Nintendo Expands Switch Online's Game Boy & GBC Library With Three More Mario Titles

This is quite possibly the shortest Nintendo Life article I’ve ever read!

But hey, I like how it gets straight to the point.

[EDIT: the article has been lengthened since this comment was posted]

@Fizza I am wondering just the same... I secretly hoped that it would have been today's surpise.
Nice surprise in any ways!

Happy Mar10 day!

Add support to use the characters in the NSO N64 version, they I will be excited!

@Fizza Mario Land is too powerful to run on the Switch hence why it will need the beefy power of the Switch 2.

I do love a tennis game with RPG elements… This is better than the Switch game, right?

hope they're not planning to charge 50 quid for a Super Mario Land remake.

Does Nintendo have something against Super Mario Land? I know it was a bit of an oddball, but they don't seem to want to re-release it for the world.

Other than that, I see the venerable GB Mario sports RPGs have arrived. Mario x RPG x sports I've heard was a quite popular thing, but I missed the whole boat on that. I'll try to give them a go to see if I can get into them.

Oh come on, why no Super Mario Land 1 already?

I remember haveing Mario Tennis as Kid on the original Game Boy Color and haveing a lot of fun with the game.

@Krull for sure. I didn't play the Golf one, but Tennis was great, both on GBC and GBA.

These are some great additions!

For real, where on earth is Mario Land?

At least the Game Boy Mario Tennis slaps I guess.

Now, this, I can appreciate.

Nice picks, though I’m really waiting for the gba ones. Unless they got added and I didn’t know. Lol.

I cant help to wonder.. where is Super mario Land 1?

1. Awesome to see the sports titles! I am grateful that they are adding more titles to the subscription service. 😊

2. We already have Dr. Mario on the NES app, so having the GB one added before other missing titles is a bit odd.

3. Mario Land and Donkey Kong should have been in the first wave of GB titles.

I'll take these, but it seems I'm not alone in wishing for Super Mario Land. XD

@Fizza I would like to see the Tetris & Dr. Mario SNES combo added to NSO. It had a mode that combined playing both games. With the Tetris license, though, it probably won’t happen.

I still own my original copy of Mario Tennis for gameboy color. Phenomenal game, it mixes rpg elements with difficult tennis battles that definitely require strategy.

Can’t wait to replay again on the 12th!

I just bought used copies of Mario Tennis and Golf for GameBoy mere days ago. Go figure…

These sound like good additions but I have to join those grumbling that Mario Land should have been added. It was his first Game Boy adventure!

SML wasn’t the prettiest game, I remember, but it still has historic value and I’d love to try it again after all these years.

+1 for SML..... It needs to be there.

2 of my favorite Gameboy games...

The fact that Super Mario Land is still not here makes me wonder if there's some licensing issue with it. Maybe with the Can Can music? That's all I can think of. There's no reason why it wouldn't be here already.

Then again we also have Wario Land 3 and not 1 and 2, right? Feels like they're trolling at this point lol.

@Yosher isn't the Can Can public domain?

@batmanbud2 Probably, but it's the best reason I could think of other than them saying 'hey, wouldn't it be funny if we put Mario Land 2 and leave Mario Land 1 MIA for a long time'. lol

Super Mario Land is an odd omission. Perhaps even with its early-portable gaming charm, Nintendo just sees absolutely no value in it.
There's nothing tricky about it technically or licensing-wise so really there's nothing stopping it from being on there except from Nintendo actually wanting to promote it!

I haven't played the first Super Mario Land since 1991 or so, but IIRC it wasn't particularly good? SML 2 was a huge step upwards in quality. Though Nintendo has put many worse games in the NSO library, so I guess that wouldn't stop them from including it.

Someone at Nintendo really hates Mario Land 1.

Don't wanna pay for Expansion Pack? Black and white Dr. Mario. What a bizarre release choice.

I am confident Super Mario Land 1 and Wario Land (SML3) will be added eventually, but it is unfortunate that they have not been added already. The 2 sports added in this update are good ones though apparently.

