Switch Online might be the "Netflix" service we dreamt of

DevilMayGuy · Sep 17, 2018

Risq said:
Oof trying to make a positive Nintendo thread in the current ERA, hats off to you OP.

Yes, the notoriously anti-Nintendo forum, ResetEra, where rumored Nintendo Directs spawn 100+ page threads and inspire logo changes. Where we have daily "the Switch cured my cancer" threads, along with countless other glowing pro-Nintendo threads. Where the grand majority of posters believe they will meet or exceed their 20M sales target for the year, according to the poll. Where "perfect for the Switch" is a meme because of incessant Switch port begging.

Let's stop the fabricated narrative that this site is particularly hard on Nintendo rather than a diverse group of posters with many users that take exception to Nintendo's poor online implementation and are rightfully skeptical of the unearned optimism surrounding its future.

Starlatine · Sep 17, 2018

NoMoreTrolls said:
Yes, the notoriously anti-Nintendo forum, ResetEra, where rumored Nintendo Directs spawn 100+ page threads and inspire logo changes. Where we have daily "the Switch cured my cancer" threads, along with countless other glowing pro-Nintendo threads. Where the grand majority of posters believe they will meet or exceed their 20M sales target for the year, according to the poll. Where "perfect for the Switch" is a meme because of incessant Switch port begging.

Let's stop the fabricated narrative that this site is particularly hard on Nintendo rather than a diverse group of posters with many users that take exception to Nintendo's poor online implementation and are rightfully skeptical of the unearned optimism surrounding its future.

We had one poster going on the xbox thread to call era a xbox hugbox. This sure feels like bizarro world, Era is too hard on nintendo and too soft on microsoft

AntiMacro · Sep 17, 2018

The only thing I've seen confirmed is that NES titles will be added each month until the end of the year. Are they really adding them every month going forward?

fiendcode · Sep 17, 2018

skittzo0413 said:
Not completely related to your point but this is actually something Netflix-style services do purposefully. You probably weren't gonna buy Tennis on its own but when you subscribe to the service that includes it, it makes you more willing to try it out. That's probably why they're going to be bringing a bunch of meh games along with the better NES games.

I'd like to view this less as "meh" and "better" and more as "obscure" and "popular". There were plenty of meh NES games on every Virtual Console already, this isn't exactly opening doors in that regard.

Subscription services actually support deeper content libraries by design though, a relatively obscure cult classic (say Clash at Demonhead, Journey to Silius, Little Samson, Crystalis, Crisis Force, etc, etc) can be supported by people subscribing to the service to play Mario and Zelda. When each game doesn't have to financially justify it's own $5/license price point but instead adds value to a $20/annual subscription pool you can invest in more games that you might not otherwise.

Camjo-Z · Sep 17, 2018

AntiMacro said:
The only thing I've seen confirmed is that NES titles will be added each month until the end of the year. Are they really adding them every month going forward?

Yea, the page with the schedule for upcoming NES games says "We'll update this schedule with games for 2019 once they've been selected".

fiendcode · Sep 17, 2018

AntiMacro said:
The only thing I've seen confirmed is that NES titles will be added each month until the end of the year. Are they really adding them every month going forward?

Yes it's heen confirmed going forward. They've announced actual releases until the end of the year but it's not stopping then.

NintendoNinjaNews · Sep 17, 2018

I don't have any faith in Nintendo providing a service like this.

evilromero · Sep 17, 2018

skittzo0413 said:
I'd never even heard of the NES Classics on the GBA but Wikipedia tells me it wasn't very many games. Even the GOAT SMB3 wasn't there. And I discussed Wii, Wii U and 3DS- if you bought a game on Wii you could not buy that same game on Wii U unless you decided not to transfer your games.

Also I have no idea what you mean by Animal Crossing on GCN, were there NES games built into that game?

Because a lot of these games have been released countless times before, contrary to your claim.

Also, forgot to mention NES games on e-card. They had quite a few. DK, Jr, 3, Mario Bros., Ice Climbers, Urban Ch, etc. Nintendo has exploited the NES first party line-up a lot over the years.

Jaal · Sep 17, 2018

I think that i had bad dreams for free since my birth, this time i have to pay 20 dollars for one. Nah

feyder · Sep 17, 2018

The Netflix service for games I dreamt of isn't one with horrible cloud save system, friend codes in the year of our lord 2018, messed up voice chat options (didn't Metroid Prime Hunters for the DS have better voice chat?), and old ass games from the 80s. I can't believe they made their online system worse, and are charging for it.

Sho_Nuff82 · Sep 17, 2018

GamePass or EA's thing is literally the Netflix of gaming. This is what, the third time Nintendo has trickled out NES classics with no way of guaranteeing you'll own them forever on new hardware?

henlo_birb · Sep 17, 2018

I can't get past how ugly the UI is.

