Nintendo has finally announced the details of the Switch’s online service. The Nintendo Switch Online will be subsription based and will allow users to play games online, back-up save data, as well as play online enhanced NES titles.
Pricing:
There will be four pricing options for users. The first three will be for individual users with the last being a family plan. Memberships will be available in 1 month ($3.99), 3 month ($7.99), and 12 month ($19.99) increments. The family plan will be $34.99 for 12 months but will allow eight Nintendo Account holders access to the service across multiple systems as opposed to just one.
NES – Nintendo Switch Online:
One of the benefits to the service will be the NES – Switch Online compliation. It will initially include 20 games with more being added regularly. Among the announced titles are, Balloon Fight, Dr. Mario, Super Mario Bros. 3, Donkey Kong, Ice Climber, The Legend of Zelda, Mario Bros., Soccer, Super Mario Bros., and Tennis with 10 more to be announced at a later date.
Certain titles will have online functionalities allowing for competitive multiplayer, synchronus co-op, or asynchronus multiplayer. Games will even allow friends to watch users play single player games and then pass control to other people. Each title, however, will support voice chat via the Nintendo Switch Online app.
Save Data Cloud Backup:
The Nintendo Switch Online service will allow users to back up Nintendo Switch data for most titles. No word on what titles aren’t compatible or if a title update per current released title is necessary.
Online Play:
Lastly, is online play. Online multiplayer games will require a subscription to the service to allow co-op or competitive play. This will include current titles and titles going forward.
The Nintendo Switch Online service will launch in September, later this year.