Topic: NES And SNES Switch Online Adding New Games February 19

[Shaymin]

There's some odd ducks in this set.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/52833/nes-and-snes-switch-online-adding-new-games-february-19

Switch Online subscribers will get their next hookup of games on February 19.

Western audiences will receive Pop 'n Twinbee, the sixth in the series of cute scrolling shooters, and Smash Tennis, a 1994-in-Europe tennis title, for the SNES library. Both games have never released in North America previously. The NES library update will include Shadow of the Ninja (1990, Natsume, action game) and Elimination Boat Duel (1991, Electro Brain, powerboat racing game).

The Japanese library will include Breath of Fire II (already available in the West) and Pop 'n Twinbee for the Super Famicom, and God Slayer (aka Crystalis) and unlocalized Sunsoft game Atlantis no Nazo for the Famicom.

[Rancid Planet]

What the hell?

Do they want the NES/SNES games to sell the online service or not? They couldn't throw in a DKC2 or something?

[NWR_insanolord]

I like that they're going a little weird with it and throwing in some games nobody expected, but it'd probably be better if they're putting them out two at a time to go with one well-known "classic" title and one left field pick.

[BlackNMild2k1]

that's m birthday, and I think I remember Shadow of the Ninja .
If I remember right, that's the ninja game where at some point you can transform into the dog......

but i never finished the game.

[Luigi Dude]

Once again, the NES app picks another great obscure choice with Shadow of the Ninja.  The way things are currently going, we might have a chance of getting the holy grail of obscure NES games, Little Samson.  Can't wait until they start getting some really obscure SNES titles so we might get Hagen someday as well.

What the hell?
Do they want the NES/SNES games to sell the online service or not? They couldn't throw in a DKC2 or something?

Once again, this is a service that will actually be supported throughout the Switch lifespan, unlike the Virtual Console.  There's only a limit to the amount of games they can put out at a time if they want to make it last.  Especially when they already launched the app with most of their major first party titles so the SNES is already covered for a large population of SNES fans.  Nothing wrong with them focusing on some of the lesser known titles for now and saving the few remaining big guns for later.

[mereel]

I own the popular NES/SNES titles 16 different ways. I really like that this service is introducing me to hidden gems that I definitely would not have otherwise played, let alone paid for. For me, these services are making smart moves.

[Stratos]

There's only a limit to the amount of games they can put out at a time if they want to make it last.  Especially when they already launched the app with most of their major first party titles so the SNES is already covered for a large population of SNES fans.  Nothing wrong with them focusing on some of the lesser known titles for now and saving the few remaining big guns for later.

This is a subscription service so its not just about spreading out the releases, but keeping people engaged enough to want to keep paying for the service. The gems are really great, but they also need to throw something out that is more mainstream to balance it out.

I enjoy the original content on Netflix, but they also need to have a good variety of content from other sources or I begin to contemplate canceling. Wife and I cancelled Amazon Prime and figure we'll just re-up for a month if a new show comes to the service we want to watch.

[Khushrenada]

I own the popular NES/SNES titles 16 different ways.

I get that. But the nice thing about those popular titles is being able to play some of them online with a second player instead of needing someone in the room with you for two player action. Been hoping for some DKC games to do some two-player competition with.

At the same time, I do welcome these lesser known titles and rarities being brought over. It's got me secretly hoping that maybe Terranigma may finally come to NA through this service. With Nintendo finally bringing over Earthbound earlier this decade and then releasing Star Fox 2 and now releasing some region skipped titles like Pop N Twinbee, Smash Tennis, and Super Puyo Puyo 2, the SNES library is getting a minor rebirth and I'm excited about it.

I want both. The rarities and the classic with modern additions. The wait between those releases is tough no matter what gets announced.

[Ian Sane]

I think of this stuff, and I'm going back to the Wii VC even with this, as a new format for old games.  It's no different than when records went to CDs and then CDs went to downloads.  Or VHS to DVD.  Did people on iTunes want their favourite classic music to be dripped out in little spurts or did they want access to everything?  They wanted access to everything if they could get it.  There were things to work out with specific labels and artists and such but the idea was to get this stuff on the new format and get it there soon.

When you login to any sort of digital store or a streaming service I think the real expectation is that everything that CAN be on there IS on there.  Let's remove Nintendo and video games in general from the equation.  In the rest of the entertainment world they don't drip this stuff out.  They try to get a big library of content to choose from as soon as they can.  So Nintendo on day one of any VC like service should have 90% of their retro games up there and whatever third party games they can work out a deal on.

[Mop it up]

How are they already scraping the bottom of the barrel with sports games?!

I've heard of those two NES games, but never tried them nor owned them. I might check them out sometime, but not really interested in NES anymore.

