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StarTopic Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack |ST| New 2024 Poll Up

How will Nintendo handle the NSO with the launch of the Switch 2

  • Everything on the service becomes playable on launch day of the new system.

    Votes: 139 76.4%
  • A slow roll out with a promise to move everything over within 12 months from launch day

    Votes: 24 13.2%
  • LOL Nintendo is going to start all over with just NES games in late 2025

    Votes: 17 9.3%
  • Nothing will transfer over because the Switch 2 won't be backwards compatible with the Switch 1

    Votes: 2 1.1%

  • Total voters
    182
I feel it's likely the fog was intentionally toned down. It's hard to say for certain, of course. Hyrule Field and the outside of Peach's Castle seem like areas that had fog out of limitation and not artistic choice.

But other locations definitely do suffer for it. I'm not looking forward to the intro of Majora's Mask without it.
I really don't think so. It completely breaks the atmosphere of like half of Ocarina (there are also issues with darkness not being correct in the rooms like the skulltula house) and I thought I heard from emulation folks that the likely cause of those issues was that however the N64 rendered fog does not scale up properly with the increased output resolution of this emulator (which is why it's just greatly reduced and not entirely gone). I'm far from an expert though and you are a dev so you may know more about this. If it really was intentional though, I'd say it was a bad call and worth going back to address regardless. Along with the issues they themselves introduced like the paper mario lag and crashes...
 
Oh wow another game next month? Is this Christmas?

They seem to be doing one game a month, yes.

December: Paper Mario
January: Banjo-Kazooie
February: Majora's Mask

Announced games with no release date yet: Custom Robo, Custom Robo V2 (both JP exclusive), F-Zero X, Kirby 64, Mario Golf, Pokemon Snap

So if they keep it up, we should have all of these games by August of this year. Then presumably Nintendo will announce the next slate of games at the inevitable Fall/September Direct.
 
They seem to be doing one game a month, yes.

December: Paper Mario
January: Banjo-Kazooie
February: Majora's Mask

Announced games with no release date yet: Custom Robo, Custom Robo V2 (both JP exclusive), F-Zero X, Kirby 64, Mario Golf, Pokemon Snap

So if they keep it up, we should have all of these games by August of this year. Then presumably Nintendo will announce the next slate of games at the inevitable Fall/September Direct.
Since the custom robots are unlikely to comes west they'd have to announce sooner than that. Like the e3/June direct. Only enough games through June.
 
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Since the custom robots are unlikely to comes west they'd have to announce sooner than that. Like the e3/June direct.

Yeah I was thinking about that and wondering what Nintendo is gonna do with that. Said this in another thread but I think the best solution would be to compensate for US/PAL users with US/PAL exclusive N64 games in place of the Custom Robos when they're released. Stuff like Pokemon Puzzle League or Cruis'n USA would fit especially considering Nintendo owns them both and were also previously available on the Wii VC. With Microsoft involved there's also Killer Instinct Gold that could do the trick.

Worst case scenario is Nintendo doesn't give a shit and just updates the Japanese NSO those months and leaves their western audience to dry lol
 
Yeah I was thinking about that and wondering what Nintendo is gonna do with that. Said this in another thread but I think the best solution would be to compensate for US/PAL users with US/PAL exclusive N64 games in place of the Custom Robos when they're released. Stuff like Pokemon Puzzle League or Cruis'n USA would fit especially considering Nintendo owns them both and were also previously available on the Wii VC. With Microsoft involved there's also Killer Instinct Gold that could do the trick.

Worst case scenario is Nintendo doesn't give a shit and just updates the Japanese NSO those months and leaves their western audience to dry lol
Custom Robos will come out in Japan and Americans will get Earthbound ;)
 
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I really don't think so. It completely breaks the atmosphere of like half of Ocarina (there are also issues with darkness not being correct in the rooms like the skulltula house) and I thought I heard from emulation folks that the likely cause of those issues was that however the N64 rendered fog does not scale up properly with the increased output resolution of this emulator (which is why it's just greatly reduced and not entirely gone). I'm far from an expert though and you are a dev so you may know more about this. If it really was intentional though, I'd say it was a bad call and worth going back to address regardless. Along with the issues they themselves introduced like the paper mario lag and crashes...

