11 Oct, 2021
0Announced during the most recent Nintendo Direct, Nintendo Switch Online is getting an update. The Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion grants the current benefits of the subscription, including the ability to play multiplayer games online on your Nintendo Switch. Nintendo Switch Online also offers a number of digital NES and SNES games at no extra cost. The Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion update will at last offer subscribers a selection of Nintendo 64 and SEGA MEGA Drive games.
Nintendo of Europe gave some more details about this on their official Twitter page. They noted that all Nintendo 64 games will be playable in English at 60Hz. Some games will have the PAL versions available at 50Hz instead. The 60Hz experience is what players will remember from their time playing the N64 outside of Europe. Due to differences in television specs at the time, the PAL or European versions of N64 games were tailored to 50Hz instead. European players may want to go back to their original experience and opt for the 50Hz versions instead of the non-PAL 60Hz. These changes could make quite a difference depending on what you remember.
Once the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion launches later this month, nine classic N64 games will be playable at the start. These include Super Mario 64, Yoshi’s Story, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Mario Tennis, and Dr. Mario 64. Nintendo plans to steadily add more games to the service, such as The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, F-Zero X, Banjo-Kazooie, Mario Golf, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Paper Mario, and Pokémon Snap.
Along with the selection of SEGA MEGA Drive games, Nintendo Switch Online members will get access to a few more perks. The My Nintendo Store will have wireless versions of the old Nintendo 64 and SEGA MEGA Drive controllers. But as for how much these controllers will cost, we don’t quite know yet. Nintendo will announce pricing for the controllers, as well as the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion toward the end of October. The 12-month individual membership for Nintendo Switch Online is currently $19.99. Given that the N64 games have been a heavily-requested feature for years now, we’ll have to wait and see how much Nintendo’s willing to charge for them.