Downloaded Mario Tennis on my 3ds, had a lot of fun with it! It's great! 🤎

Huh. I never play the GBC Mario sports games because... well I wasn’t born yet at the time. Although I did play the GBA Mario Tennis game and that was honestly really good and really underrated so the fact that they are releasing these games on NSO is really great (seriously Nintendo bring back the human characters already!). Also you all are not the only ones confused about the first Super Mario land game not being on NSO.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again- thanks for nothing, Nintendo

A couple of decent Mario titles, the only downside is that you have to wait until after Mario Day to play them. Also, would have loved to of seen Super Mario Land 1 added, but hopefully they're saving that for a later release date.

What is with this game selection and where are Bionic Battler, Aerostar and Fish Dude at? Nintendo needs to get on that!

@Polvasti For a launch game (and one made with only a 32KB ROM budget, which even for 1989 was miniscule), it was enjoyable. Short but that made it good for an occasional quick replay.

@KingMike Those aren’t Mario games so are excluded from MAR10 celebrations.

@Fizza All I remember about Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth is that it tried to blow out my eardrums with an aggressively loud OST.

And there’s still no Super Mario Land 1?

Well, at least I don’t think I’ve played Mario Golf and Mario Tennis on Game Boy. Might be worth a look.

For a 3 minute set of announcements, I'm very happy for everything that was revealed. Good news, brief, & straight to the point. However Nintendo has almost played their last shown cards, there's nothing else they have on the table except Metroid Prime 4 & Pokemon ZA (& Silksong?). This is starting to look very familiar to mid 2016 when Nintendo had Zelda BOTW & Pokemon Sun/Moon as their only first party lineup for the foreseeable future, and that was proceeded by a host of Mario spinoff titles like Luigi's Mansion 1 remake and RPG Mario & Luigi SuperStar Saga remake. I'm sensing a pattern here

Mario Land 1 ? This is my go-to on GB physical. Would be awesome to use the save state feature for quick play sessions.

@HammerKirby Miyamoto San, Don't know if he hates it or not, but I do know that he didn't have anything to do with the creation of it, so it may be way down on his list. To me it's one of my favorite Mario games and also has some of the best Mario music.

Thank you Nintendo!❤️

Where is Mario Land 1 Nintendo!

Just here to also say why still no Super Mario Land? It's one of my favourite games in the series and a defining Game Boy game, I still play through it every so often.

Where the hell is Mario Land?!

does anyone actually like the gb version of dr mario? like, besides for being the portable option for fans of the NES game back in the day?

