Rumour: Game Boy And Game Boy Color Games Still Expected For Switch Online

Survival Kids and Wario Land. Pretty please!

Along with Oracle Zeldas and Pokemon Gen 1 and 2. That would be something.

Yes, the purposefully vague insider knowledge I had was the thing that was eventually announced. Trust me pls.

Why do I get the feeling we’re only getting more games and not better online service overall with these “expansions”?

There's a good few Game Boy and GBC games I'd like to play again. But I'm more interested in GBA to be honest.

On these I'd honestly mostly want the Pokemon TCG game, the classic Pokemon games, probably a little Tetris too.

But on GBA there's also Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Golden Sun, Mother, Megaman Battle Network games, and so many more that interest me.

Perhaps they can do a "Expansion Bonus" for the NES/SNES app and future Gameboy app so they add the games that either Nintendo want to make money off of (Earthbound, Mother 3, Pokemon, etc.) and games that other companies don't really want to give away for free but would if the Expansion fee paid for them (Final Fantasy, Megaman, etc.).

You know if we keep saying the same stuff over and over we will be right at some point.

Uh-huh. And a couple months ago "Switch OLED was actually that other model I've heard about besides Pro which is definitely still coming".

They never learn. Sadder yet, neither does everyone who gives them honest attention. Is it truly rocket science to just wait until the things discussed either just happen or just don't? Are so many people SO deprived of other topics and hobbies to fill up their lives inbetween video game industry releases and events? Even with everything the portability of modern tech allows me to accomodate, I still find myself constantly wondering and planning how to distribute my finite free time among the sheer multitude of works that entice me across all media, so it still feels honestly foreign to me when so many folks seem to live from announcement to rumour to leak instead - always demanding to know what they're getting next rather than just focusing on everything they've already got... and knowing it at any cost to boot. All these NateDrakes and other "leakers" and "insiders" would never thrive otherwise.

I couldnt actually imagine playing game boy games on a 55" TV. Surely they will look terrible. Defenately one for portable mode as long as the screen isn't shrunk to the size of a postage stamp. Personally, although i did own a game boy and a GBC as a child, id much rather see GBA games on the switch. Maybe they will be for the tier 3 subscription 😜😜. I really shouldnt joke about that, should i? 😬

That would be cool though

@nhSnork apparently only on Sundays, yes. 🙄

He knew, Mega Drive games would come to NSO? When and where did he say that? In hindsight it's always easy to say:"I knew that!"

The only thing I'd care about would be the GBA. Come on Nintendo, give me Minish Cap, M&L Superstar Saga, Golden Sun, Metroid, maybe even Pokemon

I'll believe it when I see it. Would love to see some Game Boy (and especially GBA) games there, but I'm not holding my breath.

@Kidfunkadelic83 Dunno, I remember playing GB games on the TV with the Super Gameboy and they looked great.

Making out he knew about the N64 stuff, what a mug

I remember this cool little indie initiative called "Virtual Console". It was great, buy games from the past you actually wanted to play at an affordable price, and even better, online multiplayer wasn't prisoner to a subscription service, just to make an extra few bucks out of you for no effort.

Okay, sourgrapes I know, but it doesn't matter what games they bring to the service, I will still view this service with utter disdain. The online experience is always going to be the same, and I legitimately hate that the industry has managed to get away with charging you twice for online, looking at Playstation and Xbox as well.

@nhSnork but when reputable web sites post every rumor or leak, shouldn't we fault them too?

Im looking at you, Nintendo Life.

@moodycat or Metroid Prime trilogy HD...

That wouldn't surprise me if we're getting GB/GBC games as part of the current plan and that they'll announce it when they announce the pricing details for the Expansion Pack tier to soften the backlash. Or at least attempt to haha

@Kidfunkadelic83 I played the Final Fantasy Legends collection docked and it wasn’t so bad. These had an HD upgrade tho. I feel like Nintendo won’t put that kinda effort in.

@chipia You likely weren't playing SGB on a 55" TV.

Can't wait to play Fish Dude and Burning Paper on NSO!

@faint ive got a feeling that you quite possibly right 😂

@KingMike They can just use a smaller window size for the GB emulation to simulate a smaller TV, as they did with the SNES games.

It'd make so much sense to include these to the main online service...
In the future, I bet they'll include GBA in the premium one.

@faint they didnt have an "hd upgrade", theyre integer scaled like the nes/snes nso apps as well

For free, I'll take it.

Can we do more to call out people who piggyback on rumours and then claim to have known what was going to happen after it has been revealed? It's pure BS.