Majora is going to be worse off than OOT if it doesn't include fogging fixes. The opening cutscene, Great Bay, certain rooms in Woodfall, the post-dungeon cutscenes...

Goron rolling is also going to be dreadful if input lag isn't kept down...

I overall don't have high hopes for Majora currently...I tried emulating MM, and I had two options - inaccurate graphics or VERY obvious input lag.
 
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Yeah I was thinking about that and wondering what Nintendo is gonna do with that. Said this in another thread but I think the best solution would be to compensate for US/PAL users with US/PAL exclusive N64 games in place of the Custom Robos when they're released. Stuff like Pokemon Puzzle League or Cruis'n USA would fit especially considering Nintendo owns them both and were also previously available on the Wii VC. With Microsoft involved there's also Killer Instinct Gold that could do the trick.

Worst case scenario is Nintendo doesn't give a shit and just updates the Japanese NSO those months and leaves their western audience to dry lol
Or they do double releases in Japan, which is totally posssible, the west got an extra launch game after all

Edit for that matter the current timing would line up with the next wave being announced in the June(formerly E) direct
 
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Yeah I was thinking about that and wondering what Nintendo is gonna do with that. Said this in another thread but I think the best solution would be to compensate for US/PAL users with US/PAL exclusive N64 games in place of the Custom Robos when they're released. Stuff like Pokemon Puzzle League or Cruis'n USA would fit especially considering Nintendo owns them both and were also previously available on the Wii VC. With Microsoft involved there's also Killer Instinct Gold that could do the trick.

Worst case scenario is Nintendo doesn't give a shit and just updates the Japanese NSO those months and leaves their western audience to dry lol
I feel like they're gonna keep up the one game a month thing for the foreseeable future. They gotta get people on board for the expansion pass and they can't rely on online play or cloud saves to draw in people.

I thought about Puzzle League and Cruisin. Maybe Harvest Moon 64? The western rights are held by Natsume who have put several games on Switch online.

I haven't played the N64 custom robos. I wonder if they would put them on the western apps. They've put a lot of puzzle games and platformers untranslated, I wonder how playable they would be no knowing japanese.
 
I feel like they're gonna keep up the one game a month thing for the foreseeable future. They gotta get people on board for the expansion pass and they can't rely on online play or cloud saves to draw in people.

I thought about Puzzle League and Cruisin. Maybe Harvest Moon 64? The western rights are held by Natsume who have put several games on Switch online.

I haven't played the N64 custom robos. I wonder if they would put them on the western apps. They've put a lot of puzzle games and platformers untranslated, I wonder how playable they would be no knowing japanese.
Either of the custom Robo games has more text than most of the western releases first party N64 games combined. It’s a full on rpg
 
I thought I heard from emulation folks that the likely cause of those issues was that however the N64 rendered fog does not scale up properly with the increased output resolution of this emulator (which is why it's just greatly reduced and not entirely gone). I'm far from an expert though and you are a dev so you may know more about this.
Truthfully, I don't. This explanation is possible, and I've heard it too.
Along with the issues they themselves introduced like the paper mario lag and crashes...
I'd be pretty shocked if the added lag was there for any other reason than to avoid crashes. It did add one that they knew about but unfortunately improperly fixed in the US. I imagine that crash will be fixed in the next update (I expected it in this one, but now that we know it was built in January it's not too surprising there wasn't a fix).

Given none of the intentional lag is linked to known crashes (with the possible exception of Lava Piranha?), my hope is that they fix whatever caused them to implement the lag and then remove it. But I'm confident that'll happen.

Edit: That should've read NOT confident lol. Sorry for any confusion @Hylianhero777
 
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Not 100% sure of the accuracy of this claim (For sure the Xbox version also has working loading screens, other emulators idk) but still cool!
 


Not 100% sure of the accuracy of this claim (For sure the Xbox version also has working loading screens, other emulators idk) but still cool!

