Are Pokemon Red and Blue about to arrive on Nintendo Switch?

Nintendo Switch Online offers active subscribers access to a long list of classic NES and Super Nintendo games. That offering might soon expand to include some famous Pokemon games.

According to Eurogamer and Nintendo Life, a series of Game Boy and Game Boy Color games are set to be released for Nintendo Switch Online with Nintendo life adding that this is set to be made available “soon.”

This stems from a 2019 data mine which revealed that Nintendo Switch Online’s NES emulator was effectively a port of the NES Classic console that came out in 2016. Also included in those files were pieces of the software for the SNES Classic and two other emulators. This made it unclear whether Nintendo Switch Online would add the SNES and two other platforms or if two other “Classic” emulator consoles were in development.

The launch of SNES games on Nintendo Switch Online strongly suggested that two other platforms were set to be added to the service at some point, but it was unclear what those other platforms might be at that time. Adding an emulator for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color would likely leave one last platform, with the most likely candidates being either the Game Boy Advance or Nintendo 64.

According to Nintendo Life, the chances of a Game Boy Advance emulator on Nintendo Switch Online are low as Nintendo looks to release remasters and remakes of GBA titles such as a Advance Wars remake that is slated to launch in December.

Are Pokemon Red and Blue set to come out on Nintendo Switch?

It’s likely that Pokemon games would be come out with a Game Boy and Game Boy Color emulator for Nintendo Switch Online. Exactly which games would be included is unknown, though.

Pokemon Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, and Crystal rank among some of the best and most memorable games on the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. Not only that, but there were other strong spin-offs released on the platforms including Pokemon Trading Card Game, Pokemon Puzzle Challenge, and Pokemon Pinball.

Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue have both previously been released in emulated form on the Nintendo 3DS, so there’s precedent for Nintendo bringing those classic titles back.

Given how Pokemon sparked a resurgence in the popularity of the Game Boy in the late 1990s, it would be difficult and unpopular to divorce the franchise from a Game Boy emulator on Nintendo Switch Online. That said, all of these different games may not be released at once.

There are a number of other classic games available for the Game Boy including the Mario Land, Donkey Kong Land, and Wario Land series. Alongside those are installments in other classic Nintendo franchises including Kirby’s Dream Land, Metroid 2, Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, and more. Nintendo is likely to include some Pokemon games in a Game Boy emulation addition to Nintendo Switch Online. Odds are that at least some of the most-wanted games will be left out in the cold, though.