The Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) classic catalog has expanded with three NES games, including the iconic Pac-Man and a forgotten Game Freak title. Switch users who are subscribed to Nintendo Switch Online will find these games on the Nintendo Classics NES app, with instant access at no additional cost. Players can download these titles and play them at any time as long as they remain subscribed to NSO.
Nintendo Switch Online also offers a plethora of games from various generations, not just the NES. GameCube is but one example, with the most recent NSO + Expansion Pack addition there being Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness in March. Interestingly, Gale of Darkness was developed by Genius Sonority, not Game Freak, and the Game Freak game added for April is not a Pokemon game.
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New NSO Additions for April 2026 (Available Now)
- Pac-Man
- Mendel Palace
- The Tower of Druaga
Pac-Man hardly needs any introduction, as most gamers have likely been through the maze, gobbled pellets, and eaten ghosts. Pac-Man is available as an NES game, one of the many ports it has received over the years. Originally released in 1980, Pac-Man was ported to the NES later in the decade. In fact, intentionally chosen or otherwise, each of these games was originally released in the 1980s.
Mendel Palace and The Tower of Druaga are lesser-known NES classic games compared to Pac-Man. Mendel Palace is the first game ever developed by Game Freak, with its success inspiring the mainline Pokemon games (even if a world apart). In it, players take on the role of protagonist Bon-Bon as she attempts to save her best friend Candy, who has been trapped inside her dream. Players need to outsmart and overpower evil dolls, move toys that block paths, and flip panels to progress throughout the game.
Meanwhile, The Tower of Druaga is credited as one of the first games to attract fans through the use of secrets and hidden items. It established other genre mainstays for future action games, with Ys, Hydlide, Dragon Slayer, and The Legend of Zelda citing it as inspiration. Perhaps most importantly, it was one of the first games to establish the idea of guidebooks and gaming-oriented social interaction (outside the arcade). In it, players climb the titular tower by finding a key on each floor, progressing upward, and ultimately defeating its ruler. Hidden items (like a pickaxe) and hidden secrets on each floor add a ton of replayability to it, and its influence on The Legend of Zelda‘s dungeon design is clear.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
For those who intend to dive into these classic NES games, it’s worth noting that their inclusion on Nintendo Switch Online comes with a few extra features. These features are provably the most underrated benefit of NSO. Namely, the ability to access external save states and rewind gameplay makes enjoying the older, less intuitive games easier—and it may be perfect for those who find The Tower of Druaga to be too obtuse. The Tower of Druaga makes a strong case for itself to be the hardest game of all time, after all.
