Nintendo Switch Online May Finally Add Classic Pokemon in 2025

The Pokemon franchise, naturally, is among Nintendo’s crown jewels. It’s generally safe to assume that every Nintendo console generation will see a handful of Pokemon releases over its lifetime, and this long-term commitment to the series has yielded well over 100 games, including remakes and alternate versions (e.g. Pokemon Emerald and Pokemon Ruby).

Pokemon‘s rich history means that virtually every fan has their “favorites” of the series. A lot of the franchise’s success and identity comes down to, for better or worse, nostalgia, as the likes of Pokemon FireRed defined the childhoods of so many in the 90s and 2000s, establishing a firm identity for the series. More recently, The Pokemon Company has been shifting its development strategy slightly, as seen with games like Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, which demonstrate a clear departure from the top-down 2D gameplay of the older titles. Furthermore, remakes like Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, while faithful, are still decidedly modern in their presentation, sending a message that the old-school style of Pokemon has essentially gone extinct.

Nintendo Switch Online Should Grow to Include Classic Pokemon Games

Old Pokemon Games Still Aren’t Playable On Switch

For whatever reason, Nintendo Switch Online only has spin-off Pokemon games available, not any of the mainline entries like FireRed, Emerald, et cetera. This is rather baffling, as many fans consider the games released before Sword and Shield to be the best in the franchise; Nintendo and Game Freak could make an easy buck by releasing these older titles on Nintendo Switch Online, which already provides emulation for a number of classic Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games.

These classic titles, alongside Pokemon games released on the Nintendo DS handhelds, aren’t available on the eShop either, meaning that the only way to experience these beloved games is on original hardware. It’s rather surprising since, while Game Freak and Nintendo can certainly leverage nostalgia to great effect with remakes, it would probably be far easier, and nearly as profitable, to simply release these older games in their original state on modern consoles. In other words, there is no doubt a substantial portion of Nintendo Switch owners that would be happy to hop aboard Nintendo Switch Online, were it to actually include some of the most iconic and influential Pokemon games in Nintendo’s backlog.

2025 Could Finally Be the Year When Nintendo Brings Old-School Pokemon Games to NSO

A recent email promotion from Nintendo gestures toward significant changes to NSO in 2025, and while this could be nothing more than typical advertising and hype-building, perhaps there is actual substance to it. Of course, Nintendo is likely formulating all manner of plans for next year, especially since the Switch 2 is probably going to launch before 2026, but maybe the fabled Pokemon franchise could see some significant changes as well.

Bringing the older games to NSO is long overdue and would be welcomed with open arms by fans, especially since Nintendo has been cracking down on emulators, making access to these classic titles even more challenging. Perhaps there’s a concern that these older games could cannibalize sales of the new Pokemon releases, but with such a clear line in the sand drawn between classic GBA and DS Pokemon and modern-day Pokemon, this seems wildly unlikely. Realistically, putting classic Pokemon on Nintendo Switch Online would be a logical step, since these were among the most successful Game Boy titles, and if Nintendo wants to grow NSO’s GBA library, then it’s going to have to put them on the service at some point.

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.

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