Highlights
- Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team joins Nintendo Switch Online on August 9, expanding the collection of classic Pokemon games available.
- Despite the addition of spin-off Pokemon games, main series entries are still absent from the NSO library, leaving fans wanting more.
- Game Boy Advance Pokemon titles like Ruby & Sapphire may be added in the future, but that remains to be seen.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team will be joining the Nintendo Switch Online on August 9, and ideally, it should be the first of many GBA Pokemon games on the subscription service. Nintendo Switch Online gives subscribers access to a variety of classic Nintendo games from some of the company’s biggest franchises. This includes Pokemon, though the franchise is still hugely underrepresented across the Nintendo Switch Online tiers.
Once Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team joins the Nintendo Switch Online lineup on August 9, it will mark the sixth Pokemon game on the service. It was preceded by Pokemon Trading Card Game, Pokemon Puzzle League, Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Stadium, and Pokemon Stadium 2. Pokemon fans might notice that, so far, all the Pokemon games on Switch Online are spin-offs, with no main series entries added to date.
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Nintendo Switch Online Adds Three Rare Game Boy Advance Games
Nintendo Switch Online adds three rare previously Japan-exclusive titles from the Game Boy Advance to its playable library.
It’s unclear why Nintendo hasn’t added any main series Pokemon games to Nintendo Switch Online. It’s possible that the company has other plans for the classic Pokemon games, but that remains to be seen. Regardless, the addition of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team is hopefully a sign of things to come. It would be great to see all the Game Boy Advance-era Pokemon games added to the service.
List of Pokemon Games on Nintendo Switch Online
- Pokemon Trading Card Game (GBC)
- Pokemon Puzzle League (N64)
- Pokemon Snap (N64)
- Pokemon Stadium (N64)
- Pokemon Stadium 2 (N64)
- Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team (GBA) – Starting August 9
List of Pokemon Games on the Game Boy Advance
- Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire
- Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen
- Pokemon Emerald
- Pokemon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire
- Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team
Besides Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team, the Pokemon games on Game Boy Advance include Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, Pokemon Emerald, and Pokemon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire. Since Nintendo seemingly has an aversion to adding main series Pokemon games to Nintendo Switch Online, Pokemon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire seems like the most realistic possibility for a future Nintendo Switch Online update.
It should be stressed that not all Nintendo Switch Online subscribers have access to Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team or the other Game Boy Advance NSO games, for that matter. Game Boy Advance titles are exclusive to the Expansion Pack tier of the Nintendo Switch Online service, and the same goes for Nintendo 64 games. This means that the only Pokemon game that base NSO subscribers have access to is Pokemon Trading Card Game, but that could change if the old-school Pokemon games are eventually added to the mix.
Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch is a hybrid console launched in 2017, capable of being played in handheld mode or docked to a television. The Switch Lite, a handheld-only model, followed in 2019, with an OLED refresh coming in 2021.
