Nintendo Customer support made a surprising announcement today. For the first time ever, a Nintendo Switch Online retro title is being removed from the service.
As spotted by Turbostrider27 over on Reddit. Nintendo of Japan’s customer support account shared the news that the 3rd party soccer game “Super Soccer” for the SNES is going to be removed from Nintendo Switch Online. The title will leave the service on the 28th of March 2025. Nintendo also notes that even if the title has already been downloaded onto a console, it will no longer be accessible.
This is sad news as it marks the first removal from Nintendo’s online service. While there could be other reasons for the removal such as licensing concerns, it’s also possible that this could be the beginning of the end. Nintendo has proven to be pretty ruthless with the termination of older services in the past. The 3DS and Wii eshop are proof of that. So with the Switch 2 around the corner and the Switch on its way out the door, it’s anybody’s guess.
This removal only serves to highlight the importance of physical media in a modern age. While Super Soccer was not a physical release on the Nintendo Switch. It was released on the Famicom and by owning a physical copy gamers could play the game however they please. Even if that meant by dumping the ROM and emulating it to protect the physical hardware from wear and tear.
Where Nintendo is removing games without explanation, other gaming marketplaces are taking an active approach to game preservation. GOG added several LEGO games to its games preservation program, which is a commitment from the company to support those games long after their developers have stopped. Nintendo could learn something from this approach. If you’d like to find out more, click here.
