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Nintendo Switch Online Service Launches in Second Half of September

Nintendo Switch Online Service Launches in Second Half of September - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 04 September 2018 / 3,513 Views

Nintendo has announced the Nintendo Switch Online will launch in the second half of September.

The Nintendo Switch Online membership includes:

  • Online play in compatible games, including Splatoon 2, ARMS, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Mario Tennis Aces, and more.
  • Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online – A selection of classic NES games with newly added online play.
  • Save Data Cloud Backup – Save your game data online for easy access. This makes it easy to retrieve your game data if you lose your system or start using a new one.

 A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.


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41 Comments
jason1637 (on 09 August 2018)

And the Switch still doesn't have a messaging system, party system, Web browser, proper party chat, video capture.

  • +11
Jranation jason1637 (on 10 August 2018)

Theres already video capture

  • 0
jason1637 jason1637 (on 10 August 2018)

I know you can take screenshots and short clips in Mario Kart but iirc video capture isnt a systemwide feature.

  • 0
Jranation jason1637 (on 10 August 2018)

Yeah its not compatible to all games. Used it in BOTW, Splatoon and arms.

  • 0
DialgaMarine jason1637 (on 10 August 2018)

@Jranation You can save 30 second clips, but that’s it. I know this a redundant comparison, but PS4 can record the last 60 minutes of your gameplay in 1080p, on top of offering all those other afore mentioned features

  • 0
Mr.GameCrazy jason1637 (on 10 August 2018)

@DialgaMarine I thought the PS4 can only record up to 15 minutes of gameplay. Did that change sometime ago?

  • 0
Jranation jason1637 (on 10 August 2018)

Hopefully they can expland the 30sec in the future.

  • 0
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Mr.GameCrazy jason1637 (on 10 August 2018)

@Bandorr Thanks for letting me know.

  • +1
DialgaMarine jason1637 (on 10 August 2018)

You can record for up to 60 minutes, with the only catch being that it cause a reduction in image quality (though I think only base PS4 hardware has that potential issue; Pro models don’t). It warns you of this if you change it in the Game Recording Settings, but I’ve never come across the issue personally.

  • 0
DialgaMarine jason1637 (on 10 August 2018)

That it might* cause

  • 0
Mystro-Sama (on 10 August 2018)

Another fee to pay. I can't believe Nintendo succumbed to this... Sigh.

  • +5
KLAMarine Mystro-Sama (on 10 August 2018)

$ can be very convincing. I'm making Microsoft pay for this service come September.

  • 0
DialgaMarine Mystro-Sama (on 10 August 2018)

I just find it annoying that Nintendo themselves in the past openly criticized the competition for charging for online, yet here we are. At least Sony and MS offer genuine online experiences, and are constantly adding new online focused features. This is just a pay wall being slapped onto a network with no real additions.

  • 0
nidavellir Mystro-Sama (on 10 August 2018)

Well, it became acceptable when everyone agreed to pay to play online, there was few backlash, especially when Sony announced it for PS4 and Nintendo for the Switch. As long as the players are more or less willing to pay, they will charge them

  • 0
Jranation Mystro-Sama (on 10 August 2018)

@DialgaMarine

Nintendo fans have been complaining about the Switch online connection. Hopefully this will improve it.

And luckily Nintendo made it cheaper than the other 2. If they want to have the same bonus as PSN and XboxLive the the price will also go up.

Which one would you choose? Because lots of people are loving the lower price.

  • 0
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DialgaMarine Mystro-Sama (on 10 August 2018)

I choose PS+ any day of the week. For $40 more, I get online play on far better hardware, a far bigger library of multiplayer titles, native party chat, streaming, recording for more than 40 seconds, an actual UI with a friends list with custom ID’s and a messaging system, a communities tab to meet players with similar gaming interests, cloud saves for ALL games, and a trophy system. Cheaper doesn’t mean anything if it’s just an added fee.

  • 0
routsounmanman (on 10 August 2018)

Gosh Nintendo, you're so far behind the times, sometimes.

  • +3
JWeinCom (on 10 August 2018)

Can anyone think of any NES games that would really benefit from online play? I guess some of the sports ones, but not that many others. N64 and Gamecube games with online play would be amazing...

