Nintendo unveiled their much anticipated Nintendo Switch Online update recently, by adding N64 and Sega Megadrive (Genesis) games to the offer. I’m a sucker for retro games, and these games hold a particular place in my heart as I was a teenager at the time of their release, so they all bring back a bunch of memories. Today I’m going to run through the Nintendo Switch Online offering with their new expansion pack, plus present my top 10 games from the list.
Before we get into ranking the games let’s check out which games are available.
N64
Super Mario 64
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Mario Kart 64
Starfox 64 / Lylat Wars
Yoshi’s Story
Sin & Punishment
Dr. Mario 64
Mario Tennis
Operation Winback
Coming soon
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
Banjo-Kazooie
Pokémon Snap
Mario Golf
Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
Paper Mario
Megadrive
Golden Axe
Strider
Musha
Shining Force
Sonic The Hedgehog 2
Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
Streets of Rage 2
Shinobi 3: Return of the Ninja Master
Ecco the Dolphin
Gunstar Heroes
Phantasy Star IV
Castlevania Bloodline
Contra Hard Corps
Ristar
There’s also the updated wireless controllers for N64 and Megadrive, which sold out pretty quickly, although I was lucky enough to snag one. That’s the list of games available, next lets have a look at my top 10 games.
Starfox 64
Star Fox 64, known as Lylat Wars in the PAL regions, is a 3D rail shooter video game. It is the second installment in the Star Fox series and a reboot of the original Star Fox for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. This was the first game to feature the rumble pack, although fortunately, we all have rumble built into everything these days. The original Starfox was a little ambitious for the Super Nintendo, and this was the best-selling game in the Starfox series.
Golden Axe
Golden Axe is a side-scrolling arcade beat ’em up game released in 1989 by Sega. The game places the player in control of one of three warriors each bent on revenge against the vile dictator Death Adder. Death Adder has taken over the once peaceful land of Yuria and murdered their friend and partner, Alex.
This brings back a lot of memories for me as I remember playing this in the arcades before consoles came out, and I think I played it on the Master System as well as the Megadrive. It was my first fantasy game that really brought me into action and crafted a rich and detailed world. I remember when the loot goblin would appear on the screen and you’d have to smack him to drop health potions, good memories.
Castlevania Bloodlines
Castlevania: Bloodlines, known in Japan as Vampire Killer[a] and in Europe and Australia as Castlevania: The New Generation, is a platform game developed and published by Konami in 1994. The game is a gaiden to previous Castlevania series entries, set in a different era with new characters. A vampire named Elizabeth Bartley is orchestrating the beginning of World War I as a sacrificial war to bring her uncle, Dracula, back to life. Players take on the role of Quincey Morris’ son, John, and his friend Eric Lecarde to take up the fight against evil.
The development team approached Bloodlines as a unique Castlevania experience tailor-made for Genesis. In this sense, the gameplay was made faster and action-oriented. Writer Toshiki Yamamura also took creative liberties to craft what he viewed as a new chapter in the Castlevania saga.
GamesRadar named Castlevania: Bloodlines the 8th best Genesis game of all time out of a list of 25.[21] Game Informer’s Tim Turi praised the level of gore relative to other Castlevania titles at the time. He also called it “one of the most overlooked treasures in the franchise.” In a 1997 Castlevania retrospective, GamePro said that while the graphics and sound were not as impressive as those of Super Castlevania IV, it was a strong game by Genesis standards.
Shinobi 3: Return of the Ninja Master
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master, released in Japan as The Super Shinobi II, is a hack-and-slash action game developed and published by Sega that was released in 1993. It is the direct sequel to the previous The Revenge of Shinobi.
Compared to its predecessor, the action is considerably smoother, with less emphasis on difficulty and more on speed. In addition to the ability to run from place to place, the player character comes equipped with a new array of moves and techniques, including a mid-air dash kick, the ability to jump-scale walls, and a powerful running slash that renders him temporarily invincible to projectiles.
Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master received critical acclaim. MegaTech magazine praised the game’s new attacks and moves, but criticized that it was “not as hard as The Revenge of Shinobi”. Mega said that “beyond the tricky bosses, this is far too easy”. An IGN review by Levi Buchanan called it “a legit Genesis great, one of the better action games for the 16-bit console of yesteryear”, even if the iPhone version was deemed just “okay”.
Mario Tennis
Mario Tennis is a sports game developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo. The game was released in North America and Japan in the summer of 2000, and released in Europe later in November. It is the first tennis-based game starring Mario since Mario’s Tennis, and the second game developed by Camelot on a Nintendo system. The game is known for being the introduction of Luigi’s arch-rival, Waluigi, and the re-introduction of Princess Daisy and Birdo.
