A dataminer reports that a total of 38 Nintendo Switch Online N64 games are planned for the service along with 52 Sega Genesis/Mega Drive games and the possible addition of Game Boy games.
Nintendo Switch Online is Nintendo's service for multiplayer gameplay on its flagship console. One of the perks of your membership is the ability to play classic NES and SNES titles. This list of games grows every now and again such as with the addition of five new games earlier this year.
We recently had the launch of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, an add-on that provides players with a handful of N64 and Sega Mega Drive games. This add-on also gives European players the bonus of enjoying these classics in 60 Hz instead of 50hz. Now, it appears that a dataminer may have figured out exactly how many games we can expect to see arrive in the coming years -- and a new platform may be added, too.
What We Know About Upcoming Nintendo Switch Online N64 Games
Let's start with what we know for certain: a total of 9 Nintendo Switch Online N64 games have launched with the service and it's an inevitability that more titles will be added over time. The same goes for the Sega Genesis/Sega Mega Drive.
A submission on Reddit highlights a pair of posts by ResetEra user MondoMega. These posts show lists of Nintendo Switch Online N64 games and Sega Genesis games based on internal ID codes. Notably, these lists do not show the know games in order -- for example, Dr. Mario 64's code is N-3007_e and Mario Kart 64's code is N-3013_e. The Nintendo 64 list has a total of 38 entries and the Sega Genesis list has a total of 52 entries based on the highest code numbers (N-3038_e for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and M-5052_e for Vampire Killer/Castlevania: Bloodines).
MondoMega has discovered one other interesting clue relating to the ID numbers. According to him, internal codes for SNES games start with 2, codes for N64 games start with 3, and Sega Genesis games start with 5. (Presumably, the codes for NES games begin with 1). Note that there's a gap: there are no games with codes starting with 4, suggesting that a new system will be added in the future. MondoMega speculates that this would be the Game Boy.
Now, let's get down to brass tacks: the number of new Nintendo Switch Online N64 games is essentially based on speculation that the missing codes will eventually be filled in with other games. As Nintendo Life notes, there are 49 SNES games and 58 NES games, so the total number of titles is within reason, too. There's no hard data otherwise, and we haven't been able to independently confirm these internal ID numbers.
One way or another, we're almost certainly getting new Nintendo Switch Online N64 games in the future, although no one can say for certain exactly what they'll be until Nintendo decides to announce it. You can enjoy the current batch of titles (plus a ton of other great games) by buying a Nintendo Switch Online membership and the Expansion pass at the price of $79.99/year.
What games do you think are likely to be added to Nintendo Switch Online next? Would you want to play Game Boy games on your Switch? Let us know in the comments below!
