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Rumour NSO GB/C and GBA emulators allegedly leaked

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It's fascinating seeing this behind the scenes stuff, but it does make me a bit more frustrated about how slow and trunctuated the roll out of games has been. Hopefully we get the whole GameBoy family at the same time, later this year, and they stick to a regular release schedule. Though it wouldn't surprise me if we see something like one GBA game per month, with GB/GBC joining NES, SNES and Mega Drive as 'games at random intervals' systems.
 
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For some odd reason I'm more excited about this than I have been any other NSO platform so far. Probably because of GBA being attached, and me falling off VC after the Wii.
 
totofogo said:
For some odd reason I'm more excited about this than I have been any other NSO platform so far. Probably because of GBA being attached, and me falling off VC after the Wii.
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For me it's because Pokemon games might be included, and I have been asking for some sort of gen 3 collection on the Switch since it was released. But I've learned to not get my hopes up with Nintendo. They'll find some excuse to not include them.
 
What’s really odd to me about the NES games is that even in the leaked build, there’s still no signs of seemingly obvious first-party additions like The Mysterious Murasame Castle or Urban Champion… What’s up with that??
 
Tye said:
What’s really odd to me about the NES games is that even in the leaked build, there’s still no signs of seemingly obvious first-party additions like The Mysterious Murasame Castle or Urban Champion… What’s up with that??
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The first one is only in Japanese and the second one would cause people to unsubscribe.

EDIT: I see now Murasame has been released around the world as part of VC before.
 
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Hopefully this means that by September I'll be able to play Donkey Kong '94 and Mole Mania on my Switch.
 
Tye said:
What’s really odd to me about the NES games is that even in the leaked build, there’s still no signs of seemingly obvious first-party additions like The Mysterious Murasame Castle or Urban Champion… What’s up with that??
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There are a lot, lot more games tested on that NES emulator that just weren't present in that build of the app. We'll probably never know that full list unless a full dev repository leaks, but we can at least see all the gaps.
 
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JoshuaJSlone said:
As long as they're not outright killing the base plan, they need some bones to throw at those subscribers. And 1989 grayscale games are some of the least valued and most numerous bones they have sitting around.
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I think the base plan will be phased out eventually. Compared to Live and PS+ it's dirt-cheap for even just the ability to play games online. The Expansion Pack brings the price more inline with the standard offered by the competition. On the other hand, the Expansion Pack needs more in it still before it's competitive with the other companies offerings, especially because retro titles don't have a lot of cultural cache with most of the audience unlike getting recent "free" games.

totofogo said:
For some odd reason I'm more excited about this than I have been any other NSO platform so far. Probably because of GBA being attached, and me falling off VC after the Wii.
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There's a lot of good stuff in the GB and GBA libraries that I think people overlooked because handhelds have always been held at arms-length by the gaming community with the moniker of being "kiddie systems". Usually because they were cheaper entry points than consoles they were often what your younger sibling would have. But they're an incredibly important part of Nintendo and, if we're being honest with ourselves, really their main breadwinners.

I also kinda fell off VC after the Wii. Just never really used it on 3DS or Wii U probably because I didn't want to deal with rebuying things and after transferring everything from my Wii -> Wii U I had to jump through another hurdle to get to the games on the SD card. NSO is just a much easier way to get into these games, it boots quickly, you can organize the titles to your liking, there are multiple save states, etc. It's just a solid QoL upgrade from the old VC system and I really hope that it continues into the next generation of hardware.
 
bayonetta said:
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I just watched this. Early in the video MVG admits it’s probably legit (after previously on Twitter expressing skepticism). He goes through the reasons he was skeptical (EZ-Flash, ImGui) but admits that it’s certainly possible NERD would be using those for this internal project, and that the app is just an internal testbed for NERD’s GBA emulation and obviously not a product at this stage. I think the git commit history and the fact that it doesn’t contain an open source GBA emulator put him over the edge.