LucidMomentum · Sep 17, 2018

Sho_Nuff82 said:
GamePass or EA's thing is literally the Netflix of gaming. This is what, the third time Nintendo has trickled out NES classics with no way of guaranteeing you'll own them forever on new hardware?

You can tell how hardcore a Nintendo fan is by how many times they've bought Ice Climbers.

Real OG's have every Street Fighter II VC Re-Release that ISN'T TURBO.

Skittzo · Sep 17, 2018

fiendcode said:
I'd like to view this less as "meh" and "better" and more as "obscure" and "popular". There were plenty of meh NES games on every Virtual Console already, this isn't exactly opening doors in that regard.

Subscription services actually support deeper content libraries by design though, a relatively obscure cult classic (say Clash at Demonhead, Journey to Silius, Little Samson, Crystalis, Crisis Force, etc, etc) can be supported by people subscribing to the service to play Mario and Zelda. When each game doesn't have to financially justify it's own $5/license price point but instead adds value to a $20/annual subscription pool you can invest in more games that you might not otherwise.

Yeah that's basically what I meant, though you're right that "obscure" and "popular" would be better qualifiers.

evilromero said:
Because a lot of these games have been released countless times before, contrary to your claim.

Also, forgot to mention NES games on e-card. They had quite a few. DK, Jr, 3, Mario Bros., Ice Climbers, Urban Ch, etc. Nintendo has exploited the NES first party line-up a lot over the years.

Well I think most people refer to Virtual Console when they're talking about these releases, and the amount of times you can buy a game on VC gets extremely exaggerated in these discussions a lot.

You're right about other releases which I hadn't considered, but I really doubt anyone is referring to e-cards and Animal Crossing games when they're saying they've bought NES games countless times since the Wii.

Braaier · Sep 17, 2018

henlo_birb said:
I can't get past how ugly the UI is.

Where did they show the UI? I hadn't seen it.

Garrett 2U · Sep 17, 2018

Game Pass says hello, lol.
Especially with game streaming coming soon.

MisterR · Sep 17, 2018

NoMoreTrolls said:
Yes, the notoriously anti-Nintendo forum, ResetEra, where rumored Nintendo Directs spawn 100+ page threads and inspire logo changes. Where we have daily "the Switch cured my cancer" threads, along with countless other glowing pro-Nintendo threads. Where the grand majority of posters believe they will meet or exceed their 20M sales target for the year, according to the poll. Where "perfect for the Switch" is a meme because of incessant Switch port begging.

Let's stop the fabricated narrative that this site is particularly hard on Nintendo rather than a diverse group of posters with many users that take exception to Nintendo's poor online implementation and are rightfully skeptical of the unearned optimism surrounding its future.

Don't do this. You can't take away Nintendo fans cross to bear. Their martyr complex is a huge part of their identity.

SHAQ · Sep 17, 2018

Nintendo would have to put their entire library prior to Wii U on that shit to make it not embarrassing. Until then, I'll keep my Switch offline.

Deleted member 5764 · Sep 17, 2018

I'd definitely argue that Xbox already gives us the "Netflix gaming service we've dreamt of." Nintendo's approach to classic games with NS Online is a great improvement over the Virtual Console service, but that makes it more of an offshoot. As others have mentioned, Netflix offers a ton of new content. Nintendo is giving us the Turner Classic Movies streaming services but for games.

henlo_birb · Sep 17, 2018

Braaier said:
Where did they show the UI? I hadn't seen it.

Maybe if they let you switch to famicom box art it would be better, but the size of the boxes is so large it's just not pleasant to navigate.

Platy said:

tabris · Sep 17, 2018

Can someone confirm this for me:

Will the titles that are uploaded stay there available or they are timed like it was originally proposed?

If it's timed, screw that, that's awful. If it will always be up there (barring some copyright / legal issue requiring it to be removed), then I agree - it's a fantastic service and will continually get better.

SweetVermouth · Sep 17, 2018

hold on...
I've just found this video here

Are there no option to change the controls? I fully expected them to be in the suspend menu where savestates are too but there is nothing??

AndyD · Sep 17, 2018

Protome said:
Imagine if Netflix only had content from the 80s on it.

Pretty much this. NES is nostalgic, but it's not really a draw for most people, or new gamers really.

Charamiwa · Sep 17, 2018

MisterR said:
Don't do this. You can't take away Nintendo fans cross to bear. Their martyr complex is a huge part of their identity.

You guys are just making it worse. Don't engage in this petty shit slinging contest. I could go to one of the 25 Spider Man threads on the front page and do the same. Let's be above that, this discourse on this forum is just suffering from this.

