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Rumour: Insider Says N64 Is Coming To Switch Online, Believes It Will Introduce A "Higher-Priced" Subscription Tier

Bullet Club

Member

Rumour: Insider Says N64 Is Coming To Switch Online, Believes It Will Introduce A "Higher-Priced" Subscription Tier​


Will Nintendo ask members to pay more?

A few weeks ago, known insider 'NateDrake' revealed on his podcast how Game Boy and Game Boy Color games would supposedly be coming to Nintendo's Switch Online service in the near future.

Eurogamer added to this - noting how "other retro platforms" are also likely to show up. While no systems, in particular, were mentioned, the same insider now says one of these other platforms is the Nintendo 64. Here's exactly what he had to say on the latest episode of his podcast:

"Eurogamer went one step further, having noted that additional platforms will also be added to Nintendo Switch Online in the future. And today I would like to add to that, yes - that information is accurate and one of the platforms that will be coming to the Nintendo Switch Online in the future is the revolutionary Nintendo 64."

While the rest of the discussion about the N64 coming to the NSO is for most parts speculative, Nate seems to think Nintendo will use this generation of games to introduce a new Switch Online price tier. In other words, you could be expected to pay more to access these games - roughly estimated to make memberships around $5 - $15 USD more per year.

"What I'm going to propose, is that when Nintendo 64 does come to Nintendo Switch Online it is going to come with a higher-priced tier - a premium version of Nintendo Switch Online, if you will."
"I don't think they would try to double the price of it... I'd come in at $30 a year, $35 would be the ceiling, any more than that I think Nintendo would be really pushing things."

Further speculation from the insider and his co-host 'MVG' touches on the "elephant in the room" being Rare's library of games (e.g. GoldenEye 007), licensing and even the fact Super Mario 64 was only recently released as part of the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection.

While the insider is "confident" N64 will eventually appear on the NSO, he's not quite as sure about the date of its arrival:

"I would give a very realistic probability that it happens in the current fiscal year...but that's a guess. I mean that's a guess but you know, we will find out as we said, September is the month of reveals, the anniversary of the platform itself, so hopefully, we have some news about Nintendo Switch Online this month, but there is no rule that it has to come this month."

The main focus here though is that Nintendo 64 is apparently one of the platforms coming to the NSO. If this was to happen, what classics from this era would you like to see return? Would you pay more for these games?

Source: Nintendo Life

 

SpokkX

Member
N64 games - running at their original framerates are really hard to play today. Even if the emulation would push them to lock at 30fps - they really need to be hacked to enable 60fps today imo..

In that case.. Imageine Wave Race 64 at 60fps instead of at 20 fps?

now..will Nintendo deliver fps boost for n64? Not a change - they are NOT Microsoft
 

Sp3eD

0G M3mbeR
Just tonight I looked up when my NSO was going to renew and cancelled it (9/18 was the date it apparently launched and you have until today before 5pm PST or it will auto charge you). $20 isn’t a big deal for for the nes and snes games (and online), but I haven’t played them in months. If n64 stuff comes, maybe I’ll renew, but they really need to step their game up to entice me to pay now. Playing smash bros against the ultra try hards once in a blue moon just isn’t enough anymore. That being said, not sure I will pay more then $20 at this point either.
 
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Are paid for MP games on Switch even popular? I've not had a sub in over a year and don't want to pay it simply because the majority of stuff I play is SP, or free to play.

I'll consider grabbing a short subscription for Splatoon 3 though.
 

Three

Member
Man, where is the outrage? A subscription, not even a one time fee to play your old games at possibly a higher framerate. This is so anti-consumer, right?

Anyway I hope the selection of N64 games are good.
 

Zannegan

Member
If you have a decent number of people and a family plan, it's dirt cheap, but this isn't much of a value-add for me. I'd rather have the return of a (forward compatible) virtual console and be able to buy the stuff I want.
 

GreatnessRD

Member
  • Goldeneye 007
  • No Mercy (Seriously doubt it :( )
  • Zelda: Ocarina of Time
You give me these three and I'll pay whatever you want, Nintendo. WHATEVER YOU WANT, WHORES!
 

