Nintendo Switch Online launches on September 18, which means that from that point on Nintendo Switch players will have to pay to play Online. However online play is not the only thing provided with Nintendo’s new online subscription service. To make things easier for you we’ve compiled here everything you need to know about Nintendo Switch Online.
Nintendo Switch Online Pricing
First, the price. Nintendo Switch Online offers customers four different membership options. A one-month subscription will cost you $3,99 USD, $9,99 USD will get you 3 months and the yearly subscription will be $19,99 USD. Nintendo also offers a family option where up to 8 people can get a yearly subscription for $34,99 USD which would make it a little more than $4 USD per person.
We’ve compiled bellow pricing for different regions of the world.
Nintendo Switch Online Price in Canada
Nintendo Switch Online Price in Japan
Nintendo Switch Online Price in Australia and New Zealand
Nintendo Switch Online Price in the UK
Nintendo Switch Online Price in Europe (Euro)
Nintendo also revealed in their FAQ section that the subscription can be paid for with My Nintendo Gold points which are acquired by purchasing physical and digital Nintendo Switch games. The number of points awarded per purchase vary depending on the price and the type of purchase, 1% for physical and 5% for digital. This means that a $59,99 USD digital game will get you 300 gold points which are worth $3,00 towards your next purchase or online subscription.
Nintendo Switch players will also be able to try out the service with a 7 day free trial.
Online Play
For a lot of people, the main reason to subscribe to the service will be to keep the ability to play games online on their Nintendo Switch. While we’ve known about the fact that online would eventually be charged for, Switch owners have been able to enjoy various Nintendo and third-party games online for free since the console launched in March of last year. From Tuesday, however, people will have to pay in order to play online in games such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, Mario Tennis Aces as well as upcoming games like Diablo 3 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. How this will affect the player count of those games remains to be seen, but it is likely that there will be a drop in online players in existing Switch games.
For free to play games like Fortnite and Paladins the Nintendo Switch online subscription will not be required to play online.
Nintendo Entertainment System – Nintendo Switch Online
Nintendo Switch Online subscribers will also get access to a number of Nintendo Entertainment System games with their subscription. At launch, 20 games will be available and in the following months of the year, 3 games will be added every month. These games will be playable in multiplayer, locally and online and while online a player on another Switch can even be given control of a game remotely.
The NES games can be played while offline, but the users will have to connect to the internet within 7 days in order to keep his access to the games.
The launch games will be:
- Soccer
- Tennis
- Donkey Kong
- Mario Bros.
- Super Mario Bros.
- Balloon Fight
- Ice Climber
- Dr. Mario
- The Legend of Zelda
- Super Mario Bros. 3
- Double Dragon
- River City Ransom
- Ghosts’n Goblins
- Tecmo Bowl
- Gradius
- Pro Wrestling
- Excitebike
- Yoshi
- Ice Hockey
- Baseball
And here are the games that will be added in the following months:
October 2018
- Solomon’s Key
- NES Open Tournament Golf
- Super Dodge Ball
November 2018
- Metroid
- Mighty Bomb Jack
- TwinBee
December 2018
- Wario’s Woods
- Ninja Gaiden
- ADVENTURES OF LOLO
Save Data Cloud Backup
One of the biggest plus of subscribing to the Nintendo Switch Online service is the added ability to save your game to the cloud. Right now, without the online subscription, if you were to lose or break your Nintendo Switch, all of your saves would also be lost. The Switch, unlike the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, does not offer the options to transfer saves to an external support like an SD card or a Hard Drive. Because of this, the only way to ensure you keep your save even if something were to happen to your Switch is to use the Online service’s Cloud backup.
However, not every game will be compatible with the service and allow you to save your game to the cloud. A few notable game that will not offer the service are Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu! and Let’s Go Eevee!, Splatoon 2, but also third-party games such as FIFA 19 or NBA 2K 19. We also learned that if you were to let your Nintendo Switch Online subscription lapse, the save data would be deleted, currently PlayStation keeps your save for 6 months after your subscription to PS Plus ends and Xbox offers cloud saves for free.
Voice Chat
For those hoping that the online service would fix Nintendo’s issue with Voice Chat, you will sadly be disappointed. The Nintendo Switch Online App for IOS and Android will still be the only way Nintendo provides players to voice chat in their online games. When it launches last year, the app was not well received and numerous players use third-party apps instead such as Discord or Skype in order to chat with their friends while playing Splatoon 2 or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. For third-parties, it seems to be up to the developer, as Fornite as shown this year that, when enabled by the makers of the game, voice chat through a headset will work.
Special Offers
The last thing offered with Nintendo Switch Online will be special offers. As of now Nintendo’s website contains two special offers for subscribers. The first one is a pair of exclusive gear for Splatoon 2, namely an online Jersey and an online Squidkid V Shoes.
The second one is access to an exclusive product sold by Nintendo, two NES controller for the Nintendo Switch. The controllers are packed together and sold for $59,99 USD. This version of the NES controller is wireless, has a battery that can be recharged when the controllers are attached to the Switch and also an added L and R button.
Japan will get their classic version of the Famicon controller. In that version, just like in their original form factor, the second controller has no start or select button which have been replaced by a microphone. The microphone was used for added gameplay options in games such as The Legend of Zelda, but it remains to be seen if that microphone is usable or just a stylistic choice in order to keep the controller authentic.
The controllers will not ship before December 2018 and only one pack can be purchased per account. Trial members will not be able to buy them.
