Recommend some games on Nintendo Online and N.Online Expansion

Hello everyone.

I thought it would be good to have a thread for people to recommend games that stand the test of time and worth revisiting today. We’re experiencing a bit of a renaissance when it comes to old school games being done by Indies, whether it’s pixel art NES or SNES style RPGs or platformers or other games. But I’m sure I’m not the only one who has missed the originals that inspired these games. So I’m sure I’m not the only one who would appreciate a look back at some of the classics available in the Nintendo Switch Online membership library that stand the test of time and are worth revisiting for some someone with no nostalgia for them, but just based on them having good gameplay/music/design that is still good today.

Let the recommendations commence!

Especially now that the Online membership just added Gameboy games, and the Expansion pass just added access to GBA games.

Here is a wiki entry with all the games on there that looks like it’s actively updated.

Cool! I totally missed that news.

These are the green-screen gameboys I enjoyed many years ago. I still own them all.

  • Gargoyle’s Quest
  • Link’s Awakening
  • Metroid 2
  • Super Mario Land 2

I haven’t played them recently, so I’ll let someone else talk about if they’re still fun today.

Here was the article I read last year that recommended Zelda: The Minish Cap, which is now available in the expansion section since it’s a GBA game.

Wario ware/made in wario is probably the only GBA game I replay yearly. It never stops being charming and entertaining and amazing.

Wario Land 3 on the GB is , to me, the best platforming game ever made. I’ll never understand all those people wasting their time on those mediocre Mario games instead!

Gargoyle Quest was rough back then, and even more so noawadays: the game is incredibly hard. The rewind feature will finally make it more palatable to me!

Thank you @Left_Empty for recommending Wario land 3. I was coming here just to say that.

I see Golden Sun will get released eventually too from the gameboy advance. I loved it back in the day but oh boy, rose tinted glasses and all that. It doesn’t stand up from a more critical perspective. The story in hindsight is crazy, but it was a nice looking game for the gba, for its time.

The only Game Boy platformer that might be better than Wario Land 3 is Wario Land 2. Both legitimately some of the best video games ever made.

what a cool surprise : i started playing 3, and it wasn’t the game that i loved so much, that was 2 indeed!
3 has been a wonderful delight so far. what a wonderful exploration game.

I found myself really enjoying the gameplay in Tetris. This is my first time playing the Gameboy version. I really hate the sounds though. Note, I’m not saying the music, the music is nifty, but the tones and the sounds used to create the music sound sooooo tinny and annoying.

it’s one of my favorite sounding system. I am a sucker for non modulated frequencies, and love that PSG! with headphones, i found it pretty unaggressive on the switch.

Yeah! I remember liking the sound through the speakers somewhat back in the day but through headphones was something else. That’s when I fell in love with that sound. It might actually be what originally convinced me that headphones are best if you want to hear games properly, particularly on handheld.

By the way, how does Wario Land 1 compare to the sequels? Is that on Nintendo Online?

Only 3 is available for now. The first game was much more of a classical platformer. Then the experiments began!

Wario Land 2 and 3 were both great. The very first Wario Land for the Gameboy was cool, but I wasn’t too keen on the mini-game at the end of each level. And of course, less transformations than what future games offered.

I don’t know about anyone else, but for some reason, Wario Land 4 didn’t really appeal as much as 2 and 3.

More 2d Mario games for the Switch Online expansion pack as part of the GBA collection.

I’m not a big platformer fan… Wario Land 3 is the only one I have ever finished… twice! Still have my GBC copy.

Any opinions about this new pair of Zelda games?

As for the individual games, from what I remember, Oracle of Ages has more of a focus on puzzles, while seasons is more action-based.

I remember liking one of those games a lot more than the other. Though I cannot remember which. My view is if you liked Zelda: Links Awakening, you’ll like these games too.

The linking of the games I remember was a gimmick useful/necessary to 100% completing the games but not essential for a casual play through. But this is going back 20 years now so my memory might be a bit vague.

Latest additions:

I love how Quest For Camelot characters take up so much space on the TV. They’re giants!

And Super Awesome Field Day looks interesting. Kirby and Mech fighting look boring to me.

Joy Mecha Fight is quite good actually.
Sadly, all those are oldies from the Japanese launchers, and nothing new was released in Japan.
Also no Quest for Camelot there. grumble.

Here’s another fan of Minish Cap now:

Edit: It’s the only game I actually want to play on Nintendo Online’s “Expansion Pack”. I wish I could buy it outright instead of having to pay a monthly fee for it.