How to Play Nintendo Online?

Switch Online is Nintendo's new move to compete with its rivals - PlayStation and Xbox. The new Switch Online subscription offers two plans, basically: Individual and Family. It costs $20 to get on the Individual plan, and it's an annual subscription. Notwithstanding, you can subscribe monthly at $4 or for three months at $8.

The Family Plan costs $35 per year and can have up to seven (7) other friends added to the subscription, making it a total of eight (8) persons using the subscription. But, before you can get this subscription, you must be linked to a family group, or you can create one on the Nintendo Account website.

What's with the Switch Online Subscriptions?

Overview

As it stands now, you will need a Switch Online subscription to play most online multiplayer games available to Switch players. Also, to access the once-free online features of all first-party Nintendo games, you need a Switch Online subscription; sound weird? That's the new development, and it'd stay like this for, at least, a while.

The new subscription package also applies to most third-party games, you need an active subscription to access the online game features. Well, Fortnite players are lucky, none of the existing Switch Online rules/restrictions apply to them, but who knows, maybe sometime in the future, Nintendo's new rules would affect them.

But then, if you've been playing multiplayer Nintendo/Switch games via Switch's Local Wireless Play feature, you can continue with that; however, you can only have up to three players on each connected console, and only two consoles can be connected.

Member Offers

Switch Online subscribers have access to pretty many free games, including NES, SNES, N64, and Sega Mega Drive / Genesis games.

Cloud Saves

As a Switch Online subscriber, you're entitled to cloud saves, but not all games support this feature. For supported games, your progress would be automatically saved in the cloud, so can continue from where you stopped - even after resetting your Switch console to its default state (for whatever reason).

Games that do not support this feature include Pokémon Let's Go, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Dark Souls Remastered, Splatoon 2, and Dead Cells. Nintendo says that it is removing the cloud saves feature from these games to ensure "fair play" as the developers designed.

Nintendo Switch Online App

As a Switch Online subscriber, you can install the Nintendo Switch Online app on your iOS or Android device to get the voice chat feature and multiplayer hubs feature for supported games. Sadly, you'd be using a separate device for voice chat while playing certain games, but that's the rule for the moment.

DLCs at No Additional Cost

If you have a Nintendo Switch Online membership and add the Expansion Pack package, you'd get DLC at no additional cost. The free DLC packs you'd get include:

• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Pass
• Animal Crossing: New Horizons — Happy Home Paradise DLC
• Splatoon 2 — Octo Expansion DLC

You'd have access to these DLCs for as long as you have an active Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership.

Exclusive NES and SNES Wireless Controllers

Switch Online members can get the retro NES and SNES controllers. These controllers connect with Switch consoles and give you the feeling of traditional, old-school controllers. Standalone, the NES controller costs $50, and the SNES controller costs $30.

Surely, there are pretty many other member-only benefits to enjoy as a Switch Online subscriber. But then, here’s how to get started playing Switch online multiplayer games.

How to Start a Switch Online Game (Nintendo Entertainment System)?

• First, you need an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription
• Ensure that you have a strong, reliable internet connection
• Access the Nintendo Entertainment System - Nintendo Switch Online software
• Look to the left menu and select "Play Online".
• Optionally, you can set up a connection passcode, which other players would need to enter to play with you.
• Select "Play While You Wait" to start playing while waiting for a second person to join the game.
• You’d receive a notification when a second player joins the game.

What Else Can You Do with Your Nintendo Switch Console?

Just like Firestick, Nintendo Switch is a streaming device. You can stream online with your Nintendo Switch console. It supports streaming services such as Hulu, YouTube, Funimation, and Twitch. Sadly, Switch does not support many streaming services such as PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

But well, if you've got an active Hulu subscription, you can stream your favorite Hulu shows right on your Switch console. More so, if you find the shows interesting, you can download them in MP4 format using the YouTuFab Downloader app. The YouTuFab Downloader app is available for Windows OS and macOS systems.

How to Download Shows From Hulu or Twitch?

Firstly, you must have an active subscription to either of these services, then download and install the YouTuFab Downloader app on your PC or MacBook.

First Step:

Launch the YouTuFab downloader on your computer or MacBook and navigate to the "Streaming Services" tab or "VIP Services" tab. Look out for Hulu or Twitch card, and double-click the card to launch the downloader.

Second Step:

On the pop-up window, sign in to your account on the service. After you have logged in, look out for the video, movie, or show you want to download to your PC; hit the Play button on the movie/episode so that it starts playing. As the video starts playing, you'd be presented with a floating Download button to grab the movie.

Third Step:

As the first movie is downloading, you can add other movies to the download list, and they'd all download simultaneously. To view all ongoing downloads, click on the "Downloading" tab.

Summary

How to play Nintendo online? Nintendo Switch Online games require an active membership subscription, which costs $20 and $35 annually for the Individual and Family plans, respectively. You can also use your Switch console to stream shows and blockbusters from Hulu or Funimation streaming service.