A Game Boy Advance Emulator for Nintendo Switch Online Has Reportedly Leaked

Leaks have now surfaced showcasing what appears to be a Game Boy and Game Boy Advance emulator for Nintendo‘s Switch Online service. The leaked files were first found over on 4Chan and included two emulators currently in development by Nintendo Europe Research and Development, one named Hioyo and the second named Sloop. The former is believed to be an emulator for the classic Game Boy while the latter is for the Game Boy Advance.

According to Twitter user Trashbandatcoot, while both systems are buggy at the moment, they’re also functional, and screenshots of various Game Boy games running on the Switch were included.

Other Twitter accounts soon followed with more proof of the emulators themselves, with one account even posting a video (since deleted) of the emulator booting up on the Switch itself. Other users have pointed toward the full list of games that have been tested so far on the program, including nostalgic titles such as The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, Metroid Fusion, Mega Man Battle Network 2, and Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.

While Nintendo has not commented on the leaks so far, if the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games do eventually come to the Switch, they’ll be joining other classic consoles on the service including the NES, SNES, Sega Genesis and Nintendo 64. For those interested, stay tuned for more updates to come.

So Nintendo’s official Game Boy Advance emulator for the Nintendo Switch just leaked. Now it’s just a matter of waiting for NSO to add GBA. pic.twitter.com/mEJcKrRtzL

— Trash_Bandatcoot (@trashbandatcoot) April 18, 2022

The library of GBA games they’ve tested for this thing is massive. Tested is the key word; doesn’t mean they’ll all actually launch on the service. Yellow = in the rom folder at some point but not in the leaked build.

There’s one other game with evidence of being tested though- https://t.co/QQDBDcdAZp pic.twitter.com/lGSB4Mg7Gt

— MondoMega (@Mondo_Mega) April 18, 2022

Elsewhere in gaming, the previously Switch-exclusive No More Heroes 3 is now arriving on PlayStation, Xbox and PC.