Should I buy Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack?

Nintendo Switch Online + Extension Pack, the brand new online subscription for the top-tier Nintendo Switch Online, was announced yesterday. The $49.99 price tag — more than double the basic Nintendo Switch Online rate — brings the service’s price more in line with its cousins on PlayStation and Xbox. However, the service offers more than just multiplayer access.

Here’s a primer on Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, the fine print of signing up for it, and what you get if you do.

Image: Nintendo EDP/Nintendo

What’s included?

Nintendo Switch Online was launched in 2018 with an incentive to sign up. Subscribers had access to large libraries of Nintendo Entertainment System emulated games. One year later, Super Nintendo titles were added to this catalog. The additions included online multiplayer and cloud saves as well voice chat and a companion app that can be used on smartphones.

Nintendo Switch Online + Expandsion Pack provides all this, as well as a variety of Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis titles. Subscribers also get it. Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ Premium expansion Happy Home Paradise is available for an additional $24.99

There’s a catch: You can only access the Animal Crossing DLC while your subscription remains active, just like the Xbox Live Games With Gold and the PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection. Your subscription will expire and you’ll lose access.

The Genesis and N64 games are also available to players who have an Expansion Pack subscription.

Image: Nintendo

What specific benefits do the Expansion Pack offer?

These are the Nintendo 64 games available:

• Dr. Mario64
• Mario Kart 64
• Mario Tennis
• Sin and Punishment
• Star Fox 64
• Super Mario 64
• The Legend of Zelda – Ocarina of Time
• Winback: Operation covert
• Yoshi’s Story

Nintendo revealed that they will be offering more N64-compatible games like PokémonTake a look at these pictures Paper Mario Kirby 64 – The Crystal Shards Mario Golf F-Zero X Legend of Zelda: Majora’s MaskIt is. It hasn’t given a date for when these or other titles will be available, though.

Sega Genesis offers the following games:

• Castlevania: Bloodlines
• Contra: Hard Corps
• Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
• Ecco the Dolphin
• Golden Axe
• Gunstar Heroes
• MUSHA
• Phantasy Star4. The End of the Millennium
• Ristar
• Shining Force
• Shinobi3
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2,
• Streets of Rage 2
• Strider

It’s worth mentioning that, of the Sega Genesis titles, all but MUSHA Ristar are included in the Sega Genesis Mini’s catalog of 42 games, if you bought one of those back in 2019.

Also of note: Some of these Sega Genesis and N64 games will be playable via online multiplayer, so you won’t need to be on the same couch to play Mario Kart 64With your friends.

What happens if my Nintendo Switch Online is already basic?

Nintendo will sign up you for a pro-rated membership whose expiration coincides roughly with when your Nintendo Switch Online subscription would end and be rebilled. For a year, the subscription will automatically rebill at $49.99. Nintendo claims that customers will be shown both the expiration and full price of their Expansion Pack membership before they choose to pay.

What if I’m part of a family membership?

Only family members who purchased the Nintendo Switch Online Family Membership can purchase a Nintendo Switch Online Plus Expansion Pack family membership. This is $79.99. You can’t change it to an individual Expansion Pack membership. You’d have to let that family plan run to its expiration and buy a new individual membership at whatever tier of service you want, the same way you’d get out of a family plan on standard Nintendo Switch Online.

That also means that, if you’re a member of a family plan, you can’t simply buy the Expansion Pack upgrade for yourself, either. You’d have to drop out of the family plan and buy a new subscription altogether at $49.99.

There are many more details in this FAQ, but these are the main rules:

• Nintendo Switch Online owners can choose to upgrade (individual expansion pack $49.99; family membership $34.99; or family membership with the expansion package $79.99)
• You can upgrade to Family Membership with Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack if you purchase Nintendo Switch Online + the Expansion Pack (as low as $79.99).
• Nintendo Switch Online Family members can add the Expansion Pack only at the Family level ($79.99).

What is the best way to downgrade from Nintendo Switch Online + Expandsion Pack to standard Nintendo Switch Online

This is the short answer: Nintendo made it a complex, multiple-step process.

First, a user would have to disable the auto-renewal on their Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership (within 48 hours of the current term’s expiration). Note that once you do this on your account, you can’t reactivate rebilling for Nintendo Switch Online, for that account, from that point forward. They would then have to close their Nintendo Switch Online account and register for the standard Nintendo Switch Online membership at that rate.

In summary, even though the extra features are billed as an “Expansion Pack” these are all discrete subscriptions; there’s no way to just strip out the Expansion features and go back to your old tier of service. It is necessary to cancel your Expansion Pack subscription in order to purchase a new one.

Image by Twitch/Image:

Do I need to buy the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack

You will get the most out of Nintendo Switch Online Plus Expansion Pack if you enjoy Sega Genesis or Nintendo 64 games. If you’re buying it just for the Animal CrossingNew Horizons DLC and plan on downgrading once you’re tired of it, remember, that content disappears from your game.

You would be better off making a one-time purchase of the DLC for $24.99; it’s $5 cheaper, and you have Happy Home Paradise permanently. You will pay $49.99 per year to subscribe to Animal Crossing.

The Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis games comprise some greatest hits with a wide fandom, for sure — Mario Kart64 Star Fox64 Super Mario64 Legend of ZeldaOcarina of TimeSega Genesis is a Sega Genesis, and you should highlight N64. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Streets of Rage2, Ecco the DolphinStriderOthers. Some games also offer multiplayer capabilities, as we have already mentioned.

And there’s the opportunity to play these games with replicas of their consoles’ original controllers. These controllers cost $49.99 each. (The N64 controller is sold out on the Nintendo Store; the Genesis gamepad is available — it’s the three-button version, though; a six-button throwback pad is available only in Japan).