Switch Online's Game Boy Library Is Slightly Different In Japan

What I would pay to finally own a legal copy of Binding Blade in English.

It would be nice if Nintendo used this service to bring some games to the west that never got a translation before. Would love to play the frog game that inspired Link’s Awakening. But I guess that would take a minimum amount of effort, and Nintendo doesn’t like effort anymore, just profit.

I actually have a physical copy of The Frog For Whom The Bell Tolls, of course I cannot play it on real hardware since I don't speak Japanese. Everyone should play this, somehow. It would be nice if Nintendo translated it for the west like they did with Mother 1 and Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light.

Honestly, it would be amazing if Nintendo translated FE6 like they did FE1 a few years ago. I'm not holding my breath, though.

Most of the best GB games like the Mario Lands, Pokemon Red & Blue, DK Land, the Mega Man games, the Kirby games, Metroid II and countless others have been given new life in color by the fans. Nintendo basically says nah, you don't need that, pay us like it's 1989 😄

What? Yakuman isn't getting localized? OH THE HORROR!!!
cries uncontrollably

It’s just a simple thing they could do to make this service a lot more interesting. And NintendoLife will be happy cause they could write tons of reviews and articles for old games and actually justify it.
This service is the perfect context to bring some gaming history to the west. Like how Starfox 2 justified the SNES mini. You just need to pay one translator and programmer a few 1000$. Nintendo can afford this. It’s the difference between providing a quality service or taking people for idiots.

No idea why they can’t just hit up any one of the fan translators who’ve translated Binding Blade into other languages.

@Deltarogue there is some history there with the game as it is Nintendo first party, and the Yakuman character is a spirit in Smash Ultimate.

I really enjoyed the fan translation of The Frog For Whom The Bell Tolls. Shame that it is unlikely we will be seeing it in the US or EU eShop but stranger things have happened. Drop it simultaneously with an English translation of Mother 3 and hell will freeze over. Anyway, totally worth a look for those willing to find it.

@LikeWhoa meh... to be honest if I wanted to play those fan made games I'd play them on my computer.
What I DO want is to have the games as they were released. It's a retro app. Why would I want something colored by random fans?

I want the original games as they are. That's the point.

Nintendo Switch Online is a compilation of wasted opportunities brought together by a paid subscription. I continue to be bittersweet towards this kind of stuff.

I haven't played Yakuman, but considering the Alone in the Dark game we got here, we got the short side of the stick

@nessisonett Nintendo does not want to support or condone fan efforts. They have too much pride for that.

@YoshiF2 Maybe if those fans who colorized Mega Man V GB were around in 2004, Capcom would've hired them to make that GBA collection they couldn't finish themselves.

Again I just wish they didn't make the icons look the same so I don't have to go to them to see which is Japanese and which is NA.

Should get more interesting as time goes on.

F Zero Climax was a 3rd GBA F Zero we never saw. Notable as it had a track editor.

Kuri Kuri Kururin also got a Japan only sequel, one for GBA and another on Gamecube.

Pokemon TCG 2, X, Mother 3, whether you speak the language or not there's a ton of possibilities of Japan exclusives to try out.

PSA: If you set up a Switch profile and link it to a Japanese NNID, you can download the Japanese versions of the apps via the eShop and play the Japanese exclusive/version games via your normal non-Japanese profile, provided that you have an active NSO subscription. This also applies to the NES/SNES apps.

Frankly, the app should be universal with players able to access games regardless of region, so, it’s a bit of an annoying hurdle, but the option is there for those who are curious. And of course you can download Japanese exclusive demos and gauge whether Japan-exclusive physical releases will include English support, if listed on the software’s page (日本語: Japanese; 英語: English).

I also noticed that the non-main series Pokémon games don’t appear to be coming... yet. I won’t hold my breath, but I would kill for a physical compilation(s) with all of the GB/GBC/GBA classics.

And I wonder if they will port over the rumble feature in Pokémon Pinball (should they ever bring that to NSO at some point).

Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare is a good survival horror game, THE PS1 VERSION that is!
Why did Nintendo decide of all GBC games to give us a mediocre port is beyond me… might as well have gotten the crappy GTA 1 & 2 ports or the Oddworld Adventures games.

