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Switch Online may add Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games
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Nintendo is planning to add Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games to the growing array of retro formats available via the Switch Online subscription, according to a new leak.
Dataminers have purportedly discovered evidence within theSwitchitself that Nintendo is working on the feature, which has beenrumoured in the past(viaEurogamer).
In recent months,Nintendo has added N64and Sega Mega Drive (or Genesis) games to the platform, joining the Super Nintendo and NES games already in place for subscribers. However, adding Game Boy and GBA games would be a boon for long time fans of Nintendo’s handheld consoles.
According to information mined by the Trash_Bandacoot twitter account, Nintendo has built emulators called Hiyoko (for Game Boy) and Sloop (for Game Boy Advance).
The emulators are being developed by NERD (Nintendo Europe Research & Development) and, according to the snoops, are “both functional, albeit with a few bugs.”
According to a fellow dataminer, @OatmealDome, the Game Boy emulator is currently very early in the stages of development, but will support virtual link cables “with each Switch emulating two Game Boys at the same time and simulating a Link Cable between them.”
…called Sloop, and the 7z archive is called Hiyoko, which is a Game Boy emulator, with all Game Boy games being separate applications. These emulators are developed by NERD (Nintendo Europe Research & Development), and are both functional, albeit with a few bugs. (2/?)pic.twitter.com/RRUAVvz2BX
Interestingly, while it does have netplay support, it doesn’t use any of the usual Nintendo network libraries (NEX, pia). Possibly a custom server for testing.The SDK used is also very old (v6.4.0, circa 2018!), indicating that this is likely a really old build!
Whatsmore, a list of GBA games Nintendo appears to be testing has also emerged into the wild off the back of this leak. The likes of Castlevania Circle of the Moon, Astro Boy: Omega Factor, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Kirby and the Amazon Mirror, F-Zero: Maximum Velocity, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones, Mario vs Donkey Kong, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Matroid Fusion, Super Mario Advance 4 Mega Man Zero 3, Wario and 4 and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cup have all been tried out, it seems.
Of course, that doesn’t mean they’ll all be included, if and when Nintendo decides to launch the emulators. The company has been drip-feeding the retro classics via Switch Online over the past few years, so we’re likely to get a few at a time, if it does happen.
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Chris Smith is a freelance technology journalist for a host of UK tech publications, including Trusted Reviews. He’s based in South Florida, USA. …
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Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
