Nintendo Expands Switch Online's Game Boy Color, SNES & NES Library With Four More Games

So many untranslated titles...

Joy Mech Fight: Where that one assist trophy originated.

Scraping the bottom eh?

Dang we're really at the end of the Switch huh

Well, this at least gives me confidence that maybe one day, we'll get the N64 Mystical Ninja Games, Mischief Makers and maybe, just maybe the GBC game Metal Walker. I mean, if they're gonna get as obscure as Quest For Camelot, why not?

It's nice to see Japan-exclusive games come west anyway. Once again, Nintendo makes a point that Rick, Kine and Coo only look like a hamster, fish and owl respectively. We'll see much bigger and better NSO news in this month's Direct.

For a while there I thought this was only for the Japanese NSO, there's more import releases here than regular releases now. Hey Nintendo I like your selection of import games but at the very least translate some of them. It's 2023 now, get a Google translate patch or something, there's no excuse why these games are still stuck in the prehistoric age.

Those are definitely games...

@Serpenterror Some of these are already on the Japanese NSO. At least I think they are, because my Japanese versions of the apps aren't updating, which makes me think they are already on there.

I've said it before and I'll say it again- thanks for nothing, Nintendo.

@RupeeClock There was GoldenEye before.

Imagine waiting months for this lol.
Better to just emulate it yourself

I love how Nintendo doesn't care anymore.
"Yes this was Japan-only, you can have Mother 3"

@Orpheus79V Eh, that fit more at home with Nintendo, probably because Rare made it.

Errr ok.
Just to remind you, Nintendo, there are A LOT of great games from the SNES that are still missing. Just saying.

@InTree Either way it's a film licensed game.

I’m lucky in that I can speak and read Japanese, but this is a truckload of nonsense. This is a relatively expensive service for what users get, and to not even bother to do some relatively simple translations is just reflective of Nintendo’s attitude to content on the online service.

I've heard Quest for Camelot isn't exactly the worst licensed game, but it's still odd that, out of all the licensed games you could put on there, THAT one gets selected.

The other three are not bad choices.

@iLikeUrAttitude I get the impression anything they'd add would be "lol" to you. So, I guess you wouldn't need to worry about what they add then.

Incredibly random. If I remember right, the GBA offerings don’t even begin to touch some of the better games on that platform either.

"so, have you thought about dating yet?"

Me: ♫ ♪ ♬ Like every tree, stands on its own....reaching for the skies I stand alone. I share my world with no one else....all by myself....I stand alone. ♫ ♪ ♬

@the_beaver Yep, still waiting for Lufia 2. Please tell me it's happening, Nintendo. Please?

i swear kirby wins every time by god

So I was just stuck in a menu loop on a game on NES (can’t tell ya what one)… why… because I can’t read it ha.
This Nintendo drop makes the PS Plus drop today look like gold.
However it’s irrelevant to me as the Zelda and Pokémon drops are still keeping me plenty busy with the switch online.

After all these years, I still believe the SNES Mini has a better lineup of games than what’s on the SNES Switch. Sure the Switch has Earthworm Jim 2, the whole DK Country trilogy and a couple of good Natsume games but other than that I still would rather play the SNES Mini.

@NESlover85

Joy Mech Fight recently got a ROM hack that makes the game more suitable for 21st century playability.
It's still not great, but it makes the game much more polished and fun. It feels like a labor of love.

...and here's Nintendo trotting out the original, unaltered ROM, and acting like they're doing fans a service 😒

Where’s 1080 snowboarding?

@ndunsmo I mean that’s a Taito game, so I wouldn’t think it’d be likely to come to NSO. I’d love to see it though, especially if its bugs are fixed.

@RupeeClock Oh this Quest for Camelot release is a sign of bad things to come for the N64 NSO in terms of license games. Remember the company that made Quest For Camelot (Titus Interactive) also made Superman 64 for N64. I'll be surprise if the next wave is just that one game.