[Luigi Dude]

This is a subscription service so its not just about spreading out the releases, but keeping people engaged enough to want to keep paying for the service. The gems are really great, but they also need to throw something out that is more mainstream to balance it out.

But the thing is, Nintendo has already put out most of their mainstream SNES titles.  The only major Nintendo published games left are the DKC trilogy and Mario RPG.  They pretty much unloaded with the majority of their SNES titles at launch, and after the last update with Punch-Out and Kirby Super Star, there's no more major Nintendo published titles except for Donkey Kong and Mario RPG.

So I think it's understandable they would focus on some lesser known third parties in this update.

[Khushrenada]

Yeah, that's a good point. Aside from a few things like DKC, Mario RPG and Earthbound most major Nintendo SNES games are now on it. Unless Nintendo is going to figure out a way to get fancy with the Super Scope games or really feels the need to get Yoshi's Cookie or Vegas Stakes on the service then their contribution to the SNES library is going to come to an end pretty soon. What people are probably hoping for or complaining about not seeing are the third party games like the Mega Man X series, the Final Fantasies, Chrono Trigger, Mana, Earthworm Jim, Super Bomberman, Super Adventure Island and whatever else someone may have played at one time on the system.

Some games with Nintendo have rights issues like SimCity and Tetris Attack. Others with third parties also have rights issue like Disney games, Looney Tunes games, or Star Wars games as examples. As for other third party stuff, Capcom recently released the Mega Man X collections. Doubt they will now put those games up on the service. Square has done a Mana collection. Don't see Square putting FF4 or FF6 on the service. Hudson Soft is dead. Are some companies going to bother with their properties like Clayfighter or Zombies Ate My Neighbors?

I could see Natsume maybe providing some titles like Harvest Moon, Lufia or Pocky and Rocky. And there might be a few other deep cut surprises by third parties like Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures. But overall, it is probably going to get harder and harder to add things to it. Moreover, how many games do these services need? Sure, it would be great to see 100 SNES games but if there are 40 overall, that's still a fair chunk of gaming time one could spend on it. More likely, we'd see other systems added instead as Nintendo moves on to other parts of their past library to try and utilize instead.


Scrolling through a list of SNES games, my goodness there were a lot of great licensed games that just probably are getting re-released.

[nickmitch]

I think of this stuff, and I'm going back to the Wii VC even with this, as a new format for old games.  It's no different than when records went to CDs and then CDs went to downloads.  Or VHS to DVD.  Did people on iTunes want their favourite classic music to be dripped out in little spurts or did they want access to everything?  They wanted access to everything if they could get it.  There were things to work out with specific labels and artists and such but the idea was to get this stuff on the new format and get it there soon.

When you login to any sort of digital store or a streaming service I think the real expectation is that everything that CAN be on there IS on there.  Let's remove Nintendo and video games in general from the equation.  In the rest of the entertainment world they don't drip this stuff out.  They try to get a big library of content to choose from as soon as they can.  So Nintendo on day one of any VC like service should have 90% of their retro games up there and whatever third party games they can work out a deal on.

I think the difference here is that digital music was a market place and there were multiple parties trying to get into that market place, hence all your old music becoming available quickly.  With Nintendo, it's one company's service.  If everything dropped at once, people might not subscribe long-term.  Plus, they're taking the time to add new features to old games, so there's more to it than just dumping ROMs.

[Mop it up]

One thing I've been wondering is, how much money do third-parties get for putting their games on this service, and how does it compare to the VC? There's probably no way for us to know that I guess.

Plus, they're taking the time to add new features to old games, so there's more to it than just dumping ROMs.

Unless I missed something, they haven't been adding in new features. Online play is handled on the emulator level, not per game. If you're referring to the SP versions, those are essentially save states placed at various areas of the games.

[Luigi Dude]

One thing I've been wondering is, how much money do third-parties get for putting their games on this service, and how does it compare to the VC? There's probably no way for us to know that I guess.

We've gotten several ultra obscure titles that never made the previous VC services so at the very least third parties are getting a better cut with this service.  Either Nintendo is paying a solid flat rate or giving them a certain percentage, which makes them more likely to give their lesser known titles.  I imagine most of the money from the VC came from the individual downloads which limited the really obscure ones from showing up.

This is why the more popular titles aren't making it though since Konami and Capcom make more selling Castlevania and Mega Man in their own collections.  But it must be good enough to still get games like Super Ghost and Ghouls and the Breath of Fire games which were still decently known SNES titles, but Capcom must feel they make more putting them on this service then what any collection would make.

[nickmitch]

Plus, they're taking the time to add new features to old games, so there's more to it than just dumping ROMs.

Unless I missed something, they haven't been adding in new features. Online play is handled on the emulator level, not per game. If you're referring to the SP versions, those are essentially save states placed at various areas of the games.

I was referring to the online play.  Didn't realize it was on the emulator level.