Even as recent offerings from the service have had a rather mixed reception with fans,Nintendo Switch Onlinehas brought Nintendo a fair deal of success as of late. With therecent addition of Nintendo 64and Sega Genesis games to its collection of retro titles, fans are once again left to wonder what’s next for the platform. A recent leak seems to suggest Game Boy Advance games will be added to the service sooner than later.SinceNintendo Switch Onlinelaunched, one of the most famous perks of the service was that members gained access to libraries of NES and SNES titles that they could play as part of an exclusive app. As fans played the retro games, many of them dreamed that the console would eventually feature almost all of Nintendo’s previous consoles, and a recent leak may say that the next step towards this dream is coming soon.RELATED:PS Plus, Nintendo Switch Online Making Subscription ChangesA few curious files were leaked onto the website 4Chan on April 18, and among them were files for a Nintendo Switch GBA emulator called “Sloop,” as well as a file archive known as “Hiyoko” that runsGame Boy titlesas Nintendo Switch applications. Those who have looked through the files have claimed they were registered as programs developed by Nintendo Europe Research and Development.
Twitter user Trash_Bandatcoot has broken down the leaks in a simplistic way in a few posts on the social media website with screenshots and videos of the emulators in action. However, the videos were swiftly taken down, leading fans to take that as evidence that these leaks may indeed be true. Even still, nothing is known for sure just yet.
The idea that GBA titles on the Nintendo Switch could come sooner than later is most definitely an exciting one, and if these leaks prove to be true, it seems rather well-timed. Back in February, it announced theclosure of Nintendo 3Ds and Wii U eShopstorefronts in 2023. These were the last places players could purchase GB and GBA Virtual Console titles on.
Fans have also used this leak to speculate which of the Nintendo Switch Online packages will offer the Game Boy Advance games. It seems the most popular and desired option among them is for the older handheld titles to remain part of the basic package, if only to balance out the potential of Nintendo GameCube titles being part of theexpensive Expansion Pack membershipsometime later on. For now, beyond speculation, fans will just need to wait for official information from Nintendo on what’s next for the service.
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