Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) is nearing its ninth anniversary since launching in September 2018, and with rivals PlayStation and Xbox raising prices and altering their own subscription structures, Nintendo's simpler, cheaper two-tier system looks increasingly competitive. Nintendo Life's feature revisits what the service currently offers across both Switch and Switch 2, weighing its strengths, particularly its retro game library, against lingering criticisms of emulation quality, before asking readers to rate the offering as it stands in 2026.

The basic tier (£17.99/$19.99 a year) includes online play, cloud saves, the Nintendo Music app and 207 classic NES, SNES, Game Boy and Game Boy Color titles, plus extras such as Tetris 99, F-Zero 99 and Game Trials, with Switch 2 owners also getting GameChat. The pricier Expansion Pack tier (£34.99/$49.99) adds a further 136 games from N64, Game Boy Advance, Mega Drive and Virtual Boy, plus GameCube titles and DLC access for games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Animal Crossing: New Horizons on Switch 2. While emulation has improved over time, the author notes lingering input lag compared with dedicated retro hardware such as the Analogue 3D, concluding that NSO remains a convenient, if imperfect, option for most players.