There are of course other Nintendo Switch games that need a consistent internet connection – like Fallout Shelter – you can play without a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. Please note: not all games are supported in every region. Question is, though: which games are they? Switch games you can play online without a Nintendo Switch Online subscription Mostly they’re free-to-play games, and some of them are even pretty essential. Where once you could play Mario Kart 8 or Splatoon 2 without it, you now need a subscription to duke it out online in these – and most other – Nintendo Switch games.īut there are a few, a small (but increasing) number of Nintendo Switch games you can play online without a Nintendo Switch Online subscription. Oh, and Tetris 99, a battle royale Tetris game that isn’t as stupid as it soundsīut it’s multiplayer that drives most people to Nintendo Switch Online. In this instance, it’s an ever-growing library of classic NES, SNES, Genesis/Mega Drive, and N64 games, which is a slightly different proposition to the limited-time freebies you get on PS4 and Xbox One.

The sweeteners include cloud saves and free games. Like PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live, the bread and butter of Nintendo Switch Online is multiplayer.

The Nintendo Switch Online subscription service launched 18 months after the console, in September 2018, for $20 US (£17.99) a year. That meant that, for a while at least, everyone could play Nintendo Switch games online without paying for a membership, like with PlayStation Plus or Xbox Live Gold.Ī Nintendo Switch Online subscription was always coming, but this window allowed Nintendo to kick the tyres, test the technology without charging anybody, and figure out what added extras to throw in to try and sweeten the pot. When Nintendo launched the Switch in March 2017, its online offering hadn’t been finalised. Looking for some free fun on your Nintendo Switch, but don’t want to subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online? We’ve got you covered.

All free switch games