A quick look at the Switch’s new Game Boy and Game Boy Advance emulation

Almost a year after apparently Nintendo-developed Game Boy and Game Boy Advance emulators for the Switch were leaked online, Nintendo has finally made these emulators available to Switch Online subscribers. , you can download a Game Boy emulator that contains a combination of classic Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. Like the Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis emulations, the Game Boy Advance emulation is reserved for the more expensive “expansion pack” tier of the service.

Nintendo’s first-party emulation efforts have been particularly unpopular, especially the N64 emulation, which has suffered from accuracy issues and other bugs in the past (although Nintendo has managed to address many of the issues that existed at launch. are available). But emulators for 2D systems that are older and less burdensome to emulate are generally pretty good, and both Game Boy and his emulators fall into that group.

If you’ve used these other first-party emulation apps on Switch, the user interface for both apps will be familiar. very It’s full at this point. The selection is typically constrained at startup and expanded slowly over time) in a customizable grid. Go to the menu on the left to switch between single player mode, offline mode, and online multiplayer mode. But it’s the settings menu that interests us the most.

Start with the Game Boy. The Nintendo emulator offers three different screen options. One that simulates the appearance of a green Gameboy, like the original pea soup, and another that resembles a black and white Gameboy in his pocket, and makes the game behave as if it were played. Thing. in gameboy color. Note that only original Game Boy games have access to all three of these panel options. Gameboy Color games can only be launched in Gameboy Color mode, even those that can be played on the original Gameboy or Gameboy Pocket.

You can also try two other display modes. “Recreate the Classic Feel” enables an on-screen filter that simulates the pixel grid displayed from a Game Boy LCD screen, and enables a bright LCD ghost effect to improve the response times of those old screens. Simulate. Also, the display mode of the Game Boy and Game Boy His Pocket is considerably darker. Unfortunately there is no way to separate these he three visual effects. If you want any of them, you should enable them all.

Another display option[小さい画面で表示]will display the game in its original, unstretched resolution. Actually playing in this mode is a bit awkward on the Switch’s big screen as the games become small square patches, but if you want to experience these games just like they did on the original hardware, it’s definitely more Accurate.

With the on-screen in-game controls disabled (maximizing the available screen space on all these emulators is a good idea), the emulated Gameboy’s screen will remain the same as the Switch’s in handheld mode. It extends from top to bottom of the screen. The Game Boy’s screen was 144 pixels tall, just one-fifth the height of his 720p screen on the Switch. For those bothered by the gray patterns that appear left and right of the game on these Switch emulators, unfortunately it’s still here and cannot be disabled.

My only real gripe about the emulation here, aside from the limited selection of games, is that the Game Boy Color Mode doesn’t let you choose the palette that applies to older Game Boy games. came with a list of button combinations that could be pressed to change the colors used on the screen, but these buttons could only be pressed on the launch screen, and Switch’s emulator was a game Skip to start directly.

The Game Boy Advance has fewer display options. There is only a “view on a small screen” mode and a “recreate the classic look” mode that applies pixelated filters.

The nice thing about both the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance emulators is that Nintendo shifted the colors a bit to more accurately reflect the saturation levels of older non-backlit LCD panels. You might not notice it unless you look at the screenshots side by side, but colors can sometimes appear oversaturated and grainy, especially in Game Boy Color games, due to the way many emulators display these colors. On Switch, it’s closer to the look of the original hardware.

If you want to play your entire library of Game Boy or Game Boy Advance games, the Switch isn’t your only option. a bit The more time passes, the better. All other Switch Online game libraries are just a fraction of what was available on the actual system, missing many major third-party titles (often the original developers made them can be packaged and sold individually).

But given how uneven Nintendo’s first-party N64 emulation was at launch, it’s nice to see both Gameboy emulators pay attention to detail. None of them quite match what Analogue Pocket or the better RetroArch filters can offer, but with support for things like LCD ghosting and color palette adjustments, these Switch Online emulators are decent and easily accessible.” Actual item.”