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

 

[kumikochan]

This is exactly what I was thinking. Why does Nintendo get a free pass? Before the Xbox One launch, Microsoft was announcing some very anti-consumer stuff. Did people let them get away with it? Hell no. They fought back and spoke with their wallets. Look at Microsoft now. I'd say they are currently the most consumer-friendly of the three. Do people not want the same with Nintendo?

It's because of all those American youtubers that blew Nintendo up because they saved the video game crash in the usa. Most reviewers and so forth are American so because of their nostalgia we have to deal with all of this bullshit and crap and because of them everybody gives them a free pass because god you dare say something different than those youtubers, you'll get struck down by an angry army of followers

 

[Tweaker_Modding]

Wow nintendo you really fucked your online up

 

[Arecaidian Fox]

For the first time I might actually vote with my wallet and not pay for this subscription.

Nintendo has amazing IPs, amazing devs, but their corporate should really be let go. They're -insanely- outdated in just about everything they do.

Really, how did Steam beat piracy on PC? By being MORE convenient than playing pirated games. All social features, integration, achievements and all.
Same for PSN/XBOX, if you pirate, you're actually missing out by not having online features.

This? This is basically that annoying video that you're forced to watch when you buy a movie and that says "Hey thank you for buying our product, but remember stealing is bad".
Jeez. Nintendo, you're never gonna beat piracy by forcing such inconvenience on your customers.

This, THIS right here. You're 100% right. You get and keep customers by having a friendly and easy experience, that encourages people to return to your platform. Paywalling a damned controller and archaic online offerings that feel right out of the early 2000's is NOT the way to do that. Piracy takes a bit out of revenue, yes, but they'd more than make up for it with new customers if these offerings were anything but the meager and draconian middle finger informed shoppers can see it all as.

 

[Slim45]

Don't give Nintendo a cent, and put those $20 dollars into supporting something like Yuzu or whatever Switch emulator is in development.
I can guarantee you 100% that the online service the emulator will have will be an infinite amount of times better than what Nintendo's shit is.

or cfw for "legal" backups

 

[dmace81]

Wow im so glad Wii U was my last nintendo console im ever buying new. Maybe once switch is long gone I will get one but not anything new to support this crap. Ill wait till they are used and on ebay cheap when this online bullshit is all gone. Im surprised they didn't make it so you couldn't play any games without having there service which would make the console worthless once there online service is gone.

 

[Euphonique]

Wow im so glad Wii U was my last nintendo console im ever buying new. Maybe once switch is long gone I will get one but not anything new to support this crap. Ill wait till they are used and on ebay cheap when this online bullshit is all gone. Im surprised they didn't make it so you couldn't play any games without having there service which would make the console worthless once there online service is gone.

The switch itself isn‘t bad at all. I was very sceptic first but it‘s a really fun console with some great games so far.

 

[codezer0]

Why are you doing this Nintendo?

Same reason they put out Other M and Skyward Sword. Because they knew dumb turds would buy anything with a given brand with indiscriminate force. And defend it like a good little fanboy. Just like that one steam group that was protesting the horrible state of the PC port of MW2 and then a screencap not two hours after launch showed the majority of its members all playing - you guessed it - Modern Warfare 2.

They already proved they can't handle criticism themselves, considering that they basically shut down the review system rather than deal with all the one-star reviews for their crap. Or how even a game that was around since launch digitally is STILL selling at launch MSRP on their eShop.

This kind of practice is pretty much why I make a point of avoiding digital purchases for consoles... and why hopefully the EU will finally decide enough is enough, and force the console makers to allow third party storefronts to exist and serve their users. Then, and only then, will we see some real competition on quality and price, on the digital side of things.

 

[goldensun87]

And this is why Notendo nuked all ROM sites.

 

[the_randomizer]

And this is why Notendo nuked all ROM sites.

They're just like that spoiled turd who hogs all the toys in preschool not because he or she wants to, but just for the sake of doing it out of nothing but spite. This makes me even more glad to have downloaded several GB of ROM sets.