They acknowledge the Xbox version in the following tweet, claiming they went as far as to buy one primarily to have that version of Banjo. I assume they put some research into it before making a purchase like that.

Edit: Looking into it further, this has been solved for a while.
 
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In terms of the rollout of N64 games, yeah, assuming the current one per month rate continues, there's enough now to get to June (i.e. Majora's Mask in February, Kirby 64 in March, F ZERO X in April, Mario Golf in May, Pokemon Snap in June). If Nintendo were to announce the next block of games in a June Direct, or as a standalone announcement in June, they could announce another 7 games to take the service through to January 2023, e.g.

July: Wave Race 64
August: Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
September: Mario Party (GB/GBC NSO launches around this time)
October: Castlevania 64
November: Pokemon Stadium
December: 1080 Snowboarding
January: Harvest Moon 64

(Obviously these aren't concrete guesses at what's coming this year - just an indication of the kind of games which might pop up - I suspect the actual releases might be more popular and include more Rare titles; Diddy Kong Racing finally being re-released would be pretty special, and Goldeneye rumours abound)

By January 2022, they could have 23 games available internationally. Assuming Nintendo continue one N64 game per month for the foreseeable future, they could then use a January or February Direct (or just drop a trailer) to confirm the next set of games (5 would take them to June 2023; or 8 to September 2023). It might that Nintendo slow the rate of releases around September 2023, given steady monthly releases would bring us to 31 games and there were 38 slots in emulator.

Of course, they might have negotiated more licences by then, but I still suspect we'll see the monthly release rate stop after 2 years. My assumption is September 2023 potentially marks the debut of GBA on all Switch hardware and GC on more powerful hardware, with a monthly release or two for GBA and a GC title every other month, or something like that, combined with another price increase.

What's more difficult to know is how Nintendo intend to handle Mega Drive. The first update was big, but I can't see them offering 5 games per month; the emulator has 55 slots and so we'd be out of Mega Drive updates by the summer at that rate.
 
In terms of the rollout of N64 games, yeah, assuming the current one per month rate continues, there's enough now to get to June (i.e. Majora's Mask in February, Kirby 64 in March, F ZERO X in April, Mario Golf in May, Pokemon Snap in June). If Nintendo were to announce the next block of games in a June Direct, or as a standalone announcement in June, they could announce another 7 games to take the service through to January 2023, e.g.

July: Wave Race 64
August: Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
September: Mario Party (GB/GBC NSO launches around this time)
October: Castlevania 64
November: Pokemon Stadium
December: 1080 Snowboarding
January: Harvest Moon 64

(Obviously these aren't concrete guesses at what's coming this year - just an indication of the kind of games which might pop up - I suspect the actual releases might be more popular and include more Rare titles; Diddy Kong Racing finally being re-released would be pretty special, and Goldeneye rumours abound)

By January 2022, they could have 23 games available internationally. Assuming Nintendo continue one N64 game per month for the foreseeable future, they could then use a January or February Direct (or just drop a trailer) to confirm the next set of games (5 would take them to June 2023; or 8 to September 2023). It might that Nintendo slow the rate of releases around September 2023, given steady monthly releases would bring us to 31 games and there were 38 slots in emulator.

Of course, they might have negotiated more licences by then, but I still suspect we'll see the monthly release rate stop after 2 years. My assumption is September 2023 potentially marks the debut of GBA on all Switch hardware and GC on more powerful hardware, with a monthly release or two for GBA and a GC title every other month, or something like that, combined with another price increase.

What's more difficult to know is how Nintendo intend to handle Mega Drive. The first update was big, but I can't see them offering 5 games per month; the emulator has 55 slots and so we'd be out of Mega Drive updates by the summer at that rate.
I'd also add I expect that Nintendo will add stuff other than retro games, so it'll evolve something like:

Expansion Pass: N64, Mega Drive, GB/GBC, expansions to first party titles beyond Animal Crossing; possibly first-party download only software (I.e. things like Boxboy and The Stretchers)

Next tier (late 2023): GBA, GC, Nintendo Selects (rotating library of older Switch titles), higher gold points return, first-party download only games if it doesn't happen in the current higher tier.
 
