No plans for the holiday weekend? An insatiable thirst for retro gaming? Nintendo has you covered. In the wee hours of July 4, the company added a whopping seven Nintendo Entertainment System games to its Nintendo Switch Online service, and it’s about as eclectic a list as you could ask for.
Now that we’re this far into the process of building up the NES collection on Switch Online – it’s been there since the service launched in September 2018 – Nintendo has naturally had to venture into some of the more obscure corners of the 8-bit console’s catalog. Indeed, it appears to be leaning into those esoteric flavors with this selection of “rare and surprising side-scrolling adventures, intergalactic shoot-’em-ups, and thought-provoking edutainment,” in Nintendo’s own words.
The seven added games are Urban Championa 2D street fighting game from 1986; golfthe most famous game in the selection, which in 1990 was about as ubiquitous as a sporting event could be; 1986’s Donkey Kong Jr. Mathwhich combines swinging on vines with mathematical puzzles; small rare game from 1991 Solar Jetman; and vehicle combat in the style of 1985’s Mach driver and the 1989 speedboat shooter Cobra Triangle(Ah, the days when “speedboat shooter” was a recognizable game genre.)
For retro enthusiasts, the 1986 examples will be of most interest The Mystery of Atlantis (known as Atlantis no Nazo in Japan), a side-scrolling platformer and maze exploration game by Sunsoft. Considered by its creators to be a Mario Bros. beater, it was never released outside Japan and is a collector’s item.
The NES collection is included in the base tier of Nintendo Switch Online, alongside SNES and Game Boy titles. To play Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, and Game Boy Advance games, you’ll need to pay extra for the Expansion Pack tier.