


To combat this, Nintendo has also included optional ‘SP’ versions of some of the trickier games. One thing they don’t have, though, is the tutorial sections that have become the norm in modern gaming, and as such many of them can be a little hard to get into to. While the selection may initially seem a little random, the games chosen are generally entertaining and the majority remain playable today.Ī lot of games from the NES era have aged drastically and struggle to hold up to today’s standards, but most of the games included here are, at the very least, responsive enough to entertain.

There are also some impressive third-party games included such as Double Dragon I and II, Ghosts ‘n Goblins, Tecmo Bowl, Gradius, B laster Master and Ninja Gaiden. Naturally, all of the first-party classics are on there: all three games in the Super Mario Bros series (plus the Japanese Super Mario Bros 2), both Legend of Zelda games and the Donkey Kong trilogy are on there, as well as the likes of Kid Icarus, Metroid, Punch-Out!!, Kirby’s Adventure and Balloon Fight. The NES service launched in September 2018 with 20 games available on day one, and over time this has grown to more than 90 titles.

The most obvious place to start with Switch’s classic games library is the aforementioned Switch Online, which is primarily designed to be a subscription service for Switch owners who want to play online but also provides a host of retro games as part of its subscription fee.
