Kid Icarus, StarTropics Now Available For Nintendo Switch Online Subscribers

Published: March 14, 2019 3:20 PM /

By:


startropics kid icarus nintendo switch online

Two new NES games have been added to the Nintendo Switch Online roster. Upwards platformer Kid Icarus and top-down adventure game StarTropics, originally announced on March 5th, are now available for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers to download.

That's if you're in the West, of course. Japanese subscribers get Kid Icarus, but instead of StarTropics, they'll be receiving Yie Ar Kung-Fu and Fire Emblem, two games which have never seen the light of day outside the Land of the Rising Sun. As ever, you'll need a Nintendo Switch Online subscription to play these games. If you're savvy, you can create a Japanese Nintendo Switch account and take advantage of the Japan-only Famicom / NES games that way, as the Switch isn't region-locked.

In addition to the new NES games, Nintendo has also released special save data for two titles that are already available via the service. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link gets a save with all of Link's stats already maxed out, making the game significantly easier, while Kirby's Adventure will allow players to begin with the much more difficult Extra Game mode immediately. You can grab this special data right now if you head over to the Nintendo Switch's NES library app.

Kid Icarus and StarTropics join an ever-expanding list of NES games available via the platform's Switch Online feature, which is also required if you want to play online multiplayer in games like Splatoon 2 (although free-to-play titles like Fortnite are exempt). Subscriptions cost $4 per month, with three-month and year-long options also available at $8 and $20 respectively. For your cash, you get access to the NES library (plus save states and extras), as well as cloud saves, exclusive offers, and online play. Nintendo will presumably announce more games for the Switch Online's NES library next month, although we haven't a clue what those might be yet.

Are you looking forward to revisiting Kid Icarus and StarTropics? Playing them for the first time? Let us know in the comments below!

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


Joe Allen's profile picture
| Senior Writer

Joe has been writing for TechRaptor for five years, and in those five years has learned a lot about the gaming industry and its foibles. He’s originally an… More about Joseph