Like so many right now, I am overjoyed that the Nintendo Switch 2 is due to arrive before the end of this year. This coming March, the console will officially be 8 years old, and it has been in need of a hardware upgrade, but there's a lot more than just the hardware that needs an upgrade.

Even when the Nintendo Switch was brand new, parts of the experience made it feel old. Not having Bluetooth functionality turned on when the console launched was one of those things, and the Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) experiencewas another. I already struggle with the feeling that my subscription to Nintendo Switch Online is worth it, so with the Nintendo Switch 2 launch, it's time for Nintendo to make a few fundamental changes to its Nintendo Switch Online service.

3 Exclusive store discounts for all games

Anything to mitigate the Switch tax

Firstly, I appreciate that some of the best games are available on Nintendo Switch as part of its game voucher feature. Getting a discount whenever I want one on two Nintendo-published games, which are also usually the ones that rarely go on sale, is nice. What about every other game on the eShop?

I get discounts on games when I buy them on the PlayStation Store, simply for having a PlayStation Plus subscription. I get discounts on games when I buy them on the Xbox Store because I have an Xbox Game Pass subscription. In both cases, the games these discounts can apply to aren't limited by their publisher. There are plenty of good ways in which Nintendo stands out from PlayStation and Xbox, but this is not one of them.

2 The option to buy classic NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy, and Game Boy Advance games

Just give me a chance, at least

Players know by now that digitally purchasing a game doesn't buy you the game; it buys you the license to play it. A subscription service is even more transparent with that relationship because when the subscription goes, so do the perks that come with it. If you cut off your NSO subscription, you won't have access to the game libraries for classic Nintendo consoles. Namely, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), the Nintendo 64 (N64), Game Boy (GB), and Game Boy Advance (GBA).

Those libraries don't stay consistent, though, and games will be removed from them as new games are added. That's nothing new for game subscription services. Games enter and leave Xbox Game Pass all the time, for example. But if something leaves Game Pass, I can easily buy it on the Xbox Store if I want to. That's not the case with games that leave the classic game libraries for those consoles on NSO.

I recognize that in some cases, Nintendo has plans to release an updated version of said game that it would rather you buy instead. Nintendo would rather you didn't buy the old Pokémon Snap; it would rather you pay for the subscription service to play it, buy the brand new one for a full fat $60 USD, or both. But if players could triple-dip, so to speak, with the option to also buy the old Pokémon Snap, then where's the harm in that?

I'd get to keep the version of the old game I want to have around, even when I don't want to/can't pay for a NSO subscription, and Nintendo gets more money. It's a win-win.

1 StreetPass version 2.0

It's time to bring back one of the best DS-era features

The Nintendo DS and 3DS after it (and all the iterations of the dual-screen handheld) had plenty of quirks. Some were more odd than anything else, like the little nub of a second joystick added to the Nintendo 3DS XL. Others were inspired, like StreetPass, and with the launch of Nintendo Switch 2, it's time to bring StreetPass back.

There are more than 146 million Nintendo Switch consoles in the wild, and there will be millions more Nintendo Switch 2's out there before the end of the year. As someone who loved their Nintendo DS and StreetPass as a feature, I find it ridiculous that we don't already have StreetPass v2 for the Switch, especially when I think about how obtuse it is to add someone to my friends list on the Switch. I have to enter a code that would be more appropriately used as the code for a missile launch.

Bringing StreetPass back with Nintendo Switch 2 would be a huge chance for Nintendo to step up its game regarding the Nintendo Switch as a social platform. It would do all the things it used to, like have unlockable items that tie into certain games, make it easier to add people to your friends list, and show off your in-game achievements to other Nintendo Switch 2 owners.

Of course, it would be v2, so a whole new suite of features could be added. For example, regional communities could be based around specific games, like a leaderboard for your town or city with the fastest lap times in Mario Kart or a popular vote for who has the nicest island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Nintendo should right these overdue NSO wrongs with the Nintendo Switch 2

A new generation of console hardware is the time when hardware makers have a chance to correct some mistakes they made with the previous device. That opportunity extends beyond the hardware, and it's high time NSO got these changes it desperately needed. In my eyes, these changes would go a long way to making the service worth the price of admission.