Nintendo Online Service and SNES Online Jubilation Thread

Drunka's frustrations aside, I do think this is different enough from the more general eShop stuff to deserve its own thread.  Talk about cloud saves, NES games, Nintendo's chat app., and anything else that sits behind Ninty's new paywall here!

I think those frustrations are well-placed, and I'm not excited about having to pay for online play, which I felt hasn't been anything special on Switch over the last eighteen months. Still, cloud saves are helpful, and some of the future offers might be good (though I hope they're better than the My Nintendo offers, which I also don't feel have been anything special).

The NES games are mildly interesting to me. Some of them are still quite good, and I definitely want a few games of them with youse soon. On another note, if it's of any interest, here's my quick thoughts on those twenty launch games:

Ghosts ’n Goblins -
Excitebike -
Tecmo Bowl -
Yoshi -
Double Dragon -
Gradius -
Ice Hockey -
River City Ransom -
Pro Wrestling -
Baseball -
Balloon Fight -
Donkey Kong -
Dr. Mario -
Ice Climber -
The Legend of Zelda -
Mario Bros. -
Soccer -
Super Mario Bros. -
Super Mario Bros. 3 -
Tennis -

It's not a bad start, all told.

I've missed a lot of the chat about Switch Online over the last few days, so I'll sum up my thoughts on the matter:

The Pros

- I'm actually somewhat keen to play some of the NES games. Granted, there's some guff in there (looking at you, Tennis) but for the most part it's a decent line-up which should only end up getting better. I'm in agreement with Cappa that there's more good than bad in the launch line-up.

- I'm cautiously optimistic that we might get some decent discounts for being a member as an incentive, but I can't help but feel I'm setting myself up for disappointment here.

- The price point isn't going to break the bank, so even if the online is wobbly, I should make up the difference through eShop discounts or feel like I've got my money's worth by way of the classic games library

The cons

- Nintendo's online infrastructure has been getting better, but it's historically been a bit wobbly (I still recall the eShop crashing when Cloud released as DLC for SSB4) so having to pay for that service doesn't sit well with me

- The promotion of the smartphone app also causes me to raise an eyebrow as the other console manufacturers have voice chat built into the online experience on the console itself, so why resort to using an app?

Jim Sterling says everything there is to say on this

I think the fact that I'd give SMB a says it all about me and the NES titles.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

I think those frustrations are well-placed, and I'm not excited about having to pay for online play, which I felt hasn't been anything special on Switch over the last eighteen months. Still, cloud saves are helpful, and some of the future offers might be good (though I hope they're better than the My Nintendo offers, which I also don't feel have been anything special).

The NES games are mildly interesting to me. Some of them are still quite good, and I definitely want a few games of them with youse soon. On another note, if it's of any interest, here's my quick thoughts on those twenty launch games:

Ghosts ’n Goblins -
Excitebike -
Tecmo Bowl -
Yoshi -  
Double Dragon -  
Gradius -  
Ice Hockey -  
River City Ransom -  
Pro Wrestling -  
Baseball -  
Balloon Fight -  
Donkey Kong -  
Dr. Mario -  
Ice Climber -  
The Legend of Zelda -  
Mario Bros. -  
Soccer -  
Super Mario Bros. -  
Super Mario Bros. 3 -  
Tennis -

It's not a bad start, all told.

Definitely agree on those quick thoughts for the launch games, some of those will be taken up a notch I think though with the added online play.

Regarding that Jim Sterling video, cloud saving isn't a big enough of a deal for me personally, but I do get folks's gripes with it. What I do agree with fully is his chat around the presentation of online play in the Direct as a special feature and something new, like a special treat or something. Didn't sit right with me.

As for the NES library, I had a thought - I wonder if the existence of things like the Mega Man Legacy Collection means that some obvious inclusions like the Mega Man games will be a no-go for the Switch Online Library. I considered that might have the case with the Arcade Archives version of SMB, but that's Nintendo themselves behind that one so it's less of an issue.

