It took waaaaayyy too long, but the SNES has finally come to Nintendo Switch Online. The SNES rightfully has one of the best reputations of all Nintendo consoles, and unlike the NES many of its games have aged fairly well. In fact, some of them still routinely are trotted out as being some of the greatest of all time.

But what games, exactly, can we expect to see? To find out, we need only look at the NES games that are on Nintendo Switch Online.

(NOTE: I am not saying WHATSOEVER that every game mentioned in this analysis will end up on SNES Online. Nor am I claiming that games that aren't mentioned have no chance. This is meant simply to give an idea of what we might expect and what pool of games Nintendo may be drawing from.)

(Secondary note: I'm only looking at this from an English-language perspective- obviously Japan would have certain games available that we wouldn't.)

What games were on the NES Online

Nintendo basically bled the NES dry as far as the backlog that they used. Whether there are still more games in the pipeline is unknown, but in essence the only Nintendo or Nintendo-owned games for the NES that have not yet been put up that could potentially be put-up (i.e. they don't require a light gun or ROB or anything, nor are they licensed from someone else) are Mach Rider, Golf (as opposed to NES Open Tournament Golf), Devil World (unreleased in North America, but an English version does exist that was released in Europe), Pinball, Urban Champion, Donkey Kong Jr. Math, StarTropics 2: Zoda's Revenge, Earthbound Beginnings, and a few other HAL games. If Nintendo replicates that, they'll probably have most of their SNES catalog up as well by the time they finally release N64 or Gameboy games.

What Third Parties Contribute?

Of course, NES online did have a few third parties. To be sure, there was no Mega Man, Castlevania, Final Fantasy, etc., as they are all available or could conceivably be available for sale separately. Others based on movies, cartoons, etc aren't available due to licensing stuff.

The following companies contributed stuff to NES Online (in cases where the company or game series is now part of a different one, I've indicated the current company after the slash):

• Technos/Arc System Works (Double Dragon, River City Ransom, Super Dodge Ball, Double Dragon II)
• Capcom (Ghouls 'n Goblins)
• Konami (Gradius, Twinbee)
• Tecmo/Koei Tecmo (Tecmo Bowl, Solomon's Key, Mighty Bomb Jack, Ninja Gaiden)
• Sunsoft (Blaster Master)
• Hudson Soft/Konami (Star Soldier)
• Jaleco/City Connection (City Connection)
• Nihon Game/Culture Brain (Kung Fu Heroes)
• Aicom/Sega (Vice: Project Doom)

The initial SNES releases have added these third party companies:

• Data East/G-Mode (Joe & Mac 2)
• Compile/Sega (Puyo Puyo 2)

So what can we learn from this? Basically, it means that we shouldn't be expecting anything from Square (they published Breath of Fire, but it was a Capcom property), nor should we expect Konami or Capcom to have their BIG series (your Mega Mans and Street Fighters, your Castlevanias, etc.) on.

The Big Remaining First Party Games for SNES Online

Okay, so let's start with the BIG first or second-party games for the SNES that weren't in the original 20 offered. I'm talking the “Smash Bros”-level games. No doubt Nintendo will phase these in gradually.

• Kirby Super Star
• Earthbound
• Donkey Kong Country
• Donkey Kong Country 2
• Donkey Kong County 3
• Super Punch-Out!!
• Star Fox 2 (possibly)
• Super Mario All-Stars (unless they decide it's redundant)

As you can see, that isn't very many, but assuming they only add one of these bigger-name games a month, they still have at least a half-year, probably more given that presumably Japan would get Fire Emblem games.

Additional First-Party/Second Party Games

These are other first-party or second-party games that we'll probably see, but don't set the world on fire like the others. However... there aren't as many as you'd think.

