Will Donkey Kong 64 ever be added to Nintendo Switch Online?

[-Apples-]

So it’s been almost four years since NSO added Nintendo 64 games, but one game that’s obviously missing is Donkey Kong 64. I’ve waited a long time for it to come out, and yet, Nintendo still hasn’t added it.

Here are some questions for this thread. First, what’s the holdup? Why hasn’t Nintendo added DK64, yet prioritizing third-party titles almost nobody cares about these days. Second, are they ever going to add DK64?

 

[Snek]

Hopefully soon. Its a pretty nostalgic game for me. I'd personally wait for Switch 2 graphics at this point though.

 

[-Apples-]

I will go over some arguments that some people said, and I’ll explain why that’s not the reason why DK64 is still missing:

• Expansion Pak requirements - Both Majora’s Mask and Perfect Dark required the Expansion Pak back on the N64, and even they are on NSO. With technology more improved now than 25 years ago, they wouldn’t need the Expansion Pak to run.
• Licensing Issues - this point is undermined by the addition of Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Perfect Dark, and even Goldeneye 007. That, and Donkey Kong is Nintendo property.
• Game was bad - this is an entirely subjective point. Only trolls would say that Nintendo will not port this game because the game wasn’t that good, especially if they’re in the vocal minority. Also, watch out for the “objectively bad” arguments. When discussing a work of art, statements like this are loaded with extreme bias.

So if these three aren’t the reasons, what is holding Nintendo back?

 

[-Raven-]

I wanna say they think it could compete with Bananza but honestly we have games on there that literally have Switch remakes. I only found out yesterday that they have Mystery Dungeon on GBA online and I was shocked

Edit: compete is poor wording. But sabotage in some way, even if they think it’d just give people bad impressions. Shrug

 

[Snap Crackle Pop]

I would love to have Donkey Kong 64 on NSO because I really loved the game and I thought the music was so great. Luckily I still have my Nintendo 64 and I do have the Donkey Kong 64 game cartridge so I could play it and I may play it soon.

 

[-Apples-]

I wanna say they think it could compete with Bananza but honestly we have games on there that literally have Switch remakes. I only found out yesterday that they have Mystery Dungeon on GBA online and I was shocked

Edit: compete is poor wording. But sabotage in some way, even if they think it’d just give people bad impressions. Shrug

Before I got it, I knew it was a remake.

But going into your argument, when one seller takes away Item A to promote the sales of Item B, it’s not going to change the fact that some consumers prefer Item A over Item B. Some may not even buy at all if Item A can’t be found. But Item A wouldn’t ultimately be a threat to Item B. Take Super Mario Odyssey for example. When Nintendo let us have Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Odyssey, people already say that Super Mario Odyssey (Item B) was better than the older two Mario games (Item A). But people like me prefer the older two Mario games more. 64 and Sunshine have created competition for Super Mario Odyssey, but Odyssey still won.

So if Nintendo lets us play Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine when they give us Super Mario Odyssey, then they should also let us play Donkey Kong 64 when they give us Donkey Kong Bananza. People will think Donkey Kong Bananza is better than Donkey Kong 64, so there’s no need to worry about that.