You might have missed it because of the hype surrounding the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in May, but at the recently-concluded Nintendo Direct, Nintendo announced that a smorgasbord of Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games are coming to the Nintendo Switch.
Nintendo doesn’t intend to overwhelm Switch owners and grow their backlogs off the bat. Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers will get access to six Game Boy Advance games first as well as nine Game Boy games, which are as follows:
- Tetris
- Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX
- Gargoyle’s Quest
- Game & Watch Gallery 3
- Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare
- Metroid II: Return of Samus
- Wario Land 3
- Kirby’s Dream Land
- Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
- WarioWare Inc.: Mega MicroGames
- Kuru Kuru Kuruin
- Mario Kart: Super Circuit
- Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
- The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Several of the incoming games are nearly impossible to play on a modern platform. It’s nice to see Nintendo bring older games to its latest console. Of course, owning is still preferable to the modern version of renting, but Switch owners will welcome any chance to enjoy an expanding catalog of games.
It’s a shame Nintendo can’t keep its subscription service simple. Instead, it’s separated into multiple tiers. The annual $20 service is limited to the NES, SNES, and Game Boy while the $50 tier adds GBA, Genesis, and N64 titles.
Is it perfect? Far from it. But, at the end of the day, NSO is the most convenient way to legally play older Nintendo games on the Switch while on the go.
On the topic of Nintendo Direct, Nintendo revealed Metroid Prime Remastered for the Nintendo Switch as well. In addition to this, Nintendo has clarified its stance on making its exclusives more expensive. Finally, if you’re interested, you can pre-order The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom ahead of its launch in May.