Cyanity · Sep 17, 2018

Even if we -eventually- get SNES titles, it doesn't change the fact that this service is launching completely gimped two years into the console's lifecycle. Also we should have n64 and gamecube VC titles available for purchase with the online service. It's ridiculous that we've literally heard nothing about either of those consoles still.

Starlatine · Sep 17, 2018

tabris said:
Can someone confirm this for me:

Will the titles that are uploaded stay there available or they are timed like it was originally proposed?

If it's timed, screw that, that's awful. If it will always be up there (barring some copyright / legal issue requiring it to be removed), then I agree - it's a fantastic service and will continually get better.

it will probably work the same way as gamepass

nintendo/microsoft games will be on the system indefinitely/"forever". third party games will have deals with varying lengths and they're the ones that will be "rotated" when the need arises, but this is not something that happens constantly and the offset of new games being added balance them out in the end

StereoVSN · Sep 17, 2018

Sho_Nuff82 said:
GamePass or EA's thing is literally the Netflix of gaming. This is what, the third time Nintendo has trickled out NES classics with no way of guaranteeing you'll own them forever on new hardware?

Yeap, those actually offer a variety of games including fairly new titles (full on release titles for MS) while we are back in 1989 with Nintendo. The most hilarious thing though is that the $60 controller pack ONLY works with these NES titles.

The whole thing is just sad. It would have been better to charge $40-60 but offer actual compatible services to Live/PS+. Yet here we are in 2018 where we can't even backup our save files or don't have a chat app on the console.

Deleted member 10737 · Sep 17, 2018

Kyoufu said:
NESflix.

nesquick

Deleted member 5764 · Sep 17, 2018

SweetVermouth said:
hold on...
I've just found this video here

Are there no option to change the controls? I fully expected them to be in the suspend menu where savestates are too but there is nothing??

There's a settings icon on the main NES game interface. It's still possible that the option you want is there.

nachum00 · Sep 17, 2018

Netflix is garbage but I'd gladly pay $30 a year for a large library of Nes and Snes titles

ASaiyan · Sep 17, 2018

It's looking pretty good, but the only "Netflix-like" service I dream of having on my Switch is actual Netflix. Lol.

Phonomezer · Sep 17, 2018

Game Pass does it better, Nintendo's service isn't in the same league.

Charamiwa · Sep 17, 2018

The "dream" was always to have a Netflix-styled Virtual Console. So I don't really get the literal comparison to Netflix or Game Pass. Maybe the OP wasn't clear enough.

Right now we're kind of getting it. The UI is pretty cool, it's slick, it's surprisingly fast... It feels good but I really don't like how secretive it is. We have no idea if we're gonna get something else down the line. If they add at least SNES and N64 games then it'll start getting really good. But for now it's just a hope, and it shouldn't be that way.

xICHIGOx · Sep 17, 2018

I've a question: If i pay for the online service my brother can use it on his account on the same console or we have to buy two different license?

Braaier · Sep 17, 2018

henlo_birb said:
Maybe if they let you switch to famicom box art it would be better, but the size of the boxes is so large it's just not pleasant to navigate.

Thanks for sharing. Yeah, that's ugly as sin. The boxes are too big and they're on top of each other. Yikes!

Windu · Sep 17, 2018

Eh I prefer Microsoft's Game Pass and EA's Origin Access Premier. Like Netflix, these services have new original content.

SweetVermouth · Sep 17, 2018

Burdmayn said:
There's a settings icon on the main NES game interface. It's still possible that the option you want is there.

Oh right but like... It would be better on a per game basis...

Greenymac · Sep 17, 2018

Kyoufu said:
NESflix.

We are done here....

MisterR · Sep 17, 2018

The problem is that Nintendo moves at such a glacial pace. It may eventually be a pretty awesome service, but I'm afraid it will take years, probably to the point it's on a Switch 2 or something by that point. As others have mentioned, Game Pass is so much better at this point.

Ororo · Sep 17, 2018

Imagine if Netflix only had 3 new movies a month with the hope that future movies from other decades will be added for the same price even though this is all speculation.

Also NESflix makes no sense since the NES doesn't have movies it'd be NetNES for that name to make sense .

Toumari · Sep 17, 2018

SweetVermouth said:
hold on...
I've just found this video here

This UI doesn't seem too great from an accessibility stand point.

Unless I'm mistaken, there is no label for your selected game therefore you are using the box art to determine which game your selection is. A better approach would be to show the title, release year and a little excerpt when you cycle through each game.

Pancracio17 · Sep 17, 2018

Thats gamepass op.

Unknownlight said:
Put me on the side of "I don't think we're ever getting SNES games."

I suspect Nintendo considers them too valuable to give away for free. Some panicked exec is worried that kids might buy fewer "real" games (like NSMBU and the upcoming inevitable 2D Zelda) if they can play Mario World and ALttP for free instead, so they'll delay it forever.

I hope I'm wrong.