At the end of the video he floated the idea that Nintendo is embarrassed by this leak and they might cancel plans to add GBA games to NSO as a result. I don’t buy that. I’m sure they’re embarrassed and they’ve canceled deals/partnerships in the past when the partner leaked something, but cancelling this because of the leak would only hurt Nintendo. They’ve had other stuff leak before and gone ahead.
 
There's absolutely no scenario I envisage where Nintendo cancel adding retro content to NSO because of a leak. Odd suggestion, in my opinion.
shoptroll said:
I think the base plan will be phased out eventually. Compared to Live and PS+ it's dirt-cheap for even just the ability to play games online. The Expansion Pack brings the price more inline with the standard offered by the competition. On the other hand, the Expansion Pack needs more in it still before it's competitive with the other companies offerings, especially because retro titles don't have a lot of cultural cache with most of the audience unlike getting recent "free" games.


There's a lot of good stuff in the GB and GBA libraries that I think people overlooked because handhelds have always been held at arms-length by the gaming community with the moniker of being "kiddie systems". Usually because they were cheaper entry points than consoles they were often what your younger sibling would have. But they're an incredibly important part of Nintendo and, if we're being honest with ourselves, really their main breadwinners.

I also kinda fell off VC after the Wii. Just never really used it on 3DS or Wii U probably because I didn't want to deal with rebuying things and after transferring everything from my Wii -> Wii U I had to jump through another hurdle to get to the games on the SD card. NSO is just a much easier way to get into these games, it boots quickly, you can organize the titles to your liking, there are multiple save states, etc. It's just a solid QoL upgrade from the old VC system and I really hope that it continues into the next generation of hardware.
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Agreed here. GB and GBA will be really valuable additions.
 
Stupid Sexy Flanders said:
At the end of the video he floated the idea that Nintendo is embarrassed by this leak and they might cancel plans to add GBA games to NSO as a result. I don’t buy that. I’m sure they’re embarrassed and they’ve canceled deals/partnerships in the past when the partner leaked something, but cancelling this because of the leak would only hurt Nintendo.
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Also to add to this, Nintendo's clear intention is to put their old platforms and games on NSO so they can keep making money off them by helping the service get new subs and maintaining the ones they already have. It’s going to be GB/GBC/GBA turn at one point so canceling the plans to add GBA just for in the long run ending up doing it anyway seems not only useless but dumb.
 
The idea that Nintendo would create a huge hole in their NSO Expansion Pack library because of a leak is laughable. This isn’t like that Netflix Zelda show being leaked, this is an internal thing and they’ve been working on it for years. GB and GBA would add a ton of value to NSO EP, they’re not canceling it because they’re “embarrassed.”
 
MisterSpo said:
There's absolutely no scenario I envisage where Nintendo cancel adding retro content to NSO because of a leak. Odd suggestion, in my opinion..
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Blue Monty said:
Also to add to this, Nintendo's clear intention is to put their old platforms and games on NSO so they can keep making money off them by helping the service get new subs and maintaining the ones they already have. It’s going to be GB/GBC/GBA turn at one point so canceling the plans to add GBA just for in the long run ending up doing it anyway seems not only useless but dumb.
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I wanted to summarize without editorializing too much, but suggesting they’d cancel it because of the leak seems like a hot take meant to get more YouTube views. But yeah, they won’t cancel GBA because of that.
 
ArchedThunder said:
The idea that Nintendo would create a huge hole in their NSO Expansion Pack library because of a leak is laughable. This isn’t like that Netflix Zelda show being leaked, this is an internal thing and they’ve been working on it for years. GB and GBA would add a ton of value to NSO EP, they’re not canceling it because they’re “embarrassed.”
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Never mind the fact that the Netflix Zelda leak was because of Netflix’s think tank before anything was even signed.

The only way I can envision this being canceled is on the extreme end of things to the point you may as well be doing a creative writing prompt.
 
