Nintendo Switch Online's library of games from retro consoles continues to grow. In 2021, it expanded on that mission in a major way when it started adding N64 and Mega Drive games. The only catch, and it's a big one, is you need to be subscribed to the Expansion Pack in order to play them. The good news is you still only need a regular NSO subscription in order to play the NES and SNES games that have been added to their respective libraries over the course of the last few years.
Those libraries continued to grow this week as Nintendo has added three more titles to them, one for the SNES and two NES games. It was suspected that new games were incoming when Nintendo scheduled NSO maintenance for the early hours of Thursday morning. The last time that happened was following the Direct earlier this year which brought Earthbound and Earthbound Beginnings to the SNES collection.
The newest game joining them is Earthworm Jim 2. A curious decision since the first game hasn't made it onto the Switch just yet. Stranger still as the first game received high praise, whereas the sequel, which you can play on Switch right now if you have an active NSO subscription, not so much. On the bright side, you don't really need to have played the first one to understand and enjoy the sequel.
The NES library has grown by two games, Dig Dug 2 and Mappy-Land. Another sequel added before the original, although in Dig Dug's case it makes more sense as the first game launched exclusively in arcades since its release date came before the NES became available. All three games are available now, and if you're unfamiliar with any or all of them, you can check out snippets of each above and decide whether it's worth firing up your Switch and taking them for a spin.
Prior to today and the arrival of the Earthbound games earlier this year, NSO's NES and SNES additions had dried up somewhat. Earthworm Jim 2 is the first SNES game prior to Earthbound to arrive on NSO since July, and the new NES additions are the first to have been added since May. The N64 and Mega Drive libraries have understandably been getting the bulk of the attention, each getting at least one new game per month since they launched.