What you actually get for $20 a year
Before the Switch era Nintendo offered free online play. That changed with Switch Online, which is now required for most online modes in paid games such as Splatoon 3 and Mario Kart World. Free-to-play titles like Fortnite and Rocket League remain playable without a subscription.
The standard tier is priced at $20 per year. The core draw is online multiplayer with friends or matchmaking. It also bundles a Nintendo Classics catalogue of around 200 NES, SNES and Game Boy titles, ranging from Super Metroid and Super Mario Bros 3 to deeper cuts like Crystalis and Game & Watch Gallery 3. Some of those classics support online play with friends.
Cloud save backup is included for your game progress, which is a meaningful safety net for long RPGs and live-service games. The subscription also unlocks Nintendo Music, a streaming app and web player for official soundtracks, plus special offers such as game trials, missions that reward Nintendo Platinum Points and avatar customisation, Tetris 99 and F-Zero 99 access, and the ability to buy replica retro controllers.
Stepping up to the Expansion Pack
For $50 per year the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack adds a second wave of retro systems: Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, Sega Genesis and Virtual Boy. Virtual Boy titles require a separately purchased replica Virtual Boy or cardboard viewfinder from Nintendo.
The Pack also bundles DLC for three major Switch releases. That is Happy Home Paradise for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, normally $25, the Octo Expansion for Splatoon 2, normally $20, and the Booster Course Pass for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, normally $25. The value holds up if you would buy all three, though buying outright becomes cheaper over multiple years. Octo Expansion can be finished quickly, while the other two are effectively permanent content.
The author has been subscribed since the service launched in September 2018 and has used it on both Switch and Switch 2, including the Expansion Pack.
Switch 2 specific benefits
Everything above works on both consoles. Switch 2 members gain extra features tied to the new hardware. Both tiers allow GameChat, the built-in communication system accessed via the controller C button. It supports voice chat with friends, screen sharing, and video sharing when a camera is connected to the console. GameShare also functions over GameChat to let friends play select games without owning them.
Expansion Pack subscribers with Switch 2 get access to the GameCube Nintendo Classics library. The selection is small at launch, with titles such as Wario World and Luigi's Mansion, and Nintendo has been adding games slowly. The higher tier also grants free Switch 2 upgrade packs for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, normally $10 each. The upgrades add higher resolution, 60 fps gameplay and a companion tool in the Nintendo Switch app.
Is it worth it in 2026
The base plan remains solid value for most players. At $20 per year it is under $2 per month and covers online play, a large retro library, cloud saves and music streaming that works with Android Auto and CarPlay. Cloud backup alone protects time invested in long games.
The Expansion Pack is more situational. It works well as a one-year sampler to explore the expanded classics catalogues, try the three DLC packs and the two Zelda upgrades, then drop back to the base tier. A year is enough to complete Octo Expansion and at least one Zelda game while sampling the retro libraries.
Family plans improve the maths considerably. The base family plan is $35 per year and the Expansion Pack family plan is $80 per year for up to eight people, with no requirement to live in the same location. Members can also borrow each other's physical Switch games. With three or four people the per-person cost falls to a few dollars annually.
Nintendo also offers a seven-day free trial for the core plan and a $4 per month option, so you can test the service before committing to a full year.
