It's been a bit of a bumpy ride so far for the Nintendo Switch online expansion pack subscription service, but the next-level service has finally gotten a handful of new Sega Genesis/Mega Drive games. It's a decent selection too, with a mix of Sega mainstays and some unexpected classics.
Announced by Nintendo through its social media channels, expansion pack subscribers can now play the new Sega Genesis/Mega Drive additions on their Nintendo Switch. The five new games are:
- Altered Beast – An iconic fighter without whom any Genesis/Mega Drive collection would feel a bit empty. It's very rough and not as good as Golden Axe, but it has a brilliant soundtrack and funny voices (get up from your grave!)
- ToeJam & Earl - A weird teen adventure game that's painfully '90s, the tricky part of ToeJam & Earl is just figuring out what you're supposed to do, but there's a lot of visual possibilities for that. .
- Dynamite Headdy: Another Treasure Classic is coming to Nintendo Switch Online. Delightfully colorful visuals and a creative 'behind the scenes' motif really help make this one stand out, as does Treasure's penchant for barely-aged gameplay.
- Sword of Vermilion - An original RPG that mixes dungeon crawling with side-scrolling combat. It's a pretty ambitious game for its time, even if that ambition comes at the cost of confusing level design and awkward fights. It's still worth checking out.
- Thunder Force 2: The Thunder Force shoot-em-up series has dominated the console with rock-solid gameplay, an innovative power-up system, and consistently great metal soundtracks.
5 additional #SEGAGenesis games are now available for members of the #NintendoSwitchOnline+ expansion pack! Which one will you play first? - Altered Beast - ToeJam & Earl - Dynamite Headdy - Sword of Vermilion - Thunder Force II pic.twitter.com/MhtISzBN0MD December 17, 2021
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Unsurprisingly, Nintendo has been slow to release new games for the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. On the N64 side, only one new game has been added since the subscription tier launched, namely Paper Mario. Make no mistake, this is arguably one of the best N64 games out there, but the slow pace of updates is disconcerting to say the least.
Here's hoping Nintendo can speed up updates in 2022. We already have a roadmap for the N64, with games like Banjo-Kazooie and F-Zero X to come. But Sega Genesis/Mega Drive updates are a bit on hold at the moment.
We previously reported on the findings of a data miner after digging into the expansion pack code, and it looks like there are plenty more titles on the way, with the potential for Game Boy and Game Boy Color games added later.
For now though, we're hopeful that Nintendo will continue to fill the expansion pack library with the best of its retro consoles, from popular classics to lesser-known cult hits.
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