Game Boy and GBA – portable gaming lives (pic: Nintnedo)
You can now play Game Boy games on the Nintendo Switch but Game Boy Advance titles will require an Expansion Pack subscription.
It had already been rumoured, and frankly seemed like an idea long overdue, but Game Boy games are now officially available to anyone with a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
It works just like the existing NES and SNES games, with a selection of retro titles that will be added to over time but which currently includes Super Mario Land 2, Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX, Tetris, Metroid 2, Wario Land 3, Kirby’s Dream Land, Gargoyle’s Quest, Game & Watch Gallery 3, and the peculiarly obscure Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare.
Game Boy Advance games are also available but, like the N64 and Mega Drive, you have to have the more expensive Expansion Pack subscription for that. Its game selection includes Zelda: The Minish Cap, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames, and Kuru Kuru Kururin .
A standard Nintendo Switch Online subscription, which is also needed to play most games online, costs £17.99 a year but you can also pay for it for just three months (£6.99) or one month (£3.49) at a time.
The Expansion Pack is only available as a 12 month deal though, that costs £34.99. Although that does grant you access to a variety of DLC as well, including the new courses for Mario Kart 8 and Animal Crossing’s expansion pack.
We’ve had a little poke around with the games and they all seems as playable as ever, with a reasonable selection of options including trying to recreate the original screen size and a filter to make the screen look as murky as the original hardware.
One of these games is not like the others (pic: Nintendo)
With the Game Boy you also have the choice to replicate the OG model, the Pocket, or the Color, while both systems offer the original American or European versions (or the American, French, and German editions in the case of Link’s Awakening).
You also get the save states that are essential for playing most retro games, allowing you to save your progress at any point.
There’s also two-player local or online link options for the Game Boy games, where appropriate, and up to four-player for the Game Boy Advance. None of these games had online options originally but Nintendo often adds them to retro games, including the recent re-release of GoldenEye 007.
There was no timetable for adding other games but if it follows the usual pattern, it’ll be every few months. Game Boy games teased for the future include Capcom’s Zelda: Oracle Of Seasons and Oracle Of Ages, as well as the Pokémon Trading Card Game and Kirby Tilt ‘N’ Tumble (which was never originally released in Europe).
Meanwhile, the Game Boy Advance has Metroid Fusion, Kirby And The Amazing Mirror, Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade, F-Zero: Maximum Velocity, and Golden Sun planned for some time later this year.
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You can now play Game Boy games on the Nintendo Switch but Game Boy Advance titles will require an Expansion Pack subscription.
