During today’s Nintendo Partner Showcase, which confirmed that former Xbox exclusives Grounded and Pentiment will launch on the Switch this year, the company also announced that five Rare classics are downloadable right now for folks with an active Nintendo Switch Online membership. It’s a blast from the past, y’all, as these games come from the NES, SNES, and N64 eras of gaming.
Nintendo Switch Online is the company’s subscription service that gives you access to online functionality and tons of OG Game Boy, Game Boy Color, NES, and SNES games for $US4 a month or $US20 a year. The Expansion Pack—which holds Game Boy Advance, Genesis, and N64 games—runs $US50, but is only necessary for one of the five games on this list. So, let’s get into what’s on offer.
Battletoads In Battlemaniacs
Released in 1993 for the SNES, Battletoads In Battlemaniacs is a side-scrolling beat ‘em up platformer that follows two of the titular characters, Rash and Pimple, as they hunt down the notorious big-bad Silas Volkmire and the vile Dark Queen. The third entry in the franchise, Battletoads in Battlemaniacs largely features enhanced or remixed levels from the 1991 NES game Battletoads, so it’s a really great way to familiarize yourself with one of the hardest brawlers out there.
Blast Corps
An N64 game that came out in 1997, Blast Corps is an action game about destroying anything and everything in your way so that a runaway nuclear missile carrier can get through. You’ll hop into various vehicles like bulldozers, mechs, and gun-equipped motorcycles to wreak all kinds of wanton havoc in this world. It’s great fun that, at the time, offered some really unique and innovative thrills. (If you’ve played Teardown, you can think of this game as a kind of precursor.) You will need that $US50 Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack add-on to play this one, though.
Killer Instinct
Killer Instinct, originally released in 1994 for arcades before jumping to the Game Boy and SNES in 1995, is a 2.5D fighting game not unlike Mortal Kombat. There are an assortment of fighters to choose from, including cyborgs and raptors, all trying to beat the absolute shit out of their opponents. And doing so looks cool on account of the flashy combos and crunchy animations when attacks land. This is a good one.
R.C. Pro-Am
The oldest game on the list, R.C. Pro-Am came out on the NES in 1988 and is exactly what it sounds like. You race radio-controlled cars against three other opponents to see who has the fastest wheels on the track, using weapons and power-ups you collect to give you an edge and sometimes reduce your opponents to smoking heaps. A high-speed favorite for many NES owners back in the day.
Snake Rattle ‘n’ Roll
Snake Rattle ‘n’ Roll dropped on the NES in 1990, making it the second-oldest game here. A platformer where you control a hungry snake, the objective is to eat as many “Nibbley Pibbleys” as you can to ring a weigh-in bell to reach the next level. It’s kinda cute, even if it does give me horrific nightmares of 1996’s Sonic 3D Blast.
And there you have it. Five Rare games you can download right now if you have a Nintendo Switch Online membership. It’s not exactly Rare Replay, that one collection of games that Microsoft dropped in 2015, but it’s a nice sampler platter of great games from an important developer. Besides, since all of these games are from the Microsoft-owned studio Rare, you could say that the Nintendo Switch got even more Xbox exclusives than we anticipated.
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