Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Nintendo Switch Online 12-Month Individual Membership [Digital Code]

I buy this card every year for my god baby as an incentive for doing great in school. It is amazing. He can play and test free games and retro games for one year for $25.

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chickfred

Not a Perfect Online Service, but Good.

Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2018

Verified Purchase

Nintendo's paid online service isn't the best thing in the world, but it isn't bad. It's pretty good. It's nice having a service that is only 20 dollars a year as opposed to the 60 dollars you pay annually for something like PlayStation Plus. And while Nintendo's service isn't as good as PS+, the fact that it's three times cheaper makes it a worthwhile investment.
Most importantly, this service lets you play your games online. Nintendo has a bunch of really great multiplayer titles such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, that are all amazingly fun to play online.
Another important aspect of the service is the ability to back up your game save data to the cloud. Not every game is compatible, but the vast majority of them are. It is really annoying that big games like Splatoon 2 and Pokemon Let's Go aren't eligible for save data backup though. I understand Nintendo's concern for cheating, but there are ways they could've worked around it without just restricting cloud saves for some games. Other than the few exceptions though, cloud saves are pretty spot-on.
The other two features the service comes with are neat, but not amazing. Buying the service gives you access to the Nintendo Switch Online app. The app doesn't do too much though. It lets you track your stats in a very small selection of games from your phone, or use voice chat in a kind of ridiculous way. As much as I dislike Fortnite, Nintendo should follow its example and use voice chat that runs on the console, instead of this weird system where you have to connect a phone. The other feature you get with this is a library of NES games to play on your Switch. Being a retro gamer, I really enjoy this feature. It's a lot more affordable to get an expanding library of NES games on my switch for 20 dollars a year than it is to buy that many games for the actual console used. The NES games are fun to play, but they don't hold lasting appeal. They're primitive compared to the modern games most people are used to, so they'll hold peoples attention only for a few moments. I think Nintendo really needs to add SNES games and above to the service, and then things would be a lot better. Typically, games made in the 16-bit generation and up tend to be more substantial attention-grabbers. Instead of arcade games, you have more things like racing games, RPGs, fighting games, large single-player adventures, etc. Things that are honestly a lot better.
So this service is good. For the price of 20 dollars a year, the notable features you get are online play, cloud saves, and a side of NES games. The app isn't really worth your time. This service has a long ways to go, but as long as I can at least play my online games and backup my saves for a really cheap price, this service works fine.

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