Dream-Knife

Banned
I never understood why people care about roms on the Switch.

N64 is my favorite console, but yeah I'm not paying extra for N64 games without Rareware. I don't even use Switch's online. Just subbed again to play MHR online.
 

Papacheeks

Banned
Man , Nintendo and Sony are thick as thieves at this point. At least Sony has been giving people free shit to play when they sign up for PS+ LIKE THE COLLECTION, or the Stay at Home initiative when they gave horizon away for free.

But if NIntendo is going to start charging more they need to up what they give people for a service, and that includes dedicated servers for some of their online games. And these N64 games hopefully play correctly for NTSC and PAL.
 

lucius

Member
I wouldn’t have a problem with increasing the cost but include GameCube, GBA or Wii games also. Or just let people buy them on E-Shop. Not many people care about GB/GBC games except a select few.
 

Drew1440

Member
Man , Nintendo and Sony are thick as thieves at this point. At least Sony has been giving people free shit to play when they sign up for PS+ LIKE THE COLLECTION, or the Stay at Home initiative when they gave horizon away for free.

But if NIntendo is going to start charging more they need to up what they give people for a service, and that includes dedicated servers for some of their online games. And these N64 games hopefully play correctly for NTSC and PAL.
I hope we don't see Pal anywhere near the switch, 50hz on a 60hz display does not go well and the N64 had a few botched pal ports
 

Papacheeks

Banned
I hope we don't see Pal anywhere near the switch, 50hz on a 60hz display does not go well and the N64 had a few botched pal ports

Well for some of the games they were coded for PAL so trying to play them sometimes in 60 doesn't look right specifically on newer tv sets. But I just want Jet Force Jemini, Perfect dark, OO7 Goldeneye, diddy kong racing. Thats all I want.
 
When Splatoon 3 comes out I'll be forced to pay for NSO. Otherwise its pretty useless. N64 is an improvement but the way they've run the service is a disaster so far.
 

DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
Switch finally able to run games at 60fps.


No need for drive bys. Also do you think they will actually improve the framerate? I guess it would be emulated directly so the games would also have low frame rate (if the original game was also low rate)
 
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deriks

4-Time GIF/Meme God
N64 games - running at their original framerates are really hard to play today. Even if the emulation would push them to lock at 30fps - they really need to be hacked to enable 60fps today imo..

In that case.. Imageine Wave Race 64 at 60fps instead of at 20 fps?

now..will Nintendo deliver fps boost for n64? Not a change - they are NOT Microsoft
Wii did that. It was awesome
 

Kokoloko85

Member
Nice, Ill be getting a subscription soon.
I wonder if current members need pay more to play the N64 games?

We thought we’d get virtual gamecube in like 2017 but we got N64 in 2021 lol
 

Kuranghi

Member
I'd guess they won't change the framerates, so that means 20fps Zelda + Wave Race.

The 3D All-Stars version of Mario 64 doesn't even have the right texture filtering (John from DF talks about it in their M3DAS video) so the textures don't look as good as they could have. I doubt they will be putting in the effort to do the amount of work that is required to enable higher framerates in those 1/3 rate v-sync'd titles.

I never thought about it but that could be a big reason why they didn't have N64 VC this whole time, they could have been working on all the major framerate-locked titles and getting them up to (full) speed since 2017. How likely to we think that is though? lol
 

deriks

4-Time GIF/Meme God
For specific games or something?

I just recall that OOT and Majoras Mask both ran at 20 FPS on the Wii as well.
I guess that was specific. Thou I remember Zeldas being 30fps, or at least Ocarina which I played start to finish
 

DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
I guess that was specific. Thou I remember Zeldas being 30fps, or at least Ocarina which I played start to finish

No pretty sure it was only 20fps. The original N64 version was 15 fps though IIRC.
 
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fallingdove

Member
I cancelled my Nintendo Online subscription a couple weeks back. There’s no way I would resub for N64 games.

I can’t believe how archaic Nintendo are with the way they do things. Their hardware is pitiful from quality and technology standpoints, their online services are a joke, and the eShop is a mess.

It goes to show how really great/fun games make a difference.
 

