I don’t know if we’ve mentioned it before, but we bloody love these free NES games that come as part of the £17.99 a year Switch Online Subscription.
New NES titles are added monthly, and on January 16th two more games will be added to the ever-growing catalogue which already stands at over 30 NES games. The latest additions will be Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link and Blaster Master, as was confirmed by Nintendo’s Twitter account:
#Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and Blaster Master are coming to #NintendoSwitchOnline – Nintendo Entertainment System! Set up your membership now and start playing on 1/16! https://t.co/ZPh216goDt pic.twitter.com/XKKhdPMb3K
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) January 9, 2019
Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link is, quite obviously, the sequel to the original The Legend of Zelda. Released all the way back in 1987 (feel old yet?), it’s notable for being the only game in the series that featured side-scrolling platforming gameplay. I wonder if it took inspiration from a certain Italian plumber? It’s also notable for being the only direct sequel in the series before we started venturing into prequels, parallel universes, alternate realities and all other types of confusing mumbo jumbo.
Blaster Master, meanwhile, is a platform shooter from the same ilk as Metroid. Released in 1988, it follows the story of Jason who follows his just-recently-mutated-due-to-radioactive-waste pet frog (who is named Fred) down a hole into the earth, where he finds a tank that he must use to defeat radioactive mutants. No, honestly, that’s the plot. Regardless of the absurdity of that plot (give them a break, though, it was 1988), the game was very well received and is still widely regarded as one of the best games that were available on the NES, although it has faced some criticisms due to its difficulty.
Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link and Blaster Master will both become available to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers on Wednesday 16th January.
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