 

[TheMCNerd2017]

So as soon as the subscription runs out, your backed up saves in the cloud get deleted? Very stupid in my eyes, it's not hard to give the user the chance to download their saves if their subscription runs out.

 

[DJPlace]

it's cheap online price no wonder nintendo is not letting keep your online saves.

 

[the_randomizer]

So as soon as the subscription runs out, your backed up saves in the cloud get deleted? Very stupid in my eyes, it's not hard to give the user the chance to download their saves if their subscription runs out.

You would think so, but stupid is is stupid does.

 

[Kourin]

The NES selection is fucking terrible and slowly dripping more is awful.
They've killed piracy sites
They've killed Virtual Console
The least they could do is offer a large selection of NES, SNES, GB(C) and GBA games. They have emulators that run all of those perfectly and it's apparent that they don't want us buying them or pirating them in any other way.

Why do they think NES games are some exciting selling point in the year 2018? Especially after they just relased the NES and SNES Classics.

 

[The Catboy]

Side note, why is it always NES games? I understand that they are trying to appeal to nostalgia, but stop it. It's always the same games and always the same features. Offer more games already!

 

[DarkCoffe64]

If there's one thing Nintendo always fails with, it's online crap :v
This has to be the worst online service there is (I dunno, I live under an effing rock)
And besides, how many online games there are for the switch? Bet you can count them on one hand.

Bah, imo, the switch is just a dumping ground of ports of old games.

Edit: Oh yes, and fuck you again Nintendo for your shit service of killing roms site, thank you for making it much harder to
find games that are nowadays almost impossible to find.
You'll never get a single cent from me anymore Ninty. I hope you go under as soon as possible.
Imo, the best Nintendo could happen to them is that they end up as Sega: a third party game developer.
At least then they would mostly focus on making games, I hope.

 

[digipimp75]

Is anybody really that surprised? Nintendo of Japan is just a bunch of stubborn, clueless old men who are so far detached from reality. The only thing they understand is money, so don't pay for this shit.

 

[nWo]

All this paying for online is crazy. I remember back then when Xbox launched it, I thought it was going to be a temporal shit. But damn, people payed for it and they are happy as of today!!. It was only a matter of time before N did the same thing. But since the beginning of paying online, I think that's fucked up. You buy a console, you pay your internet, and then, you need to pay to play online? Crazy shit still to this day.

 

[bowser]

So if your subscription expires they'll delete your saves.

I bet if you don't check in once every 7 days "to verify your account" they will delete your NES games too.

 

[MushGuy]

I'm conflicted now. Will it be worth it for the upcoming Gen 8 Pokémon game for, you know, trading and battling? What about legit users who use homebrew for other things? My Switch is still sitting at 3.0.0., so I don't know what to do. If someone decides to make an alternate online server, I might be interested.

 

[Taffy]

Hey hey hey who else wants to boycott Nintendo

Iffy much?
Really people, if I were you I would not give a single cent to Nintendo.
The service itself is atrocious and the catalogue of games available from older consoles is a fucking joke.

I don't get why people keep supporting this kind of shit to be honest.
Besides it's not like there are many good online games on the console.
And those that are free to play will continue to be even after the Online Service goes live (like Fortnite and others).

Nintendo's online really seems like a sham.

Except, people are going to pay for it regardless, because it's that, or never play online. Even if it's the worst service in the world, they still will get tons of people paying.

Don't give Nintendo a cent, and put those $20 dollars into supporting something like Yuzu or whatever Switch emulator is in development.
I can guarantee you 100% that the online service the emulator will have will be an infinite amount of times better than what Nintendo's shit is.

Nintendo was doing so well, but now they are just shooting themselves in the foot

Don't get 'Switch online' people

You know what else lets you back up your saves and play NES on your Switch? Homebrew!

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

These people seem to agree

sorry for the mass-quote