Do you want to race against people all over the world in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe ? Or do you fancy a visit to a friend’s island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons ? Then you'll need to subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online .
In the past, Nintendo only offered gamers one subscription tier. But now, thanks to the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack , there’s a more premium option that comes with extra benefits.
Both subscription packages grant you access to online multiplayer games, so you can't go wrong with either one. However, there's a clear winner when it comes to price and value, depending on what you’re looking for.
Nintendo Switch Online vs Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack: price and release date
Nintendo Switch Online launched on September 18, 2018. Online play was initially free on Nintendo Switch from March 3, 2017, to September 18, 2018, but now all users must pay a subscription fee.
Some free-to-play titles like Ninjala don't require a Nintendo Switch Online membership, but the vast majority of titles only let you play online if you've subscribed to Nintendo's service.
Thankfully, Nintendo Switch Online is relatively inexpensive. It costs $19.99 / £17.99 / AU$29.95 for a 12-month subscription, or users can choose to pay $7.99 / £6.99 / AU$11.95 for three months membership or $3.99 / £3.49 / AU$5.95 per month. A family membership for up to eight accounts is also available.
Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack launched on October 25, 2021, and is noticeably more expensive than the regular subscription service. A 12-month subscription, which is the only option available, costs $49.99 / £34.99 / AU$59.95, but it does come with some additional benefits (which we'll outline below).
Interestingly, UK players are getting a somewhat better deal on the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack; US Switch owners will have to pay roughly 2.5 times as much for the Expansion Pack tier, which is quite the price increase.
Nintendo Switch Online vs Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack: features
So what separates a standard Nintendo Switch Online membership from the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack? Ultimately, it comes down to additional content.
Both memberships let you play online, access a curated library of over 100 NES and SNES titles, and automatically back up your game data to the cloud for supported titles. You can also download and use the Nintendo Switch Online companion app and access exclusive offers for members only like Game Trials.
However, the real difference between the two memberships is that the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack grants users access to various N64 and Sega Genesis games. These games all support online play (where applicable), suspend and resume points, and the same type of features we've been used to in the NES and SNES apps.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons fans will also be pleased to hear that the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack includes the game's upcoming DLC, Happy Home Paradise. This DLC alone costs $24.99 / £22.49 / AU$37.50, which may sway some people into upgrading to the more expensive tier if they want to play N64 and Sega Genesis games.
Nintendo Switch Online vs Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack: verdict
The Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack isn't a necessary upgrade right now, but it's an excellent option to have. Unless you have a hankering to play classic games from the N64 and Sega Genesis era, it's hard to justify the price increase, even for Animal Crossing: New Horizon fans.
The biggest problem with Nintendo's online service as a whole is that it still doesn't offer the same stability and value that PS Plus and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate provide.
The good news is, it does keep improving. For example, the latest Nintendo Switch update has brought improvements to N64 emulation on Nintendo Switch Online. This means that classics like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time are now running a whole lot better.
So although it's cheap and cheerful, it does seem to be a continual work in progress.
Of course, if you want to play online, a Nintendo Switch Online membership is necessary. There's also no denying that playing classic games anytime, anywhere, and with online multiplayer thrown in isn't a novel experience. But ultimately, it will depend on how much you value the titles and consoles on offer.
The Batman's latest poster turns the tables on the Dark Knight
A new poster for The Batman has been released online – and the superhero movie's latest piece of promotional art appears to turn the tables on the costumed vigilante.
Posted on the official DC Comics Twitter account, the one sheet shows Robert Pattinson's Dark Knight – in his superhero get-up, no less – staring directly at whoever is looking at the poster. The Batman 's official logo is also present on the poster, taking up a position in the middle of the image alongside the movie's March 4 release date.
The most curious part of the DCEU movie 's newest piece of artwork, though, is the caption that sits at the top of the poster. And, in our mind, it's an intriguing inclusion that flips the script on Batman himself.
Take a look at The Batman's latest poster below:
At first glance, the 'Unmask the Truth' tagline appears to relate to Paul Dano's Riddler. The Batman's main antagonist – so we're led to believe ahead of release, anyway – wears a mask to conceals his identity in the forthcoming flick. So it seems that The Batman's latest poster is metaphorically asking the Dark Knight to find the Riddler and unmask him so Batman can solve the latest big crime to plague Gotham City.
In our opinion, though, it appears as though the 'Unmask the truth' tagline is also directed at Batman, who also wears a mask to disguise himself.
