COMMENTARY - Nintendo Switch Online’s Expansion Pack Makes Me Miss Virtual Console
Dime a dozen.
By Jay Tee
04/10/21
As much as Nintendo have enjoyed a return to form on the hardware front with Switch, following Wii U’s muted reception, there are plenty of aspects that their hybrid machine could do with tweaking. Joy Cons that actually work would be an excellent place to start, and an over reliance on expected sequels to some of their mainline titles makes one long for the experimental, wackier days of the GameCube era.
That’s not to dismiss the truly stellar lineup of bangers that Nintendo have also cranked out over the last few years; Luigi’s Mansion 3 in particular is a gem, and there’s plenty of others that stand tall as being among some of their best work. However, the one area that is still in dire need of bringing into the 21st Century is their online offering, and the recent announcement of a somewhat vague “expansion pack” to their premium sub has done little to move things into firmer territory.
For starters, it was revealed without pricing, making it tricky to understand the value proposition of how a handful of N64 games equates to the unspecified bump in price. No-one can deny the classic status of what they’re promising as a launch line up, but the lack of specifics makes it difficult to know where we’re at. Yes that info will be revealed in due course, but the fact that they’re holding back suggests that they’re either waiting to gauge audience reactions and expectations, or (as is more likely the case given historical Nintendo pricing), it’s not going to be particularly good news and will be on the pricey side.
For some folks, the promise of N64 games on Switch fulfils years of requests, and with certain games adding online multiplayer, that will be reason enough to invest. Not to mention that original N64 hardware will be slowly starting to degrade on a broader scale, so outside of PC emulation, there won’t be many opportunities to experience these memorable releases. That being said, I find myself longing for the days of Virtual Console, but with an updated modern account system so that purchases could be retained moving forward.
Things like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Now work because they provide a mixture of up to date releases and older titles; the value proposition is quick to grasp, and continually being proven. Nintendo Switch Online’s current library has seen a drip feed of classic titles, with the pace of updates slowing to a crawl and a selection that’s becoming increasingly obscure. The concern with this “Expansion Pack” is that history repeats itself, and we’re left with a service that might have been better off reimagining itself as a sort of Virtual Console 2.0. Single purchases of just the retro games you want, which you own and keep forever, and without being tied to yet another monthly sub.