Hbo max sucks.  I get it for free with fiber internet and I barely can find shit on it. 

What they are doing makes sense. Switch Online is so insanely cheap that it didn't make sense for a complete library of older games. Online play + cloud save + NES + SNES for $20/year is an amazing price. That's literally pocket change each month. And the fact that they have the $35/yr family subscription is even more of a steal.

Now we'll have a new pricing tier with more systems, which makes sense. Though the NES + SNES vs other systems separation is a bit arbitrary. And the question then comes are they going to add GB, GBA, and other systems to the N64/Genesis tier? Due to the very slow rollout this makes sense for the current system, changing the current lower tier would be confusing. But I would hope with the launch of the Switch 2 in a few years they will use that as an opportunity to redo the subscriptions. Maybe online play + cloud saves for $10/yr for that odd person who has no interest in playing old games, and then $60/yr bundle for that plus GB,GBA,NES,SNES,N64,Genesis (DC?? GC?? others??). But for the rest of this gen the original tier plus a more expensive premium tier makes sense as long as they keep adding games and systems to it.

Personally I think it'd be really cool if Nintendo eventually make the retro games subscription device agnostic and just turned it into a general service. While that would take away a little bit of the value of buying a Nintendo system, most of the value is in the new games, probably not any people who buy or wouldn't buy Switch based on the retro games Online subscription. Then they could charge maybe like $80/year on devices and $60/year on Nintendo systems for the service. That'd probably add a few billion dollars to their annual revenue if playing a huge assortment of old games/systems was as easy as having a laptop and a gaming controller and buying a Nintendo membership.

I'd be willing to pay $60 or a little more. Ideally, no more than $80 a year.
But here are some things you have to realize about Nintendo legacy platforms. The Switch doesn't have two screens like the DS, 3DS, and Wii U (obviously lumping the GamePad and the TV display you use together). That would make emulation of games from those platforms very difficult. Wii U is especially pointless because even though it's a home console and probably the easiest to emulate for Switch, most of its first-party titles are already on Switch. I can't see Nintendo offering Wii U versions of games they've ported to Switch or even games they haven't ported like Nintendo Land, Game and Wario, and Xenoblade Chronicle's X.
So I want them to add GB, GBC, GBA, GameCube and Wii in addition to the platforms they have or just announced (N64, Genesis). As Switch primes up for a successor (or even as the successor launches) it would be nice to get Switch games on the service.

Nintendo had a great virtual console offering with the Wii U, thus I'm not apt to pay much of anything for subscriptions.

Why not just do what I did instead? Go out, spend the money and get the real consoles and real games along with a cheap CRT TV. That way, you not only OWN them (instead of simply renting them and having them be at the mercy of the company leasing them to you/altering them due to licensing issues etc.), you also get to play them with almost zero input lag (you'd be shocked how much more precise the gameplay is) and enjoy them the way they were meant to be experienced.

It's a win-win imo.

Yes yes. The whole convenience over quality thing. It's tragic.

I would pay 0, I do not play online, I'd rather pay for the games I want, 60dollars for 6 games that I could keep forever.

No way I'd pay 60dollars per year to keep some very old games, that would cost me 2400 dollars to keep my games for the next 40 years.

Good thing is I don't even pay as my switch is hacked I get all these online arcade games for free all in one package that gets updated monthly and I can play even in offline.

Even then I don't think its that much worth it, most games are rubbish, even mario from NES is not nearly as good as I remember and can look much better on an emulator on my PC.

I'd rather they bring back virtual console.

Not interested in paying for Nintendo's online beyond $20 / year at most.

Do you also only drive stick shift cars instead of automatic, prefer to heat food only with a fire instead of a stove/microwave, only send hand-written notes to people in the mail instead of emails/text messages, or any other example of refusing modern conveniences in the name of quality? Humanity makes advancements in convenience all the time, and those stubbornly holding on to inconvenient systems either die out in time or become an insignificantly small portion of the population to the point that the market no longer concerns itself with them. If you want to be that, that's your choice, but there really is no point complaining about it in a public forum unless it makes you feel better. You won't change the market's mind.

One day, sooner or later, the practice of creating physical video games will end. One day after that, the idea of buying digital video games will end in favor of subscriptions. That is the future. We knew this was coming because of what the movie industry went through, it may take a while to fully kick in, but it's coming. Eventually it won't be cost effective for companies to even allow digital sales, let alone physical ones, because getting recurring monthly subscribers is far more consistent and lucrative long-term. It may be tragic to some, if not many people, but you best prepare for it. It's enivitable.

First off, the odds of changing anyone's mind about anything is extraordinarily slim, especially on an internet message board which deals with video game discussions like this one. So I certainly have no delusions of ever doing such a thing, nor do I have the intension of trying. People are going to do what they want. I know that.

Second, as to your idea of preparing for the future? As long as there are working cartridges, controllers, consoles and CRT TVs, why should I? What is the motivation to sell off all my things? Just because? 

When it comes to retro games, I see two options. I see one that is easy and convenient, but which provides a lesser experience (graphically inaccurate, input lag, sometimes altered due to licensing issues and are rentals), and I see one that is hard and inconvenient, but which provides a superior experience (graphically correct, no input lag, the original, unaltered versions of the games along with ownership until death). So from my perspective, why should I change anything? Because the way I do it is harder? Because it's less convenient? Because it's the minority position? Because eight out of ten people go the easy route? It doesn't make any sense. 

The practice of physical games may end, but that doesn't mean I have to go along with it. I am by no means being forced to do anything. I can quit and play retro games for the rest of my life, can I not? And even if I did chose to sell off all the real versions my games and play these altered, emulated versions due to some unforeseen circumstances--I would still do so with the clear understanding of it being a lesser experience. Those two things do not need to be mutually exclusive. I don't need my life choices to be validated by others (as clearly demonstrated here). What I do, I do because I see validity in it and at the end of the day, that's all the matters to me. 

But again, as long as there are working consoles and carts and TV's, people will (and should) have a choice... and that was the point I was originally trying to make. That choices exist, and you don't have to go about retro gaming in one, company-specified way. You can go about it your way, and do what is best for you.