Nintendo Switch Online – Game Boy and Game Boy Advance Emulators Have Seemingly Leaked

Nintendo has been busy with its additions to the Nintendo Switch Online library of late, with the N64 catalog in its costlier Expansion Pack tier receiving new drops at a pretty regular clip. It seems, however, that more substantial additions are on the way as well.

Rumours have claimed since before Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack was even unveiled that Nintendo is planning on adding Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games to the service. Though no official announcements have followed, leaks have claimed that those plans are still on.

Now, it seems the emulators that Nintendo plans to use to run these games on the Switch have leaked online. As spotted by Twitter user @trashbandatcoot, emulators called Hiyoko and Sloop – for Game Boy/Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games respectively – have leaked online, apparently developed by Nintendo’s internal Europe R&D team.

A bunch of games have apparently been tested, it seems, with the full list of those having been shared by Twitter user @Mondo_Mega. The list includes some mouth-watering names, including the likes of Golden Sun, Golden Sun: The Lost Age, Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, Metroid Fusion, Metroid: Zero Mission, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, and many more.

Meanwhile, Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald aren’t mentioned in the list, but there still seems to be evidence that they have been tested as well, specifically for link cable emulation testing. On the Game Boy/Game Boy Color front, there doesn’t seem to be as much information, though it seems Super Mario Land, Tetris, and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX have been spotted.

It’s worth pointing out, of course, that these games have apparently just been used to test the emulator, which doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll be included in any potential Game Boy/Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance libraries that gets added to Nintendo Switch Online.

If that is indeed happening, which is looking increasingly likely, an official announcement might not be too far away, though it’s hard to ever be too sure when it comes to Nintendo. It’s also worth wondering if any part of these new additions (or maybe even all of them) will be part of the Expansion Pack, or if they’ll all be part of the base subscription tier as well.

We’ll keep an eye out for more details, so stay tuned.

So Nintendo's official Game Boy Advance emulator for the Nintendo Switch just leaked. Now it's just a matter of waiting for NSO to add GBA. pic.twitter.com/mEJcKrRtzL

— MaxiBash (@trashbandatcoot) April 18, 2022

The library of GBA games they've tested for this thing is massive. Tested is the key word; doesn't mean they'll all actually launch on the service. Yellow = in the rom folder at some point but not in the leaked build.

There's one other game with evidence of being tested though- https://t.co/QQDBDcdAZp pic.twitter.com/lGSB4Mg7Gt

— MondoMega (@Mondo_Mega) April 18, 2022

Not much to talk about with GB(C) though. The build of Hiyoko we have here is in an earlier state than Sloop; each game is a seperate app and there's only four of them:
– Super Mario Land
– Link's Awakening DX
– Tetris
– Qix

— MondoMega (@Mondo_Mega) April 18, 2022