Nintendo Switch Online Reviews

by Ryan The_Creeper_DJ

It’s 2017 for crying out loud! This should be built into the the switch! All the other consoles you can chat and talk to your friends without NintendoSwitchOnline... even the Xbox 360 and PS3 had it, so power should not be an issue. If you want to hear your game, and not just your chat, you are going to need a bunch of adapters in order to do this not to mention phone chargers and your Switch undocked with it charging in the awful place the charger is located at.. with all of this... my Switch is my console for Nintendo exclusives... and my Xbox One is for everything else... it’s almost to the point where you might was well use Skype because it doesn’t drain you phone battery as quickly!

The first party games on Switch, make it 100% worth getting one... (Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, Metroid Prime 4)(and many more if you never had a Wii U.. (I have one) )but all the other games.. are better played on all other platforms, unless you want to play on the go...

by DatBoiOnAKoi

NintendoSwitchOnline could have been something really great. I love the idea of ditching the headset for my phone and a pair of buds. But then I saw that only a very small handful of games are supported. Why? Why isn’t there a small little notification that pops up in the corner of the T.V. screen when someone joins the voice chat room. The uselessness of NintendoSwitchOnline is mind boggling. I would love to be able to access something like an activity log on the 3ds, or buy stuff on the Eshop straight from my phone (like the Steam app). There’s nothing to say about NintendoSwitchOnline, because it literally doesn’t do anything, apart from a horribly implemented voice chat system, a keyboard for Animal Crossing, and some extra gear for Splatoon 2. Smash’s section is the most useless of em’ all. Only being able to look at recently uploaded stage builder stages, without the ability to filter it and see the popular, actually good stuff.

Overall, when it comes to games, Nintendo hit it out of the park this generation. But when it comes to hardware and software other than games, they’ve reached the bottom of the barrel (you could also say their starting to ‘drift’ off course).

by ZackSchilling

When playing Smash last night, my friends and I tried using NintendoSwitchOnline for voice chat thinking “It can’t be that bad, the internet exaggerates”. I am here to report that the internet did not exaggerate. It is that bad.

All you can do is “start voice chat” which opens a voice chat with everyone in your online session. But in smash online, every match is a session and where you put your token on the match setup screen counts as a different session. So who you can talk to is constantly changing, with people dropping in or out depending on what they’re doing. This is baffling.

On top of this poor design, NintendoSwitchOnline devours battery and does not handle gracefully your phone locking or shutting off the screen, with chat cutting out when this happens. I was constantly having to tap my phone screen to keep it awake.

And lastly, it crashes. You’d wonder why nobody was talking to you, look down at your phone, and it would be sitting back on the home screen, NintendoSwitchOnline having crashed out. After the 6th crash it wasn’t funny enough to keep using and I switched to Discord. This was a 0/10 experience. Not only was it inconvenient, it didn’t do what I wanted, it was confusing, and it crashed constantly. Nintendo should be embarrassed. This is worse than if they had offered nothing at all.

I’m mad I paid for this terrible online service.

by Struthious Cheeseburger

The reason I’m writing this review is because NintendoSwitchOnline doesn’t even launch on my iPhone XR. I’ve reinstalled NintendoSwitchOnline multiple times, and it was broken before I updated to iOS 14. I normally wouldn’t have an issue with bugs surrounding a major software update, but a month is way too long. Update your app.

Now, on to things I wish were changed in NintendoSwitchOnline if it worked. The support for voice chat is terrible! Voice chat only works for specific games and I’ve noticed that even games that have online multiplayer don’t have voice chat options in the nso app. There’s no option to just call or text your friends like I can on Xbox live (or even the Wii), or even to see if they’re online, so I usually just use discord or messenger to call my friends, thus making NintendoSwitchOnline useless.

I seriously feel ripped off paying $20 for an online service that isn’t much better than what was on my 3ds almost a decade ago for free. I gladly pay $60 for Xbox live gold because it’s objectively a good service.

I wouldn’t be so disappointed if I didn’t know Nintendo could do better. But they have such high quality standards for their games, hardware, and (in the past) system software that I know they’re capable of better. Please, offer a better service, even if that means charging more, and fix your app. 🤙

by Dnrncnndnxvndnx

I’m not going to sit here and whine about an online service that requires servers to run costing money, especially when it costs *33%* of what other, older services historically cost per year.

Get over it people. 17 years ago games were made out of sprites and 7 years ago they were made out of what I’ll now call primitive 3D renders. These assets were previously made by skilled, professional adults. Well, guess what, times have changed and now *little children* make these assets for fun in their art or graphic design class. Times simply are not the same, nor are they at all comparable. Things don’t stay free forever. Anyone who actually complains about this demonstrates a lack of critical thinking and makes the rest of us look bad.