I honestly would rather see Gameboy games than N64 and Megadrive games. Especially the Megadrive stuff, with the Sega Ages range and the Megadrive collection already out. How many times do I need Sonic 2 on the same platform!

Its so odd that nintendolife references YouTube as a source and then when watching these YouTubers they quote nintendolife as a source.......go figure lol

Everything is coming.
Everyone is here

Let's be honest Pokémon games would make NSO value skyrocket

"Yes yes exactly like I predicted! But apparently Nintendo changed their plans at the last minute! Of course this only lends more credibility to my next prediction. Please tune in to my next podcast where I will blather on for another 30 minutes and guess whatever Nintendo will logically do next. "

-Supercool Insider totally not a narcissist

Pretty poor really to charge an additional fee for access to other game platforms. It not like their is a option for a lower cost without the current snes/nes options.

I just want GBA, man..

Was this one of the guys who touted a Switch Pro as imminent?

(Transparency - not being harsh, just want to know for future how much salt to take when he opens his mouth.)

@Kidfunkadelic83 Between the Castlevania collection, Shantae, Final Fantasy Legend collection, and Mana collection there's plenty of examples of GB titles looking and playing just fine on a big modern TV.

I'd rather get themes and folders to orgnaize the massive backlog I already own than more games I'm not going to play or I played times and times over. I don't want to say that I would'nt be happy to be able to play games like Zelda Oracles or else on my Switch, but the service is severly lacking of so much features from modern consoles I would rather get than GB/GBC... If at least we were talking about games we can purchase and own, but those would just be there for as long Nintendo agrees to let us enjoy them.

“N64 and Mega Drive were the two NSO platforms I'd heard about alongside Game Boy/Color“

And yet no-one reported Megadrive was coming until after it was announced and everyone was saying it would be GameBoy. Seems a bit after-the-fact to me.

@HatosBlack I've "faulted" them in many a comment section, although I don't expect much effect from it - tabloids gonna tabloid, fan-run ones all the moreso, and leaving a reproachful comment still earns the article a click, which is why these articles happen.😏

NL would really be more reputable without all their rumour chases and fan-minded pseudoanalytical "reviews". But then again, when they occasionally direct their efforts into something of actual value, like interviews or historical excursions (or even simple release and sale lists - even in the world where Deku Deals exists, I still get more relevant information out of the umpteenth and routinely ridiculed Kemco sale post than I do out of the umpteenth "Journalist-san just quoted Source-senpai that a new F-Zero game is coming as a Switch Pro launch title, with a special Nvidia chip to enable next-gen blast processing"), there's at least some credit due.

@BulkSlash Aye, there is a whiff of hindsight and back pedling although, to be fair some folk did mention 'non Nintendo systems' without naming Megadrive specifically. It makes you wonder how much is infomation and how much is ego getting carried away sometimes.

Yeah.. It's not happening.

Why? Because it would remove the direct push for the expansion pack. Or it would overshadow either the N64 or GameGear.

So it's not happening or at least not this year.

Also Nintendo would've announced it during the Direct.

Rather than improve the online service by adding social features, party chat, voice comms etc. Nintendo add ancient games and charge extra... Nice...

In other news, it might rain tomorrow, but there's also a chance it won't. You heard it here first.

Please stop. “Nate the Hate” is a narcissist and a cyber bully who hides behind his anonymity. He is toxic to the community and Nintendo Life would do well to distance themselves from him, stop elevating his voice.

@robe A lot of those features you mention are the main reason why Nintendo online service sucks and will continue to sucks cause Nintendo is a family friendly platform. To keep their family friendly image they opt to not feature any social offerings that would allow people to easily dox, bully, swatting, or offend others even the kids. This is why any feature close to a social offering from them had to do with just sharing stuff and waterdown online play. This is also why with NES and Super NES NSO you could only play multiplayer online with just friends and not with any strangers globally.

Why not Gameboy Advahahahaaance..... (ToT)

@nhSnork lol there ain't no pro and not going to be lol.sad you still believe that lol.the next console Nintendo will announce in about 5 years which will be the new Nintendo console not a pro model lol

@Kidfunkadelic83 Sadly, portable mode wouldn't be great on a normal Switch due to the lack of a D-Pad.

@Darkyoshi98 sad that... I "still believe that"? 😅

❗The ONLY GB Games I'll care about replaying are the two 'Super Mario Land 1' Games. (SML3 is a 'Wario' Game. #DealWithIt)

@Crono1973 this is something i didnt factor in. Your right.

