Nintendo Switch gamers that haven’t signed up for the Expansion Pack tier of theNintendo Switch Onlineservice may very well be convinced to do so by the time 2023 comes to a close. When Nintendo first unveiled the Expansion Pack tier forNintendo Switch Online, it was met with a great deal of criticism. Many fans felt as though the content didn’t justify the $49.99 per year subscription price, but Nintendo has since made great strides to sweeten the pot.
Since initially introducing the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, Nintendo has updated the service on numerous occasions. These updates have given players access to even more Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis titles, improved game performance, and added other goodies. These bonuses have included theHappy Home Paradise DLC forAnimal Crossing: New Horizons,Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s Booster Course Pass, and most recently, the Octo Expansion forSplatoon 2.
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Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack N64 Games for 2023
The big draw for the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack in 2023 will be theaddition of more Nintendo 64 games. Nintendo realizes this, and so it has announced six N64 games in advance. Release dates for these Nintendo 64 games to hit the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack have not been announced at the time of this writing, but fans can expect them to be rolled out on a monthly basis, if the last year was any indication.
The Nintendo 64 games announced for the Switch Online Expansion Pack that will be added in 2023 areacclaimed snowboarding game1080 Snowboarding,Excitebike 64, the groundbreaking first-person shooterGoldenEye 007,Mario Party 3, and bothPokemon Stadiumgames.
Just to take thePokemon Stadiumgamesas an example, used copies ofPokemon Stadium 2regularly go for $40-$70 or more on sites like eBay, while the originalPokemon Stadiumis a bit cheaper but still fairly expensive for a game that came out in 2000. Considering this, the addition of thePokemon Stadiumgames to the Nintendo 64 lineup should make the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack essentially pay for itself for anyone that was planning on playing those and no longer has their N64 cartridges handy.
The addition of thePokemon Stadiumgames to the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack are especially noteworthy because the games were never released for Nintendo’s Virtual Console service. This means that the games have been essentially trapped on the original Nintendo 64 hardware for over two decades. There hasn’t been aPokemon Stadiumequivalent made for new consoles, so manyPokemonfans will likely be happy to have easy access to the games again.
For those unfamiliar with thePokemon Stadiumgames, they offer a wide variety of game modes. Players are free to put together Pokemon teams and battle friends or the AI, but the real fun comes from the mini-game competitions. BothPokemon Stadiumgames featureMario Party-style mini-game compilationsfor players to check out that are a great deal of fun, utilizing Generation 1 and 2 Pokemon in clever ways.
ThePokemon Stadiumgames are going to be big for the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack in 2023, but many fans will also be excited to seeGoldenEye 007make its long-awaited comeback.GoldenEye 007is one of the most innovative first-person shooters of all time, making serious headway for the genre in the console space.GoldenEye 007’s legendary multiplayer is still talked about to this day, and now it will have online capabilities for the first time ever.
While the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack does not have matchmaking, players will still be able to hook up with their friends foronlineGoldenEye 007multiplayer matches. Of course, the option will always be there to battle it out in local multiplayer as well. Since the Nintendo Switch controllers have two analog sticks instead of just one, it seems safe to assume that this new version ofGoldenEye 007will have improved controls, but it remains to be seen exactly how all that’s going to be handled.
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