New Nintendo Switch Online Freebies Might Hint at a Return for Beloved SNES Games

As part of their subscriptions, Nintendo Switch Online users can get free profile icons in exchange for Platinum points. These profile icons are typically themed around either new game releases or classic titles available through Nintendo Switch Online. Over the next few weeks, Nintendo is doing something a little different by offering icons based on video game systems that are playable through Nintendo Switch Online. If you have a standard subscription, you can get icons based on the NES, Game Boy, and SNES, and if you have a subscription to the Expansion Pack tier, you can also get icons based on N64, Game Boy Advance, and GameCube.

Right now, icons based on NES and N64 are available for 10 Platinum points each, with new waves coming next week and the week after. What’s interesting about this promotion is the specific timing. The third and final wave happens to be coming out the same week as Nintendo Switch 2, which is when the GameCube app will arrive through Nintendo Switch Online. In addition to the GameCube icons, there will also be a profile icon based on the SNES mouse. This is notable, as the SNES Nintendo Classics app does not currently have any games that can be played that used that old peripheral. However, with mouse controls coming to Nintendo Switch 2, this could hint at a surprise release for some of those games.

On its own, this hint wouldn’t necessarily mean anything. However, a dataminer discovered last September that Nintendo updated mouse emulation in the SNES app; mouse support had already been enabled in the backend since the app first launched, but it was never offered to the public in any capacity. The fact that Nintendo updated it last year seemed to be a hint at plans of finally adding games that supported the SNES mouse peripheral. In the months since then, mouse support was confirmed as a major feature for Switch 2.

So what does this all mean? The SNES featured a lot of games that supported the mouse, but the most prominent one was Mario Paint. The game was basically a digital art studio that also featured a fun and frantic game where you controlled a fly swatter. Mario Paint would seem like the ideal candidate for a return, as would Mario & Wario. Mario & Wario was never released outside Japan, but the game was fully in English. That would make the game an easy one to offer in the SNES app. It’s also worth noting that the game was developed by Game Freak, a few years before they released Pokemon Red and Green.

RELATED: I’ve Played Nintendo Switch 2 and Mouse Controls Will Be a Game-Changer

It remains to be seen whether any of the SNES mouse games will actually come back through Nintendo Switch Online. For now, readers should take this all with a grain of salt. However, it does seem very curious that Nintendo is releasing that profile icon in the same week Nintendo Switch 2 is about to launch. It seems like a pretty big coincidence given the timing! For now, subscribers will have to just wait and see what the company is planning.

Would you like to see SNES mouse games playable on Nintendo Switch 2? Have you ever played Mario Paint on the original system? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!