The Nintendo Switch Online service is finally offering Super Nintendo games to subscribers, which is something that fans have been requesting since the service debuted in 2018. Nintendo has also fixed one of the most annoying aspects of both the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo apps in the process.
One of the main complaints about the Nintendo Entertainment System game app was an ever-present UI around the edge of the screen. Nintendo felt the need to constantly remind the player that the plus button was the start button, the minus button was the select button, and that pressing ZL and ZR together brought up the suspend menu.
It's now possible to remove the text in the UI from the Nintendo Switch Online retro games apps. In order to do this, the player needs to go to the settings menu and untick the box that says "Show controls in game."
The exact same method is used to remove the text from the Nintendo Entertainment System version of the app.
The recent addition of Super Nintendo games to the Nintendo Switch Online service is the kind of upgrade that should have been around since the beginning. Nintendo attempted to copy the formula used by PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold by adding monthly games from the company's retro library. The problem with this plan was that Nintendo quickly ran out quality first-party titles to port, which meant that the new titles looked less impressive each month in comparison to the competition.
The fact that the combined Nintendo Entertainment System/Super Nintendo library contains almost every amazing first-party Nintendo title from the 8-bit and 16-bit eras means that the Nintendo Switch Online service is akin to a Netflix service. The fact that an annual subscription costs twenty dollars is an incredible deal when you consider the games that are now on offer, as well as access to Tetris 99. The fact that Nintendo has now fixed the UI issue means that Nintendo Switch Online is taking the form it should have had from the start.