Nintendo Expands Switch Online's GBA Library With Three More Titles

Oh wow Nintendo acknowledging this series besides Super Smash Bros for once!

I'm still in shock Nintendo is actually releasing these in the West. If you're a fan of cute and colorful 2D platformers and have NSO, I implore you to give these games a shot. They are so fun and polished, and all have a ton of content to keep you busy.

Sadly, it seems Nintendo left it untranslated. These games do have a fair bit of dialogue, but can mostly be played through pretty easily without knowing Japanese since they're 2D platformers and the bulk of the story is told visually. If you do get stuck though, there are thorough Gamefaqs guides and full dialogue translations on YouTube. Either way, I think the Starfy games are absolutely worth the investment.

At this point I have mother 3 untranslated and take it! 🌎 3

Nice to finally had these outside of Japan but c'mon Nintendo why not release these all in English? These are super small games that could be finish in one week, it's not like translating them took a lot of times.

I've got the DS game. Not translating is an... interesting choice, especially since they put part of the dialogue in the trailer, but as long as it's playable I suppose.

Nice, this is a pleasant surprise. I feel like Nintendo's really been stepping up their NSO offerings lately. We seem to get multiple updates in a month now, with each one encompassing a different platform. This year so far, we've had a bunch of Rare titles, five Mega Man games, three Starfy games, titles we've been waiting forever on like Super Mario Land, mode obscure stuff that never gets re-released like Mach Rider and DK Jr Math which are just fascinating novties to have...

Nothing that's been like insanely mind-blowing, but every announcement has at the very least prompted a, "huh, that's neat" or an "ahh, yesss" out of me. Which is more than can be said for previous years when we would go months without announcements only to get "Hey, Punk! Are You Tuff E Nuff!" "Spanky's Quest" 🤨 or, uhm... "S.C.A.T." Half these shovelware titles I feel like you can't Google without having to delete your browser history. We'd get three of those a month and that'd be it.

But it's only July 11th and this is already our second update of the month. First we had NES and now GBA, which probably amounts to around 10 games so far. Not too shabby. Hopefully, we'll get a new N64 game and/or GB games this month as well.

I know there was that article recently about how Nintendo was hiring new online subscription consultants or something, so I think this is a promising start. Although, despite the slow rollout of games, I've been content paying for my subscription since 2019 when they added SNES titles. Since then, I think the value has honestly been a steal. You can get most of Nintendo's first-party NES, SNES, and a good number GB/GBC games for a whole year the price of like one month of Netflix.

As others have said though, it's a bit lame they haven't translated these into English, though. Maybe someday?

@StarryCiel yeah that is my complaint about the Japanese games released, I have no clue how to play some of them and the controls menu is probably the most frustrating part of the switch. Why have a controls menu and just show you a picture of what controller you are using, who approved that, also they can scan in pictures from the manuals but seem too lazy.

Always great to see more Japan-only games, but not translating them is such an unnecessary barrier. It's still worth trying to somehow overcome it though.

Much like Kirby, Starfy seems to be the kind of game that might be kiddy, but is deeper than it looks. I'll come around to it.

@Croctopus I'll be honest that barrier of entry is too much for me. I know that sounds super lazy and I'm sure gamefaqs has a translation guide but I'll just be missing out.

I played the game that came out on DS. Easy, but it was charming and fun. I think that was the only game in the series that was released outside of Japan, but I could be wrong. I’ll definitely try out these games.

Dumping the ROMs with zero localization was an option?! I mean, Joy Mech Fight and Panel de Pon are on Western NSO but you could argue literacy is unimportant to those games as they focus on multiplayer, but the Starfy games are purely single player and gave this 5 part epic of a story. This is like playing Kingdom Hearts if it was dubbed into Wingdings

These games are all fun and you don't REALLY need to know Japanese to play through them, but I'll never understand why they bother releasing any games untranslated on NSO.

Seems really lazy on Nintendo's part. It's like they don't actually care if you know what's happening in the game or not.

Very happy to hear this! The lack of translation is a bit of a bummer but not really surprising. I’m just glad they acknowledged the series in the West at all.

I was a big fan of Starfy 5 on DS (the one that was translated). I have Starfy 4 as well, though I never finished it. Might be time to revisit it now that I can play the whole series. They are platformers, so they should be enjoyable untranslated, even if the dialogue and much of the story will be lost.

