NES and SNES Nintendo Switch online

[MasterJP28]

After playing this era of games for more than a decade now with translation, I was excited to find out that some of the games became available on the NSO service. I started playing them on there and have had a blast even without translation.

I was wondering if anyone else has given that a shot and what they thought about it. Only thing I miss is having the fast forward button that other services have. But the convenience of playing on the tv and portable anytime and anyway has been fun. Now I’m just waiting for Thracia 776 to be added.

[vanguard333]

I tried the one-week free trial of it, and I managed to play through all of Super Metroid and about half of A Link to the Past.

I thought it was overall okay; it's a bit barebones, but at least it works without issues (cough N64 expansion cough). I wouldn't get the whole thing, mainly because there aren't enough games on it that I actually want to try.

 

1 hour ago, MasterJP28 said:

Now I’m just waiting for Thracia 776 to be added.

I doubt that they will add it for two major reasons:

1. They've all-but stopped adding games to it; they have little incentive to add more games to it because of its very nature; they will reach a point where the time and cost of adding more games to it will outweigh the profits, as they aren't directly making money from the games.

2. None of the old Fire Emblem games are on Switch Online; at least not in North America, because they were Japan-Only games. When Nintendo got around to localizing the first game, they didn't add it to Switch Online; they sold it as a limited-time release.

[MasterJP28]

12 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:I doubt that they will add it for two major reasons:

1. They've all-but stopped adding games to it; they have little incentive to add more games to it because of its very nature; they will reach a point where the time and cost of adding more games to it will outweigh the profits, as they aren't directly making money from the games.

2. None of the old Fire Emblem games are on Switch Online; at least not in North America, because they were Japan-Only games. When Nintendo got around to localizing the first game, they didn't add it to Switch Online; they sold it as a limited-time release.

I live in the US and have been using the Japanese Super Famicom one. So I’ve been playing FE 3 and 4 on it but in Japanese. I’m playing them in Japanese because of convenience and I’ve already beat those games a million times so I know where to go and what to press lol. The N64 is super clunky and there is no FE64 so I didn’t bother getting it.

 

When Nintendo announced the N64 and Genesis online, they said they plan on adding some more games to the previous services. Now that was the American one, but I believe that Japan might still add Thracia or at least I’m being hopeful.

[vanguard333]

1 minute ago, MasterJP28 said:

I live in the US and have been using the Japanese Super Famicom one. So I’ve been playing FE 3 and 4 on it but in Japanese. I’m playing them in Japanese because of convenience and I’ve already beat those games a million times so I know where to go and what to press lol. The N64 is super clunky and there is no FE64 so I didn’t bother getting it.

 

When Nintendo announced the N64 and Genesis online, they said they plan on adding some more games to the previous services. Now that was the American one, but I believe that Japan might still add Thracia or at least I’m being hopeful.

Oh, I see. Of course those games are available on the Japanese version of Switch Online. You know, if they added translated versions of those games to Switch Online, it probably would increase demand here in the west, but I have a feeling Nintendo isn't going to do that.

[MasterJP28]

26 minutes ago, vanguard333 said:

Oh, I see. Of course those games are available on the Japanese version of Switch Online. You know, if they added translated versions of those games to Switch Online, it probably would increase demand here in the west, but I have a feeling Nintendo isn't going to do that.

They are definitely not translating them anytime soon, if ever. FE1 release was for the anniversary but they won’t do the same for the others. Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m wondering if modding the switch would also work to put in the translations.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Yes! When FE1 was added I posted my thoughts on it back in 2019. Since then they have added FE3 and FE4, though I have only dipped my toe into each. I was just thinking the other day about giving it another go.  I've been holding out hope that they'll add Gaiden and Thracia as well, however the future prospects of Famicom and Super Famicom games doesn't seem promising in light of recent news. Sounds like they're finished with the base NSO service. 

The Japanese apps also got three SMT games, maybe I should give that a shot too. My Japanese is pretty bad once they start lobbing kanji at me but there are a wealth of translation guides online for this sort of play experience. FE1 was easy to play because it was kanji free. I thought all Nintendo games were written out for children to understand but maybe Fire Emblem was intended for an older audience back then. Or maybe text limitations on Famicom games prevented the implementation of kanji, who knows?

Edited December 7, 2021 by Zapp Branniglenn

[MasterJP28]

On 12/6/2021 at 9:14 PM, Zapp Branniglenn said:

Yes! When FE1 was added I posted my thoughts on it back in 2019. Since then they have added FE3 and FE4, though I have only dipped my toe into each. I was just thinking the other day about giving it another go.  I've been holding out hope that they'll add Gaiden and Thracia as well, however the future prospects of Famicom and Super Famicom games doesn't seem promising in light of recent news. Sounds like they're finished with the base NSO service. 

The Japanese apps also got three SMT games, maybe I should give that a shot too. My Japanese is pretty bad once they start lobbing kanji at me but there are a wealth of translation guides online for this sort of play experience. FE1 was easy to play because it was kanji free. I thought all Nintendo games were written out for children to understand but maybe Fire Emblem was intended for an older audience back then. Or maybe text limitations on Famicom games prevented the implementation of kanji, who knows?

I also started playing SMT 1 on the service. Now I know zero Japanese. I've been trial and erroring which is why I'm sticking to mostly FE now since I've played them all intensively back in the day with the translations. I don't really need the games translated anymore since I know the story and buttons. Playing whenever and wherever has been incredible fun. Before FE1 came out fully translated, I played the Japanese one on the NSO service. I really hope that they aren't 100% done with the base service.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

I've been playing Genealogy on the Switch this way. I've played it twice before in English, but this is the first time in Japanese. Combining my knowledge of the English-language names with my ability to read kana scripts, it's not too hard to navigate. This is also the one game that I've really gotten into playing in "tabletop" mode, with one Joycon functioning like a miniature SNES controller. I set it down near the end of Act I, but I'd really like to get back into it.

[Interdimensional Observer]

On 12/6/2021 at 9:14 PM, Zapp Branniglenn said:

Or maybe text limitations on Famicom games prevented the implementation of kanji, who knows?

You would be right.