@Serpenterror It is a depressing prospect. On the other hand, Superman 64 would be an incredible choice to add on April 1st, 2024.

I like having bad games no one loves on the system. These I would consider rare and would never buy - so they might as well be preserved somewhere.

@IceClimbersMain
Kirby's Star Stacker was added to the Japanese NSO when the west got Kirby's Avalanche (i.e. not too long ago, 1 year ago at most). Joy Mech Fight and the Kunio-Kun game I believe have been there since the Famicom app launched back in 2018.

Now, if we could get Sutte Hakkun.

It just occurred to me that one day, in the far future, the Nintendo Online service will someday drop Kirby Fighters 2, just like Kirby Star Trackers.

@ndunsmo Mischief Makers is the reason I bought an N64 after my PlayStation drive went out. And the first Mystical Ninja game is amazing. Those are some of my tops from the system. Maybe they'll give us Bangai-Oh!

I was just playing Star stacker the other day after setting up a Japanese account to get the Deep Cut banners in Splatoon early. They go and release the banners and this puzzle game on the same day?!

Quest for Camelot is certainly one game I never imagined would make it's way to the Switch...

I just tried Kirby Star Stacker. Mashed A until I got into a stage then did surprisingly well just dropping the little dudes with no actual strategy.

@xDeckardx Oddly enough Nintendo of America published that game in NA instead of Titus Interactive even though Titus Interactive published it outside of NA. This may be the reason why Quest For Camelot got NSO approved easily.

I'm surprised that they are still supporting NES/SNES releases, but for some reason they still haven't brought Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light to the service. I bought it when it was available, but limited releases are freaking dumb, and they used the Wii U Virtual Console emulator for it, so it would look better on the NSO app.

@ArcadianLegend99
Respect. #CaryElwes4Ever!

@xDeckardx Definitely was not on my radar at all...it is such an odd title. I wonder if its any good.

Also, i love the Moss icon.

Quest for Camelot is a game based on a Warner Bros film. Maybe in the future we can get other Warner Bros classics, like Batman '89 on NES

I used to have to clip pictures for things I wanted for Christmas. I think I cut out a picture of Pokemon yellow. I got quest for Camelot. My parents showed me the picture and quest for Camelot was in the back and I didn't know. I was heartbroken that day 💔 I hear the game is decent though!

Sweet! Me am like! Puzzles good, sleepy time go nite, nite.

I don't understand. What are they doing?

@HammerGalladeBro

I luckily picked up a physical copy of Sutte Hakkun when it was merely expensively, rather than offensively, priced. It’s a great game that deserves a wider audience.

@shonenjump86 Well... SNES Nintendo Classic Mini's lineup is quite boring, imo. Only one fighting game – inferior Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting for the worldwide release, and superior Street Fighter II The New Challengers for Japan only, lol. Original localized version of Secret of Mana sucks, and everybody knows it. Why they included 1st Rockman X game, instead of latter games? We got spin-offs Kirby's Super Star and Kirby's Ball/Bowl, but no mainline platformer game. No puzzle games for worldwide release, and only one for Japan only (Panel de Pon). No Chrono Trigger, no SNK games, no Satellaview games, no Mario Paint, no Super Mario All-Stars, no Pilotwings, no SimCity, no beat 'em ups, no shoot 'em ups...

@Cashews They are already preserved. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde for NES, for example.

Seeing Quest for Camelot listed made me loudly gasp and say, “What the?!” That game was my lone companion on a school field trip, many years ago!

@ndunsmo Nintendo developed Quest For Camelot, apparently. I only learned this myself recently, but I have to assume that has a LOT to do with its inclusion here.

Wow, sounds...exciting nintendo...

At least we no longer have to see "where is Super Mario RPG?" each time.