is there any plausible reason to play it in 2024?

~~~~~~~~~~

I let my expansion pass (and my NSO sub in general) expire a couple months ago and i havent missed it yet, even once.

If they put most (why not all?) first party games on there, and some standout 3rd party gems, I'd subscribe again. if my dirtbag friends can put them all on an sd card in 15 minutes surely nintendo can do it.

short of that, from the outside, this kind of showing just isnt cutting it. sorry to say. ✌️

All I want is Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3. It's such a masterpiece and it's inexplicable that we have 1 and 2, but not 3 at this point.

@-wc- Yeah GB Dr Mario kinda sucks. Unlike Tetris, it just doesn't work as well in monochrome. And considering NSO already has the superior nes version, seems an odd inclusion. To echo many others, where's Mario Land Dammit!

Super Mario Land is criminally underrated. Super Mario Land 2 is a big improvement in a lot of ways (most notably graphics), but I still think the original controls better and is just more fun. It's like a short sequel to Super Mario Bros., with similar play control but with more imaginative worlds and better level design.

I’ll still be playing GB Dr. Mario.

@tektite_captain
Super Mario Land is pretty sweet indeed! So much nostalgia. Especially with it's soundtrack.

Super Mario Land would have killed them?

Welcome news. We all want Super Mario Land and many many other first-party games that should've been added ages ago. But it's still great to see them add more Game Boy games as there doesn't seem to be too many available

@Axecon Succeeded by. All of those Mario remakes hit the 3ds after the Switch came out.

Great stuff, hopefully we can get wario land 1 or 2.

Transfer Pak support, Nintendo? It'd be nice if it is included, and just not highlighted in this presentation. Unfortunately, I feel it won't be included, especially because I feel Nintendo would highlight that feature in the presentation.

Nintendo's programmers need to include the various feature sets of their retro hardware. Power Pad, Super GameBoy, SGB2, Super Scope, Controller Pak, Transfer Pak, etc.

@-wc- I agree. The Steam Deck kills the Nintendo Online games aspect. I still support Nintendo and buy many first party games- even Paper Mario ( at a ridiculous $60).

It's Super Mario Bros' 40th Anniversary next year.

I would think maaaaybe they're saving SML1 for that since there are not many big hitters of Mario left (Besides adding Gamecube/Wii/DS etc. to the Switch 2'S Subscription service.). Add DK94 and SMBDX with SML1 and you have a hefty trio for next year or whenever they start the anniversary stuff.

@OldManHermit

"To echo many others, where's Mario Land Dammit!"

I really think all the obvious or at least "first couple waves" first party games shouldve come to NSO right away.

I dont know who this glacially slow trickle is supposed to appeal to, but they should know that most of us have played these games enough times that we arent just hotly anticipating the next B-tier release every 3 to 6 months. 🫤

@JRiegler

please understand that i was a big NSO apologist in the early days, and sadly they have repaid my fanboy optimism with... this. 😟

That Mario Tennis game is amazing. Such a secret rpg tennis game. Really was something special back in the day

Dr Mario GB is unnecessary. Where's Mario Land?

@-wc- The trickle is just to keep us subscribed to the service. If they'd release all games at once people would just subscribe for a month, play all games and then unsubscribe.

Sure it's not fun for gamers, but it is a solid business practice.

The Steam Deck is different since Valve really doesn't care how many games you buy. They make enough money anyways.-

Actually the Deck is almost entirely subsidized by mass game sales on the Steam store. It's basically sold below cost, just to weaken the competition. Something Nintendo doesn't have the luxury to do.

And again comment section filled with kids going "Uh, where's -insert game here-?".

1. Be happy with what you got
2. We all know even if you get what you wanted you wouldn't play it for more than an hour.

@ibookboyuk They remade Link's Awakening and that is on NSO. So I doubt that.

@sanderev

"The trickle is just to keep us subscribed to the service"

forcing me to pay for an entire year up front was the only thing that kept me waiting for the next piddling offering.

"Sure it's not fun for gamers, but it is a solid business practice"

🙄 if "fun for gamers" is a bad business practice, then Nintendo is in the wrong business, friend.

EDIT - I can't stop thinking about your comment, and how sad it makes me. You are so wrong, you're right.

"NINTENDO - Not fun for gamers!"

@-wc- It's sad indeed, but it's quite well known: if you give a costumer what they want, they will stop wanting it. And a costumer that doesn't want something isn't a costumer. That is very basic business logic.

I never said I was happy about it. Nobody said business was fun.

@sanderev

I miss the old Nintendo. apparently they were less interested in "good business" for the first 30 years if my life.

personally, I've "stopped wanting" Nintendo as they've "stopped giving" me what I want. call me crazy.

@-wc- Yes, the last few decades weren't all that successful for Nintendo. Or have you forgotten the Wii U or the GameCube? Nintendo had to change after that, and that is why NSO is the way it is.