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Me, a true chad, whenever I see the NSO or read about it:

i-dont-want-it.gif


Clarification: Jon Snow is not a chad, however.
 
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Why semi-realistic N64 wishlist (keeping it to current NSO partners):
  • 1080* Snowboarding (Nintendo)
  • Blast Corps (Xbox)
  • Bomberman Hero (Konami)
  • Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness (Konami)
  • Chameleon Twist 2 (Sunsoft)
  • Conker's Bad Fur Day (Xbox)
  • Diddy Kong Racing (Nintendo)
  • Goemon's Great Adventure (Konami)
  • Harvest Moon 64 (Natsume)
  • Mega Man 64 (Capcom)
  • Mystical Ninja starring Goemon (Nintendo)
  • Pilotwings 64 (Nintendo)
  • Pokémon Puzzle League (Nintendo)
  • Puyo Puyo Sun 64 (Sega)
  • RakugaKids (Konami)
  • Resident Evil 2 (Capcom)
  • Ridge Racer 64 (Nintendo)
  • Snowboard Kids (Atlus)
  • Snowboard Kids 2 (Atlus)
  • Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth (Konami)
  • Super Smash Bros. (Nintendo)
  • Wave Race 64 (Nintendo)
 
Please, I have Legends on my Vita, but I would happily play Mega Man 64 on my Switch.
Does Mega Man 64 have the same issue with product placement as the original Legends does? I thought it was what prevented Capcom of re-releasing;

Either way, it's the only realistic Capcom game that could come, since I doubt they'll put M-Rated games (RE2), and the other Capcom game on N64 is a Disney title lol
 
Why semi-realistic N64 wishlist (keeping it to current NSO partners):
  • 1080* Snowboarding (Nintendo)
  • Blast Corps (Xbox)
  • Bomberman Hero (Konami)
  • Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness (Konami)
  • Chameleon Twist 2 (Sunsoft)
  • Conker's Bad Fur Day (Xbox)
  • Diddy Kong Racing (Nintendo)
  • Goemon's Great Adventure (Konami)
  • Harvest Moon 64 (Natsume)
  • Mega Man 64 (Capcom)
  • Mystical Ninja starring Goemon (Nintendo)
  • Pilotwings 64 (Nintendo)
  • Pokémon Puzzle League (Nintendo)
  • Puyo Puyo Sun 64 (Sega)
  • RakugaKids (Konami)
  • Resident Evil 2 (Capcom)
  • Ridge Racer 64 (Nintendo)
  • Snowboard Kids (Atlus)
  • Snowboard Kids 2 (Atlus)
  • Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth (Konami)
  • Super Smash Bros. (Nintendo)
  • Wave Race 64 (Nintendo)
You forgot
Bomberman 64(Wii VC)
Bomberman 64 second attack
Flying Dragon(Natsume)
Deadly Arts(Konami)
Hybrid Heaven(Konami
 
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Does Mega Man 64 have the same issue with product placement as the original Legends does? I thought it was what prevented Capcom of re-releasing;

Either way, it's the only realistic Capcom game that could come, since I doubt they'll put M-Rated games (RE2), and the other Capcom game on N64 is a Disney title lol
Nintendo doesn't have issues with patching a game to remove those details to be honest. Sony only wanted the original game as released on the Playstation Network, which is why Spyro 3 is running on the rushed build of the game in America instead of the greatest hits version of the game that Europe has, with fixed music and other issues corrected.
 
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I dunno if anybody did side by side comparisons, but something I've noticed playing Ocarina of Time on NSO:

I've just arrived at the Forest Temple as Adult Link and triggered the cut scene with Sheik. In the cut scene, the fog effect is noticeably more intense than it is during normal play. Is this the game functioning as intended?

Edit - fog effect clears as Sheik drops a deku nut and vanishes. Gonna have to check the original om YouTube if I can.
 