• Kirby's Avalanche (may be redundant with Puyo Puyo, but you can never rule out the Poyo Boyo)
• Vegas Stakes (unlikely due to gambling)
• Panel de Pon (I'm pretty sure they would NOT be able to use Tetris Attack, though, so it might be like Puyo Puyo where it's in Japanese)
• Arcana
• HAL's Hole-in-One Golf
• Hyper Zone

The Big Question: Super Mario RPG

The big question is whether Super Mario RPG will be available. As is well-known, SMRPG was created by Square during the last days of Nintendo and Square's partnership before their PS1 rift, and unlike the DKC games Nintendo does NOT have full ownership of all the assets involved. While it has been on Virtual Consoles and the Super NES Classic, I'm not sure if it will be on the SNES Online. If it can, though, it'd probably be in the “Smash”-tier of games that would be headliners.

Possible Third-Party Headliners

So, what about third-party games for the SNES? As I mentioned earlier, we can assume that most of the huge series (Final Fantasy, Castlevania, Mega Man, etc.) are probably off-limits, but some of the smaller series are still good possibilities. So, with that in mind, here are some possible “headliner” third party games we might see on SNES Online:

• Legend of Mystical Ninja (Konami)
• Final Fight 2 (Capcom)- I don't think Final Fight 1 would be in though as it is part of the Cpacom Beat'em Up Bundle
• Final Fight 3 (Capcom)
• Super Bomberman (Hudson Soft/Konami)
• Super Bomberman 2 (Hudson Soft/Konami)]
• Super Bomberman 3 (Hudson Soft/Konami)- Did not have NA release but did release in Europe
• Ninja Gaiden Trilogy (Tecmo/Koei Tecmo)- Iffy given that regular Ninja Gaiden is on NES Online
• Breath of Fire II (Capcom)

Other Possible Third-Party Games:

These wouldn't be headliners, but could help fill out the SNES Online roster nicely.

• Battle Blaze (Aicom/Sega)
• Football Fury (Aicom/Sega)
• Saturday Night Slam Masters (Capcom)- could be a headliner if you're a big Mike Haggar guy
• Super Buster Bros. (Capcom)
• U.N. Squadron (Capcom)
• Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 (Culture Brain)
• Super Ninja Boy (Culture Brain)
• Ultimate Fighter (Culture Brain)
• Congo's Caper (Data East/G-Mode)
• Joe & Mac (Data East/G-Mode)
• Hammerlock Wrestling (Jaleco/City Connection)
• The Ignition Factor (Jaleco/City Connection)
• Operation Logic Bomb (Jaleco/City Connection)
• The Peace Keepers (Jaleco/City Connection)
• Rival Turf! (Jaleco/City Connection)
• Tuff E Nuff (Jaleco/City Connection)
• Aerobiz (Koei/Koei Tecmo)
• Aerobiz Supersonic (Koei/Koei Tecmo)
• Gemfire (Koei/Koei Tecmo)
• Genghis Khan II (Koei/Koei Tecmo)
• Inindo: Way of the Ninja (Koe/Koei Tecmo)
• Liberty or Death (Koei/Koei Tecmo)
• Nobunaga's Ambition (Koei/Koei Tecmo)
• Nobunaga's Ambition: Lord of Darkness (Koei/Koei Tecmo)
• Operation Europe (Koei/Koei Tecmo)
• P.T.O. (Koei/Koei Tecmo)
• P.T.O. 2 (Koei/Koei Tecmo)
• Rise of the Phoenix (Koei/Koei Tecmo)
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms II (Koei/Koei Tecmo)
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms III (Koei/Koei Tecmo)
• Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV (Koei/Koei Tecmo)
• Uncharted Waters (Koei/Koei Tecmo)
• Uncharted Waters: New Horizons (Koei/Koei Tecmo)
• Axelay (Konami)
• Gradius III (Konami)
• International Superstar Soccer (Konami)
• International Superstar Soccer Deluxe (Konami)
• Pop'n TwinBee (Konami)-Had European release, not NA
• Pop'n TwinBee Rainbow Bell Adventure (Konami)- Had European release, not NA
• Sparkster (Konami)
• Sunset Riders (Konami)
• Super Adventure Island (Hudson Soft/Konami)
• Super Adventure Island II (Hudson Soft/Konami)
• Magic Sword (Capcom)
• Hebereke's Popoon (Sunsoft)- Had European release, not NA
• Mega Man Soccer (Capcom)- as it isn't in the Mega Man collections it could show up
• The Combatribes (Technos/Arc System Works)
• Super Double Dragon (Technos/Arc System Works)
• Secret of the Stars (Tecmo/Koei Tecmo)

A possible look at the future of the SNES Online (if it had a schedule):

Consider this something of a “Fantasy Draft” imagining what could be coming to the SNES Online service in the coming months. This is 95% speculation and will almost certainly be wrong, but provides something of a glimpse of what sort of lineups to expect. Now, note that Nintendo has said that going forward the online classic games won't have as regular a schedule as during the days when they just had the NES, so the number of games each month will no doubt not be 3 or 4 every month anymore, but instead a varying number that could be anywhere from 0 to probably something like 5. Just for simplicity's sake, though, I kept it at 3-4 each month just for this example (and because I wrote this BEFORE I saw the news that releases will not be regularly scheduled anymore).

October 2019: Donkey Kong Country, The Combatribes, Super Baseball Simulator 1.000

November 2019: Kirby Super Star, Pop'n TwinBee, Football Fury

December 2019: Legend of Mystical Ninja, Kirby's Avalanche, Congo's Caper

January 2020: Super Bomberman, Arcana, Gradius III

February 2020: Donkey Kong Country 2, Super Double Dragon, Hebereke's Popoon

March 2020: Final Fight 2, Secret of the Stars, Saturday Night Slam Masters

April 2020: Star Fox 2 (when they announce it, some think it's an April Fool's Joke), Hal's Hole-In-One Golf, Nobunaga's Ambition, Nobunaga's Ambition: Lord of Darkness

May 2020: Breath of Fire II, Super Adventure Island, The Ignition Factor

June 2020: Panel De Pon/Tetris Attack, Romance of the Three Kingdoms II, Joe & Mac

July 2020: Earthbound, Liberty or Death, Sunset Riders

August 2020: Final Fight 3, Mega Man Soccer, Hyper Zone

September 2020: Donkey Kong Country 3, Super Buster Bros., Axelay

October 2020: Sparkster, Romance of the Three Kingdoms III, U.N. Squadron

BONUS: What will the launch line-ups be for Gameboy and N64?

It's safe to assume that, barring some sort of secret Switch II console (SwIItch?), that the SNES isn't going to be the last console on Switch Online. So... what could the launch lineups of future consoles be? Using the

First off, Game Boy/Game Boy Color, which like NES and SNES I imagine would launch with 20 games:

• Super Mario Land
• Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
• Kirby's Dream Land
• Kirby's Pinball Land
• Donkey Kong '94/GB
• Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3
• Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters
• Donkey Kong Land
• F-1 Race
• Alleyway
• Pokemon Trading Card Game
• Pokemon Puzzle Challenge
• Donkey Kong Land
• Radar Mission
• X
• Fortified Zone
• Gargoyle's Quest: Ghosts'n Goblins
• Tumblepop
• Nintendo World Cup
• Blaster Master: Enemy Below

A few justifications here: They wouldn't put the mainline Pokemon games on to start, if at all. Metroid 2 and Link's Awakening would be held back partly due to recent-to-relatively-recent remakes. Oracle of Seasons/Ages would also be held back, as would other later installments of some series. We could POSSIBLY see Mega Man games here, as they haven't been collected elsewhere, but I'm not confident enough to put them in a launch lineup.

Now, the N64 had fewer games, so presumably the launch lineup would also be smaller. Here's my thoughts on the launch lineup for a hypothetical N64 Online:

• Super Mario 64
• Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• Mario Kart 64
• F-Zero X
• Mario Golf
• Pokemon Puzzle League
• Excitebike 64
• Bomberman 64
• Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon
• Ogre Battle 64

Needless to say, the N64 Online would be even more heavy on first-party stuff than even the previous systems. Also, feel free to swap in one of the Mario Party games for Mario Golf or Excitebike if you'd like.