Nintendo Switch Online Adds Golden Axe II And These Other Sweet Retro Sega Genesis Games
Gaining access to these titles will require a Nintendo Online Subscription with the Expansion Pack option. This subscription allows subscribers to play Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis titles on top of the already available Super Nintendo and Nintendo Entertainment system options. While they will all be the Genesis/Master System versions of the titles, they all started their tenure as Sega arcade games.
The games being added are Alien Storm, Columns, Golden Axe II, and Virtua Fighter 2. Alien Storm is a side scrolling beat-'em-up shooter, Columns is a match three Tetris-like game, Golden Axe II is a side scrolling beat-'em-up action-RPG, and Virtua Fighter 2 is, surprisingly, a fighting game.
All of these titles had very popular runs in their respective regions for arcade. Virtua Fighter 2 continued to keep its popularity well after even the console release, and you can sometimes still find competitive tournaments for the title today.
While arcades fell out of popularity with the advent of the home video game console, they are experiencing somewhat of a resurgence today. So-called "barcades" have been popping up all over, at least, the United States. It seems like no barcade is complete without some version of Golden Axe.
As the old advertisements used to say, gamers can bring the arcade home with these home versions of excellent arcade classics! We're definitely going to dive into having some fun with these titles in the coming months. We have fond memories of them, after all. We can also involve our families, since each game has multiplayer, so they can see just how hard video gaming use to be. You know, "back in my day."