Speculation about the arrival of Game Boy and Game Boy Color games on Nintendo Switch Online dates back to last August.
Players were surprised the following month with the announcement of the N64 in service, as part of the new stage of the expansion pack, but also with the unexpected Megadrive. A few months later, Game Boy games on Switch Online are back in the news according to the latest leaks.
Four files appeared on 4chan today out of nowhere. According to Twitter user trashbandatcoot, two of them are NSPs with a 7z archive containing loose NCAs. The 7z archive is called Hiyoko, a Game Boy emulator apparently made by NERD – the Nintendo team that has worked on other classic platforms for Switch Online. There is also a GBA emulator called Sloop.
Whole builds of three Nintendo Switch Online apps are usable and playable, not to mention the source code with developer credentials at Nintendo, version control commit logs from Box, and timestamps. In other words, something like this would be extremely difficult to fake, so it seems like a pretty legitimate leak.
And here are some screenshots of how it actually works in case anyone is curious lol. pic.twitter.com/RcAULaFX07
— Trash_Bandatcoot (@trashbandatcoot) April 18, 2022
… is called Sloop, and the 7z archive is called Hiyoko, a Game Boy emulator where all Game Boy games are separate applications. These emulators are developed by NERD (Nintendo Europe Research & Development) and are both functional, albeit with some bugs. (2/?) pic.twitter.com/RRUAVvz2BX
— Trash_Bandatcoot (@trashbandatcoot) April 18, 2022
Source 1, 2