Everyone’s favorite 1997 multiplayer shooter is finally coming to Switch Online alongside a stack of other Nintendo 64 games including Mario Party and Pokémon Stadium. Better yet, GoldenEye 007 64 will launch with online play.
While we don’t yet have a release window for GoldenEye, the eight other games announced for Switch Online’s Expansion Pack are coming later this year and next:
Some games like Pilotwings 64 and Mario Party 1 through 3 were previously leaked via datamines. Pokémon Stadium 1 and 2, meanwhile, are a nice surprise. I doubt there will be any connectivity with other Pokémon games on Switch, but I’m still excited to watch a Level 100 Kangaskhan take on a Level 100 Scyther while I cheer in the background.
While classic NES and SNES games are free as part of an annual $20 Switch Online subscription, N64 and Sega games require upgrading to the Expansion Pack which is $50 a year. The service was previously panned for being so expensive relative to what it offered (PlayStation Plus is only $10 more a year and includes new and recent releases). But Nintendo said in the weeks after it launched last year that the Expansion Pack would continue to grow and evolve.
Almost 12 months later, I still don’t think it’s worth the price of admission, but this latest slate of games will go a long way toward making it more appealing. Fans are still hopeful that other retro game systems will eventually be included in Switch Online. Namely: Game Boy and Game Boy Advance. A convincing leak even pointed toward Nintendo’s European research arm working on emulators for the old handhelds. So far, however, there’s been no word of whether the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap, will ever be playable on Switch.