The Switch Online Expansion Pack Is Great Value – If You Love Animal Crossing

My name is Thomas Whitehead and I am a subscriber to the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack.

This is the point where everyone smiles and says “hi Thomas, you are with friends here.” Because many of us are in this room, nervously clutching a cup of stale coffee, aware that there are many negative judgments and votes in the world. We are not supposed to have paid for the expansion pack and, my goodness, we are not supposed to enjoy it.

But in fact, in my case, the Expansion Pack is ridiculously good value. Nevertheless, I agree with some of the feelings about what Nintendo got wrong with the service, even if it doesn’t necessarily affect me. The Nintendo 64 emulation / implementation just doesn’t reach a good enough standard in some cases; Personally, I’m not overly concerned with fog effects (although I understand why some are), but the absence of easy in-app button mapping is a poor choice. The N64 controller is strange, and although nostalgia made me buy the Switch version of the iconic controller and thus really enjoy N64 games, they are no all optimal (or particularly playable in one case) with a Pro controller or two Jon-Con controllers.

And I agree that in today’s market, the single-user value proposition is questionable with just the launch batch of the N64 and SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive games. When it comes to those libraries, Nintendo is probably guilty of not reading the room, a room in which Epic Games through its PC store and Microsoft through Game Pass have transformed the value associated with games. I also don’t like the fact that it’s 12 months or nothing, and 12 months are also added to your current term for NSO. That was an unnecessary move, even if I can see that the incentive was to engage people with the service. Ultimately, it is not a consumer friendly approach.

In any case, this week the Expansion will feel like a shining value to me, and it may start to feel that way to a number of people. I’m talking, of course, about adding the Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Happy Home Paradise DLC expansion. In fact, Nintendo probably made a strategic mistake in launching the expansion when it did so in late October; if it had been delayed and released it all together this week, with that DLC included, the reception May they have been a little different. However, it is true that the ad trailer was rejected before any of them were released, so perhaps the difference would have been minimal.

The original membership (NSO) came in at £ 8 each for a year of cloud saves and some retro games, which was absolutely fine.

Going back to Animal Crossing, the standalone DLC will cost $ 25 USD and in my case, both myself and my family will save a considerable amount of money by obtaining it through the NSO expansion. From day one of NSO, I have been the ‘manager’ of a family membership for my immediate family, all of whom have their own Switch. They are my parents, a Switch each, and my older brother. Even with the original membership coming in at £ 8 apiece for a year of cloud saves and some retro games, which was absolutely fine.

Due to my ‘upgrade’ window, the expansion pack and NSO overtime cost me around £ 33, making another £ 8-9 each. Now in the past and with his first paycheck when he was very young, my brother went out and bought a Nintendo 64 with Fox Star 64, or Lylat Wars as it was for us. To say we’re nostalgic for the system would be an understatement, prompting me to ask both of us for that Switch N64 controller. For both of them, that makes the new content attractive. Oh and I was a Mega Drive kid, the N64 was our first Nintendo console. So you can see why he was perfectly satisfied with the new apps (and the prospect of additional games in the future).

Which brings me to my mother and me. We both play Animal Crossing every day; in my case, I can check that none of my islanders are sick and get an update on the turnip price. My mother’s island is much more elegant than my own ‘Llareggyb’ and I would bet money that his hours in the game will be around double mine. But the point is, we’re both daily gamers, we both enjoy talking to our quirky fellow gamers, and we frequently fly to each other’s islands for lucrative turnip profits. I yet Watch KK Slider every Saturday night, you’d feel bad if you made it sing for yourself.

Free updates will be great in and of themselves, but the Happy Home Paradise expansion looks great. It’s actually more geared towards my mom’s genuine strengths and enthusiasm as a designer, but I’m also looking forward to diving headfirst into her charm overload. And the first thing I told you when it was announced? “Ooh, don’t ask for it in advance, we can both get it with the Expansion Pack.”

Instead of spending £ 22.49 each, will be there courtesy of the Expansion Pack. Sure we won’t own but I will probably fill up in the next few months, and cross the bridge of whether to renew the entire NSO package within a year. And what does my dad get out of this? Well, for one thing, whatever you want from retro games, and you see us grinning like crazy as we play more Animal Crossing. As a result, combining the family membership with the Expansion Pack is absolutely perfect for my particular group.

While there are some justified complaints and disappointment with the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, just try to keep in mind that some of us actually do. like. Controversial, I know. As for Nintendo, it will probably regret the decisions of a) phone in its N64 emulation and b) release the package one week before the Animal Crossing DLC. Without those errors, perhaps today’s online chat would have a slightly different tone.

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