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I can only recall like two "known/credibly rumored" incidents of Nintendo ever cancelling things due to a leak and both cases are more complex and contextual than folks imply, one of them being as far back as the gamecube era. And yet for some reason this has become a established thing that Nintendo will do and part of every nintendo leak discourse and it's just mindboggling to me.
 
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Mario and Rabbids leaked months ahead of the reveal and they didn't cancel it, of all things. GB + GBA is a huge thing for them, it's their plan to make a ton of games available and that affects their plans on releasing and promoting sequels, etc. They need a way to make these game accessible again, and they need to keep up with Sony and MS on the subscription service race.
 
Stupid Sexy Flanders said:
I wanted to summarize without editorializing too much, but suggesting they’d cancel it because of the leak seems like a hot take meant to get more YouTube views. But yeah, they won’t cancel GBA because of that.
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Good god I hate it when people assert and project feelings onto companies just to stir the pot in their favor
 
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Yeah the Zelda stuff was not a done deal nor in previous production even. They were talks with interest, and all signs point to them just cancelling further talks due to Netflix trying to be cute and “leak”. That just showed Nintendo that they violated trust before anything was even signed.
 
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Brofield said:
So what I take from this,

Canoe=NES
Hovercraft=N64
Sloop=GBA

Means that the Gamecube NSO emulator is gonna be called Barge. Bookmark this post.
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NERD's GC/Wii emu is already named Hagi.

Basically NERD uses Hanafuda terms for 100% inhouse emus (Hachihachi, Kachikachi, Hagi, Hiyoko) and boats for emus that originated externally (Canoe, Hovercraft, Sloop). Also I've now just realized NERD has an emu for every past Nintendo console but Virtual Boy, Pokémon mini, 3DS and Wii U.
 
fiendcode said:
NERD's GC/Wii emu is already named Hagi.

Basically NERD uses Hanafuda terms for 100% inhouse emus (Hachihachi, Kachikachi, Hagi, Hiyoko) and boats for emus that originated externally (Canoe, Hovercraft, Sloop). Also I've now just realized NERD has an emu for every past Nintendo console but Virtual Boy, Pokémon mini, 3DS and Wii U.
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That we know of on VB, wouldn’t be surprised if there was an internal one
 
Skipper93653 said:
I believe Yakumono (LuigiBlood) has mentioned they have heard that NERD has made a 3DS emulator for Switch.
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Oh interesting! Wonder if it'll ever get used (OOT/MM HD? New Super Mario All-Stars?)?

Also now that I think about it, NERD may have access to a Pokémini emu since Nintendo (or Ambrella? IntSys?) made one for Pokémon Channel on GC.

Mandos said:
That we know of on VB, wouldn’t be surprised if there was an internal one
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The dream is VB NSO with Labo VR support!
 
I just realized how incredible GBA will be with online play. Same with GB.

Imagine being able to play Amazing Mirror or Sonic Advance 3 co-op! Or finally netbattling with MMBN games or Pokemon Gen 3!
 
Arrietty said:
I just realized how incredible GBA will be with online play. Same with GB.

Imagine being able to play Amazing Mirror or Sonic Advance 3 co-op! Or finally netbattling with MMBN games or Pokemon Gen 3!
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My only issue is the friend restriction on the NSO apps. Nintendo needs to change that and let us play with random matchmaking.
 
Arrietty said:
I just realized how incredible GBA will be with online play. Same with GB.

Imagine being able to play Amazing Mirror or Sonic Advance 3 co-op! Or finally netbattling with MMBN games or Pokemon Gen 3!
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If they can get GB Tetris rights for a re-release that’ll be massive

My dream is that if they ever get to DS and Wii they’ll have a way to get the WFC stuff up and running again.
 
ILikeFeet said:
if the N64 is a hovercraft, then the GCN is more a destroyer
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GCN(/Wii?) is Hagi. It got a Hanafuda name because it's 100% NERD. Projects they took over get boat names; Hovercraft is based in the N64 emulator made for the Wii U developed by iQue.
 
