If this rumour is accurate, it’s probably three years too late at this point.
Marking the third year of Nintendo’s still, unfortunately, lacklustre online service, Nintendo Switch Online, new rumours indicate that the Japanese gaming giant could have plans to finally bring Game Boy and Game Boy Colour titles to the platform.
YouTuber ‘NateDrake,’ a reputable Nintendo insider and leaker, says that the company plans to add Game Boy and Game Boy Colour titles to Switch Online’s library in the next few weeks (you can hear them talk about it in the video below). NintendoLife, a reliable source of Nintendo-related leaks, also backs up this claim with its own sources.
These rumours stem from a 2019 datamine that revealed there are four emulators currently inside Nintendo’s NES app. NateDrake and his co-host ‘MVG’ believe that the third emulator, called ‘Hiyoko,’ likely relates to Game Boy and Game Boy Colour titles.
Nintendo’s current lineup of Switch Online games includes 88 titles, ranging from NES classics like Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda to Star Fox, Kirby’s Dreamland 3, Breath of Fire II and more. When the service first launched in 2018, it only featured 20 Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) games, though it eventually expanded to include Super Nintendo (SNES) titles.
While it’s great to see Nintendo finally bringing more titles to the subscription service, it’s strange it’s taken this long. For example, the Wii and Wii U’s Virtual Consoles offered various classics across the NES, SNES, Game Boy, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance and even the GameCube.
Given the original Game Boy (I still have the original Yellow coloured handheld I owned as a child) and Game Boy Colour remain two of my favourite video game devices ever, I’m pretty hyped for the potential arrival of several of my all-time most memorable games. It would be great to play games like Super Mario Land, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, Wario Land, Kirby’s Dreamland and more again with the Switch.
Nintendo Switch Online costs $4.99 per month.
Image credit: Wikipedia
Source: NateDrake, NintendoLife
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