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Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Nintendo Set Itself Up for Disappointment on Nintendo Switch Online May 2021 Game Updates

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - ...C'mon, man. Why do that to yourself?

Today, Nintendo updated the complementary Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Nintendo Entertainment System games available to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. Here's a trailer they put out with the new games. If you click from the embed to YouTube (...just remember to come back to KoopaTV), you can see that it's clearly quite controversial on the Like:Dislike bar.



To get those in text, for the SNES you get Joe & Mac (aka Caveman Ninja), Magical Drop2 (it's the Super Famicom version never released on the SNES—meanwhile, Magical Drop II ported from the NEOGEO has been on the Nintendo Switch eShop since 2017 for $8), Super Baseball Simulator 1,000, and Spanky's Quest. For the NES there's Ninja JaJaMaru-kun (never released on the NES but only the Famicom).

Maybe you consider the flavour of having Famicom/Super Famicom games to be pretty cool. Or you're like me and haven't heard of these games before and don't care about them, so you hear this news and... go on with your night. I mean, I'm still playing all the games I already own, which is my go-to response for underwhelming Nintendo Switch Online game releases. Plus, there's been a lot of other (paid) new releases lately to check out.

That's my normal state of mind, but... I do sympathise with the large group of people who are outright offended by Nintendo's game selections. Nintendo themselves contributes to it. Take a look at this photo I took of their in-console Nintendo Switch Online hub:


Nintendo Switch Online portal hub May 2021 games Donkey Kong Country headline
MAY GAME UPDATES (five obscure games)
Versus
Classic Donkey Kong Country™ Games (Super NES)


When Nintendo is promoting why people should subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online, they put the three Donkey Kong Country SNES games as a prominent reason. You subscribe, you get all three of them! ...They're not gonna put any of the games added today as a promotional tool, and the reason it's up at the top is because that's the NEWS section. The stuff in the news ain't gonna be why you subscribe, which is why when Nintendo compares it, it looks silly and makes their new offerings look weak. You're marketed to regularly expect games that are Donkey Kong Country 2 caliber and you get... whatever the heck this stuff was. (For all I know, these games were great, but I doubt they're THAT great.)

Yeah, Nintendo is running out of games that they can put on there that won't get a negative response. They haven't exhausted it, but they're running out and want to keep it dripping until the end-ish of the Nintendo Switch's lifespan. They probably haven't put games for the Nintendo 64 and up because that's way too much value for $20 a year... and they don't seem to be having THAT much trouble convincing people to subscribe to the service. Perhaps a Nintendo Switch Online Plus is in the future that will have games from console generations newer than the SNES. ...Would be cool if it had better online connections too and a user-to-user communications service.

By the way, if you are looking for games that are guaranteed to be both affordable as well as top tier, in a few hours, the Ace Attorney eShop sale in North America ends. You might wanna get on that...



Ludwig understands your position, but he doesn't agree with it. Let him know if he should play those new May 2021 games.

10 comments :

  1. I see all this stuff as extra, online to me is just the ability to battle with online opponents and such. I don't want to do that so I never got it. I'm not surprised their only giving us these obscure/bad games as all the other games could be remade and sold full price. I don't really like that way of thinking BUT an earthbound remastered trilogy game would be very sweet indeed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The core reason people should be subscribing is to access online play. You're right, the NES and SNES stuff is just to sweeten the deal; it shouldn't be the primary reason you're paying a subscription.

      The problem is that the Switch's online functionality is worse than the Wii U's, which was free...

      Delete
    2. Yeah it really sucks. More so when you remember this is just about industry standard now. I really miss virtual console.

      I hope Nintendo finds a way to make another dual screen game system in the future because I'm going to really miss emulating those ds games. You can really only play it on Nintendo hardware, and the games are getting crazy expensive.

      Delete
    3. ...
      *glare*


      I remember for years people were saying the Virtual Console overpriced games and it's a rip-off. Now it's missed when the games are "free" but there's a much less focus on adding to the library.

      Delete
    4. Haha I was not one of those people. I only ever bought Kirby games which were a couple of dollars. 10 dollars for earthbound may be a lot but it's well worth it for the quality the game gives. I can't think of any other examples, but I never had those complaints. I'd rather have the opportunity to pay a little extra for good games, than pay nothing for a bunch of bad games. And these recent ones they've been giving out are very bad indeed.

      Delete
    5. How do ya know they're bad? Have you plaaaaayed them?

      Delete
    6. Fair enough. I haven't played allllll of them (A good many though) but to be honest, you can look at a few minutes of (at least the snes era) gameplay and tell its bad immediately. There's a reason why most people haven't heard of these recent snes games, and it's not cause they're hidden gems.

      Delete
    7. Maybe I should take it upon myself to play one and report back. >.>

      Delete
    8. You will be doing a great service to your country.

      Delete
    9. ...Koopa Kingdom doesn't care. >_>

      Delete

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