GBA games downloadable for DSi?

By Robert Purchese Published 24 March, 2009

"Rumour and speculation," says Nintendo.

Nintendo has told Eurogamer that a DSi Virtual Console-style service offering downloadable Game Boy and GBA games is "purely rumour and speculation".

The platform holder was responding to a report by website Kombo, which cites confirmation from a source supposedly inside a special platinum Nintendo Club event on Sunday evening. Kombo claims Nintendo will initially limit downloadable Game Boy and GBA games to first-party titles.

The website has since been contacted by Nintendo and told the Virtual Console-style service has yet to be confirmed for North America. It has, however, apparently been announced for Japan.

The platform holder also stated that Game Boy and GBA games are not playable directly from SD memory cards as the report originally claimed.

Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata delivers his GDC keynote address tomorrow at 4pm GMT (9am PST). We'll be covering the talk live on Eurogamer, ready to snap up any announcements tumbling from his chops.

He speaks as the DSi breaks 2 million sales in Japan after four-and-a-half months on sale, according Famitsu.

The Nintendo DSi will be available across Europe from 3rd April for GBP 149. Head over to our recent in-depth analysis of the DSi to find out whether you should buy one.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (23) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • retr0gamer #1 3 years ago

    If there's money to be made, Nintendo will do it.

  • Burkey123 #2 3 years ago

    Oh my God. If this is true then I will probably get a DSi.

  • neonemesis #3 3 years ago

    Well, the DSi was denied not long before Nintendo confirmed it so take their 'rumour and speculation' talk with a pinch of salt.

    Wouldn't be surprised at all to see it actually happen though seeing as how the lack of GBA slot in the DSi is an obvious turn-off for many - Nintendo would want to produce a work-around of sorts.

  • Eraysor #4 3 years ago

    I hope they will make the GBA Pokemon games link up with Pal Park on the DS versions, considering the DSi has made it redundant at present.

    EDIT: If they put Pokemon TCG up for download I would buy that in a flash. The amount of time I wasted on that back on the GBC is ridiculous.
    Edited by 1 at 24/03/09 @ 14:25

  • Kyle #5 3 years ago

    Can't see why they wouldn't. Where would these games be played from if not from an SD card?

  • Cloudane #6 3 years ago

    Just you watch Nintendo charging us a hefty amount of money for these Game Boy games.

    They won't be cheap, that's for sure.

  • Rpt81 #7 3 years ago

    I'd have thought this was a given. A full Virtual Console filled with GB games from every era.

  • rockstar1984 #8 3 years ago

    If this turns out to be true then I'm trading in my DS for a DSi, the only thing that was putting me off the DSi is that it doesn't play GBA games.

  • DFawkes #9 3 years ago

    I'd pay a whole bunch for the GB Tetris, or at a push Tetris DX. I'd even pay 1000 if they pushed, I bloody love that version of the game.

  • Kyle #10 3 years ago

    @Rpt81: Agreed.

    Nintendo could be doing such a better job with their Virtual Console in general. I really don't understand why they're doing this constant drip-feed approach. It can't be hard for them to just fill it to the brim. It's money in the bank surely.

  • HermitArcader #11 3 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • wittynic #12 3 years ago

    If this became the case it would swing me a long way to getting a DSi. Mostly for Pokemon Silver. Best version for me.

  • matterask #13 3 years ago

    Needs to synergize with the Wii. VC-Games ought to be playable on yr DS. And why not let DS+Wii owners play DS games on their tv:s via wifi, let DS-owners upload the game to the wii via wifi while keeping the save-games on the DS cartridge. Those Castlevania games would be pretty sweet on my 38".

  • Lexx87 #14 3 years ago

    Christ, so they take the GBA slot away and make you pay all over again to download them?

  • Malek86 #15 3 years ago

    Don't care much, as I already have a big collection of GBA games, and paying again for them is not my idea of fun. GB games would be quite interesting however, seeing as there are a couple I woud like, and the DS can't play them. I've been keeping an old rusty GBA SP just for those, but dead pixels really suck.

    Doesn't matter though. I just replaced my launch day DS with a Lite, so I won't be changing it anytime soon.

  • Toadie48 #16 3 years ago

    @ wittynic

    Yay Pokemon Silver fan wooo. I got Silver instead of Gold aswell :p

  • levitate #17 3 years ago

    They only sell bunch of kiddie games on the DS anyway. I got bored after a week playing that shite.

  • levitate #18 3 years ago

    @DFawkes: You'd really pay that much for Tetris?

    Wow!

    Let me conjure something up for you and I'll let you know what bank account you can deposit the cash on.

  • IneptPercy #19 3 years ago

    All they have to do now is let me download my guitar hero controller and rumble pack....

    No sale

  • secombe #20 3 years ago

    @ Kyle...

    The drip feed approach must surely be the most profitable. If they released every game they had rights to on day one, it would be promoted for a short while and then disappear from most peoples/sites/magazines radars, people would grab a few titles then that would be that, generally.

    Releasing content over the life of the system keeps it in the public eye, and makes it more likely that you will purchase a title you may have overlooked/ignored if everything was available immediately.

    A no brainer, in my opinion.

  • amv71 #21 3 years ago

    Surely they should have announced this before the launch to get people on board? It's a system selling feature IMHO.

  • neonemesis #22 3 years ago

    Yay Pokemon Silver fan wooo. I got Silver instead of Gold aswell :p

    Me too! I remember a lot of people at the time assuming Gold would be better because of the name (idiots). I wasn't stupid though, I knew the awesomeness of Lugia from the boxart alone. I still have brand new, unused carts of both games in their boxes tucked away somewhere along with a similar condition Pokemon Pinball.

  • Toadie48 #23 3 years ago

    @ neonemesis

    Pokemon Pinball was awesome. Remember the lil' rumble thing it had and you had to put in 1 battry for it to work LOL - good times.