So they get Riichi Mahjong essentially? Not bad. Couldn't say I am any good, but I at least vaguely understand the rules thanks to the Yakuza games.

I would give it a try, but that would mean subscribing to NSO... nah.

I'll make good use of the Japanese selection once they add more games.

@Sisilly_G I played GBA version of Mario 3 yesterday and it featured rumble. They are also bringing Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble so I believe gyro is implemented as well.

@Late : That’s awesome news. Thanks for the heads up. 👍🏻

EDIT : I guess there’s hope for a WarioWare: Twisted rerelease yet.

On the NES and SNES apps, we got some Japanese-only titles so it's not impossible. Not desperate for this, but I'd play it if it was there as Mahjong is always a good way to throw away some time.

@Ryu_Niiyama Read the text. For the N64 the Japanese one is in caps. For the GameBoy systems the text is simply Japanese

How do I change the color palette in gameboy color mode? On the original GBC I could change it while booting up, I don't see any such option in NSO.

@Ryu_Niiyama yes that was done better with the first too..

two solutions: i made an çonsoles'group where i splits those, ehith the ngpc pocket collections in the middle
2. the name luckily is a bit different

(but why they not jus tmake the app universal with some hide options... )

@Aventurier I know that. That’s what I am saying. I have to go to the icon to see the difference. The icons look the same otherwise not the text, the icons.

Completely useless over here in germany, only 4 games but each of them are listed twice.

@Sisilly_G I'd say when/if Pokémon Pinball (both original and the Ruby & Sapphire version) comes over, it will feature Rumble. There's the precedent set by Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Super Mario Advance 4 that this time games will be optimized to use the Rumble if the original release featured it.

I figured the frog game and FE6 were coming so I downloaded the Japanese versions preemptively. I'm quite familiar with FE6 in particular, so I wanna see if I can clear it entirely in Japanese.

Aw man, I love riichi mahjong, I would've loved to play a weird two-player version on Game Boy.

Im still surprised that, with the amount of publicity Roy gets among Fire Emblem and Smash Bros, that they haven't tried to release the game in the west.

@LikeWhoa THIS LOOKS AWESOME!!!

@YoshiF2 his point is that old uncolored Gameboy games have been colorized by fans forever ago, and now Nintendo is offering it as part of their paid subscription service in 2023. Of course, we still lose out on Japanese exclusive games because Nintendo is the Disney of video game companies. All the profit, none of the effort, at least not from the executives.

I always download the Japanese versions, for the awesome box art if nothing else. We need Metroid Zero.

OH SNAP Binding Blade!

I will gladly replay this on the Japanese version of the app. Absolutely adore the game, and I know it mostly by heart as it is. Can't wait until it's added to the service.

Once again the comment section shows ignorant entitlement and catastrophizes minor inconveniences, getting worked up over the actions of a business corporation.

I wish I could get excited for gameboy and advance on switch but it just takes way too long to get many games on these services. I own most on other consoles and need more reason to be excited for trickled in games on a service that discontinued virtual console...

@LikeWhoa
Oh, had no Idea about Kirby and Donkey Kong, have to get the Hacks

Why they don't want translate in English released games only in Japan to make sure these comes in West?

@NewAdvent
I don’t think they will release Mother 3 in the West.

@PinderSchloss I agree , Nintendo should totally invest time and money into 'that frog game what inspired Links Awakening' ....millions of loyal Nintendo fans are screaming out for that classic.
They just don't care about us the money grabbing shysters!

@chipia Under Settings.

"For the Frog the Bell tolls" (I don't like the official English title that doesn't respect the stylistic syntax of Hemingway's novel "For Whom the bell tolls") is really excellent. One of the best Game Boy's games. It is a shame that it will not be translated. So, the best thing I would advice to people that are interested in a significant number of Japanese games that were never translated, is learning Japanese. That doesn't allow Nintendo and the others to not translate their games though, but instead of waiting an highly uncertain day when thoses games would be ever officially translated, it is now the best solution to play thoses games without being frustrated (and we become more independent on what games we want to play).