The game uses a control system that differs from most other video tennis games on the market. Shots are performed by pressing one, or both, of the two main buttons (A or B), which make the ball spin in different ways. Pressing a button twice strikes the tennis shot with more power and spin. Additionally, pressing the two buttons in a different order can result in a different type of shot altogether, such as a lob or drop shot. Both buttons can be pressed at the same time to hit a very powerful smash shot.
Streets of Rage 2
Streets of Rage 2, known in Japan as Bare Knuckle II, is a 1992 side-scrolling beat ’em up video game published by Sega. A sequel to Streets of Rage (1991), the characters Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding return while the game also introduces two new characters: Max “Thunder” Hatchet and Eddie “Skate” Hunter, the younger brother of Adam Hunter from the first game.
Streets of Rage 2 was developed by an ad hoc team of several companies: Sega, Ancient, Shout! Designworks, MNM Software and H.I.C. Ancient’s Ayano Koshiro was the lead graphic designer and one of the game design planners, while her brother Yuzo Koshiro composed the music. The game was programmed by the same team as the original.
Streets of Rage 2 for me, was the best scrolling beat em up of the era, and I remember spending many hours sitting on the living room floor infront of the TV playing this one.
Contra Hard Corps
Contra: Hard Corps, released as Contra: The Hard Corps[1] in Japan and Probotector in Europe and Australia, is a run and gun video game released by Konami for the Sega Genesis in 1994. It was the first game in the Contra series released for a Sega platform and serves as the first entry in the Hard Corps subseries.
Set five years after the events of Contra III: The Alien Wars, a terrorist group led by the renegade Colonel Bahamut has stolen an alien cell recovered from the war and now intends to use it to produce weapons. Instead of the traditional Contra heroes of Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, a new task force known as the Hard Corps (with four members) are sent to deal with the situation. The game features a branching storyline with multiple possible endings.
This is your classic run and gun style game, which we don’t see much of anymore, although Blazing Chrome was a nice reminder of this style of game recently.
Sonic The Hedgehog 2
This is a Megadrive classic, and my favorite Sonic game of all time.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a 1992 platform game developed and published by Sega. It follows Sonic as he attempts to stop Doctor Robotnik from stealing the Chaos Emeralds to power his space station, the Death Egg. Like the first Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), players traverse side-scrolling levels at high speeds while collecting rings and defeating enemies. Sonic 2 introduces Sonic’s sidekick, Miles “Tails” Prower, controllable by a second player. It features faster gameplay and larger levels in comparison to the first game, in addition to a new multiplayer game mode and special stages featuring pseudo-3D graphics.
Sonic has a special place in my heart due to the gaming competitions I used to enter as a teenager. This must have been in the 1990s, I remember as going into this video game shop, then into the basement where they had rows of consoles and tvs set up for competitions and we had to run Sonic 2 levels as fast as possible. This one still holds up today and it was great to play again on the Nintendo Switch.
Super Mario 64
Next is Super Mario 64, one of the best video games of all time. It plays just like the Super Mario 64 I remember. I got this as an import from Hong Kong back in the days before the internet was widely available and I still remember playing it over and over as a teenager.
Super Mario 64 still holds up pretty well, albeit with a few camera issues here and there (that may even be true to its original form). The game is still as fun as it was back in the day and the visuals look crisp and there are the familiar music and open feel to the game which takes me right back. It’s incredible to think Nintendo made this 3D platformer and executed it so well on their first try.
The only strange thing with this one is we did recently just pay for the Mario triple pack of Super Mario 3D Allstars. But hey, I can’t hold it against Nintendo, it’s simply one of the best ever made.
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
Ocarina Of Time is such a special game to me. I remember taking the day off school for this one and losing myself in Hyrule. It was released in Japan and North America in November 1998 and in PAL regions the following month. Ocarina of Time is the fifth game in The Legend of Zelda series, and the first with 3D graphics.
It was developed by Nintendo EAD, led by five directors including Eiji Aonuma and Yoshiaki Koizumi, produced by series co-creator Shigeru Miyamoto, and written by Kensuke Tanabe. Veteran Zelda series composer Koji Kondo created the musical score. The player controls Link in the fantasy land of Hyrule on a quest to stop the evil king Ganondorf, by traveling through time and navigating dungeons and an overworld. The game introduced features such as a target-lock system and context-sensitive buttons that have since become common in 3D adventure games. The player must learn to play numerous songs on an ocarina to progress.
Ocarina of Time received widespread acclaim from critics and consumers and won several awards and accolades, who praised its visuals, sound, gameplay, soundtrack, and writing. It has been ranked by numerous publications as the greatest video game of all time and is the highest-rated game of all time on the review aggregator Metacritic.
That’s my rundown of the best games on the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. I know there’s plenty of discussion around the price, but I think it’s fine, it’s cheaper than a single game would be today and you get nearly 20 games, plus the NES and SNES collection, containing some of the BEST games ever made. I think it’s a bargain.