Nintendo Switch Online Has Launched

Whether you tolerate it or hate it, Nintendo Switch Online is now available for purchase. After site maintenance, strangely involving the Wii Shop Channel, Nintendo Switch Online memberships were made available on Nintendo.com and the Switch’s eShop. You can sign up for a 7-day free trial from the Nintendo eShop right now if you want to try everything out.

What do you get for being a member? You get access to online play of course, hopefully with improved connection and servers down the line. You also get access to a bunch of NES games with added online play. These games can be played offline, but you have to check-in online once a week to ensure that your subscription does not expire. Hopefully we’ll get SNES and N64 games in the future alongside NES games. If we’re lucky, GameCube and handheld games would be an amazing addition to the service. You also have the option to backup game save data to the cloud. This is automatically enabled by default and there doesn’t seem to be any storage limit. Just make sure your subscription doesn’t expire, or your cloud saves will be deleted with no grace period. You also get access to the Nintendo Switch Online app, which includes voice chat and other services. Finally, you also get special offers like member-only products or game DLC. If you have a 12-month subscription, you’ll receieve free Splatoon 2 gear, and we can expect more offers in the future.

A 12-month membership for Nintendo Switch Online can be purchased through Amazon, for $19.99 USD. Are you going to become a member? Are you not too excited about this new service? Let us know below in the comments.