@Stuffgamer1 Nintendo didn't developed it, they only published it. Titus knew the game wouldn't sell well so they went to NOA and NOA agreed to published it for them. Interestingly the game is an action RPG with similar gameplay and mechanics to Link's Awakening and Final Fantasy Adventure so it's not that bad of a game.

That QfC game looks good? Neat. The rest are definitely games, purportedly.
The kunio one looks weird and cool.

@Vyacheslav333 ya think so? I hear ya on having better version of Street Fighter and Mega Man X games but at least the mini has those games on there. There’s like three Jaleco beat em up games on the Switch online that are horrible imo. I still can’t believe Final Fight 2 and 3 still haven’t made their way on here yet. Not much SNK games on the Switch SNES either. Magical Drop II is decent but Fighters History is just bad. Really no point in adding Super Mario RPG on here since we are getting a remake.

Bit random, but I’ll take it!

Kirby’s Star Stacker? The Japanese Super Famicom version?

Finally! Only took them 25 years!

Quest for Camelot? What the heck?
I will take Kirby star stacker though. Also can we PLEASE have these games translated? I can’t understand what the characters are saying in Puyo puyo 2.

Ahh, it's like the good old Virtual Console threads. For anyone missing vc, this is exactly what it was like. Weeks of everyone just moaning that it's not games they know or want.
Mem-orrr-eeees.

@RupeeClock
GoldenEye 007 For N64 NSO is a licensed video game based on a film. So I guess you are mistaken.

Man they look bad

@NESlover85 nah, they're just being stingy with rest of the good stuff.

get on with Donkey Kong 64.

I am all for more Kirby!

@shonenjump86 My SNES Mini has the best line up, but then again, I hacked it.

Quest for Camelot? Never expected to see that.

I felt like I was having stroke for a minute (and 55 seconds) This has to be the strangest drop NSO has gotten.

@Liam_Doolan Are you guys going to review these? I’m at least curious as to how intelligible they are for non-Japanese readers

Main series Pokemon games when? I will continue to ask that over and over until we get them.

Can't believe this. Didn't know the Quest for Camelot had a videogame until I found it in a preowned store a couple months back and picked it up. Loved the film back when it came out, so strange to see this get re-released. Weirdest NSO additions yet

@makk_zucc If you look back, probably not no.

You know, if you make a second account and set its region to Japan, you could have downloaded the JP version of the NSO apps and have been playing Joy Mech Fight for years already.
This update is annoying because it doesn't actually add any new games that weren't available already, with the exception of Camelot, which has me intrigued.

@Yojimbo While I agree that translations would be nice, I don't think 20€/year service is expensive at all. It's only a fraction of the price of PS/Xbox alternative, so it's not surprising it doesn't give you quite as much value

Oh boy, thanks for the shovel ware Nintendo. You sure are generous.

Quest for Camelot is literally outside of the top 100 gb/GBC games I’ve played. Mediocre Zelda clone.

So I presume the three previously Japan-only games won't have their menus translated to English and you'll have to either know Japanese or try to guess what to choose from the menu, like with Panel de Pon and other Japan-only games they've added to the NSO?

Every NSO announcement just makes me so much happier I've got a jailbroken Switch I can run emulators on.

Quest For Camelot is a movie tie-in game? In that case, hopefully Nintendo brings Superman 64 to NSO Expansion Pack.

Wow… I was expecting at least a less unknown game. Maybe freaking Super Mario Land?!??!

Neat. Not really titles I'll be playing much probably but I'll check them out.

Also think it would be nice to be able to get folders within these apps, especially for the NES and SNES apps which are pretty cluttered now.

@Yosher I have mine sorted by time most played. How do you have yours?

How does the Game Boy still not have Mario Land 1 or the Wario Land games that aren't 3

But yeah, I guess Quest for Camelot, whatever the heck that is, was the priority

@IceClimbersMain at the end of the switch? Why? The switch line up for the next few months looks brilliant.