Instead what I’ll complain about is downloading NintendoSwitchOnline three (3) weeks ago on iOS 13.5 and not being able to even sign into NintendoSwitchOnline for the first time, with NintendoSwitchOnline only showing an infinite loading circle on a grey background. There have been no further patches in these 3 weeks or word from developers regarding the issue.

by Cheyenne917

So. Back in 2017 (back when you released this stupid thing) I thought it would be super cool bec you get bonus features and there’s and app for it. But me seeing online play it’s just a waste of everyone’s time and money, like what the heck is wrong with you guys? Why can’t you agree with your fans for once in like 100 years or something like that. Xbox does an online membership but at least it’s worth it. Sony does the same thing but it’s great like the Xbox membership. But YOU on the other hand don’t listen to your fans when they say “NINTENDO SWITCH ONLINE IS A JOKE!” Or “SEGA IS BETTER THAN NINTENDO AND THEY NEED TO GET RID IF THE MEMBERSHIP” they’ve been begging that for YEAARRRSS but you still don’t listen bec you guys are so bad. And you smart enough to make CPU’s in Super Smash Bro’s. Ultimate but your not smart enough to make CPU’s in Splatoon 2 (besides the enemy CPU’s). But this membership needs to stop or your so called “fans” will just stop playing your games. You guys never listen to your fans that’s just so stupid.

by Supercena1000

I don't think we should be using an APP to voice chat with our friends. This feature should be built into the switch. Also if you want to protect young players, make a party system like Microsoft on Xbox One and Sony on ps4. And if that's not good enough, make the party system Friends only. What I'm trying to say, is that there are so many solutions to chatting. And Nintendo didn't follow one. Before we start paying you for online, PUT VOICE CHAT ON THE SWITCH! Also another reason NintendoSwitchOnline is horrible, is because it only supports splatoon 2. Only that game out of all the games on this amazing console. Nintendo, listen to your fans. Or else, when people start paying online, you don't scratch your heads wondering why your not making as much money as you though. Not to mention your online history has already been horrible. We shouldn't be using an app to chat for a console game. All I'm saying is put voice chat on switch and listen to the community before we pay for online.

by Veenerooniolium

The only reason why I originally signed up for switch online was for Smash Bros. I like fighting with online players because it’s more challenging than just playing against the game’s AI. I don’t actually want to talk to those people though and can’t really think of a reason why anybody would...

Later I found the virtual console stuff for the NES and SNES I am certainly happy that those are on there, but I feel like there aren’t really very many games on there, and of the ones they have only a few are really good and nostalgic. I’m a little upset because on past consoles (like the Wii and the 3DS) you didn’t have to pay a recurring fee to play virtual console games. You only had to pay for the initial game itself and download it and then just have it forever. I personally much prefer paying $5 to $10 one time for some classic 8 bit game that I can play forever than paying $20 a year to have access to that one game plus a bunch of others that I’m never going to play!

by Ilimae:3

My internet is fine on my end, and I even tried with cellular data and as soon as I open NintendoSwitchOnline it says that I have poor internet connection. I’ve been trying to use NintendoSwitchOnline for a month but it says the same message every day and prohibits me from using it. I paid for a 3 month membership to see if I would continue paying for it later on but this service doesn’t even work. I want to scan QR codes and that is one of the main reasons why I paid for Online and NintendoSwitchOnline doesn’t even work. I just deleted it and am going to download it again and see if that somehow fixes it but the fact that I even have to do that makes NintendoSwitchOnline get a bad rating from me. Also, nobody likes having to pay for Online. We already spent loads on the switch console (expensive as hell) and loads on the games that require Online to even be fun. Shows how greedy big companies are, and shows how they don’t care about the consumer. Horrible service.

by Morraskin

I love splatnet for Splatoon it's a really good idea I Actually wouldn't mind NintendoSwitchOnline if the Switch app had a different base but sadly it does not. The main point from what I understand was the chat system and It failed bad. I tried to be optimistic but it's like a worse discord + the only saving grace that is splatnet.
1.For one you can't chat while your not playing a game.
2.You can't leave NintendoSwitchOnline and still hear anybody. It doesn't really affect much but it's dumb.
3. It supports nothing else. I'll be honest I don't
Have MK8DX or Arms. But it doesn't support it. I understand that MK8 and Arms can't have something like splatnet but why can't you voice chat with it on those games. I hope they add it sooner but once again it's dumb. How are you gonna release an app and have it only support one game.
As I stated earlier NintendoSwitchOnline is pretty much only useful if you have Splatoon 2 because of Splatnet which is once Again a REALLY good idea and it works really well. But besides that your better off just using discord. Me and my friends end up using discord over NintendoSwitchOnline even when where playing Splatoon 2. Note:Use headphones when using Discord it'll be hard to hear otherwise. I can see NintendoSwitchOnline getting better. It's not broken and can definitely improve but as it stands it's only really good for splatnet.