Im in this group too.

Sebastopa · Sep 17, 2018

People are so down on this service that they don't even realise that trying to make this part of it look bad in order to push their narrative has resulted in several sad implications:

- Wii U VC is apparently better, with overpriced 5$ NES ports, slow-ass startup and lack of savestates.
- NES games are apparently worthless trash, yes, apparently Super Mario Bros 1-3 and The Legend of Zelda too.
- Nintendo will apparently stop supporting the service after this December and will absolutely not include other consoles.

I know that the value that is currently there and the rest of the service as a whole is pretty underwhelming, even for it's current asking price.

But let's not pretend that this specific part of the service is being handled poorly or that it has no future, as it would only result in you looking like a shortsighted pessimist.

MisterR said:
Don't do this. You can't take away Nintendo fans cross to bear. Their martyr complex is a huge part of their identity.

It really only helps to create and environment that allows trolls like this one to find a chance to attack the company and it's fanbase.

pants · Sep 17, 2018

"Imagine if Netflix was just a couple of NES games from the 80s that you've probably already played"

"Imagine that eventually - after years of paying for this mediocre version of Netflix - Nintendo exhausts their supply of NES roms and is forced to give you games from the 90s that you've also already played."

"Imagine the value."

SweetVermouth · Sep 17, 2018

Sebastopa said:
- Wii U VC is apparently better, with overpriced 5$ NES ports, slow-ass startup and lack of savestates.

Wii U VC has savestates

Sebastopa · Sep 17, 2018

SweetVermouth said:
Wii U VC has savestates

1. Impressive...

Annoying Old Party Man · Sep 17, 2018

Cyanity said:
Even if we -eventually- get SNES titles, it doesn't change the fact that this service is launching completely gimped two years into the console's lifecycle. Also we should have n64 and gamecube VC titles available for purchase with the online service. It's ridiculous that we've literally heard nothing about either of those consoles still.

This is actually a big blemish. This thing should have started since day 1 - we should be getting SNES games by now.

HotHamBoy · Sep 17, 2018

Annoying Old Party Man said:
- Nintendo will charge you 20 dollars/euros per year for access to online features
- Probably the biggest selling point in this offer is the available library of NES titles (with added online functions)
- There will be more titles added to the service every month
- You will still have access to every title previously released
- You will need to be online to access those titles
- Super Nintendo titles are kind of confirmed, though it makes sense for Nintendo avoid talking about it until they're done with NES.

So, isn't this the kind of Netflix service we have been asking from Nintendo ever since we started discussing about how the VC will evolve? Yes, the service looks unappealing right now, especially for people (like me) that don't really care about NES titles. But:

- It's really cheap: In 6 months from now there's probably going to be around 50 NES titles available. Now think of what we had to pay last gen for NES games... plus we're talking about a full online service, not only the "Nesflix"

- Super Nintendo is coming: Nintendo will run out of NES games sooner rather than later. At that point there is a sure bet that Super Nes is going to join the service. Though it's too early to talk about other systems, I would imagine that we will be talking about them further down the road - if not too late in the system's late.

- Having "vintage" titles in a handheld is always awesome: There's something about playing these games in a handheld that makes it more satisfying than playing on TV. Maybe it's the smaller screen but it feels good to play 8-bit/ 16-bit games in the loo.

So it seems to me that Nintendo is essentially soft launching its "Nintendflix" service. It remains to be seen when Super Nintendo will launch (I would assume in a year from now, with an official announcement at next E3's Direct) and if Nintendo will experiment with different pricing tiers. I can't imagine they keep the 20 dollars per year when they add new systems to the mix...

What say you ERA?

- EDIT -

To the people that have started making direct comparisons to Netflix, of course we're not talking about the same thing, but the format to which Virtual Console should evolve to - from buying titles separately for an absurd amount of money (never forget the 5 dollars for a single NES game) to paying a monthly/yearly sub to constantly access a large pool of games.

- most of the NES games are not fun to play in 2018

- they have hundreds of NES games available for release and only seem to be adding 2-3 a month

- if SNES games come it will most assuredly be for a higher pricing tier. It won't be included for $20/year, you're way under-valueing Nintendo's catalogue in Nintendo's eyes. Historically we have no reason to believe they'd offer such a great value.

Solidus · Sep 17, 2018

Can't say I've ever dreamed of being drip-fed NES games that I've already had the opportunity to play several times before.

But I will say the groundwork is there and if they can get a beefy enough line-up, and not start us back from scratch when their next console comes out, I'll be pretty happy.

woxvirus · Sep 17, 2018

KS93 said:
Imagine if Netflix only had 80's films on it. Nobody would want that either.

I'd glady pay for a netflix with nothing but 80's and 90's movies.

Switch Online might be the "Netflix" service we dreamt of

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