I love my Nintendo Switch, but its online services are lacking. Why is it that Nintendo are frequently behind-the-curve when it comes to its competition? You could argue it’s down to the uniqueness of Nintendo – a company that does what it wants, regardless of what consumers generally want (the Wii U comes to mind). The company has also bucked the trend in other ways by avoiding an in-house first-person shooter series like its competition (Sony with Killzone, and Microsoft with Halo). Whichever way you look at it, Nintendo very much do their own thing.
Recent price changes to Nintendo Switch Online have sparked debate around what Nintendo offers to consumers, and whether it is enough for the egregious pricing structure introduced. Nintendo have announced that if we want the additional Nintendo 64 collection of games, Sega Mega Drive games, and an Animal Crossing DLC – whether you play it or not -, we’re going to have part ways with even more gold coins, from £17.99 a year to £34.99. The offering itself is not bad, it’s the pricing that underwhelms. Additionally, Nintendo being Nintendo, we cannot say for sure whether more games will be added regularly, nor whether further DLCs will be offered (not everyone finds the game where you are in debt to Tom Nook, digitally or metaphorically, an enjoyable experience).
It is easy to harken back to the first year of Switch Online, which was free, and the days of PlayStation Network (PSN), which was also free. Both services have changed since then, yet Sony balanced its PSN price introductions with multiple new features and monthly game downloads for every subscriber. Nintendo seems to only be interested in poor emulation of much older games, specifically the SNES, NES and now the N64 and SEGA Mega Drive.
These ports have received criticism in two forms.
- They are too old, often already released in numerous forms on previous consoles which the price increase fails to reflect.
- The emulation can be worse than the original release.
Recent concerns around the new N64 ports added into the online service – specifically Zelda: Ocarina of Time – have emerged, where the input lag and textures are enough to make anyone wish they hadn’t bothered revisiting this classic. The removal of fog for more draw distance, in a game that doesn’t need extra draw distance, is odd, but symptomatic of recent remasters, such as Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy: Definitive Edition. This is all besides the fact Super Mario 64 has received a place in this anticipated list of ports; a game which was, until recently, available as part of the Super Mario 3D All Stars collection, which has now been removed from the store in Nintendo fashion.
So what should Nintendo do? They could alleviate some of the concerns through proper emulation, similar to Xbox’s industry-leading backwards compatibility- often improving games over their originals through Auto-HDR, FPS Boost and upscaled resolutions.
They should implement a fully functioning party chat system. This one is even more important for consumers to feel as if they are paying for a service that is comparable to the competitors – it is far too annoying to have to make sure everyone is using an app or different service (such as discord) to communicate through voice chat on the Switch. An in-house party system from the friends list is the way forward to ensure that people can talk and play different games, or can easily be invited to each other’s game quickly, and whilst discord is good, having it separate to the Switch is not ideal when using headphones or on the go.
Nintendo could also implement an ‘achievement’, ‘trophy’, or ‘badge’ system, to add what is sorely missed from and available on other platforms – who doesn’t enjoy a good collectible hunt occasionally? This could improve the replayability of many games and engage friends even more when comparing these ‘badges’.
Finally, Nintendo should regularly update their online service to include games from the more recent systems (within the subscription price), such as the GameCube or Wii. At this point, even chucking in some Wii U games would help to tremendously improve the perception of their online selection.
If Nintendo implements these features, tweaks the online service some more, and adds value with more recent ports, then there is no reason Nintendo Switch Online can’t be heralded in the same way the competition is. Nintendo is unique, loved by many, and exciting… if only their online service was up to scratch there would be no room for debate around the confusing, thin, and disappointing offering currently available to Switch-lovers.