One of the coolest aspects of owning the Nintendo Switch, is the growing selection of retro games on the service. Titles from the NES, SNES, Sega Mega Drive and N64 titles are available on the service. This provides owners of the console with the perfect opportunity to dive into Nintendo’s impressive back catalog of games. It isn’t all there though. Nintendo has cherry picked the best parts of it’s NES and SNES library for the service.
Unfortunately, those retro games are available for free. In order to access the NES and SNES titles, players will need to purchase a Nintendo Online Subscription. I can be purchased on a monthly basis, or you can pay for it for a year. Not only will this give you access to the retro games, but also the ability to play games online with friends, and other perks as well.
What makes playing these games such a delight is the added modern options that Nintendo Switch offers. Players can save and load NES titles as they please, a feature that was never available. Multiplayer has also been retroactively added to a number of games, adding two, four and online multiplayer options. There are even special versions of games, which are labelled ‘SP’. These special versions start the player with additional items or levels, and will even start the player half-way through games in some cases.
A Few Recommendations
There’s a lot to choose from for NES fans, but there are some great games that are worth diving into first. Ever wanted to see where Mario got its start? There’s plenty of early Mario titles available on the service. There’s Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3. There are also titles like the original Donkey Kong and Dr Mario. If you’ve never had the chance to play through the earliest Mario titles, now is the time.
There are some other major Nintendo titles on the services like Metroid, The Legend Of Zelda and Kirby’s Adventure, which are all worth taking a look at. The NES was where it all started for Nintendo, and many of its biggest franchises got their start here. While the difficulty of some might put people off, the ability to save and load will definitely come in handy.
Nintendo has also released a number of rarer titles on the service that were previously difficult to get hold of. Titles like StarTropics and Ninja JaJaMaru-kun, show just how weird and wonderful the NES library is.
NES Nintendo Switch Online Games (In order of release)
- Balloon Fight
- Baseball
- Donkey Kong
- Double Dragon
- Dr. Mario
- EarthBound Beginnings
- Excitebike
- Ghosts ’n Goblins
- Gradius
- Ice Climber
- Ice Hockey
- The Legend of Zelda
- Mario Bros.
- Pro Wrestling
- River City Ransom
- Soccer
- Super Mario Bros.
- Super Mario Bros. 3
- Tecmo Bowl
- Tennis
- Yoshi
- NES Open Tournament Golf
- Solomon’s Key
- Super Dodge Ball
- Metroid
- Mighty Bomb Jack
- TwinBee
- Adventures of Lolo
- Ninja Gaiden
- Wario’s Woods
- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
- Blaster Master
- Super Mario Bros. 2
- Kirby’s Adventure
- Kid Icarus
- StarTropics
- Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
- Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream
- Star Soldier
- Donkey Kong Jr.
- VS. Excitebike
- Clu Clu Land
- Double Dragon II: The Revenge
- Volleyball
- City Connection
- Wrecking Crew
- Donkey Kong 3
- Kung-Fu Heroes
- Vice: Project Doom
- Crystalis
- Journey to Silius
- Shadow of the Ninja
- Eliminator Boat Duel
- Rygar
- The Immortal
- S.C.A.T.: Special Cybernetic Attack Team
- Nightshade
- Fire ‘n Ice
- Ninja JaJaMaru-kun
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[Featured Image Credit: Ubisoft]