One of the benefits for purchasing a subscription to Nintendo Switch Online is access to a variety of NES and SNES games, often with additional online capabilities or challenge modes. However, some fans have complained that the service is slow to add worthwhile content, itslast update in May only including four games. Today, Nintendo announced three more will be coming on July 15, but most fans will undoubtedly gravitate toward the addition of Rare’s SNES classicDonkey Kong Country.
TheoriginalDonkey Kong Countrytrilogyof games were humongous hits for the SNES, standing out both for their keen mastery of the side-scrolling platforming genre and for state-of-the-art 3D models. They have been a glaring omission in Nintendo Switch Online’s offerings, which already hosts titles likeSuper Metroid,A Link to the Past, andSuper Mario World.
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Other thanDonkey Kong Country, the July 15 update will also add the SNES titleNatsume Championship Wrestling, a 1994 wrestling game developed byHarvest Moon-publisher Natsume; and NES titleThe Immortal, a 1990 action-adventure game originally created for the Apple IIGS that was published by EA. However,Donkey Kongis clearly the big draw, as soon after the announcement was madeDonkey Kong Countrybegan trending on Twitter.
The originalDonkey Kong Countryseries, ostensibly a reboot/follow-up to theDonkey Kongarcade game, was so beloved that it was brought back by Retro Studios withDonkey Kong Country Returnson the Wii in 2010. That game saw a sequel,Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freezeon the Wii U which was later ported to the Nintendo Switch, selling more than its original version in just two weeks.
Despite complaints about the drip-feed of new titles through Nintendo Switch Online, the service has mostly been a success thanks to the accessibility of NES and SNES games, as well as exclusive titles to the service such asTetris 99. One recent title, GungHo Entertainment’sNinjala, has been downloaded two million timesnot long after its official release.
That being said, the service has taken flack for other issues, including poor connectivity on online-heavy games such asSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, occasional outages, andreports of Nintendo online account breachesby hackers. While it’s hard to say a few more free games is a worthwhile compensation for these issues, some Nintendo fans should still be happy to get their hands onDonkey Kong Country.
Donkey Kong Country,Natsume Championship Wrestling,andThe Immortalwill be available July 15 through Nintendo Switch Online.
