According to information received by Source Gaming from LuigiBlood, known for his work on Nintendo 64DD emulation, the Nintendo Switch has a NES emulator embedded in its firmware codenamed "Flog."
The question on everyone's mind now, of course, is what does this mean for the Nintendo Switch? The most likely answer is that this is related to the Virtual Console or the online offerings Nintendo will at some point tell us about.
The Nintendo Switch Online service, which will cost $19.99 a year, includes the "Classic Game Selection." The Classic Game Selection functions pretty much the same as the Xbox's Games with Gold or PlayStation Plus selection. The difference being, of course, the Classic Game Selection will deal with much older games. The biggest thing that sets it apart from the virtual console is the fact that the classic Nintendo games from the past will now have online functionality of some fashion, which Nintendo confirmed again last month. What that means exactly is still up in the air, but we know it is coming. Nintendo's already changed their mind once on the Classic Game Selection, as the games were originally going to only be available for one month each. The NES emulator included on the Switch likely has to do with that functionality.
Of course, that brings with it more questions that really won't be answered until Nintendo talks some more about Nintendo Switch Online and the Classic Game Selection. Questions such as, if there is an NES emulator, is there a SNES emulator? A Nintendo 64 emulator? If modders and those curious of the Nintendo Switch hardware have not seen evidence of those emulators so far, they probably are not on the system. That brings more questions, like what does that mean Nintendo will be doing for classic games on those consoles? Or, is the Classic Game Selection only NES games?
Of course, the emulator may not be used for the Classic Game Selection but the Virtual Console for the Switch instead. Until Nintendo reveals their plans for either their online services and/or the Virtual Console, we just won't know.
What do you think of an NES emulator on the Switch? What sort of games would you like to see the NES emulator used for? Let us know in the comments below!