@Crono1973 It only isn't great if you choose not to buy one (that had a d-pad). There are third party joycon from Hori that had d-pad support just for that purpose.

@Heavyarms55 I could see them putting GBA in the expansion tier in future

@MS7000 Virtual Console was more expensive I think if you brought all the games on NSO

This guy is a literal liar, he didn't say anything about megadrive at any point! he's literally lying to our faces and we're letting him get away with it! I honestly hope, just out of spit that GB/GBC games don't come (ignore the fact I brought all the GBC games for my 2ds via the amazing virtual console) just so we can just chuck that guy in the bin and sack him off forever. I genuinely am sick of "leakers" and nintendolife reporting on them because all it does is put money in their wallets and makes us all disappointed or bitter by feeding off of our hopes. it's genuinely pathetic at this point.

@Clyde_Radcliffe NSO is less expensive indeed! but what about when it's no longer supported? we don't own NSO titles, but we do own virtual console games and more importantly, I can buy which i want and one's i dont. For instance, how many nes games do i like? none. how many snes games do i like? I like starfox 2, super punch out, link to the past, super metroid and super mario all stars, If i were to buy them each for any amount on money at all, i will be able to play them and get more value as NSO is limited by time.

I’d love it and also Pokémon games too. Hope they include Pokémon home compatibility

I'm thinking I should invest in a poop knife

No surprise here. There is no way Nintendo was going to add N64 or Genesis games to NSO while ignoring GB/GBC games.

@Gwynbleidd
The only way Nintendo is doing yet another expansion pack to NSO is if they ever decide to add GCN, Wii, and/or 3DS games to NSO, which seems highly unlikely IMO.

Having three separate NSO tiers is kinda ridiculous, especially considering that each tier consists of a 1 month, 3 month, 1 year, and family plan. Consumers shouldn't have to look up a pricing table to determine how much they will need to pay.

@Heavyarms55 In a moment of strong nerdiness, I recently made a list of every GBA game I wanted to play/replay and it came out to 57 games. GBA is definitely the system I miss most. So few of its games have made it off the system and it would be a great addition to NSO!

Same as how a Zelda collection was still expected.

Stop posting "insider" garbage.

Also, just take the 2 minutes to get an emulator and roms for your phone if you want to play these games. Odds are, you have your phone with you more than a switch.

If they add GB/GBC, why not also Game Gear and TurboGrafx (as was announced for 3DS VC, but only made it out as four games for Japan only, and at that they chose China Warrior over Bonk!)

GB and GBC games just makes logical sense to me the switch already gives me some nostalgia vibes with remakes like pokemon let's go and links awakening

Without GBA it's really disappointing.

Exclusive to the Switch Pro if you buy Metroid Prime Trilogy HD.

They dropped the ball by not adding GB/GBC games LAST year. At this point they should be adding GBA games. With Metroid Dread coming in a couple weeks it would have been nice to be able to play Zero Mission and Fusion on Switch.

If they’re going to trickle out GB/GBC games first it could still be another couple years before they get around to GBA. Nintendo really needs to stop being so precious with their catalog. Either bring back Virtual Console (which they clearly don’t want to do) or do a GamePass-like subscription service. They want to have their cake and eat it too by having this subscription nonsense where you’re just getting table scraps.

Why would I pay extra to play the original versions of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask when they’ve got remasters that are also now unplayable on their newest console? I’ve already bought the originals and the rereleases. If they want to put the effort in and do updated remakes/remasters, that’s one thing, but I’m not paying again for 25 year old ROMs.

“Higher priced tier” is not something I wanted to hear. I don’t want to pay more than $50 just to play two or three games on Switch. Assuming this high price on everything is because of the pandemic and the President

@Clyde_Radcliffe True, if I brought all of them, but then again, I wouldn't necessarily be buying all of them. And if I did buy them all, surely that would be a good thing for Nintendo since they would get more money out me. The only good thing about the service is being able to try these games, but they could always do demos in the form of time trials a la Masterpieces in Smash Bros. Brawl/Wii U.

But virtual console aside, my main gripe is that online is tied to a subscription. The amount of games I feasibly use the online with could be counted on one hand. If Nintendo is so confident that the subscription to play retro games would sell otherwise, why not keep online free anyway. It is not like they ever try to improve the online experience; just the retro games that you get as a "bonus".

Edit: Just another thought not necessarily related to my reply above, but given Nintendo are adding games such as Banjo Kazooie, how long until the licensing runs out and games start disappearing off the service such as third parties on NES and SNES. Will Nintendo renew the licensing? Or will Nintendo adjust the pricing of the membership, or is it just assumed that you would continue paying the same or more despite less content?