Thanks to the 7 day free trial I played about with the some of the NES games online in the early hours of this morning with Dusty and as I expected some of the games that don't really stand up anymore have a certain charm to them now that you can play them online. (like Baseball & Pro wrestling) You probably won't return to them constantly but they still offer a bit of laugh for about 30 mins to an hour, and the little player cursor which you can clap with is genius and it popped quite up a bit if we died or ran into a wall by accident in River City Ransom.

So overall I really like it and I can see the really good games on the service taking up way more of my time.

Aye, I'm impressed by how smooth and responsive the NES app was. I messed about with Tennis - still guff - alongside a session with Balloon Fight and about half an hour with The Legend of Zelda. I don't think I've ever got around to beating the first Zelda game, so I might rattle through it now that it's on Switch.

I'm curious: what is the online aspect of LoZ? Is there one?

Nah, that's a solo game. A lot of the games have a two player mode much like the two player mode in SMB where you're taking turns as opposed to simultaneous play.

For anybody who's played the original LoZ - how the hell did you manage to find anything in this game? I am so unbelievably lost.

This was exactly my problem when I tried to play it!

I've beaten Level 1 and I found Level 8, but I prefer to do them in order to be fair... no idea where Level 2 is! I was reading that the game came with a map back on NES, so maybe I should try and track down a spoiler free map with item locations and whatnot removed and play along with that.

I was just going to say it came with a map back in the day, I think a lot of games did.

Yeah, definitely something I'll be using for my playthrough moving forwards then. Even if I don't know what's in each area in terms of items/dungeons and whatnot, at least I won't be lost trying to head to a certain area or whatever!

I had a cracking session with Jas playing online on this tonight. Some thoughts:

River City Ransom is easily the standout of the games I've played on the service so far. It's basically the Scott Pilgrim game from a few years back and that's no bad thing in the least. We ran into a few connection issues playing it - reckon that's more down to us than anything as it affected the Skype call too - but that won't be stopping us from likely playing this through in full.

Ice Climber is still pretty gash in multiplayer. I'd actually argue it's more of a pain in multiplayer than by yourself as you can get fucked over by the other player climbing too quickly. Coupled with the shonky platforming and you have the result of a pretty miserable time, all told.

Mario Bros. was one that was boosted in my eyes in multiplayer. I've always found it a bit dull by yourself, but multiplayer enhances the experience. There's this weird balance between being competitive and working together which ended up messing us up - well, okay, just me - whenever we tried to be greedy and grab a coin or beat an enemy before the other player.

I'd never played Ice Hockey before this evening, but it was a lot of fun! Picking what players you wanted in your team added a bit of strategy to the game, and the overall gameplay was pretty smooth, all told. I was chuffed they included scrapping with the other players as an option. I went with the route of picking the two defunct countries and stacking them with hench, massive dudes to crush the spirit of Jas's team.

Say what you will about the rest of the online experience that Nintendo's offering, but the NES Online app has made it worth it so far.

Jay wrote:

River City Ransom is easily the standout of the games I've played on the service so far. It's basically the Scott Pilgrim game from a few years back and that's no bad thing in the least. We ran into a few connection issues playing it - reckon that's more down to us than anything as it affected the Skype call too - but that won't be stopping us from likely playing this through in full.

Aye agreed on that one as it just has good depth alongside the fun but simple gameplay, and as I said on skype with the minor connections issues at least it isn't full on errors and kicking us out the game.

Jay wrote:

I'd never played Ice Hockey before this evening, but it was a lot of fun! Picking what players you wanted in your team added a bit of strategy to the game, and the overall gameplay was pretty smooth, all told. I was chuffed they included scrapping with the other players as an option. I went with the route of picking the two defunct countries and stacking them with hench, massive dudes to crush the spirit of Jas's team. Twisted Evil

Say what you will about the rest of the online experience that Nintendo's offering, but the NES Online app has made it worth it so far.

Definitely want to have more games of Ice Hockey again, maybe have that as a warm up before we get back into RCR?