Still, that game did not really "inspirated" Link's Awakening, contrary of what I've read in comments. Both games have the same graphics, and Prince Richard appears in both games, but that's all. I'd think there is more similarity between this game and Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland on DS.

@Brutapode89 Probably laziness, another maybe that they are saving it for a remake perhaps. So far there are only 3 Fire Emblem to remake anyways: Geneology of the Holy War, Thracia 776, and Binding Blade.

@YoshiF2 - It's amazing how defensive some people get like this about the idea that someone other than Nintendo is offering a better alternative; the mental gymnastics is always interesting to observe.

Luckily it doesn't really matter. Nintendo have failed on their Virtual Console front for over a decade now, and fans really looking for these libraries have largely realised there are much better alternative ways to play these old classics than what Nintendo provides.

@LikeWhoa my thoughts exactly. Would've been great if Nintendo improved the games with more colour at least especially since fans have already done it online for most of them ages ago now smh.

Fan improvements, options, translations etc. are accessible assets that should be considered with these releases (whlie contacting, acknowledging and/or compensating the modders), or Nintie could just improve these things themselves.

And for the purists these changes could just be another option/filter.

... Wun can only hope.

@Sisilly_G I feel like Gamefreak will push to have the gb and gba mainline games to be packaged with a pokemon home expansion so they can charge us extra since they would want some of that sweet sweet money in exchange for us getting a transfer feature for gens 1-3.

@TheBigK Hey cool avvy

Frog Bell has an unofficial English version that’s fairly inexpensive online. I’ve played the original raw (had to use a guide sometimes), and I’ve considered buying the fan version.

Speaking of "For the Frog the Bell Tolls", there is a very interesting thing to notice to people understanding Japanese. Normally, classical Game Boy games (those games in black and white only) display Japanese language only with Japanese's syllabary, without using any Chinese characters (those characters are a great help to read Japanese). But in that game, there are Chinese characters (as well as syllabary), which is very, very rare on classical Game Boy games (in fact, for now, I don't know any other classical Game Boy games that used Chinese characters, but there are more Game Boy Color games that used it). I wonder how they made that possible on a Game Boy game (they just used simple Chinese characters that have a few strokes though, maybe 100 Chinese characters at most), but that made that game quite easier to read.

@Rudolf : I think you’ve answered your own question with the latter point. I think it was more of a memory issue that prevented Kanji from being used more readily.

And likewise, many games, especially RPGs (cough, Pokémon) had separate cartridges for each language, again, likely due to memory limitations, as it wouldn’t be in Nintendo’s interests to manufacture so many different cartridges for specific markets.

@Angelic_Lapras_King I hope Nintendo releases the fully translated English prototype of X (named Lunar Chase) on Switch Online when it comes to the service. It's an official lot check build (not to be confused with the earlier proto that's very different from the final game), so it was complete and close to being released. Looks like Kirby Tilt 'n Tumble is coming to the service, which has a tilt sensor in the cart.

@Sisilly_G : So, can we suppose Frog's cartridge was bigger than other Game Boy's cartridges, so that kanji could be displayed? Because the other Game Boy RPG I know, including Link's Awakening and Mystic Quest, have no kanji at all.

@Toshiro_Baloney Thank you! It's from an old commercial for Super Mario Land 2.

@Rudolf : I wasn't suggesting that a larger cartridge was necessarily used (the costs of which would likely have been particularly prohibitive in 1992), particularly if the ROM size is any indication; only that the use of Kanji probably wasn't practical in most situations until the GBA and beyond, where memory constraints were far less restrictive.

I would also assume that the choice to use Kanji would need to be determined early into development given the extremely limited amount of space that they had to play with, rather than go through the process of retroactively removing Kanji from the games code.

@PinderSchloss First, they are RPG's. Second, if you want to play these games, change your Nintendo Switch's location to Japan.

@InTree I can’t play them in Japanese. That’s not a solution.

@PinderSchloss Well are you a story guy or not? If not, then imagine where a yes button would be for a game, and recall it would be no different for Japan.