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ILikeFeet said:
People want excuses to dig at Nintendo. Of course they're gonna ignore context
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Yeah, I get that for some users, there’s a group that wants to drive by for anything they dislike or love hate relationship. But I’ve seen actual smart folks say the same thing.

From the podcasts and Videos from him. He’s a pretty smart person, but the logic used is just so confusing from said person.

And it always goes back to the Netflix deal that is a wildly different context. It’s just so funny to me lol
 
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shoptroll said:
If they can get GB Tetris rights for a re-release that’ll be massive
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I think Tetris GB is something they'd go out of their way for. It's got enough pull.

If Nintendo delves into licensed stuff more generally I'd hope to see Tetris DX and SimCity SNES too.
 
Brofield said:
So what I take from this,

Canoe=NES
Hovercraft=N64
Sloop=GBA

Means that the Gamecube NSO emulator is gonna be called Barge. Bookmark this post.
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Already corrected a few times but I may as well make it as clear as possible. NERD’s set of emulators are known as ‘Hanafuda’. All of the emulators developed from the ground up in-house by them are given names themed after Hanafuda:
  • Kachikachi - Famicom / NES
  • Hiyoko - Game Boy
  • Hagi - GameCube + Wii
  • Hachihachi - DS
Kachikachi has seen the most use, on both the NES Mini console and NSO. Hachihachi was made for DS Virtual Console on Wii U. Hagi has so far only been used for Super Mario 3D All-Stars (all of Sunshine, and graphics/audio emulation for Galaxy). Hiyoko may have been used for the Zelda Game & Watch, but we don’t know and NERD haven’t featured it on their site.

Emulators that weren’t initially developed by NERD instead take on a different naming scheme, watercrafts:
  • Canoe - Super Famicom / SNES
  • Hovercraft - Nintendo 64
  • Sloop - Game Boy Advance
Canoe and Hovercraft are based on the emulators those respective consoles used on Wii U Virtual Console; the former first appearing on the SNES mini console and the latter (developed by iQue) seeing use in 3D All-Stars before N64 NSO launched. Sloop is a newcomer and at this rate NSO will likely be where it debuts.

Hanafuda isn’t the first suite of Nintendo emulators to have a branded name though.

There’s VESSEL, the NES, SNES, N64 and GBA emulators used on Wii U VC; which may just be the codename for Wii U VC in general (the later additions, DS, PC Engine and MSX are excluded from this group, though).

Then there’s TRL, the set of emulators created by iQue that include NES (3DS VC), N64 (Wii U VC, 3D All-Stars), GB (3DS VC and Kirby’s Dream Collection) and GBA (unused; the ambassador games on 3DS are running native). Depending on the platform the name of the set is slightly adjusted; the default is used on 3DS and Wii U, in Kirby’s Dream Collection for Wii it is known as WTRL, and in 3D All-Stars it is TRL-NX.

The Mega Drive emulator used on NSO is obviously disconnected from all this; M2 has handled Sega console emulation across all of VC so far (Mega Drive and Master System on Wii, Game Gear on 3DS) so that’s naturally the case here with their emulator M2Engage.

If any of the aforementioned platforms make it to NSO it’ll surely be their emulation efforts again; same for MSX and PC Engine, which they’ve handled in the past too (as recently as the PCE Mini for the latter).

Phew, I think that should be a pretty good breakdown of this stuff!

fiendcode said:
My only issue is the friend restriction on the NSO apps. Nintendo needs to change that and let us play with random matchmaking.
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Hope the feature makes it into the final app then, I guess!

IMG_9002.png
 
MondoMega said:
Sloop is a newcomer and at this rate NSO will likely be where it debuts.
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Thanks for the breakdown. So if sloop wasn’t initially developed by NERD and hasn’t yet debuted, where do you think it came from?

Obviously just speculation, but if it’s not the M2-developed Wii U VC emulator (sounds like you ruled that out) I wonder if it was being developed internally for a GBA classic that never materialized.
 