Also my mind races a wee bit with what they can do with possible future console apps, having online MP for some of these games is so simple but such a golden idea and if you add that to stuff that holds up a little better control wise you are just going breathe new life into them.

The_Jaster wrote:

Definitely want to have more games of Ice Hockey again, maybe have that as a warm up before we get back into RCR?

For sure!

Oh, and for those that are interested, I reckon I'll be going for a family membership for me and my brother at the very least. What I'm going to check first is that it's simple enough for a user to leave the family group - knowing Nintendo, something will go wrong - just in case somebody's keen for the first year but decides that Switch Online isn't for them the next year.

I've already had Jas and Andy chime in that they're keen after me mentioning it on Skype when we've been playing online, so counting me and my brother that's four out of the eight accounts taken already.

If we can get a full eight, it'll be the princely sum of £4 each for the membership. First come, first served for the final four spots folks.

Oh - I paid for my own one - doh! That's fine, other people can get in. I'm basically paying for an online subscription to NES games. I've only got as far as Balloon Fight (couldn't beat Jas' score) and Baseball (always lose). I know the sports games don't hold up at all, but a lot of the other games are replayable classics.

I have also seen people playing Zelda online, one guy using his cursor to try and guide a newcomer. So, Jay, if you're still stuck, give us a bell!



In an attempt to address some of the negativity here: Cloud Saves. Right. So. How often in your life has this ever been an issue?

1 time to catastrophic effect, then many other random times, especially when using multiple consoles...

JayMoyles wrote:

The_Jaster wrote:

Definitely want to have more games of Ice Hockey again, maybe have that as a warm up before we get back into RCR?

For sure!

Oh, and for those that are interested, I reckon I'll be going for a family membership for me and my brother at the very least. What I'm going to check first is that it's simple enough for a user to leave the family group - knowing Nintendo, something will go wrong - just in case somebody's keen for the first year but decides that Switch Online isn't for them the next year.

I've already had Jas and Andy chime in that they're keen after me mentioning it on Skype when we've been playing online, so counting me and my brother that's four out of the eight accounts taken already.

If we can get a full eight, it'll be the princely sum of £4 each for the membership. First come, first served for the final four spots folks.

I've not signed up or replanned to but I am up for paying you or Jas the £4 part of a family plan, just in case I do want to play something online

Jimbob wrote:

Oh - I paid for my own one - doh! That's fine, other people can get in. I'm basically paying for an online subscription to NES games. I've only got as far as Balloon Fight (couldn't beat Jas' score) and Baseball (always lose). I know the sports games don't hold up at all, but a lot of the other games are replayable classics.

I have also seen people playing Zelda online, one guy using his cursor to try and guide a newcomer. So, Jay, if you're still stuck, give us a bell!

I'd argue that Pro Wrestling and Ice Hockey are still fun, but the rest of the sports games are pretty miserable experiences.

I'm getting on fine enough now that I'm playing alongside an overworld map and I managed to track down Level 2 pretty quickly after that at least, but cheers for the offer! That's a really nice way to use the Player 2 cursor online though, thoughtful stuff.

masofdas wrote:

I've not signed up or replanned to but I am up for paying you or Jas the £4 part of a family plan, just in case I do want to play something online

Sweet. It might end up being a wee bit more than £4 if we don't get the full 8, but it'll be no more than £6.50 with the five we've got so far (including your good self), so with a couple more forumites involved, we'll be golden.

I would potentially be up for being part of the GNamer family. I'll be the drunk aunt.

Perfect. Your armchair and half empty bottle of red wine awaits in the corner, Rum.

That's 6 out of 8 - two spots remain in the GNamer Family House (with special guest, Jay's brother).

I'd join but I'm setting one up with some family already which will have space if more than 8 people are needed it.

Sent from Topic'it App

That's fair enough - at least we know that if we get a full house in my online family that there'll be a back-up options with yourself.

For what it's worth, I've read that the family option isn't region locked if there's any non-UK forumites looking to join, although I can't guarantee if that's definitely the case or not as I'm only going by a few tweets and Reddit comments.