Few Nintendo games received DLC support prior to the 3DS, perhaps as a result of Nintendo’s historically lagging online functionality. But in the era of the Wii U, DLC for first-party Nintendo games - and particularly paid DLC - became increasingly common. Nintendo has released both paid and free add-on content for many first-party Nintendo Switch games, but the free DLC is almost always severely lacking when compared to the paid, and several notable games have been left out of this more substantial paid support.
The latest Nintendo-published game to receive a major add-on is Fire Emblem: Three Houses. The newly announced Cindered Shadows DLC introduces the Ashen Wolves, a secret fourth house hidden in a network of underground tunnels, to the Garreg Mach Monastery. Fire Emblem’s first 3DS outing, Fire Emblem Awakening, was also one of the first Nintendo-published titles to receive paid DLC. It was preceded by games like the 3DS’ New Super Mario Bros. 2, which was the first Nintendo-developed game to receive paid DLC.
Since then, Nintendo has embraced DLC completely. Games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild have taken the Cindered Shadows approach, introducing bigger packs of content to pad out already beloved experiences. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, on the other hand, has almost become a live-service game, with a consistent flow of smaller paid content updates. Both of these strategies work without feeling grubby because of Nintendo’s apparent desire to remain “the good guy” and avoid microtransaction-laden titles (at least outside of the mobile gaming space, where Nintendo has gone subscription-mad with Animal Crossing and more).
It’s important to keep in mind the dangerous allure of paid post-launch content. Microtransactions started as just small DLC packs, after all, with DLC such as Bethesda’s infamous Oblivion horse armor. The fact that Nintendo even releases free updates at all is commendable, and things like Super Mario Odyssey’s extra costumes should remain free, but there’s an undeniable gap in quality between most of Nintendo’s free add-ons and its paid. Mario Odyssey, for example, is a game whose structure is just begging for new, unique levels, but it has only received free skins and a sub-par “multiplayer” mode. Mario Kart 8 got some stellar new paid content on the Wii U, but its Switch port - the best-selling Switch game as of November 1, 2019 - received no new Grand Prix tracks, and free updates have only added Labo support and a new Link skin.
Of course, Nintendo has also produced more substantial free content, like Super Mario Maker 2’s Link update, and lackluster paid content, like Luigi’s Mansion 3’s multiplayer DLC, but these are exceptions. Nintendo should stick to its “no microtransactions” rule, but if new content is not being saved for full-on sequels (which, at this point, is likely the case for Odyssey and Mario Kart), Nintendo should be offering sizable paid DLC for titles like Ring Fit Adventure, Mario Maker 2, and Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze.
Next: Things Open World Games Get Wrong - And How Breath of the Wild Got Them Right