The Batman is set in the second year of his fledgling vigilante career and, as the film's various trailers have teased, an uneasy alliance exists between Batman and Gotham City's Police Department (GCPD). The latter – Jeffrey Wright's Jim Gordon aside – are doubtful about Batman's true motives and his penchant for unlawfully fighting crime in his own way. The Dark Knight, meanwhile, is sure to have reservations about the GCPD over their inability to clean up Gotham's streets. That, or he knows that some on the GCPD's payroll may take bribes from Gotham's most notorious crimes, allowing criminal activity to continue in the city's seedy underbelly.
Batman and the GCPD are sure to clash in the movie at some point, too. A SWAT team is seen converging on Batman's position in the trailers before he escapes by gliding away. So it seems that tensions will arise between the Dark Knight and his fellow crime fighters, which may lead the latter group wanting to unmask the Caped Crusader as much as the Riddler – a decision that ties back into the above poster's tagline.
In that sense, then, there's a duality to the slogan on The Batman's latest poster. Sure, 'Unmask the truth' is a clear indication that Batman will need to stop the Riddler to reveal his true identity and put his murderous crime spree to an end. But it also hints at the GCPD's discomfort that a masked vigilante is helping them to solve a crime involving a, well, masked assailant.
In their eyes, it's likely to be pretty ironic – and a bit too coincidental – that a masked individual is trying to stop another person who just so happens to wear a disguise. So the GCPD have their own truth to unmask – that being a costumed vigilante called Batman who operates in the gray area between what's considered lawful behavior and what isn't.
With so many factions vying for supremacy in The Batman – the Dark Knight, the GCPD, Catwoman, the Riddler and the Penguin are who we know of so far – it's unsurprising that it's one of our most anticipated movies of 2022 . And, with The Batman set for release in less than six weeks, we can't wait to see what it has in store for us.
The Batman launches in cinemas on March 4, and will be available to stream on HBO Max 45 days after its theatrical run.
Encanto 2 looks likely as Disney Plus movie overtakes Frozen record
Everyone is talking about Bruno. The standout track from Disney’s latest animated adventure, Encanto, has taken the internet by storm – and it looks to have given the movie a second wind on Disney Plus .
We Don’t Talk About Bruno shot to number four on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, surpassing Frozen’s Let It Go to become the highest-charting Disney song in 26 years. In the UK, the Lin-Manuel Miranda-written hit is on track for number one .
The only other Disney song to reach the top spot on either side of the Atlantic is Regina Belle's A Whole New World, from Aladdin, which hit number one in 1993.
We Don’t Talk About Bruno has, at the time of writing, been streamed almost 30 million times, while the Encanto soundtrack as a whole has dethroned Adele’s 30 to sit top of the Billboard album chart.
But Disney’s latest animated adventure isn’t only performing well in our ears. Having endured a lackluster theatrical debut in November last year, Encanto went on to become the most-viewed title on Disney Plus in the period following its Christmas Eve arrival on the service.
Incidentally, it also scored more viewers during the weekend of its streaming debut than the equivalent debut of Marvel’s Shang-Chi in November, suggesting audiences still have an appetite for family-focused Disney adventures among the superhero deluge of recent years.
So, is a sequel now a done deal?
Get ready for Encan-two
Judging how well Encanto has performed on Disney Plus, in the charts and on social media platforms like TikTok , it seems likely that Disney is at least considering the possibility of further adventures for the Madrigal family.
The film’s soundtrack has, of course, been lapped up by the internet’s music-makers, but its relatable portrayal of family dynamics – in the Latino community, specifically – seems to have struck a chord with audiences around the world.
What’s more, while no Encanto products currently appear on Amazon’s list of 100 top-selling toys (good spot, Bloomberg ), Disney has said that Mirabel character costumes and a dollhouse are selling well.
All these signs point towards a desire on the part of viewers to see more of Mirabel, Dolores, Bruno and the rest of the Madrigal family. In fact, Encanto’s modest narrative – taking place almost exclusively within the confines of a family home – makes it more suited to a sequel than many other Disney movies that have earned follow-up adventures for less.
One common criticism of Encanto is its failure to fully flesh out many of its (potentially) most interesting characters. With the Madrigal family being so large, and their powers so distinct, it’s tough for viewers to learn more about (and therefore care for) their personalities and motivations beyond what’s revealed in the movie’s musical numbers.
Of all the Disney movies deserving of sequels, then, Encanto is certainly one – just don’t expect it to arrive any time soon. Even Frozen took six years to get a sequel, after all.