Nintendo has hit a milestone with the ever-growing library of retro games included in its Nintendo Switch Online service. The next batch will take the number of available games past 100, with five new titles resulting in a total of 104.
In keeping with recent form, the latest additions are, well, not necessarily blockbuster releases. Here’s the list:
- Caveman Ninja: Joe & Mac, a prehistoric action game released in arcades and ported to the SNES by Data East in 1991
- Magical Drop 2, a 1996 Data East puzzle game for the SNES that was originally on the Neo Geo but never previously got a Western release
- Super Baseball Simulator 1.000, a SNES baseball game released by Culture Brain in 1991
- Spanky’s Quest, a 1991 SNES action game by Natsume about a monkey with a magic bubble
- Ninja JaJaMaru-kun, a popular Jaleco NES action game released in 1985; it was only ever released in Japan but did come to the Wii Virtual Console around the world in 2007
So no, still no Earthbound.
Nintendo is, of course, constrained in what it can release on the service for various reasons including licensing issues, and it is cool to see some more obscure titles get spotlighted. But it’s clear that there isn’t much left in the NES and SNES pipeline, and it’d be a good time for the company to start thinking about perhaps moving on to the N64 — especially now that Super Mario 3D All-Stars (which includes Super Mario 64) has been removed from sale forever.
Until that hypothetical possibility transpires, you’ll be able to play the five new games when they’re added to the service on May 26th. Nintendo Switch Online costs $3.99 a month or $19.99 a year.
