SNES titles that Nintendo should add to its Nintendo Switch Online service
If Nintendo wants increase the overall appeal of its Nintendo Switch Online service, adding these classic SNES titles to its current library is a great solution.
The Nintendo Switch continues to enjoy success thanks to an incredible and ever-expanding library of games, especially exclusive titles that can be played either at home or on-the-go. However, a constant criticism that Nintendo still endures is how underwhelming the Nintendo Switch Online service is. Compared to Microsoft’s Xbox Live and Sony’s PlayStation Network, Nintendo’s online presence continues to feel like its light years behind the competition.
This mystery is baffling when one realizes just how little Nintendo utilizes its amazing back catalogue of games, especially when it comes to its SNES titles. The Wii U Virtual Console did offer some incredible classics on a variety of past consoles, but the lack of that system’s success meant that so few players got a chance to experience it.
Nintendo currently has an attractive price point for the Nintendo Switch Online service, but its classic offerings are very bare, and new games are not added every month, which is very unfortunate. Other than online play, the service doesn’t really offer any great incentives to entice new subscribers, which is frustrating for gamers that know just how incredible the back catalogue is for Nintendo’s classic consoles.
The SNES, in particular, richly deserves to have its library of titles highlighted, as proven by the surprising success of the SNES Classic that Nintendo released a few years ago. There are already some excellent titles in the current SNES lineup, including masterpieces like Super Metroid or The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, but it also features some lesser-known titles like Joe & Mac 2: Lost in the Tropics and Pop’n TwinBee. However, only four titles have been added to the service so far in 2020, which is downright pathetic when compared to a gold standard like Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass.
If Nintendo wants to finally gain a foothold with its online service, than offering more great SNES classics is a great way to begin. Here is a following list of games that Nintendo could easily implement into the Nintendo Switch Online SNES library. All of these games are non-licensed properties, since it’s very unlikely that fantastic licensed games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time or Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose will ever be included, mostly due to legal issues concerning the various property rights.
Another important thing to note is that several of these games have been previously made available on the Wii U’s Virtual Console service, so there shouldn’t be too many hoops for Nintendo to jump through in order to add these games to the SNES library. A few of these titles may already be easily available in purchasable compilations, but that doesn’t mean that they should automatically be excluded from consideration.