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Ocarina reminds me why I couldn't get into Zelda pre-ALBW. You have to transport a blue flame. Bow and arrow seems logical? Nope. You need to put it in a jar!

Argh. I guess they had to make people call the Nintendo Hotline :p .
 
Ocarina reminds me why I couldn't get into Zelda pre-ALBW. You have to transport a blue flame. Bow and arrow seems logical? Nope. You need to put it in a jar!

Argh. I guess they had to make people call the Nintendo Hotline :p .

That's what Nintendo Power and playground discussions were for! It took my class all year to finish OOT. It was a collaborative effort!
 
I've been messing with the N64 games now that I've subbed and I think the graphics are fine, also didn't notice any input lag. Controller input is a bit weird though, and I wish we could customize them, but I won't die because of it.

Now what's really bothering to a much greater extent than I thought is that awful border that for some reason, isn't optional. Dear God, why, Nintendo? Why can't I turn off the border? It's ruining the mood for me, especially in games like OoT where some parts are more somber and there are even cinematic black bars, those stupid borders with your player icon on top are there to take you out of immersion.

Is there even a reason why we can't remove them? It's been years now, so I'm not holding my breath they will let us. Damn.
 
So I couldn't get over the borders and, looking for a solution, I committed the most cardinal sin in gaming: I'm playing a 4:3 game stretched. But honestly? Looks pretty good, much better than I expected, and definitely miles better than with the borders. 2D games still look like piss and I can't play them stretched, but I have a SNES mini so I wouldn't play SNES games anyway. For N64 this is definitely the way to go for me:

20220218-190211-0.jpg
 
I find that infinitely more distracting than borders. I would place curtains over my TV if borders bothered me that much, rather than stretch the image.

Actually I have a Plasma TV and it allows me to put my own borders on my TV for 4:3 content. So I turn those on as I don’t need any more image retention from that icon. I can choose from black, dark grey, and light grey. Think I use the dark grey currently.
 
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I'm playing Banjo-Kazooie, Paper Mario and Sin & Punishment for the first time.
I played a lot of Banjo and that game holds up super well and is great at everything.
I just lost the sense of time playing Paper Mario lol. That game does a great job at telling a story and I love how every NPC is well worked and have a personality. Kinda wish this for the next 3D Mario.
Sin & Punishment is great, even tho it's a bit uncomfortable with the control scheme, but I can see why it's so loved. Hope they make a sequel to the Wii game for the Switch.
Damn, Yoshi's Story is a bad game lol. I mean, maybe it gets better later, but the early impression is flat out bad, the controls aren't good at all.
I suck at Star Fox 64, but I'll definitely play that one to the end and unlock that on foot mode, maybe play online.
I'm having a good time with the expansion so far!! I'll probably have a real good time once those sweet Mario Kart 8 Deluxe courses come.
Also, I'm a bit excited for Majora's Mask, I played it before but never finished it.
 
I like that border, much better than black bars to me. But sure, Nintendo should give options to change it. What's really annoying to me is the player icon on top.
 
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So release dates for N64 NSO have been:

October 25th (launch day)
December 10th (Paper Mario)
January 20th (Banjo Kazooie)
February 25th (Majora's Mask)
March 11th (F Zero X)

The Mega Drive roll out was October 25th and then December 16th. My assumption is we're getting another batch of Mega Drive games next week, hence the 'early' launch for F Zero X (only a 3 week gap after the last N64 title).
 
So release dates for N64 NSO have been:

October 25th (launch day)
December 10th (Paper Mario)
January 20th (Banjo Kazooie)
February 25th (Majora's Mask)
March 11th (F Zero X)

The Mega Drive roll out was October 25th and then December 16th. My assumption is we're getting another batch of Mega Drive games next week, hence the 'early' launch for F Zero X (only a 3 week gap after the last N64 title).
Good catch. December was also the only other time we got the N64 game before the third Thursday/Friday of the month.