by Second_Reference

It’s not the best app but is judged a bit harshly. So first the fact that you need the online membership to use NintendoSwitchOnline makes sense, because what would you do on NintendoSwitchOnline aside from play with your friends online? And if you didn’t have one of the games that were supported then again, you wouldn’t have any real use for NintendoSwitchOnline . There’s plenty of other apps that you could use for voice calls, NintendoSwitchOnline is just for people doing call while playing games simultaneously. And also the online membership is a bargain compared to the memberships offered by Microsoft and Sony. NintendoSwitchOnline could’ve been designed a lot better or implemented directly onto the console, but it still is an okay app. I honestly think I’ll just keep on using FaceTime instead of this, but I still think that people are giving NintendoSwitchOnline a hard time.

by Slim In Blue

Let me get this out of the way, the Splatoon part is fantastic. Being able to see the next 24 hours worth of maps is great, seeing your last 50 matches is great for studying patterns, and the exclusive shop is a great way to nav some items you may not have. Otherwise, NintendoSwitchOnline stinks. The Smash Ultimate part is just the online content like user made stages and videos that you already have full access to in the actual game. I have no idea what the Animal Crossing part is, but I can’t imagine it’s completely beneficial to the experience. And that leaves voice chat, and Nintendo has made the single most convoluted voice chat experience of all time, no question. Again, Splatoon’s part is great, but the rest ranges from lackluster to awful.

by Huey Jackson Jr

NintendoSwitchOnline is a great start and has a lot of potential. Yes, voice chat on phones are a bit silly for playing online. It should have been imbedded into the switch, like some third party headphones you can buy to voice chat with others. Sadly, NintendoSwitchOnline only offers Splatoon 2 and not other games, but the switch is only a year old so you have to give it time. Plus some games do not even offer multiplayer mode like Splatoon 2. You can not voice chat or even play Mario Odyssey in multiplayer mode. Hopefully that makes sense. I believe Nintendo has a lot up there sleeves as new games are being developed. Then NintendoSwitchOnline may help a lot. If you really wanted to voice chat there is always Discord or other voice chat apps, but if you are comparing it with Xbox or PS4 then you shouldn’t even own a switch because Nintendo does there own unique thing and most people are happy with what they are doing.

by The Crimson Blur

I really do like the spirit team creation features for ultimate and the recording side for splatoon but if this review get in NintendoSwitchOnline developers hands I would recommend having more immersive features added for support for the games like guides or character stats or how in game tip are read through loading screen as well as update history so it’s one place they can quickly access instead of going to a website and waiting for people to sift through it and for spirit team building it would be helpful for it to display descriptions on what the effects do and if they stack or not and I would suggest that for any games that are supported by NintendoSwitchOnline if DLC is made available details can be seen through NintendoSwitchOnline as well as game purchase like how on the console you a wishlist or prepurchase option it’d be convenient if the eshop and its contents are visible through NintendoSwitchOnline just like how Sony and Microsoft do with their apps in relation to their platforms you can buy the games and dlc using a mobile cellular device without being restricted of not have WiFi connections to make purchases for the console whether you have it in your hand or not

by TheGunningWolf

Now, NintendoSwitchOnline is really good. I don't know if it’s because of compatibility issues, but whatever it is, I haven’t had any issues like crashes with NintendoSwitchOnline like what others are saying. It is a great way to talk to Switch friends while in game, like the sole purpose of NintendoSwitchOnline is. The problem is, it must be in a supported game. You cant call or message them to see if they are available. That’s something that irritates me because, as a Smash Ultimate player, I really like playing online with my friends, especially one in particular. I need to go through a bunch of arenas to figure out where he is, and I normally cant find anyone and give up. If you could add a messaging feature and restrict when you can call someone, I’d be happy to use this more, and you’d probably help not just me but many other users. Thank you for reading this (if you are).

