We have a pretty huge rumor about Nintendo 64 for Switch Online’s Expansion Pack, and the surprising thing is that it was staring us right in the face.
As reported by GoNintendo, some fans realized that you can identify the games at the background of the Nintendo 64 app. While it’s easy to take for granted that the blurry background at the back of the app must have been placeholder art, it turns out they were box art of four actual Nintendo 64 games.
Several people corroborated these findings, but here’s the thing: having these games appear on the background is not the same thing as confirmation that the games will actually be added to Nintendo Switch Online. At the very least, we should be skeptical that it’s happening anytime soon. With that said, we’ll run down each title for you below.
The original Super Smash Bros. is the biggest title identified here, as one of Nintendo’s pillars, and also still the biggest fighting game franchise of all time. Of course, it is also one of the few legendary titles that came from the collaboration of the Satoru Iwata and Masahiro Sakurai. While Nintendo has regularly made Super Smash Bros. games with each console generation, the original game has yet to be rereleased on Virtual Console, or any other form.
Donkey Kong 64 was developed by Rare, as the first 3D Donkey Kong game, and the last Donkey Kong game Rare would even produce. Unlike Super Smash Bros., it has been rereleased in the Wii U Virtual Console, though of course it would be overdue a rerelease of some form today. Nintendo continues to enjoy a good relationship with Rare’s parent company, Microsoft. So while this isn’t guaranteed to come, Nintendo and Microsoft can certainly make it happen.
Glover is a unique 3D platformer where you control a disembodied hand moving a ball around, instead of the usual anthropomorphic cartoon-like mascot. Piko Interactive released a surprise remake earlier this year for multiple platforms, so Nintendo knows who to talk to for a rerelease.
Lastly, Forsaken is a 6DOF shooter, making it the rarest of these retro games; a completely forgotten and obsolete game genre! Forsaken did receive a remaster from the master of retro remasters in Nightdive Studios, but curiously this remaster passed over the Nintendo Switch. It appears that Nintendo would have to talk to Nightdive, or their parent company Atari SA, to get this game onto their library.
While fans may be frustrated with the slow pace that Nintendo is adding games to their Nintendo 64 app on Nintendo Switch Online, one reason for this may be that they don’t want to overwhelm players with the app filling up storage. Nintendo may have already scheduled these games for release on Switch Online, which could be especially impressive on the Switch 2. But now, we can only wait to find out when these rereleases will actually happen.
