Nintendo Switch Online Faces Growing Gaps in Its Game Library

Nintendo Switch Online has plenty going for it, but lately it feels like Nintendo has lost interest in its own subscription. New games have slowed to a trickle, fresh content is hard to find, and the buzz that used to follow each update has faded.

A couple of Game Boy titles did land recently, and that counts for something, but they aren't the kind of releases that get you excited. You would rather see the GameCube games you grew up with, or even a baseball title, show up on the lineup.

The Nintendo Switch Online lineup does a lot of things well, and a few things that make you wonder what is going on.

The GameCube app is the best example. When it was first announced, it sounded like the long-awaited return of a console you loved, and with the calendar at 2025, it felt like the perfect moment to jump back in. Now that it is here, it looks like a shadow of what you imagined.

That system had a huge library of great games, yet Nintendo seems to be handing out the ones almost nobody played when it first came out. Look at what's missing. There's no Super Smash Bros. Melee, no Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, and no Pokémon Box either.

Pokémon Colosseum was confirmed for the Switch 2 right from its original reveal. Even now, on Pokémon's 30th anniversary, there's still no sign of it. Instead, the second game arrived before the first, which is a strange order of events.

All of this makes you wonder whether Nintendo is working on other things. It could be that the company simply does not want to hand those games over and would rather you go to resellers, where a copy of Mario Kart: Double Dash!! can cost you around $200. That is wild. The issue goes beyond the GameCube app, too.

The games Nintendo has been putting on its other platforms look pretty solid, except for one glaring gap: Super Smash Bros. 64 still hasn't shown up anywhere.

It seems the Super Smash Bros. games just cannot find their way over to Nintendo Switch Online, maybe because Nintendo wants you to stick with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Nobody outside the company can say for sure, and Nintendo does not always make sense anyway. Whatever the reason, the absence of Super Smash Bros. 64 leaves a hole in the library that fans keep noticing.

More games are probably on the way, of course. The Game Boy releases that showed up recently prove the service is still getting updates, even if the titles themselves are ones you may not know or care about. They just do not bring back the feeling of those other games, the kind that make you happy, like the joy of staying far away from the pirate ship. Pokémon Colosseum is the obvious example of a promise still waiting to be kept.

Beyond the GameCube app, it is worth thinking about what could come next for Nintendo Switch Online. It has been a long time since the service received a DLC or expansion pack, or whatever you want to call it. The last addition that was not an old game was probably the Nintendo Switch 2 versions of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, which are a nice perk.

On top of that, there is the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass, which is a great extra, and that brings you to The Legend of Zelda. A Zelda expansion pack could easily live on Nintendo Switch Online, and people would rush to the store to buy it.

Someone who dislikes digital purchases but does not mind paying for a subscription would finally have a way to try the goodness and glory of The Legend of Zelda. Nintendo could take the same approach it used for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom and make it a selling point.

You can easily picture this happening, and probably with more Nintendo Switch 2 editions joining it.

The logic is simple: if you want more people to subscribe, you give them more to subscribe for. The Booster Course Pass shows the model works, and the upgrades for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom point in the same direction. There is also something to like about how Nintendo handles all this compared with PlayStation Plus and XBOX Game Pass.

Those services dump a pile of random games on you that you probably do not care about, aside from a few like Minecraft. Paying for XBOX Game Pass just to play Minecraft makes sense for some people, sure. With Nintendo Switch Online, you get the familiar Nintendo goodness instead: older games you already know, plus DLC like the Booster Course Pass for newer titles.

It makes for a cute, cuddly bundle. It may not include everything you dreamed of, like Mario Kart: Double Dash!! or Super Smash Bros. Melee being included, but you would happily play the Japanese versions if that is what it took to get them.

That is a little upsetting, but Nintendo probably has something planned. This is, after all, the 40th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, and maybe the plan all along was Twilight Princess on the app. An HD version still seems more likely, though, and the reasoning is simple.

Once a movie gets people interested, the best-case pitch is not pointing them to the old Twilight Princess on Nintendo Switch Online.

It is showing them the HD version of Twilight Princess, and possibly The Wind Waker too. That would make a perfect advertisement. The current picture is a decent one, with the Cube app and the Game Boy collection both worth having, but Super Smash Bros. 64 is still missing, and that stings.

If you want newcomers to try the series, let them start on the Nintendo 64 or its successor. They would probably fall in love with Super Smash Bros. Melee. Getting it online would be huge, whether that happens in 2026, 2027, or whenever the game actually arrives. It feels like it is coming at some point.

Here is why that makes sense. By the time the next Super Smash Bros. game arrives, which would be around 2028, you could have played Super Smash Bros. Melee on Nintendo Switch Online and then moved straight on to the new entry.

It also gives Nintendo a way to cut back the roster, and you can count on that happening. The game after Super Smash Bros. Ultimate will almost certainly have a smaller cast, which frees up room for more stages and a fresh reboot for the series. Keep making it bigger and bigger, and you end up with a massive game. And if development does not take too long, Smash is likely next in line.

There is also the question of which platform follows.

Going by Nintendo's release pattern, the DS should be next. A dual-screen patent could complicate a DS release, though, and Nintendo might find another way around it, such as a second-generation GamePad. The original GamePad was pretty awesome, honestly. Nintendo could also go with the Wii, since Wii Remote functionality is already built into the Nintendo Switch 2 controller and works seamlessly.

Whichever direction Nintendo picks, both the DS and the Wii look like believable next steps, and either one would give Nintendo Switch Online a clear boost. Nintendo already has the pieces in place, from the older consoles to the newer upgrades, and all that is left is deciding what to release first. Given how the company has paced things so far, none of these ideas sound far-fetched.

All in all, Nintendo Switch Online is a strong service with plenty to love and plenty to look forward to. The wish list is clear: Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Pokémon Colosseum arriving soon, followed by the other big gaps in the library, and the series' older entries finally sitting beside Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Nintendo has the time and the tools to make it happen, and fans are ready to see it.