by Ups And Downs Of ACNH

While NintendoSwitchOnline is very easy (I use it for animal crossing) I wish there was more.
So my first point is that Nintendo Online is a little overrated. I love the low price, it’s very convenient. But for a lot of people, I’ve heard and read, (and I agree) we used to be able to have all these features built in for a much lower price. I do think that this is a little money hungry, but because I use Nintendo Online purely for animal crossing, I am satisfied with the product.
After saying that, I wish the Animal Crossing part of NintendoSwitchOnline had more features!! Please, please add more. Some ideas that would be good would be to add your encyclopedia into NintendoSwitchOnline so you can see what bugs and fish your villager have caught from NintendoSwitchOnline . Another thing that is helpful would be a calendar to show you things like villagers’ birthdays and when the fishing tournaments are! This would make it 10x more amazing than it already is.
Thank you!! :)

by NintenbroAlex

The Nintendo Switch Online app is honestly something that should be praised in its efforts instead of shamed for the final production. NintendoSwitchOnline was made to give another point of view on nintendo switch games and make it easier to connect to your Nintendo Switch friends.
NintendoSwitchOnline has additional functionality for Splatoon 2, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, and Online Voice Chat. The Splatoon 2 and SSBU portions are very well put together and makes things for the user very beneficial in terms of finding what they need quickly, and providing good additional content for your Switch games.
The Online Voice Chat is not the best, but it definitely isn’t the worst. The purpose of the chat system is to talk to friends, teammates, and other in-game allies in NSO supported games. Sure it may be a bit buggy or laggy, but it could be WAY worse. A lot of people will state “we can just use X app instead of this for voice chat” and will poorly rate NintendoSwitchOnline for that exact reason. I say for what they were trying to do for the users of NintendoSwitchOnline , they succeeded.

by That Looney Critic

Most reviews aren’t even about NintendoSwitchOnline itself, but the online service fee. People are mad that online play isn’t free anymore, but with the kind of services Nintendo are currently offering at the scope that they’re offering them, I understand why they needed to make the change. At the yearly rate, you’re paying less than $2/month to access online features across all games and apps, which is completely reasonable IMO.
Regardless of the drama, NintendoSwitchOnline works fine. Connected to my Nintendo acct and transferred some ACNH designs very smoothly. I haven’t tried the voice chat service, but it seems a little moot if you have a smart phone. Perhaps it’s more for kids, so parents can control who they’re taking to?

by SnowWolfie

Ok to all the negative ratings... please stop it's rude the switch most likely can't handle VC being built into it. I love NintendoSwitchOnline it's a completely new way Nintendo is making VC available like everyone wanted. Yes NintendoSwitchOnline is free the online service is not they are aware all free apps have some sort of payment to it so they get paid for it being used and add new updates/ features. Rating it bad for one reason (VC) is not going to help them. Suggest ideas like what I'd like to see in an update would be more compatible games, have it be able to be widgets compatible with who is online and have a message system if you mute your mic and lastly being able to send and receive friend requests in app. These are just ideas not demands. LOVE YOU NINTENDO KEEP UP THE AMAZING WORK YOU DO FOR YOUR COMPANY❤️❤️❤️

by KING_Fresh27

Firstly, I would like to say, it does what it says it does; nothing more, nothing less. As somebody who plays splatoon 2 A LOT, I love being able to see what friends are on which team for splatfests, being able to get exclusive gears, and view a lot of data of your profile. Also I would like to say voice chat will technically work even without a mic attachment. Also, people will NOT stop complaining about bad connection for online games, which is more than likely THEIR WiFi, so people SERIOUSLY need to invest in a lan adapter. Compared to other online services, I think $20/Year is a fair price; but mainly because I practically never have connection issues, even though I do not own a lan adapter. It does what it’s meant to.

by Coolio2424

Nintendo please answer every gamers request and add a messaging system to the switch!!! Doing so will make it so so SO simple to cooperate and join forces with other people!
Not only that, but if you add an invite system (that limits player invites to 3-5 every 5 minute to prevent spamming), then the players can see what their friends are doing, and directly join them from said invite. Judging from experience, whenever I got an invite from my friends on my PS4, I was able to join them right away, but with this system as it is, there is the trouble of spending 30+ minutes trying to figure out how to start a match with my friends on one of my favorite games.
All I’m saying is that if there were any improvements you can make to the system, it would be this very crucial and simple step to developing a better way to game on the switch. Thank you for anyone who read this, and anyone from Nintendo please keep this is mind.

by Fellowearthling

Before you say “well at least they are making it available to everyone for the low price of $20 a year” The DS over 16 years ago had everything NintendoSwitchOnline does built in. So did the 3DS, the Wii U, about 6 years ago now and that was 100% free. And it had a Virtual Console with games people actually wanted. The entirety of Switch online is a joke. Splatoon 2 actually became became harder to play after it Switch online came out. And that’s and $80 game, now $100 because of the $20 online service. If you wanted to get the same experience with Splatoon on the Wii U, it was $60, everything included. Because of Switch online, my Switch has become a Fortnite (btw the switch version is lacking) and Mario Odyssey machine. For $300. Not okay. Maybe Smash bros. might make them notice how bad this is.