I access the Japanese offerings via a respective app copy myself, but seeing more games get overdue official western releases like this (even if oddly left with no apparent translation this time, not that the titles in question are unplayable without one) will never not be among these libraries' biggest highlights. And then, even a Quest for Camelot [kinda sorta] RPG getting some spotlight after all these years? Although Wikipedia actually claims it to be a Color release; forward compatibility notwithstanding, it almost feels like a lucky oversight to have it distributed to all subscribers rather than just the Expansion pack ones like myself.😄 And a licensed IP precedent, while with the relative flipside baggage of eventual expiry amd removal paranoia, can kindle some hope for other adaptations down the road. Capcom's Disney stuff might be too much to expect, especially when Capcom can (yet, in Switch's case, still inexplicably won't) sell it in separate collections, but... Kyatto Ninden Teyandee on NES, anyone? Or maybe even the friggen Lost World on SMD?!😉

I had Quest For Camelot on GBC as a kid. And let me tell you. It was trash. I played it as much as possible and got the the final boss. But good lord, it played terribly compared to the standards set by Zelda.

@cmbaum it's total crap. I can see other commenter's aren't familiar with it at all I'm assuming we're the only two, lmao. The game drove me bat**** as a kid.

@nhSnork It was mentioned above in the comments that Quest for Camelot was originally published by Nintendo, so that might explain why they included it, despite it being a licensed IP. It could even be that their original license agreement with Warner still covers this re-release. With licensed games published by other companies, OTOH, I doubt they're gonna bother to negotiate a deal and pay for the license just to get the game to NSO.

Strange choice. By the way, the three "Japan-only" games are being available on Japanese NSO's app for a long time (those Japanese apps can be easily downloaded with a Japanese Nintendo account, and then used with the same account that payed for Western NSO's offer).

The Kunio-kun game was released as part of the Double Dragon & Kunio-kun Retro Brawler Bundle. It's supposedly very good.

@ndunsmo The fact that Nintendo was able to get Natsume to agree to put Harvest Moon for SNES on NSO gives me a tiny bit of hope we'll get Lufia 2 someday.

These games are clearly bottom of the barrel material but, to be honest, the best thing (at least... supposedly) about a subscription service is that it gives justifications for a company to bring back old games that people won't buy in order to fill the catalog.

Sure, this sounds like a bad thing but getting a western release of "kirby super star stalker" is neat.

Sorry for off-topic, but I've found no news about it here. Speaking of Japan-only games, a new trailer of "Mameda no Bakeru", the Goemon-like Ninja game developped by Good-Feel, has been published 5 days ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ncizDI0myI

It looks hilarious: I'll definitely play that game (but if it could be released in West, It wound be better).

I'm actually getting angrier that Quest for Camelot was included. It's just.....bad.

How much time, money and developing costs would go to translate the menus in obsolete software? Well less than what they make if they had a dedicated team for that. Also there are still thousands of English GB-GBA titles to chose from

@Croctopus Will we though? We’re still waiting on titles announced last September lol. Drip drip drip

Well, if Nintendo's offering the choice between crap like Jelly Boy or weird untranslated Japanese stuff I'll definitely take the latter.

Meanwhile the GBA library is so lackluster...

@Bass_X0 I have mine just manually sorted. Mario games on top, with other Nintendo games coming under that, then the Nintendo's SP games (where applicable) below that as a dividing line between Nintendoand third party games. Then come those third party games, with the most prominent ones or ones in most familiar with on top and more obscure titles at the bottom, with third party SP games (again, where applicable) on the bottom.

Even like this it still feels like kind of a mess though. lol

@dimi If there exists fan-translations of them for years, then a team set by Nintendo should be relatively easy I'd imagine.

