Nintendo Adds 5 Classic Games to Switch Online, Led by Wario Land

Q: With GameCube on Switch 2, what forgotten console will Nintendo revive for its online service next?

The most plausible next revival is the Nintendo DS, with the 3DS close behind. Nintendo has already moved well beyond its safest retro catalog on Switch Online. Alongside NES, SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, Genesis and now GameCube on Switch 2, it has also added Virtual Boy titles through the Expansion Pack. That matters because Virtual Boy was long treated as one of Nintendo’s most neglected platforms, suggesting the company is increasingly willing to mine harder-to-adapt or more obscure hardware. The strongest evidence for DS and 3DS comes from Nintendo’s own messaging. President Shuntaro Furukawa has said the company is working to make as many valuable past titles playable on current hardware as possible through services such as Switch Online. He did not confirm DS or 3DS specifically, but those systems are the most obvious major gaps left in Nintendo’s legacy lineup. There is a practical obstacle: dual-screen design. Many DS and 3DS games were built around two displays, touch input and, in the 3DS’s case, stereoscopic effects. Even so, Switch 2’s newer hardware and Nintendo’s recent “Nintendo Classics” rebranding show the company is investing in a broader archival strategy, not just occasional one-off ports. So if the question is what “forgotten” platform Nintendo is most likely to revive next after expanding GameCube support, the best answer is DS, with 3DS as the logical follow-up. Virtual Boy has already been revived; DS is the next big omission.

3 articles · Updated · Nintendo World Report · Jul 8

Nintendo’s latest Classics update adds five games across its Game Boy and GBA apps, with Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 the standout first-party release.
Three Game Boy titles join the library—Fortified Zone, Sword of Hope II and Wario Land—while GBA entry Dr. Mario & Puzzle League bundles two puzzle games in one release.
Wario Land marks Wario’s first starring game, while the other additions range from a top-down shooter to an early dungeon-crawling RPG.
The update expands Switch Online’s split retro catalog, with Game Boy titles for standard subscribers and the GBA release reserved for Expansion Pack members.