Rumour: Insider Says N64 Is Coming To Switch Online, Believes It Will Introduce A "Higher-Priced" Subscription Tier​


Will Nintendo ask members to pay more?

A few weeks ago, known insider 'NateDrake' revealed on his podcast how Game Boy and Game Boy Color games would supposedly be coming to Nintendo's Switch Online service in the near future.

Eurogamer added to this - noting how "other retro platforms" are also likely to show up. While no systems, in particular, were mentioned, the same insider now says one of these other platforms is the Nintendo 64. Here's exactly what he had to say on the latest episode of his podcast:

While the rest of the discussion about the N64 coming to the NSO is for most parts speculative, Nate seems to think Nintendo will use this generation of games to introduce a new Switch Online price tier. In other words, you could be expected to pay more to access these games - roughly estimated to make memberships around $5 - $15 USD..........
Nicolas Cage Laughing GIF
 

VN1X

Banned
The NSO offering is already piss poor and the handful of N64 titles they'll drip feed us over the year isn't going to change that. I mean fair enough if they keep the price as is; I wouldn't mind checking out the occasional N64 or Gamecube(!) title every now and then but a price hike would definitely make me steer clear.
 
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TexMex

Member
I have no problem paying more, because as it is I’m not even paying 2 bucks a month.

however it’s a total get what you pay for situation. We don’t pay anything and that’s why we get garbage game update offerings every few months.

what I would happily pay a real fee for are quality games, updated on a consistent basis. But I’m not paying a dime more if it’s going to be how it currently is.
 

jaysius

Banned
Are paid for MP games on Switch even popular? I've not had a sub in over a year and don't want to pay it simply because the majority of stuff I play is SP, or free to play.

I'll consider grabbing a short subscription for Splatoon 3 though.
Splatoon has a ton of glitchers/cheaters running rampant all the time fucking up the fun of the game. Nintendo does VERY LITTLE to stop any of it.

I'm not sure how MK8 is.
 

Saber

Gold Member
No need for drive bys. Also do you think they will actually improve the framerate? I guess it would be emulated directly so the games would also have low frame rate (if the original game was also low rate)

My personnal take...nah, I don't think so. Not because they can't but because it would be cheaper that way. And delivering a basic frame rate could use the "remain classic to its roots" excuse. That way would be a low cost with max profits.

Also if this rumor end up being truth I wouls risk saying this being exclusive to Nintendo games.
 

MrA

Banned
N64 games - running at their original framerates are really hard to play today. Even if the emulation would push them to lock at 30fps - they really need to be hacked to enable 60fps today imo..

In that case.. Imageine Wave Race 64 at 60fps instead of at 20 fps?

now..will Nintendo deliver fps boost for n64? Not a change - they are NOT Microsoft
Nintendo has actually 1 upped to improving the framerate, star fox 64 launched on the vc with improved framerate in the underwater level, and they patched the slow down back in
 

00_Zer0

Member
Sorry Nintendo this does not excite! I won't be buying into the extra tier online service if it comes to fruition. I don't trust Nintendo to keep these online services indefitely so I would rather own the original cartridges/games from all my systems, dump them to my PC, and emulate the classics I already own.
 

Corgi1985

Banned
They better not fucking charge more. These games are 25 years old any many don't hold up today. Of course nintendo offering poor value for the cost is their entire business plan.
 

Corgi1985

Banned
N64 games - running at their original framerates are really hard to play today. Even if the emulation would push them to lock at 30fps - they really need to be hacked to enable 60fps today imo..

In that case.. Imageine Wave Race 64 at 60fps instead of at 20 fps?

now..will Nintendo deliver fps boost for n64? Not a change - they are NOT Microsoft
Fuck no they would have to put in effort
 

bender

What time is it?
Not very exciting. I use NSO a bunch for Tetris 99 and Monster Hunter Rise but I've spent less than an hour with the NES/SNES offering. As much as I'd love to give OOT/MM a whirl, I'd rather pay for a port of the 3DS games. I doubt Nintendo would do a tiered approach to NSO but I could see them raising the price and then using this as a value add.
 
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Little Chicken

Gold Member
Besides Mario Kart 64, there's nothing really worth playing on N64 in 2021 that hasn't already been rereleased in a playable state.
 
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