal?

Yes, it's dumb to charge for online play. But that's the unfortunate direction console gaming has gone and Nintendo at least tries to lessen the blow by giving us exclusive content. No, it's nothing mind-blowing (yet?), but I can appreciate the attempts. I never played any NES game and while I'm not very interested in any of them, I might give some a shot, especially classics like Mario or Zelda. I'm also kinda expecting/hoping the Switch's version of Pokémon Bank will become a part of this paid subscription rather than requiring a separate fee, which would absolutely make it worth it for me.

 

[BullyWiiPlaza]

This is so pitiful in many, many ways. About everything has been said. Just look at their dislikes.

 

[Zumoly]

Late to the party but is this some kind of joke?
And I thought Nintendo was smart...
People paying for the online sub are legit!!!
So why annoy them like this?

 

[anhminh]

Man, talk about clickbait title.

The offical annoucement only said: "if your subscription lapses, we can’t guarantee your data will be saved for an extended period of time" so it not like they will down right delete all your save the moment the subcribse end.

 

[godreborn]

I'm not too sure if I'll pay for this online service. it's not like I'd use it much. on top of that, there seem to be a lot of caveats that go with it.

 

[goldensun87]

Imo, the best Nintendo could happen to them is that they end up as Sega: a third party game developer.

This should have happened to Ninty by now. But the damn fanbois and fangirls keep the shitty console alive. Nintendo IPs need to be on PC already, and console players can have the games on XBox/Playstation.

 

[Wrathcaster]

ffs, Man I love Nintendo and even tho I usually pirate all their shit, I still support them but not this......there is no way I will even attempt to support this shitty service, my love for Nintendo is slowly dwindling and this crap certainly doesn't help. Get a grip Nintendo!!

 

[FAST6191]

Why are people saying they took down all the ROM sites?
They took down one or two, scared another and that is about it. Such things are par for the course.