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fiendcode said:
NERD has an emu for every past Nintendo console but Virtual Boy, Pokémon mini, 3DS and Wii U.
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Depends on if they're intending to re-release Pokemon Channel within the next decade or not. 😎
Pokémon_Mini_Channel.png


3DS will probably also happen on it's own, but that would be much, much later. While Wii U would probably be considered redundant considering the large amount of Switch ports unfortunately.
 
Stupid Sexy Flanders said:
Thanks for the breakdown. So if sloop wasn’t initially developed by NERD and hasn’t yet debuted, where do you think it came from?

Obviously just speculation, but if it’s not the M2-developed Wii U VC emulator (sounds like you ruled that out) I wonder if it was being developed internally for a GBA classic that never materialized.
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There are 3 previous (seamlessly unrelated) GBA emulators that we know of -- the one for the GameCube used by Pokémon Box (known as AGB_Emu), the unused emulator made for the 3DS by iQue as part of their TRL set of emulators and the M2 emulator used by Wii U VC.

Whether Sloop is a new version of one of those remains to be seen. We only know that Panasonic Vietnam has been involved in its development.
 
Gingerbread Man said:
There are 3 previous (seamlessly unrelated) GBA emulators that we know of -- the one for the GameCube used by Pokémon Box (known as AGB_Emu), the unused emulator made for the 3DS by iQue as part of their TRL set of emulators and the M2 emulator used by Wii U VC.

Whether Sloop is a new version of one of those remains to be seen. We only know that Panasonic Vietnam has been involved in its development.
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For some reason I missed that canoe and hovercraft descended from the Wii U VC emulators. So I read too much into it.
 
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garf02 said:
I dont think they will cancel it, but internally
Im sure there is already a manhunt for whoever leaked those files
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It was a dev unit that wasn’t properly scrubbed. More likely they’ll be revising their protocols
 
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I think at this point Nintendo would rather just port any Wii U game they want to rerelease over emulating the system. Some of the library is going to end up being left behind because of that, mostly smaller spin-offs or games replaced by itterative sequels though.

Virtual Boy and Pokemon Mini are little oddities with tiny libraries so I don't expect much to happen there; but if they wanted to there has been public Pokemon Mini emulation used before (in Pokemon Channel). For all we know though, they may have already experimented with 3DS emulation on Switch internally. Whether it leads anywhere is up to Nintendo's discretion though; NERD doesn't have any autonomy in how that tech is publicly used.

As for the origins of Sloop, I don't think it's been definitively proven which prior official GBA emulator it was built off.
 
Mandos said:
@Mewzard
Oh the list has Super Robot Wars OG generations, that could happen. I wanna say Atlus translated it but both they and BN support NSO, it had an international release and it doesn’t have licensed characters
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Yeah, it absolutely could end up being a thing, and I'd love the chance to play the classics.
 
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Really curious to see what the launch lineup would be for GBA. I imagine it would be bigger than N64…maybe not what the NES dropped at launch though. I’m liking how they’re at least releasing those games monthly though.
 
Cubs017 said:
Really curious to see what the launch lineup would be for GBA. I imagine it would be bigger than N64…maybe not what the NES dropped at launch though. I’m liking how they’re at least releasing those games monthly though.
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I expect the initial lineup of GB/C to be the same as NES/SNES, around 20 titles. I guess SML 1/2, Zelda LA, DK94, Metroid 2, Kirby Dream Land 1/2, Tetris, X, KI2, Wario Land 1/2/3, G&W 1/2/3, Mario Tennis/Golf, some third parties….

I also expect the GBA lineup to be a little less but likely higher than N64, around 15 titles maybe? F-Zero Maximum Velocity, Golden Sun, Mario Kart Super Circuit, some SMA, Zelda Minish Cup, Wario Land 4, Metroid Fusion, Mario & Luigi, Wario Ware, Mario vs DK, FE 6 or 7, G&W4 and some third party….
 
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