Nintendo has added three more Sega Genesis games to its Nintendo Switch Online library, and one of them is one of the most celebrated beat-’em-up games of its generation.
Having already brought the likes of ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron, super-hard platformer Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, and side-scroller Altered Beast to the Switch Online Genesis lineup, the first game in today’s haul is another bona fide classic.
That’s right: none other than Streets of Rage is making its Nintendo Switch Online debut. You might think you’ve already played this one on the service, but in fact, you’ve played the 1992 sequel Streets of Rage 2, which was, until today, the only Streets of Rage game on Switch Online.
Of course, it’s not just about Streets of Rage, so if you’ve never been of the side-scrolling beat-’em-up persuasion, don’t worry; there are two more games that might tickle your fancy.
The first of these is Super Thunder Blade, a Space Harrier-slash-Star Fox-style shooter with some impressive (if somewhat hard to look at in the year of our lord 2025) visual effects.
Lastly, today’s Genesis haul brings ESWAT: City Under Siege to Switch Online. It’s a side-scroller, but it’s a shooter with more in common with the likes of Super Turrican or the Contra series than with Streets of Rage.
All three of these games are available right now with a Nintendo Switch Online membership, although you will have to pick up the Expansion Pack addon if you want to play them.
These Switch Online games come at a time when Nintendo is gearing up to release the Switch 2, the successor to the original Switch (if the name didn’t already give that away).
The console is due to launch on June 5th, although pre-orders in the US and Canada have been delayed due to the former’s President Donald Trump imposing sweeping economic tariffs on various countries and economic bodies around the world.
With that being said, Trump subsequently issued a 90-day pause for those tariffs in all countries but China, so there’s every possibility that we’ll get a new pre-order date for the Switch 2 sometime soon. While we wait, you can check out these three new Genesis games on Switch Online right now if you’ve got the Expansion Pack.