As part of their subscription, Nintendo Switch Online offers subscribers access to a large number of games spanning past video game systems. As an incentive to get users to play something they might not try otherwise, Nintendo will frequently offer access to exclusive profile icons to those that play specific games during a certain window. Between now and June 2nd at 17:59 p.m. PT, users can unlock designs inspired by two games, one of which comes from the SNES days, and the other from the N64 era. This time around, the games in question are Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble and Yoshi’s Story.
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For anyone unfamiliar with the “play to unlock” concept, it simply requires that the subscriber launch the game in its corresponding Nintendo Classics app; in this case, the SNES app for DKC 3 and the N64 app for Yoshi’s Story. The user doesn’t actually have to play the game for any significant amount of time, as the option to snag the icons is unlocked immediately after. Each icon costs 10 Platinum points to unlock, but the user is automatically rewarded 50 points for launching the software. That’s exactly enough to get all the icons from DKC 3, but if you want all 13 that are being offered from Yoshi’s Story, you’ll need to spend some extra.
If there’s one thing that can get a little frustrating about the strict requirements, it’s that there are no exceptions for users that have spent a lot of time with these games already. Even if you beat Donkey Kong Country 3 earlier this year (as I did!), you still have to launch the software before getting to unlock the icons. It’s a minor inconvenience, but it could be handled a little better on Nintendo’s part. It’s also a shame that neither of these games has backgrounds offered, as both of today’s titles have locations and designs that would complement the profile icons nicely.
It’s worth noting that the Yoshi’s Story profile icons are only available to those that subscribe to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack tier. N64 games are only playable through the higher priced tier, alongside those released for GBA and Sega Genesis. Meanwhile, NES, SNES, and the original Game Boy are available to all users. Thankfully, that means anyone can still get the designs based on DKC 3 this month, at the very least.
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With the Nintendo Switch 2 era starting next month, it will be interesting to see what things change, and what stays the same. Since Nintendo Switch Online won’t be going through any immediate changes, it’s a safe bet that we’ll continue to see exclusive profile icons offered as an incentive for subscribers. The biggest difference is that we can probably expect to see icons based on GameCube games offered in the future, since that system will be getting a Nintendo Classics app on Switch 2.
Do you plan on snagging any of these profile icons? How do you feel about these two games? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