God, I hate subscriptions.

@nessisonett👍

@OnigiriSan 👍

This doesn’t sound at all that pleasing. Maybe if the rumor was GBA I’d be happy. I am clearly not happy with the service. In the end rumors are rumors. I’ll see this when I believe it. I will predict that the N64/Sega Will have decent games like Nintendo promoted within a year. Once that year is up…… What’s going to happen? Gee Nintendo is so predictable. They’re going to do the same thing they did with NES/SNES Slow drip and will see

oh my, again the rumors of the day, and again with the Switch online, seriously, nobody can't wait?..., oh well...

however, at one point, I would also like to replay some Game Boy games and some 'hidden' gems like Survival Kids, Dance Dance Revolution and Test drive 6 for example.

But in the meantime it's just rumors, RUMORS, and nothing else

@Kidfunkadelic83 using a super nt and a super gameboy i booted up a couple games on i think a 60” 4k tv (outputting 1080p) and it looked fine

Resident Evil!

I’m sorry but I just can’t take these rumors seriously anymore. It’s starting to seriously erode credibility. Like what’s the track record with these leakers now, or the outlets that give them a platform? Their accuracy is clearly way off and I’m starting to believe that most of the ones they get right are just the result of dumb luck and playing the odds.

@BAN
They're incredibly inaccurate if you measure inaccuracy as a percentage of things said that you choose to remember were rumoured by the time of the reveal. But that's obviously a BS measure. People conveniently forget about the rumours that were correct. Like the OLED screen, New 2D Metroid, N64 on NSO and a higher priced tier for NSO. But of course lets obsess over the as-of-yet unknown Switch Pro as if it's current lack of existence is somehow proof "all rumours are baseless"

Hell, there were literally people under the post about that FCC filing for a new controller last week. People saying "more of these rumours" and so on. Over an FCC filing, literally a legal government document. Then we get the N64 controller announcement that Friday.

IMO people dismissing every rumour off hand are the problem here, not the rumours

Here we go again.

What a load of nonsense.

@MS7000 not looking to inflame or have an argument, but where are we being charged twice for online?

@Banksie You have to pay an Internet Service Provider to get online in the first place. Technically Nintendo etc are only charging you for the internet once in the form of a subscription.

Nice advert, but the Nintendo Life article got in the way a bit.

@skywake
The heart of the matter is that these sites and YouTubers conveniently forget all the rumors that that never come to pass or are proven false or even deliberate hoaxes, the reason for this that they only care about what drives clicks and rumors drive clicks and they have no ethics department telling them not to (some sites might but the majority of YouTubers most certainly don’t), if you watch any gaming videos on YouTube you’ll find that your recommendations will be filled with videos about rumors and FUD so this stuff has become a meal ticket You bring up Switch OLED but the sources that got it’s display specs right were absolutely wrong about it supporting 4K and that false information played a massive role in the mindless speculation over “Switch Pro”.

@SalvorHardin
You're not wrong about some channels on youtube, I mean youtube is an open platform. The algorithm serves you videos with high engagement not videos with reputable sources. But that's not really what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about rumours and leaks more broadly

Also, frankly, you are right to say that people really did go overboard with the rumour about the "4K" Switch Pro. As someone who still thinks it's on the cards I maintain that people don't understand the range of things that "4K" can actually mean. It really could be as little as upgrading the HDMI port from 1.4 to 2.0 and giving the Switch a marginal performance bump. And something like that is highly probable, especially compared to the delusional people who thought (or asserted others thought) it meant a portable PS5.

Oh, and on the OLED screen bit. Go back and read the threads from when that was leaked. There were plenty of people such as yourself saying that an OLED screen was completely impossible. These people were idiots. Time will be as kind to the people pretending the Switch can exist in its current spec for the next 5 years.

@skywake
I don't necessarily have anything against rumors or leakers. But it very annoys me, if some rumor happens to not come true and the leaker STILL insists he is right and the rumors didn't happen because of reasons. Just admit you were wrong this time, damit!

Yeah, this is what I expect, with GBA games specific for the Expansion Pack.

@MichaelP
Depends on what it is. I still think the community in general has got to the point where, in general, people are quick too quick dismiss some of these rumours/leaks as false.

