These SNES Games May Be Coming To Nintendo Switch Online

SNES
(Image credit: Nintendo)

A lot of gamers have been wondering if Nintendo may one day upgrade the current monthly offerings of the free NES games handed out with the premium Nintendo Network subscription service for the Switch. Well, there are now rumors surfacing that SNES games might be added to the stash as well.

Nintendo Life is reporting that the there are dataminers rummaging through the Switch's internals, constantly keeping tabs on what's new and what's coming to the Switch via the data siphoned out of the content whenever a new firmware or software update drops for the system.

In last month's system update for the Nintendo Switch, one dataminer managed to find a number of online strings, similar to the ones that Nintendo uses for the NES games made available for the Nintendo Switch service. However, there was a bit of a catch: the data strings weren't for NES games.

Dataminer Kapu discovered that there are a number of SNES games located within the data strings, including dates of the games and the titles. This includes games like Super Mario Kart from the SNES, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past.

These aren't just the musings of someone pulling legs online. Kapu brought receipts and posted the actual data strings into a pastebin and uploaded them online.

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Other games found in the strings included Super Metroid, Super Mario World, Breath of Fire II, Super Mario All-Stars, and other classics like Stunt Race FX and Super Punch-Out!!. Even some unreleased games like Star Fox 2 seem to be on the docket, which was officially released as a game with the SNES Classic Edition.

One other thing worth noting is that within the data strings for multiplayer games, there were call functions for online sessions. So if it's true that these games are coming to the Nintendo Switch, it appears they will have the same online enabled functionality as the NES games currently available on the Switch.

For some reason there's also some strings in there relating to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as well, but I'm not sure what that's all about.

But that's not all. There's also information uncovered by other dataminers who laid out a list of strings relating to four emulator types within the Switch's software. The first emulator is Kachikachi, which is an NES Classic emulator, or the same one that was used in the NES Classic Edition, along with Canoe, which appears to be an emulator for the SNES Classic Edition.

There are also two other emulators, the Hiyoko and the Count. However, it's unclear what those other consoles relate to. Speculation is that it could be for two unannounced classic edition systems, such as the N64 or the GameCube, which would make a lot of sense. Alternatively it could be the Game Boy and the N64, which seems slightly more likely, but for now these are just rumors and the data strings discovered in the update could be placeholders for something completely different. But if the uncovered strings are to be believed, there are good times ahead for Nintendo Switch owners.

Will Usher

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend.