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Before Nintendo’s subscription service took off, fans were able to individually buy and download first-party retro titles and play them whenever they wanted thanks to the Virtual Console service.
Although this was eventually replaced with Switch Online’s tier-based retro library, Nintendo apparently had plans to carry over the existing Virtual Console service and add online functionality. This information comes from “a new leak of iQue emails not too long ago” according to Yakumono’s Blog, run by dataminer (and Nintendo Life user) LuigiBlood.
The Switch Virtual Console – codenamed “Clipper” – supposedly began development “around 2015” and was a collaboration between iQue and M2, with the possible involvement of other teams, like NERD. It was believed to “basically” be Virtual Console with a “free monthly game” for NSO subscribers.
“Remember the original announcement of Nintendo Switch Online’s retro game service? It used to say this: “Subscribers will get to download and play a Nintendo Entertainment System™ (NES) or Super Nintendo Entertainment System™ (Super NES) game (with newly-added online play) for free for a month.” This, for me, is the relic of what it used to be. I believe the original plan, was basically Virtual Console, but with one free monthly game for those who pay for NSO. It was confirmed it was paid games after that, at least by the press.”
Some other details about what Nintendo’s Virtual Console service on the Switch would have been like have also been revealed.
This includes special animations in “CRT mode” – complete with “TV noise” and even the sounds of the power button “for both the Famicom and NES”. Online netplay was also going to be an “important” part of the plans. Then “around May 2017” updates on “Clipper” fizzled out after it was replaced with the project ‘L-Classics’ – paving the way for the current “long term” model.
The demise of “Clipper” lines up with Nintendo’s announcement in the same year – confirming classic game libraries for the Switch Online service. This is just scraping the surface of the latest findings, but you can find out more on Yakumono’s Blog.