Fun fact: Majora's Mask was announced as the 25th by all regions, despite releasing on Thursday evening in the US due to time zone differences. Banjo-Kazooie released at a similar time but was properly announced to be a day earlier by US channels. It's possible the US will get F-Zero X on the evening of the 10th.
 
So release dates for N64 NSO have been:

October 25th (launch day)
December 10th (Paper Mario)
January 20th (Banjo Kazooie)
February 25th (Majora's Mask)
March 11th (F Zero X)

The Mega Drive roll out was October 25th and then December 16th. My assumption is we're getting another batch of Mega Drive games next week, hence the 'early' launch for F Zero X (only a 3 week gap after the last N64 title).
I do wonder if they'd drop the next batch of Mega Drive games AND Mario Kart DLC in the same week, seeing as they're both Expansion Pack content.
 
I do wonder if they'd drop the next batch of Mega Drive games AND Mario Kart DLC in the same week, seeing as they're both Expansion Pack content.
F Zero X meeting all my racing excitement needs drove (pun intended) the Kart DLC out of my brain. Maybe MD games by the end of the month.
 
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I do wonder if they'd drop the next batch of Mega Drive games AND Mario Kart DLC in the same week, seeing as they're both Expansion Pack content.
That was my exact thought after the news last night of F-Zero dropping. We're kinda overdue imo.
 
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So we only have three unannounced N64 games to go form the original list. My guesses.

April- Kirby
May- Mario Golf
June- Pokemon Snap

And hopefully a couple of Genesis drops in the mean time.
 
So we only have three unannounced N64 games to go form the original list. My guesses.

April- Kirby
May- Mario Golf
June- Pokemon Snap

And hopefully a couple of Genesis drops in the mean time.
I’m thinking swap Kirby and golf and add CRV1 for Japan for April. I think they’ll let the Kirby’s breathe a little
 
So release dates for N64 NSO have been:

October 25th (launch day)
December 10th (Paper Mario)
January 20th (Banjo Kazooie)
February 25th (Majora's Mask)
March 11th (F Zero X)

The Mega Drive roll out was October 25th and then December 16th. My assumption is we're getting another batch of Mega Drive games next week, hence the 'early' launch for F Zero X (only a 3 week gap after the last N64 title).
Yeah, that's what came to my mind when I noticed how early F-Zero X was releasing compared to the last two releases. Last batch of Genesis games were pretty good so hopefully this will be as well.
 
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I’m thinking swap Kirby and golf and add CRV1 for Japan for April. I think they’ll let the Kirby’s breathe a little

Could be. I originally thought Golf would be June but then I kind of figured that Nintendo wouldn't want to put Golf and Strikers in the same month.

Also, please release Wave Race in July
 
I'm surprised Japan still hasn't gotten Custom Robo yet. Thought it wouldve doubled up in a month that has something lower key like F-Zero.

Really wonder then if Nintendo will give Custom Robo 1/2 dedicated months in Japan, and if so whether that means we get some NA/EU dedicated games in some months.
 
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So we only have three unannounced N64 games to go form the original list. My guesses.

April- Kirby
May- Mario Golf
June- Pokemon Snap

And hopefully a couple of Genesis drops in the mean time.
Yeah I think this is what's going to happen. Put Kirby 64 in April for the series anniversary, then put Mario Golf in May so it doesn't lose the spotlight to Strikers in June. Leaving Pokemon Snap for June.
 
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So with the recent changes, the regular addition of N64 games, the fixes to the biggest problems with the emulation and now with Booster Course Pass, is the Expansion Pack starting to become a not bad deal?

I was surprised to see one commentator actually upset that BCP was available through EP. "That's not adding value," they said. I find that baffling. Sure they are better ways, but not adding any value?
 
So with the recent changes, the regular addition of N64 games, the fixes to the biggest problems with the emulation and now with Booster Course Pass, is the Expansion Pack starting to become a not bad deal?
tbh it never was a bad deal if you play ACNH (and you're okay with the concept of renting a DLC), especially if you share a family account with friends. But now, I think it's a no brainer : who wouldn't pay such a small yearly fee to be able to play F-Zero X and Sin and Punishment ?
 
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