Topic: Game Boy and GBA games on Switch Online Expansion Pak

Since the emulators were revealed back this spring we haven’t heard any updates and only N64 games will be added for the next year. Are Game Boy and GBA games still likely be added at some point in the near future? Do you think we will get Pokémon Gen 1-3 on Expansion Pak?

@Don It will be interesting to see if the NSO service is compatible with the whatever hardware comes next, I wonder if they would coordinate the two launches?

@MarioBrickLayer
I hope so, I’m fully expecting at least most of the games they added for the retro consoles to be carried over and available on the next console. I think there will be a serious backlash if Nintendo restart the retro games from scratch once again after they did that with virtual console. I’m still holding off on getting the Expansion Pak until they at least add the GBA games.

I could see them revealing GBA games at either the February or September Direct next year. I have no doubt that it’s in the works with the number of leaks that have popped up over the past couple of years. However, Nintendo likes to hold on to their content and release it when they feel like it, so it could honestly be revealed at any time

@StarPoint
I hope it will be February, it would soften the blow of taking down the retro games offered on the Wii U and 3DS eShop. Although I have a feeling the original Game Boy and GBC games will come first before GBA. I think the subscription will get a big boost in sales if Nintendo adds the GBA games.

I think September, the current lineup of N64 games will take us through May/June (May if Goldeneye is in December 2022, June if Goldeneye is 2023 worldwide) and there was a similar situation this year. The Direct N64 lineup was fully released by July 2022 and July/August had some unannounced N64 games before September Direct revealing the next batch.

As for the shutdown, I think March 2023 will be so packed full of Nintendo news (the scale of Nintendo news in January 2017) that many people forget about the shutdown.

@Grumblevolcano
Hopefully September at the latest. If Nintendo wants to add more Rareware games plus other second/ third party games I can see the Game Boy games added even later. The big question is whether the emulator’s ready to go they are just holding back on it or if they are still working on it.

I might be in the minority on this, but GB/GBC should be in the base tier with GBA in the Expansion Pack. I also feel like it's going to be a next-year thing too. They need to save stuff for the opening Direct in February, and it'll be the rest of the N64 library plus the other stuff.

@ElRoberico
That’s actually a real possibility. This way the base subscribers get the older system games and the Expansion Pak subscribers get the more advance system games. I’m really hoping they will add Pokémon games from Gen 1-3 but given the confirmation the Pokémon Stadium games will not be compatible with transfers puts that possibility in doubt.