Nintendo finally revealed more details about the Nintendo Switch’s online service last night. In addition to features like cloud saves, subscribing to this service will also net players access to, at launch, 20 classic NES games. While this is a great feature for the online service, it left many wondering about the fate of Virtual Console, which has been absent since the launch of the Nintendo Switch.
Today, Nintendo confirmed to Kotaku that they currently have “no plans to bring classic games together under the Virtual Console banner as has been done on other Nintendo systems.” While this is unfortunate, it still seems like classic Nintendo titles will make their way on to the system in different ways.
According to the Nintendo, older games will still make their way to the system through the Nintendo Switch online service, re-releases on the Switch eShop, or as “packaged collections”. Things like the Arcade Archives (ACA) series, the upcoming Street Fighter 30th Anniversary and SEGA Genesis Classics collections, and the NES games included in the online service do still prove that retro games will find a home on a system without Virtual Console.
That being said, several titles are still available via the service on the Nintendo 3DS, Wii, and Wii U, so you can still get your retro Virtual Console fix on those platforms. If you want to pick up a Switch before the Online Service hits, you can currently do so on Amazon.
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