Ever since the Nintendo Switch came out, Nintendo warned us that this free online won’t be forever and we will soon have to pay. The online wasn’t too great but it was free so no one complained. But we all got hooked to the idea of the Switch having free online. When Nintendo reminded us, people got very upset. With every new piece of news for the service, people got angrier and angrier. The Nintendo Switch Online service launched September 18th. And people were really upset. But is it really as bad as people make it out to be?

With purchase of Nintendo Switch online, you get what’s called the Nintendo Entertainment System- Nintendo Switch Online. It gives you 20 free NES games. The most notable ones are “Super Mario Bros,” “Super Mario Bros 3,” “The Legend of Zelda,” “Donkey Kong,” etc.

You can play these games online with friends and even talk with them with the new and improved Nintendo Switch Online App. This is how voice chat works within the Switch. Online games let you talk with others with your phone and view your stats for some games like Splatoon 2. The online in these games is pretty fast too. And all this for one person, for one year is twenty bucks. That’s a quarter of Xbox Live and PSN. It’s thirty five bucks to have two to eight accounts with online, this is better for families so thats why it’s called a family pack. Also with the purchase you get what’s called Cloud saving. It saves all your game data to the cloud. If something happens to your Switch and you get a replacement, you can get all your progress back. And on top of all that, Nintendo says that they have more to reveal and add to the service.

While this is very good, it’s also pretty awful. Since everyone hates it, no one is getting it. So the Splatfest (a big 24-hour fight between two teams. The theme is different every time.) on September 21st, the lobbies were pretty much empty. Nintendo has rereleased these NES games countless times before. But they’re only giving us NES games for Switch. Why not SNES or the N64 or the Game Cube? And one thing you should never do is mention the Nintendo Switch Online app to Nintendo Switch Online haters. It’s like putting your hand into a pit of piranhas. People abhor this app. They want voice chat in the console/games itself. Not through a phone app. Nintendo has said that one your subscription ends, you lose your cloud saves until it’s purchased again. People are mad because if you run out and something happens to your Switch, you lose everything. But just recently Nintendo said you keep your cloud savings for six months after your subscription ends so everyone shut up about that. Overall for the price, most don’t think it’s worth it.

Personally, I believe that the service is great for the price. Yes I wish there was more but it’s still pretty great. Everything is running smoothly and they are going to give us more in the future. Which means we could get SNES, N64, and/or Game Cube games. Plus, how else are you going to be able to play Smash Ultimate online in December?