In last week’s Nintendo Direct, an announcement from heaven stated that the Nintendo Switch will finally have GBA Emulation. The Game Boy Advanced is one of the consoles that hits home to our inner child. It’s also one of my favorite consoles.
The inclusion of the Game Boy also boosts Nintendo Switch Online offerings. It also includes the Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Color games. Meanwhile, for those paying for the pricier Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack version, Game Boy Advance games would start to appear.
Nintendo GBA Emulation is finally on Switch. While it is certainly available on mobile and PC, having a GBA emulator officially on the Switch is eye-catching. The GBA was the best handheld gaming device ever made. Even more, a huge part of it was the eye-watering standard of so many of its first-party games.
Nintendo Online Subscription is Picking Up GBA
While Nintendo offers lackluster content behind its online subscription services, Nintendo has knocked it out of the park. The addition of GBA Emulator has six games you want to be playing right now, along with five other classics coming soon.
The Nintendo Switch emulation is proving more faithful to the original device’s presentation, along with offering multiplayer connectivity. Nintendo has also enhanced every game with options to create save states in any game with “Suspend Points”. Additionally, it gives you the ability to rewind your game to undo unfortunate errors.
Nostalgia alert! You can toggle on the “Classic Feel” on the emulators. What does it do? It adds those cruddy lines to the image to make it look as though it is running on the original GBA hardware. While it is not the best feature, it reaches out to the nostalgic hearts of the community.
To stop teasing you so much, here is a list of the six games that you can play right now on the GBA Emulator of Nintendo Switch.
The Legend Of Zelda: The Minish Cap
There is always a pleasure in seeing a game you have only played before on a tiny, dim screen suddenly huge and bright on the Switch’s display.
This iteration of the classic Zelda is crisp and sharp. As compared to the default squishy blurriness that appears by default on regular emulators. The wonderful top-down art almost looks 3D at the Switch’s resolution.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Uniquely for what would go on to be a series of games, here you control Mario and Luigi simultaneously. In Superstar Saga, you will be constantly swapping over which is in the lead to perform all manner of combo abilities and attacks. Battles are turn-based, but often require reflexes to time both attacking and defending between the pair of heroes.
Kuru Kuru Kururin
Kuru Kuru Kururin is a unique action-puzzle game about trying to maneuver a spinning stick through courses that seem far too narrow for such things. A launch title for the GBA in Japan, Australia, and Europe, it was never the prettiest of games. It is fair to say it does not benefit either from being blown up to the size of a Switch OLED screen.
Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
This was the fourth game in a series of re-releases of classic side-scrolling Mario games for the GBA. It is worth noting that the port is superb with such deep, rich colors, which often appear washed out elsewhere.
Mario and Luigi are positively rosy-cheeked. The GBA version fills more of the Switch’s screen, thanks to the wider frame of the GBA compared to the SNES’s 4:3 television square.
WarioWare Inc.
Officially called WarioWare Inc.: Mega Microgames!, this was a compilation of 213 games, each lasting a handful of seconds. Developers upscaled it to the Switch’s large screen, keeping the original crisp and precise lines of the GBA original. Sadly, there is no way to skip past the slow cutscenes between the flurries of three-second games.
Mario Kart: Super Circuit
While the first six games can be celebrated for the care and attention given to their emulation and upscaling, sadly the same cannot be said of Mario Kart: Super Circuit. The Switch-size screen just worsens the problems. Whether it is the bizarre mess of 3D pixels or the lack of any particularly innovative features in this edition
Overall, Nintendo’s GBA Emulation is the best path to take for the company. If you liked this article, read more on our website. You can also follow us on social media to stay updated with the latest esports and gaming news.
