Nintendo Switch Online adds special versions of Zelda 2, Kirby's Adventure
The SP versions came along with Kid Icarus and StarTropics.
This fight will be easier in the SP version of Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link.
Nintendo Switch Online added another two classic games to its NES selection Tuesday, along with surprise enhancements for an existing pair.
Kid Icarus and StarTropics originally hit the NES in 1987 and 1990, respectively. Their addition brings to 35 the number of games in the library of the $20-a-year subscription service, Nintendo said Tuesday.
It also added SP modes to Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link and Kirby's Adventure. The former starts you off with your attack, magic and life all maxed out (so you can easily get through one of the franchise's tougher entries).
Kirby's Adventure SP gives you immediate access to both the more difficult extra game and a sound test mode. Normally, to get to the extra game, you'd first have to complete Adventure SP.
You've probably been seeing Kid Icarus protagonist Pit in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but the NES game was his first adventure. It's an old-school 2D platformer with a pretty catchy soundtrack.
StarTropics is top-down adventure game that's notable for being one of the few Nintendo games not released in Japan, despite being made by a Japanese development team.
But even with that title not making it to the Japanese service, gamers there again got three games instead of two.
Along with Kid Icarus, Japanese subscribers got 1990 strategy game Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light and 1985 fighter Yie Ar Kung-Fu. The former was never released outside Japan, but a remake -- the more simply titled Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon -- came out worldwide in 2009.
In January, someone claimed to have looked into the NES Online code strings and discovered evidence of 22 SNES games -- potentially revealing Nintendo's plans for the service.
First published March 6 at 5:50 a.m. PT.
Updated March 13 at 10:00 a.m. PT: Adds details about SP versions of Zelda and Kirby.
