Nintendo Switch Online: subscriptions explained

If you’re here, Switch in hand, you’ve opened the store to pay for Nintendo Switch Online and realized there are more subscription tiers than Skyrim remasters. Relax: it’s simpler than it looks.

This buying guide sums up what each plan includes and who it’s for, so you can go in knowing what you want.

The plans

In practice, Nintendo sells two kinds of subscription:

1. Nintendo Switch Online (the base plan).
2. Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack (the base plan plus extras).

Each kind can be Individual or Family. We’ll get into the pros and cons of each option later; first, what’s actually included.

Nintendo Switch Online (base plan)

Mainly for:

• Online play in compatible titles. Most paid multiplayer games require it, especially first-party Nintendo ones, though games like Fortnite, Fall Guys, or Rocket League don’t need a subscription for online play. You will need it for Mario Party Jamboree, Splatoon 3, or Mario Kart World online.
• Cloud saves in compatible games (most of them). More useful than it sounds: it can save you if (hopefully never) you lose the console, because a copy of your save sits on Nintendo’s servers.
• A voice chat app on your phone, or GameChat built into the Nintendo Switch 2 itself.
• Access to the more retro classic catalogs: NES, Super NES, and Game Boy.

If you mostly want online sessions with friends and a few 8-/16-bit classics, the base plan can be enough.

In Europe, the individual base subscription is available for 1 month (€3.99), 3 months (€7.99), or 12 months (€19.99).

Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack (base plus extras)

Everything in the base plan, plus:

• An expanded catalog with Virtual Boy, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, Sega Mega Drive, and GameCube.
• Extra content packs: as of today, access to the DLC for Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Splatoon, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
• Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade packs for selected games (Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, for example). In plain terms: a graphical/performance update for Switch 2 (HD textures, etc.). You need a Nintendo Switch 2, obviously.

Overall: a bigger retro library and a few extras versus the regular plan.

If you care about those extra consoles or that DLC, Expansion Pack is the one. If you don’t, you’re paying for a catalog you may never open.

One important detail: this subscription is annual only (in Europe, €39.99 per year for the individual version).

Individual vs Family

You can buy either subscription in two ways:

• Individual: a single Nintendo Account.
• Family: up to eight accounts in a Nintendo family group.

Family costs more up front, but it pays for itself quickly if you split it (up to 8 people). Note: Family is annual only and requires a Nintendo family group. That comes with quirks almost nobody mentions, so here they are.

Nintendo doesn’t want seven random strangers in your group, it wants “family” (though nothing stops you from adding friends). Still, what people in your group do can affect you: if someone breaks Nintendo’s policies, features for the whole family group can be restricted permanently.

Another downside: if lots of people join and leave, changes can be locked for up to a year. Ideally you add people who will stick with the subscription long-term. If someone pays for a year and then leaves, you may be stuck for a while unable to add anyone new.

Price table (Europe)

Approximate prices in euros (VAT included), from Nintendo’s store. Always double-check your region’s eShop for changes or deals.

The base Family plan and Expansion Pack (individual or family) aren’t sold monthly in Europe, they’re yearly.

Bottom line

If you can round up family or friends, go for the Family plan and, if you want the extras, Expansion Pack: split eight ways that’s about €9 a year per person. Going solo? Weigh whether you want the DLC, Switch 2 upgrades, and the extra emulators in the higher tier.

Personally, I’ve been on a Family online subscription with people close to me for about seven years and I don’t regret it, and I still need to play Zelda: The Wind Waker on the GameCube emulator.