@GrailUK yep, it was 100% like this. Lol

@GrailUK
For me the main thing i miss from the VC era was being able to buy/keep the games and would love to have the option to do so with NSO games since im not a fan of the online check aspect (though it would be nice if it had things like being able to remap buttons on a game-by-game basis or add screen options)

though nowadays with things like modern day retro compilations and re-releases, especially those by the likes of M2 (and nightdive for PC/N64 games) the amount of innovations when it comes to the emulation front has progressed quite a bit since the VC days. (TBH i would 100% buy a Nintendo collection handled by M2 such as a Mario or Zelda one)

@LadyCharlie
Apparently also that Kunio game has been available in english on one of the collections on switch for a while now.

Though TBH if they did end up releasing something like Mother 3 in english exclusively to the service it would feel like a monkeys-paw moment since i feel ideally something like that (an official english release of an older game) should be available to purchase with as few caveats as possible (its why i wasnt keen on how the only official english release of the original fire emblem was a limited time release)

Though i have been happy that weve been getting more and more official translations of older games over the years such as the original trials of mana (as part of the mana collection) and the recently released Marl kingdom chronicles.

apologies was kind of a tangent though still related to retro games in the modern day.

@shonenjump86 which games on the snes mini are you thinking about then ( i can only remember supermasrio rpg from my memory which isn’t here yet. I hacked my snes mini because i needed sensible soccer.

Strange lineup, but I’m excited to try the NES game, it looks to be the same developers as river city ransom, dodge ball and crash n the boys street challenge - I love those games and still have the cartridges

Quite curiius about the amazing day fame. Is that 4 players running?

@Manguy888A It is - it is a "Kunio-Kun" game by Technos Japan. They also developed Double Dragon. A lot of their games never came to the US, and if they did, they were given new names and published by various companies. those little stocky characters are the main indication.

Pokemon on GB NSO is going to be interesting. I almost bet it's going to be part of a new paid tier for release.

Of all the things on my 2023 bingo card, a Gameboy Color tie-in game for an often forgotten Warner Bros. animated movie developed by the same studio that made Superman 64 getting added to NSO was definitely...unexpected.
(Not sure why I even wrote such a weirdly specific thing on my bingo card.)

@Pillowpants *cries in Wario Land 4

My brother will actually be really excited for this drop, he’s really into untranslated Japanese stuff, and Kunio-kun is one of his favorite series!

@Croctopus
Hum what should they look like if not hamster, fish and owl? I'm probably missing something there.
Also I certainly hope the direct that is supposedly coming will finally bring satisfying news for the NSO 64 content.

@Zequio I'm also still questioning why they skipped GB Super Mario Land, I prefer it to the sequel and it's an iconic early title for the system. At least I have the 3DS VC version.

@nilcam Bangai-oh and Mischief makers would be amazing.

Joy Mech Fight is my most played title on the Famicom NSO app by far. Cool to have it on the US app. I didn’t expect that to ever happen.

Fun game.

@Vyacheslav333 Yeah they could adopt the controller rom hack for Mario paint and it could easily be added to NSO.
Lol yeah and you are right about secret of mana.

Where's Twilight Princess and Wind Waker???? Other AWESOME games? Paper Mario Thousand year door? You throw us yard sale games......

Great news! Also good to see Final Fantasy 16 is still selling decent (after discount) in US

A Kirby game! pretends to be shocked
I'm waiting to Amazing Mirror on the NSO GBA.

Just tossing Japanese games onto the North American NSO libraries makes me feel that if we ever get Mother 3 officially here, it's gonna be them just slapping it onto the GBA NSO games as-is, no localization at all.

Finally the SFC version of Star Stacker! Hope more people play it, severely underrated puzzle game imo.

Quest for Camelot you say?

While it's cool to see fans outside of Japan finally get to try some of the Japan only titles, I'm baffled and frustrated by the 1st party titles that still haven't made it to NSO, namely Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, among others.

So confused on these games. There are so, so, so many others. Seriously, this is quite honestly rediculous.

I think they should really drop NES titles now. There's still quite a few updates I'd like to see, but if they're this slow with these titles now they should put more work into the game boys and n64

What a truly baffling selection of games.