Are these better than the DS one or mostly the same?

Localized or not, I'm really pleased to see almost the entire Starfy series on the Switch in a single batch.

As much as I will take any addition to the GBA NSO library, I think this would be better as a collection that includes the DS games and also translated as well.

This... annoys me, as I would have been all over a physical compilation (maybe paired with a proper localisation). Good for the expansion subscribers, I suppose.

But I'll be content with other means so long as Nintendo are giving us no way of actually owning the games.

@AG_Awesome : There are two Starfy games
on DS, four and five. We only got #5.

Bro WHAT?! Nintendo out here dropping W’s although I would’ve liked to see a remake of all the starfy games in a legacy collection like thing.
And unfortunately I can’t read Japanese even though that would be a cool trait to have.

Nice! Just got my free Slurpee and I get to play some newly added GBA games!

Wow, NSO is picking things up! This is what I like to see; monthly updates to their classic game libraries! The only issue I had with the service was them taking months and months to add titles and going radio silent most of the time. I don't have the Expansion Pack, but this makes me very happy to see a once heavily disliked service getting better over time.

Although it was only maybe almost a month or a few weeks ago, I am hoping they do another batch of N64 games soon, possibly in August, which I am guessing from what I saw with the N64 release schedule. I really want to see more titles on the 17+ N64 app soon since there are only two on there so far and it lacks other essential titles. If they add more on there, I might reconsider getting it again.

My weekend is sorted.

Perfect chill summer game to relax and unwind with, I am down

The Legendary Starfy on DS is one of my least favorite Nintendo games for how oddly slow paced it was and for how bad the dialogue is. It’s neat that these games have come over for the first time though. Maybe I need to give these games a try just in case. After all, Super Princess Peach is adjacent to the series and that game was fun.

If Nintendo is willing to bring Japanese import GBA games…why not just release the Japanese ROM of Mother 3? In seriousness, this does open it up to bring Rhythm Tengoku and the Bit Generations games

STARRRRR-FEEEEEEEEEE! WOO

Loved the one 3DS game we got and was always sad we never got any of the other games in the series outside of Japan. Wish it was translated into English of course, but I'll take playing them untranslated over never playing them at all! Plus, this showcases that Nintendo's stance about the series being "too Japanese" for international audiences no longer stands. I mean, you can't get much more Japanese than not translating it! Hopefully this will a resurgence for the little guy. I've love to see it become a regular series again.

This is awesome! I've never played a Starfy game but the series has always given me cozy vibes like Kirby. Hopefully when I expand to the + tier I'll definitely give these games a try!

With foreign text, context is lost and menus are confusing. I can play these emulated with fan translation patches by fans who made them out of passion and for free rather than this meager offering from NoA who won't bother translating 20 year old roms.

Starfy on the DS was awesome. 😊

The fact that we got another update so soon leads me to suspect two things: First, we might see a third update later this month [SEGA Genesis perhaps?]. And second, we might see a hiatus in preparation for the announcement of a new system or two in September.
Also: if any moderators are reading this, I couldn't help but notice that the Japanese NES Exclusives section of the page for Every Nintendo Switch Online Game Available still hasn't been updated to add last week's newcomers, or to remove former exclusive Atlantis no Nazo. Please notify those in charge so this detail may be resolved swiftly.

I have the DS Legend of Starfy, always thought it was a pretty fun game. Looks like I'll be signing back up for NSO if they keep up releases like this.

Anyone stuck with translation, you can use the live translate mode on the google translate app via the camera on your phone. Its not perfect but does work well enough to get by.

Stick to language patched version for a smooth experience. Really a shame they have to stay in one language because of business decision

Nice to see Nintendo remembering Starfy still exist, the lack of English translation is a bummer though.

They never translate any of the Japanese-only games they drop. I understand that these endeavours take resources but it's not like the online service is free in the first place, and then there's the expansion pack premium on top of that. One of the areas Nintendo could stand to do better in, honestly.

What a nice Thursday night surprise! This is kind of a big deal, Starfy finally crossing the Pacific to meet Western audiences. These games were a thing while I lived in Japan, and allegedly they’re quite fun, but I never owned a GBA and never played them. They’re welcome additions to the NSO service.

I feel like NSO has reached a kind of critical mass recently, where the number and variety of games makes it an almost irrefutably good value proposition (at least for an old-timer like me, fond of Nintendo games since Donkey Kong).

