Punch-Out!!, Star Soldier, And Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels Are Coming To Nintendo Switch Online In April

TheGamer

By Scott Baird

Published Apr 3, 2019

For the first time, Nintendo is giving EU and NA players three games with Nintendo Switch Online, finally putting them on equal footing with Japan.

The Nintendo Switch Online service has been giving Europe and North America fewer NES games than Japan over the past few months, but that is about to change, as all regions are due to receive three games this month - Punch-Out!!, Star Soldier, and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels.

Punch-Out!! is a classic NES boxing game starring Little Mac, who has since found fame in the Super Smash Bros. series. The game was originally known as Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! but the license to use Tyson's likeness expired and Nintendo chose not to pursue it, so they changed Mike Tyson into a new character called Mr. Dream. It's the Mr. Dream version of the game that will be given to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers.

Star Soldier is a classic top-down space shooter where the player blasts their way through armies of robotic ships. Star Soldier has been ported to numerous systems and has received several sequels since its initial release.

Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels has an interesting history, as it was originally released as Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan, but it was skipped in the rest of the world due to its close similarities to the original and higher difficulty curve, which led to a separate game called Doki Doki Panic being reskinned into Super Mario Bros. 2 for other regions. The Lost Levels would later be released in various forms (including as part of the Super Mario All-Stars collection) and would be released in its original form on the Virtual Console for the Nintendo 3DS, Wii, and Wii U, which is the same version that is coming to Nintendo Switch Online.

The April lineup of Nintendo Switch Online games is strong, but one can only wonder how long it will be until Nintendo runs out of first-party titles that they can throw onto the service before they either turn to third-party developers for their games or start to include games from their other systems, such as the Game Boy, Nintendo 64, or Super Nintendo.

Punch-Out!!, Star Soldier, and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels will be available to download for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers on April 10, 2019.