Oh, and for people like me with and iPhone 7 or later, you have to use the 3.5mm dongle, plug the adapter that came with on of the 2 supported headphone, plug the other end into your Switch, than ether squat near you dock or use it in handheld mode. For Fortnite on the same console, you plug in any headphones with a mic on it.

𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘪-𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳 100. Not okay.

by NeedlenoseAR

NintendoSwitchOnline is an utter disappointment. I used to use it to “purchase” exclusive Splatoon 2 gear and to check records and stats, but other than that it is almost entirely pointless, beyond the fact that these things should have been implemented into the game from the beginning. Most games require NintendoSwitchOnline to use voice chat, but unlike other apps, this is required to stay open or it kills the connection.

The addition of SSB hasn’t provided anything new or exciting - just a bunch of videos that are arbitrarily presented in a very confusing format. Spirits can be grouped but again, this is something that could have been part of the actual game.

What is the point of NintendoSwitchOnline? After 3 (?) years, these are still the only two games utilizing the service and only one is doing a halfway decent job, despite the fact that it’s heading out the door anyway. RIP Spla2n. Nintendo has all but abandoned NintendoSwitchOnline and anyone who believes otherwise has a lot of explaining to do.

by CarolTeaFan

This is just a bad idea, even Splatnet. If I want to check my stats or report a player, I should be able to do that IN THE GAME. I know that an incomplete system for native voice chat has been discovered in the Switch; so Nintendo, please make that available when we start paying you to play online. I want to be able to talk to any one of my random team mates and tell them to help me. I know you're trying to protect the younger players, but this system doesn't work. Children's parents should be able to restrict the voice chat if it's needed. Please listen to your fans' requests. There is a stigma against you from Xbox, PS4, and PC fans because of NintendoSwitchOnline. Please prove them wrong and make voice chat the way it has efficiently been for decades. The one positive aspect that made me give it an extra star is the wallpapers you can unlock for inking enough Turf in Splatoon 2. They're really cool; unfortunately these aren't the main feature of NintendoSwitchOnline .

by Reigiki

Look here everyone it’s 2018 and it’s not ok that Nintendo still doesn’t know how to implement a proper party chat on a CONSOLE I repeat a CONSOLE.

If I hear one more thing about it’s because of the kids I swear, that’s the stupidest excuse ever for them to be lazy. It’s 2018 and half of the gaming community is made up of kids throughout all CONSOLES from ages 4 through 16 playing Bloody, murdering, shooting, cussing, stealing and rapping type of games all over and half these kids cuss worse than most adults and Nintendo says they don’t do it for the kids 😂😂 that’s stupid. The problem is with the parents that don’t monitor what they allow there kids to play, watch and listen too even when there are clear ratings telling them they should not play. So yeah it really boils down to Nintendo is just lazy when it comes to Console party chats. Drops the mic 🎤

by Katnisfanboy

Assuming that you have to be 13 to already use NintendoSwitchOnline I’d inspect more for a mature audience let text chatting through maybe iMessage or NintendoSwitchOnline itself, or allow us to voice chat on the switch itself if I can take my switch on the go why do I want to use another portable device separate It feels like how in Mario Party 10 for amibo Party where you took your turn by tapping your figure to the game pad but I still had to use the wii remote to play the mini games or for certain events. One thing I do like is being able to chat while in sleep mode and ussing a different app but that’s about it also why not have us use it for all online multiplayer games especially arms since that’s like the new splatoon I don’t know if I’m even going to by the online service now.

by Billybob200000

I been playing Nintendo since I was 4 years old I love their games And System’s for the years I think the switch is amazing system for at home and on the go but I feel if they did a better job with a voice chat system I would enjoy it more also have Bluetooth support NintendoSwitchOnline is ok I do like the Nintendo virtual online service I like to see snes and n64 and GameCube games come to the Nintendo online service but with that being said I been loveing all the games on it for the most part had not had any issues also like useing the pro controller looking forward to Mario maker 2 direct today anyway that’s all I going to say NintendoSwitchOnline works ok but could be better