Also the gaming market used to be a growing market. It's not really anymore. Times have changed, and companies need to change to stay profitable. And if they don't... well.. see Sega.

And honestly, I don't really see a bright future for XBOX as a console. Since MS has been moving to the gaming subscription very strongly. And even Sony isn't as successful as with the previous generations.

It does make me feel really sad, but I feel like a gaming crash is going to happen within the next 5 years. And it's going to be worse than the crash of the early 1980s.

@sanderev

Yes, of course I remember the Wii U and Gamecube, Nintendo was so damn creative and I was having a blast!

I know they made less money then. They also made better games, creative hardware, and more interesting choices.

I'm not saying youre wrong about the "business" side. I'm saying youre right.

"good business = not fun for gamers"

literally that's what I'm also saying. wii u and cube were more fun, they were really trying then.

@-wc- So we agree. But I do also love most first party Switch games, games like Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, Tears of the Kingdom and (even) Pokémon Legends Arceus are some of my all time favorite games.

@sanderev

i wish i could agree, there. I love BOTW and MK8, but tbh I enjoyed both a bit more the first time on Wii U, for various reasons. Partly, they were just that much more impressive the generation in which they came out.

beyond that, most Switch era first party Nintendo games that I've tried have left me cold 😐 and I can't think of any that I don't prefer prior games in the series anyway. (and they ignore the series which I hold most dear in favor of if newer ones I couldnt care less about)

(mind you, this is in sharp contrast to essentially every generation that came before.)

all this in the name of making money, then. which, good for them and their bottom line i guess? but if it doesnt lead to better games and more interesting creative endeavors, then what's the point, from a gamers' perspective?

I still love Nintendo for their incredible history but switch is a (rather good) retro/indie games machine for me. Which is fine ... but it's possible I shouldve just been playing on Steam this whole time.

anyway good talk 😅👍 I like your style.

"Unlock new characters with N64 transfer pak... but not in this version".

@Fizza why would the game’s short length be the reason for its resistance its release? The game is still super enjoyable and you can never go wrong with a Mario game.

That being said, I suspect it will be remade on the Switch along the lines of the recent remakes, so that’s why the hold. @ibookboyuk hit the nail on my head when I noticed the remake-per-console pattern,

I’m rather surprised Nintendo Life didn’t cover the special video release itself in one article. Kind of frustrating to see the articles piece-mealed with news rather than first enjoy the announcement in its entirety.

@Dang_69 Dr. Mario GB is the best version! It is to the NES version what Tetris GB was. Far from unnecessary.

@OldManHermit no way man, Dr. Mario GB was my first entry to the experience and the tunes are much catchier. The 3 colors are distinguishable and the game is just as fun.

Dont we already have Dr. Mario on the NES online service?
Wheres Mario Land 1? Donkey Kong 94?

Nice to see more Gameboy games being added to the library. Will be taking some time to play Gameboy this week and enjoy!

Both Mario Golf and Mario Tennis for the GBC are sports RPGs from Camelot, the studio that made Golden Sun. Don't sleep on them!

There should really have been another one or two NSO games, even if they are throwaway Mario titles such as GB Mario & Yoshi and Alleyway.

Huh, Mario Tennis GBC actually has the N64 content unlocked.

Where is Super Mario Land 1 and Metroid Zero Mission? C’mon Nintendo.

@RadioShadow @JohnnyMind @Captain-N @Luffymcduck

I can confirm what @MirrorFate2 said: all the N64 content for Mario Tennis comes unlocked!

Mario Golf was an RPG take on the sport before it was cool; same with Mario Tennis which may have well paved the road for modern works like Slice of Life. Both hail from the people behind Golden Sun and Shining series. Definitely some of THE additions to GBC lineup and general CGC as of late.

@Magrane They Shadow dropped this all on sunday. So people probably weren't working, but had to scramble something together. Maybe they already thought: we'll add the rest when they announce the seperate video or something.

@Joriss I really don't get the complaining at the moment. Especially if you're subscribed to the expansion pass. I've been getting an all time favourite, or something I've always wanted to play on a steady diet for over a year now and I'm really happy I took the plunge!

Y'all can't have finished Golden Sun yet. Get on the Camelot hype train and play their games already, they're awesome! 🤎😂

People paying ongoing subscription for games like this? Nintendo truly laughing all way to bank.
I'll just emulate these on my series x

Awesome! But I agree, where is Super Mario Land 1? There's so many releases we're still waiting for, but the lack of Super Mario Land 1 is a bit jarring. Also, Donkey Kong Land 1, 2 and 3 please!

@TruthisRare I share a family subscription with a full group of people. We only pay like 8 euros a year that way.

I never did get Golf and Tennis on the GBC despite owning and enjoying them on the N64.

