No more regular schedule in release of Nintendo Switch Online NES, SNES games

By Aaron Mamiit Updated September 8, 2019

More NES and SNES games are coming to Nintendo Switch Online, but subscribers will no longer know when the retro titles will arrive on the service.

Nintendo Switch Online launched last year with a library of 20 popular NES games that included Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, and The Legend of Zelda. Since then, more NES games have been added to the service at a rate of two to three games per month.

Right in time for its first birthday, Nintendo Switch Online expanded its retro offerings with the addition of 20 SNES games that include Super Mario World, Super Metroid, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. A $30 wireless SNES controller was also unveiled, in a similar fashion to last year’s wireless NES controller.

A collection of 20 titles is not enough to include all the popular games of the console, and notable omissions include RPG classics such as Final Fantasy VI, Secret of Mana, and Chrono Trigger. Subscribers hoped that their favorite SNES games would arrive in future monthly updates, but it now appears that there will be a different release schedule from now on.

“More NES games will be added in the future, but those releases will not adhere to a regular schedule,” a Nintendo representative told Business Insider. “More Super NES games will be added after launch, but those releases will not adhere to a regular schedule,” the representative echoed for the service’s SNES library.

The good news is that more NES and SNES games are coming to Nintendo Switch Online. However, in comparison, there were regular monthly releases for the Virtual Console emulators of the Wii and Wii U for years before the updates slowed down. Virtual Console games may be purchased individually though, instead of all being made available through a subscription.

Wishful thinking is that more NES and SNES games will be added to the service at a faster rate, though logic dictates that the statement was made because the arrival of more titles will slow down. Hopefully, this means that the addition of more retro consoles to Nintendo Switch Online is in the works, with the Nintendo 64 next up.

It currently remains unclear how irregular the release of more Nintendo Switch retro games will be. In the meantime, subscribers may play the newly added SNES games for a kick of nostalgia.

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Aaron received a NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was 4 years old, and he has been fascinated with…

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