Edit: just realizing now the Starfy games aren’t translated! What a shame. I speak and read Japanese but my kids don’t, and now they’re a lot less likely to want to play these games.

Play in Japanese for that "kid growing up in a country where they don't speak one of the select few languages and not understanding anything" experience. For those learning Japanese, it could be a nice and (probably) easy way to complete a whole game in their target language!

@Not_Soos spanky's quest is actually very good (if obscure), and SCAT is a pretty well regarded shmup. There's definitely a lot of chaff on the service but those two were not great examples

@Serpenterror It takes more effort than just translating the screen text. They'd have to put it into the game. That means reverse-engineering code (let's not assume TOSE had the forsight to save the source code after the games were finished), then test it.
If that only took a week, fans wouldn't have taken years to do it unofficially. And even then, I haven't heard if they've done more than the first game.
I checked again and, no. Only the first game has a fan patch.

Cool, been wanting to give these a try one day, here's my excuse!

Hooray for Japanese curios!

I've previously played trough 3 and 5 and I was just about to play 1 and 2 on Visualboyadvance. Guess I'll play trough these on the Switch now that Nintendo finally gives a spotlight to this series (last appearance being in Smash Bros as assist trophy).

It's quite fun! Playing with my google lens on translate, so I know what's happening! Cool!

I've never played Starfy!
Would rather just buy the three games though.

I literally bought all of these games, plus the fourth one on DS physically when I went to Tokyo last October so what a major convinience that they're finally being officially brought over to the West!

Super lame though that it's untranslated however. Thus would have been met with unconditional applaud/acclaim if they went that extra effort. Regardless it's cool that thus cute little IP is getting any sort of acknowledgement since I genuinely think like 2009!

Doesn't the series have little quests and an actual story? Weird choice to just drop them untranslated.

Nintendo releasing Japan-only GBA games untranslated? Uh oh. This does not look good for Mother fans, haha.

Nintendo, why don't you translate your dang games? You did it for Fire Emblem 1, and then promptly delisted it. What's the big problem, eh?

Three Starfy games at once? Now THIS is podracing!

I forgot about Starfy. I enjoyed playing it on DS. Off topic. I wonder why Ristar hasn't made a comeback? I loved that game. Diffucult but a lot of fun.

Yawn. Another update, another no-show for DK64 and Diddy Kong Racing.

It's nice to have it released worldwide, but it's really sad how lazy Nintendo got. In the past they would've at least tried to translate it, but now they're just throwing the untranslated ROMs out... Having the option for the original ROM is always nice, but having it as the only option? Nah thanks...
Imagine the World FINALLY getting an official Mother 3 release - and it'd be stuck in japanese. That'd be like the biggest middle finger Nintendo could gove out.

No, there were untranslated VC games on the Wii. Old Nintendo did not translate games either.

I hope these can be played well enough without being able to read/understand the text.

If they just slap Mother 3 on NSO without any kind of translation/localization, I will be so pissed.

Nintendo, with these regular NSO games, you are really spoiling us.

I jumped into the first entry after seeing these dropped. I have a very limited understanding of what exactly is going on, but it has been very fun 😄.

Starfy 3 is the only game I ever imported. I was super excited after reading fan reviews of what a great game it is.

Then I played it and discovered it to be one of the most boring games ever. It's so easy and simplistic to be mind numbing 😒

To be fair, I never finished it. But I just couldn't force myself to keep going. And this is from someone who really enjoys the first Kirby's Dreamland.

Oh wow that's awesome!
They are great games people, give it a go.

Yep played for about 30 minutes and stopped attempting starfy 1. With it being in Japanese it ruins the fun for me. I ran into a crab that I guess had a mission for me and I found a horn for him but seemed random out of context. I guess I made it to the second level, it isn't language independent. It is like doing an original Rubix cube and I'm color blind (they now have color independent ones with symbols), it is still a game but I don't have context to what I'm doing.

Wish they'd continued this series as well like Mario and Luigi but with better difficulty. Think it was the second or third one that felt like Kirby's Dreamland 3 but painstakingly more annoying at times (been a minute). I can picture Starfy in a 3d game though. RIP Ogura

Protip: the first Starfy has a full fan translation patch, so while the others still remain untranslated, you can certainly enjoy the first one.

These articles make me think people who want to play popular retro Nintendo games should buy an Xbox or a Steam Deck.