Time to make up for that bad decision when I was 13/14.

The only theory I have as to the baffling absence of Super Mario Land on the service is that the game doesn't use wholly original music. But the melody it uses for the starman theme (I think it's the Galop Infernal by Offfenbach) is surely, surely in the public domain which would avoid any copyright wrangling. Beyond that I'm stumped as to why it hasn't arrived.

@Pillowpants

That's not too bad like that

The sports titles are great. These might be the games that finally make me want to subscribe to NSO.

@LadyCharlie That's great to know. Thank you for mentioning it. I appreciate it.

So are we reaching the point where Super Mario Land 1 is slowly becoming the new Mother 3? That thing that exists, but Nintendo doesn't want to bring over for any reason? Granted, SML1 is more widely available, but still...

@DoorToMundane part of me wonders if it's because of the Jiangshi enemies in world 4?
but then again, Super Mario Land was still for sale until the 3DS eshop went out.

@JohnnyMind You misunderstand. The only other Dr. Mario available on Switch Online is Dr. Mario 64, which does require the expansion pack. The point was that game is in color, Gameboy Dr. Mario isn't. Extremely weird release choice. Why on Earth would they put up Gameboy Dr. Mario instead of NES?

@-wc-
You have some points here that I want to reply to:

When talking about for example F-Zero (or more spesifically F-Zero GX, one of my all time favourite games) people here on Nintendolife often comment why F-Zero shouldn't get a big new entry because Nintendo wouldn't get maximum profit out of it when compared to like Mario Kart. I like the fact that you brought up the "from the gamers perspective". I like games for both their artistic visions and entertainment value and sometimes it feels like you are only allowed to ask for Nintendo games and series that are non-risky and always highly profitable.

@Luffymcduck

what you say is true, and worse: people here will gaslight you, pretending that Nintendo has always been this way, and has no choice but to chase the maximum profit. we know better 👍 I do miss pre-Switch Nintendo.

@Stuffgamer1 my reason is that it’s the version I grew up with, and prefer. I personally find the music a bit more catchy. Color isn’t everything. 🙂

Adding the extra characters to MT is a nice touch. Spent endless hours playing on gbc and 3ds but I've never been able to use them. time to save scum my way to a championship

@Stuffgamer1:

The NES version of Dr. Mario is available on NSO, though, as part of the standard subscription.

@Nool Looks at app Oh, you're right. For some reason I thought it wasn't.

@Magrane You know what, fair enough. More options instead of fewer is good, especially since nostalgia can be very specific. Turns out I was wrong thinking NES Dr. Mario wasn't on there. Gameboy before NES would be weird for Dr. Mario. After, it's nice for those who want it.

@Magrane curious - why is the GB version superior? The lack of colors makes it seem like a total headache.

I am a big fan of Dr Mario but frankly prefer the later Dr Mario entries. The sports games are good additions.

Super Mario Land 1 is a great example of a game that would be stupid to remake. If you switched out all the sound, pixels and finer details of the game, there wouldn’t be much left from the original that made it stand out any longer. It would just be another Mario game. And a very short one. Sure it has catchy tunes, but I bet that if remade in higher fidelity, they wouldn’t be as enjoyable and unique as the original ones are.

A lot of what makes this game stand out are the details of its execution, and those would be lost and likely replaced with more generic ones in a remake.

I actually prefer the first Super Mario Land to the second one, but they are both good games.

@Stuffgamer1

Being able to appreciate the monochrome look of original Gameboy games is an acquired taste, which is easier to get for those who grew up with the system. I can certainly understand that many would prefer NES versions of games when they have colors, faster speed and usually a higher difficulty. In about 75% of the time, I tend to prefer the NES version of a game myself too.

But it isn’t necessarily a question of “nostalgia”, or (more correctly) a bias towards a game because you played it a long time ago. The ability to immerse yourself into a Gameboy game with no colors, in the same way as a NES game is something akin to being able to appreciate a black & white movie or a silent film. It may feel like less of an experience at first and even very strange, but if you are interested and give it a shot you may end up enjoying it and appreciating the different experience it offers.

I’m not saying videogames are high art, because they are first and foremost games. But a lot of the same patterns do seem to repeat for this newer medium as for the older ones.

@Perpetual_Change Broadly speaking, I don't disagree with you...but it does seem like a strained argument when we're talking specifically about a puzzle game that was designed around matching COLORS, and the color version is readily available. I'll happily play B&W classics like Donkey Kong (94) and Mole Mania whenever they put them out, those games were made for the system they were released on. Dr. Mario in particular stands out as an odd case where I don't think most people will see a point playing the compromised version nowadays.