More Thoughts From Me #183: Nintendo Switch Online Disappointment

I try hard to keep this column positive. I like to talk about stuff that I love. But sometimes, I just have to vent. I love Nintendo. I love some many of their games, especially Animal Crossing. But the truth is that their online service isn’t very good! Lets talk about why.

I don’t know how anyone else at GamesReviews.com feels about Nintendo Switch online service. All I know is how disappointed I am in it. The following is my opinion of the Switch online service.

Yes, the service is cheap. $20 a year is so much better then what you pay if you get Playstation Plus or Xbox Live Gold. The problem is that Nintendo’s service itself feels cheap.

There is no voice chat, no friend invites, you can’t send messages to friends, there is no internet browser, and this service is making me miss Miiverse. I miss Miiverse for goodness sake!

Currently for $20 a year we get a library of NES games, with two-three new games released a month, none of the games go away, we get online play, and some occasional other extras like the recent Mario Tennis week trial.

The NES library has some good games. The main problem is that most of the new games that are being released lately are not good (today they did release Vice which seems good). Nintendo has been releasing a lot of NES shovelware lately. Meanwhile, the actual online play varies in quality. Some games, like Splatoon 2, work great. Other games, like Super Mario Maker 2’s multiplayer, don’t work at all.

I do like the idea of trying out a whole game for a week but Mario Tennis isn’t a game that appeals to everyone (I didn’t download it). We don’t know yet if Nintendo will continue full game trials or if this was just a one off thing. No other game has been announed yet.

The extras we’ve been seeing for Nintendo Switch online just haven’t been good. I would totally stop paying the $20 a year but I want to be able to play Animal Crossing online when it comes out…

The main problem with Nintendo Switch online is that Nintendo Wii, 3DS, and Wii U had better online offerings (Miiverse, online play, VOICE CHAT on the Wii and Wii U) and those were free services. Sure we didn’t get all of these free NES games, but there was a virtual console…

So what can Nintendo do to improve Nintendo Switch online? First of all, we need native voice chat for every online game, everything from Splatoon 2 to Smash Bros to Animal Crossing when it comes out. No more cellphone nonsense. Nobody likes that voice chat app.

We also need friend invites, sending a message to a friend, and an internet browser. And a library of SNES games would be great.

I also think, despite the rumor, Nintendo shouldn’t release tiers for this. I’m not saying they should never have tiers or raise the price for the service. I know the price will go up eventually. But right now, the service isn’t worth $20. Nintendo needs a service for $20 that feels like its worth $40. And that when the price goes up, people will be like “Sure, I’ll pay it.”

If Nintendo just has a higher tier or raises the price for SNES games, thats going to be a tough sell. Though I suspect players would pay more for all of the other features I mentioned and SNES games. But Nintendo should add all of it for $20 first and then eventually raise the price.

Am I being unrealistic? Probably. I just want Nintendo to blow us away. I want to see an awesome Nintendo Switch online service. I’m tried of seeing this service suck.

Will we see any of the above? Well, I think we’ll see SNES games eventually. Other than that, I have no idea. I hope so. I guess we’ll see.

What do you think of Nintendo’s online service? What features would you like to see for it?

Next week: More Dragon Quest 11 S thoughts. I just wrote about the demo today and next week I’ll talk about it more, plus some other thoughts on the full game!

More Thoughts From Me is an opinion column. The thoughts expressed here are mine and mine alone. This disclaimer is ultra important this month.