Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack First Thoughts

Nintendo released the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack on October 25. I got the service yesterday and here are my first thoughts on it.

The Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack is here!

Nintendo released the service on October 25th and I got it yesterday. As of this moment, there are Nintendo 64 games and Sega Genesis games available. Here are my thoughts on each of the apps and some of the games:

SEGA GENESIS

When you first start up the Sega Genesis app, it says SEGA like the games use to! I thought that was such a great touch. Like the NES and SNES games, you can arrange the games however you want and while playing, you can rewind gameplay to “fix” mistakes you made. You can also create save states at any time and easily load them back when you want. It works the same as the NES/SNES apps.

What about the games? Are they good?

I haven’t played all of them yet but I checked out Contra: Hard Corps, Ristar, Shinobi 3, Musha, Gunstar Heroes,, Phantasy Star IV, and Strider. All of these games play really well. The controls feel just as good as the NES/SNES games do on the Switch. The games look good too.

Out of the games I played so far, I had only played Phantasy Star IV previously. It plays just as well as it does on the Sega Genesis Classics Collection! As for the rest, I really want to play Shinobi, Musha, and Strider more. And of course I need to play the rest of the games. It seems like a great lineup of Sega games available now and more will be coming.

NINTENDO 64

The Nintendo 64 app is different from all the other Switch Online apps. It looks the same at first glance, you can rearrange the games however you want, but once you get into the games, you’ll notice the difference.

To save N64 games at anytime, you have to press the minus button on your Switch. Here you can create save states, load games, and go back to the menu. There is no rewind feature for N64 games. Shame.

Another big difference is that N64 games have more complicated controls when using the joycons. Not all of the games control great. For instance, WinBack’s controls take a lot of getting use to. I suggest playing the game’s tutorial before diving into the story mode. Even after I played that, WinBack’s controls are not the best.

I also played Starfox 64, Yoshi’s Story, Sin & Punishment,  Ocarina of Time, Mario Tennis, and Dr. Mario. I haven’t checked out Super Mario 64 yet. The controls for Yoshi’s Story, Ocarina of Time, Mario Tennis, and Dr. Mario seem fine. As for the other games:

Sin & Punishment movement controls take a bit of getting use to. Starfox controls are just okay and I haven’t figured out Mario Kart’s boosting yet. These games are not unplayable though! Sin & Punishment is actually pretty cool and I want to play more of it. Starfox is still fun and so is Mario Kart 64. Its a good lineup of 64 games overall.

The Nintendo 64 lineup is much smaller than the Sega lineup but Nintendo has already revealed that more games on the way. I’m especially excited to check out Banjo Kazooie which I’ve never played before! Hopefully it arrives soon.

For the moment, the Sega lineup of games are a lot better, content wise and control wise, than the N64 games. When the lineup on both expands even more, the Switch Online expansion pack will be even better!

Meanwhile, the other part of the new Switch Online Expansion Pack, the New Horizons DLC, doesn’t arrive till next week. We will have first impressions of that as soon as possible!

Have you checked out the Expansion Pack? What do you think of the N64 and Genesis games?