As has become standard in game-announcement surprises, today’s news was spoiled by a leak. This one came from a goof-up at Amazon. As spied by the deal-hunting Twitter account Wario64 last week, the site accidentally revealed a new Switch carrying case smothered in logos (along with a detailed zipper pull shaped like a Nintendo Switch Joy-Con controller).
The accessory listing was almost immediately deleted.
In what might be the most hoped-for update to the Nintendo Switch’s retro-minded side, the system’s paid online subscription service will finally get support for another library of classic video games: the Super Nintendo. A full suite of 20 SNES games will land for all Nintendo Switch Online subscribers starting tomorrow, September 5. And while Nintendo was mum on how many other SNES games to expect in the future, this opening slate is pretty killer, with a surprising launch of —a “Super FX”-powered classic that has never seen a re-release on other platforms until now.
Nintendo took the opportunity to announce a “coming soon” piece of hardware: a wireless SNES controller for the Switch, priced $29.99 and exclusively available for NSO subscribers. Nintendo placed the same restriction on its Switch-compatible NES controllers last year, but unlike those, the Switch SNES pads will have near-complete control parity with the Switch. (It lacks a joystick, but it include tiny ZL/ZR buttons.)
In addition to details about Nintendo’s three biggest first-party games of the season—, , and presentation included a mix of confirmations and surprises. On the first-party front, we learned that the ‘s onslaught of new characters will last longer than originally anticipated. The game’s existing Character Pack DLC will conclude with five characters in all (including, as revealed today, Terry from SNK’s .) But now we know there will also be an open-ended slew of additional, paid characters once that five-character pack is fully released.
(If you’ve been keeping track of , you know a release tied to the N64 classic is coming, and Nintendo confirmed its launch date. You can purchase and download the beloved Rare characters to your sessions starting today.)
The announcement slate included two surprises for classic-gaming aficionados: the first-ever port of on a system other than its original N64 home, coming to Switch on November 22, and a Switch port of 2002’s , coming September 24. In terms of out-of-nowhere announcements, arguably nothing topped the revival of the cult classic series , which now has a modern-looking sequel slated to launch in “2020.” (Or you can dive into the 2010 original today on Switch by way of a brand-new port.)
And for those keeping an eye on Switch’s future, Nintendo used today’s opportunity to tease , coming in “2020,” and a longer look at the multiplayer features coming to (formerly set to launch in 2019, but now delayed until “March 2020”).
For more on other newly announced games and ports coming to Switch, including Ars favorites and , watch Nintendo’s 40-minute video presentation below.
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