  • +2
Kristof81 JWeinCom (on 10 August 2018)

There's quite a few. SMB3 (battle mode), Gyromite, Ice climber, Contra, Rampart, Battletoads, Joust, RC Pro, River City Ransom, Double Dragon, TMNT, Spy vs Spy, Bomberman. The question is how many of them will end up in the Online library?

  • +1
Jranation (on 10 August 2018)

Luckily it is only under $30 AUD for a year

  • +2
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DialgaMarine (on 10 August 2018)

I honestly wouldn’t be nearly as annoyed at this if Nintendo would stop pussy footing around and at least added an achievement system finally. Besides the limited NES streaming, they didnt add anything that Switch couldn’t already do for free. They’re clearly charging in anticipation of SSBU

  • +1
Jranation DialgaMarine (on 10 August 2018)

If they want to have the same bonus as PSN and XboxLive then the price will also go up.

Which one would you choose? Because lots of people are loving the lower price.

  • 0
Mnementh DialgaMarine (on 10 August 2018)

Achievement system doesn't really cost anything. You have one guy implement, add an API to your game tools and publish it for use of the third parties. Nothing that breaks the bank. As I see it, Nintendo does not want system-wide achievements. Funny though, that SSBU (knowing Sakurai) probably contains a lot of achievements again.

  • +3
DialgaMarine DialgaMarine (on 10 August 2018)

@Jr know this is a hard pill to swallow, but the difference between PSN and Nintendo Online pricing is only $40, but the difference in quality is far greater. Let’s not forget that Sony implemented the trophy system into PS3, more than 5 years before they made Plus mandatory for online. In fact, PSN on PS3 and Vita is still free, and both hold far more quality on the network front than what Nintendo is implementing, so don’t tell me an achievement system would cost too much. I’ve seen far more people asking Nintendo to implement a better network before charging; the only ones “happy” with it are the same groups that said paid online was the devil. In an age where NES emulators are a dime a dozen, what does this service offer to justify the paywall?

  • +1
Jranation DialgaMarine (on 10 August 2018)

Thats cool. I prefer to have a cheaper price point for my online games.

  • -1
DialgaMarine DialgaMarine (on 10 August 2018)

That’s not the point. Why are they adding a paywall if next to nothing is changing? Would you still be happy if Nintendo charged $50, but everything stayed the same, just because it’s cheaper than $60? Nintendo has some great games, but they shouldn’t be charging anything until they get their network and almost non-existent UI together.

  • +1
Jranation DialgaMarine (on 11 August 2018)

I will not be happy if the same content is charged the same price as PSN and XBLive.

I am saying that since we knew it was not going to be free since the Switch Presentation. Sooooo I am happy that the price for it is lower than PSN and XBLive.

  • 0
Ljink96 (on 10 August 2018)

I don't want this service to suck, but something is telling me it's going to suck. But since I love Smash I have to get it.

  • 0
Helloplite (on 10 August 2018)

Unless if more retro games are added, up to and including GameCube, this will be very unappealing. There is simply no value to this, especially after doubling down on free online multiplayer for two generations already. They desperately need this to be more like Sony's and recently Microsoft's service, where new free current generation games are offered on a monthly basis.

If they have away one retro game (exclusive to the service) and one current generation game (free to download) every month, plus maybe a 3DS game for good measure, then it would start looking more interesting.

As it is, this is going to be disastrous. Expect lot of negative feedback.

  • 0
Jranation Helloplite (on 10 August 2018)

If they want to have the same bonus as PSN and XboxLive the the price will also go up.

Which one would you choose? Because lots of people are loving the lower price.

  • -1
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DialgaMarine Helloplite (on 10 August 2018)

@Jr You’re basically saying that you don’t care about quality, as long as the service is cheaper. Nintendo could charge $59 for the same service, and you’d still be okay with it because it’s cheaper? Not to mention, besides a select few titles, where are the multiplayer heavy games on Switch? Without big third party titles like CoD, BF, Star Wars, Destiny, etc., then what’s the point? I would hope Nintendo isn’t doing what XBL does and locking F2P games like Fortnite behind this service.

  • +1
HintHRO (on 10 August 2018)

Can't wait to pay for awful internet features

  • 0
Signalstar (on 09 August 2018)

Will be kind of funny when they flip the switch and a bunch of people suddenly realize the online content they have been enjoying for free is suddenly behind a pay wall.

  • 0

Yeah, haha, funny!!!

  • +1
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