Nintendo Switch Online GBA Emulator Leaked Ahead of Official Release

From last year until now, there have been rumors among the Nintendo community online that Nintendo would bring the Gameboy Advance (GBA) to the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service. This online emulation would be played alongside the NES and SNES titles and the Nintendo 64 (N64) and Sega Genesis games in the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion pack subscription package.

A new leak has come out from Twitter user @trashbandatcoot saying that the official GBA emulator would come to the Nintendo Switch.

What Do We Know About the Gameboy and GBA Service?

According to the user, there were files that were leaked onto 4chan that included a Nintendo-created GBA emulator with the codename “Sloop” and a regular Gameboy emulator codenamed “Hiyoko” which were both being developed by Nintendo of Europe’s Research and Development team (NERD).

This team was also responsible for Nintendo’s emulation efforts on the Nintendo Switch including the N64, GameCube, and Wii emulation for Super Mario 3D All-Stars and the Classic Mini consoles.

There was a video that was posted by a Twitter user showing the GBA emulator working on the Nintendo Switch console. However, the account that posted the video was quickly deleted from Twitter.

As of right now, gamers should take all this information with the mindset that Nintendo still has not officially announced anything. With that said, this is the strongest piece of evidence so far in the discussion about GBA emulation on the Nintendo Switch.

Basic Subscription or Expansion Pack for Gameboy on the Nintendo Switch?

There is no real way to know whether this GBA emulation service would be part of the basic subscription model or part of the more financially burdensome Expansion Pack (though many assume it will be part of the latter).

Right now, basic Nintendo Online subscribers can play NES and SNES games on their Nintendo Switch while Expansion Pack subscribers can play N64 games and Sega Genesis games on top of their already existing games on their basic subscription.

The Gameboy and GBA had classic games that gamers would definitely want to see on their updated hardware. The leaked images from @trashbandatcoot’s tweet show games like Pokemon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire, Super Mario Bros. 3, Golden Sun, and Super Mario Advance 4.

Even if Nintendo were to bring the Gameboy and the GBA to the Nintendo Switch Online service, it is entirely unclear how many games they would bring to the service at launch. Regardless, it is exciting news for gamers that grew up on these handheld devices!

Be sure to come back to Attack of the Fanboy for more updates on the Nintendo Switch.