The problem is the way rumours work you will never never get confirmation they are wrong. The closet you will ever get is no news which can, and will, be just brushed off as "just wait" or "plans changed" by the people making it up. But this doesn't mean that rumours are never true or leaks don't happen

In terms of this batch of NSO stuff you have to admit it's been pretty accurate. And it's not just one dude making stuff up. It's a combination of a Datamining, Eurogamer, Nintendolife then additionally the FCC filing. Then we get a Direct that confirms all of it except the Gameboy part of the rumour. So yeah, excuse me if I don't share the rush to cry "they're just making it up"

and I still want GBA. Not just the same GB/C games already available on 3DS

@Specter_of-the_OLED There are options to remain family friendly, for example they could lock it behind parental controls. Or, only allow communication between friends. Animal Crossing, which is arguably one of the most family friendly games has in game messaging.

If they bring the Gameboy library with the ability to play it on the Super GameBoy, then I would be excited.

@skywake Lol wow you take defending video game rumors a lot more seriously than I would ever expect anyone to. This is probably the first time I’ve made a single comment about this, on any site. I’m not the sort of person to grief outlets over content even when it’s egregiously obvious that it’s clickbait, and my usual policy is to just ignore rumor articles because it’s just boring to me. It’s not actual reporting. It’s just fluff. And that’s especially true when it’s a doubling-down article on a rumor that has so far already failed.

But I think your take is bizarrely off base. I’ve seen/read/heard an inestimable number of rumors that never came true in my ~32 years of obsessing over games, and the most intense failure rate has always surrounded Nintendo. There’s just something about that brand that makes people love to speculate about what they’re doing, and some people have learned to make a very good living off of keeping that rumor mill spinning. If you enjoy that, cool.

But I think you must be either relatively new to gaming or very young if you think these types of rumors are mostly accurate or that the articles that propagate them are actually important or even trying to be. They’re just trying to entertain you, which is fine.

For the record I would love for Game Boy games to show up on Switch. But I don’t believe that anyone within Nintendo’s organization is spilling that or any other insider info to gaming sites.

Also, predicting that N64 would come to NSO was roughly on par with predicting that the sun would come up tomorrow morning. We got NES first. Next came SNES. Literally everyone expected out loud that we were going to get N64 next because that was the system that came out after SNES (to state the obvious). Like, no crap?

The only thing that was a surprise was Genesis, and I don’t recall anyone predicting or leaking that. So to correct your record, the “leakers” got one of four things right. They predicted GB (didn’t happen), GBA (didn’t happen), and N64 (happened), and failed to predict Genesis. Why would they leave out the single most interesting piece of information from that lot?

And calling the OLED screen a win for the “leakers” is hilarious. These people/sites were predicting a Switch Pro. As in a revamped, more powerful Switch. All we got was a new screen and more storage and they’re like “look we were totally right! we were just slightly mis-calibrated is all!” But no. That’s a fail. A new screen does not amount to a pro model. It’s ALSO something that people have been predicting since like the same year Switch came out.

Konami Krazy Racers is my favorite gameboy game

I would love this. I honestly think they are nintendos most neglected systems (which is mad considering that nintendo held itself up on its handhelds for so long and its somewhat still doing so with the switch)

I know people are very happy about N64, but i always felt like it was so week when it comes to games. yes there are 20 or 30 great N64 games, but that's about it and half of them are licensing nightmares' (see; the wrestling games, Goldeneye, Beatle adventure racing, ect.) so i was really pulling for gameboy/gbc/gba. Its just easier to emulate correctly too.

@BAN
As you said, clearly I'm more invested in this topic than you are. I could correct you on a number of things or even call you out on assumptions on my age/experience/knowledge. But this isn't the forum for that.

Needless to say I don't agree

@skywake Oh okay lol

I want the Mario and Wario Land games, the sports games like Mario Golf, Tennis, etc., and Tetris. Not Tetris 99, just classic Gameboy Tetris.

@minecraftemery Can’t believe I forgot Pokémon Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, and Crystal. Plus some other ones that I forgot back when I posted the other one:
Pokémon Pinball
Donkey Kong Land Series
Generic Sports Games (Golf, Tennis, etc.)
Pokémon Trading Card Game
GB Donkey Kong (Completely Different from Arcade/NES Donkey Kong)
Game & Watch Gallery Series
Metroid II: Return of Samus

And I think we are done.
Also, unrelated, but when is Mario RPG coming to the NES app?

@Kidfunkadelic83 you must be joking right? Have you ever heard of the gamecube add on called the gameboy player? It allows you to play gbc and gba games on a TV and it scales the game to the resolution of the TV. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QDo3ttvV-ig. Not only is there the gameboy player there's this https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g-XZCGUvr2I and https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht6rqhnxv5E.