What a wonderful selection of junk I can't read.

Trawling the depths of mediocrity, Nintendo? I don't understand how there are so many good games that could be included and instead we get bottom of the barrel garbage.

Nintendo: We got nothing. Let's go with these. There has to be 5% of our fans that think this is adequate

I’ll be the one guy who has incredible nostalgia for Quest for Camelot. I got it with my GBC on the same Christmas and I feel like that, Mario Bros. Deluxe, and Pokémon Yellow really define my early memories of the system. I also remember reading about it in Nintendo Power. It’s been many years but I recall it being a fun enough zeldalike. No idea how that comes to be but if we can have random licensed games I’ll nominate the OG Game Boy James Bond. Surprisingly fun little game.

Seriously, where are the Batman NES and SNES games? Someone up above mentioned them and now I'm mad that none of them are available.

still no Golden Sun

To be honest, this is the kind of update I look for! I've played Joy Mech Fight, but the other three would be new to me, so I'm happy.

I played most of the big titles growing up, so I have no real interest in revisiting them. From NSO, I prefer seeing these little curiosities I would never have had a chance to access or just never got around to back then.

@Serpenterror Thanks for sharing my video for Quest for Camelot for the gameboy color. Now heres hoping for more license games to come for switch online like magical quest games for gba.

@Mando44646 still waiting for that game as well.

@nessisonett holy crap I forgot that one exists

@romanista a few other games are Super Castlevania and Contra. I enjoyed playing those two games on the Mini. Of course you can actually buy those Konami collection games on Switch now.

Would be cool if they would actually translate shin Megami Tensei games for SNES which are available in japanese region, but I guess that would be too much work to just put them out for "free".

@JohnnyMind You're welcome.
I think this trailer of Mameda no Bakeru was unnoticed everywhere.
I wrote a comment on that thread as well: https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/nintendo-switch/mameda_no_bakeru_ganbare_goemonmystical_ninja_spiritual_successor

In my case, the language is not a problem, but I fear it'll not be released in West though.

Not to sound ungrateful Nintendo... but can we get the games from our youth chalked off first, and then roll out the games we've never even heard of in our market?

Wild that we got these before Startropics 2.

At this point, I'm only looking forward to play Animal Forest and Startropics 2.

It would be nice if they put the NES Zapper games (Duck Hunt, Hogan's Alley and Wild Gunmen) like they did on Wii U.

@MooseTinsel I would love if they could bring some of the Disney and Warner games, especially Duck Tales and Tiny Toon.

@Ristar24 They're probably waiting for Super Mario Wonder. SMBDX is also missing...

@BINGE666 There's no GCN NSO y'know

@ndunsmo NAILED my feelings. and quest for Camelot is actually mildly exciting for me, in that i remember being fascinated by the nintendo power walkthrough on it...... it doesn't even look that good, idk why i was so fixated on it 😅

and PLEASE METAL WALKER. I've never played, but same deal, i was fascinated by the NP coverage and it actually looks fun

@Brianst0rm Hopefully it arrives, DX would be good too... was feeling nostalgic so played through Super Mario Land the other day on my Retron5, but be great to have on the Switch.

This is such a joke. Every single game ever released for any of Nintendo's consoles should be available. At least every 8 or 16 bit game. It's pathetic that they actually charge money for this service.

I thought we were getting Zero Mission?

@Serpenterror @Stuffgamer1 Indeed they didn't develop it but certainly published it at least in some parts of the world. They definitely did in Europe, I remember an old issue of the official Nintendo magazine had a guide in it for this game.

@XiaoShao I actually just bought the cart and have been playing it a bit. It's kind of weird (and the save function is not super obvious or well explained) and it takes a bit of time to get into, but its not bad. Maybe not something to sink hours and hours into but worth checking out. Feels like a GB zelda clone.

@JohnnyMind If you are still interested: Mameda no Bakeru is now available (I just ordered it).