Anyone who plays video games and grew up at a certain point in time likely remembers many of the Nintendo classics of the mid-to-late 1980s. Although Nintendo wasn’t the only video game company in town, it managed to mainstream the concept of the home video game console in a big way on the strength of a library of simple and straightforward, yet hugely playable games. And from the sounds of things, one of those games?the 1984 sports game Golf? is apparently still lurking around in the depths of the Nintendo Switch.
According to multiple reports, it’s been discovered that the data for the NES classic is actually inside each and every new Nintendo Switch console, although it’s not at all clear how to actually access and play it or if it will ever be possible. It’s no secret that Nintendo’s latest console contains an emulator; Kotaku reported on the existence of one in the Switch’s files, under the codename “Flog,” back in July.
There's a surprise hidden away on every Nintendo Switch, but no one knows how to access it. https://t.co/TJaMAVsH4E
— Mashable (@mashable) September 17, 2017
Even though past Nintendo systems have included built-in emulators?to facilitate playing retro games purchased from the company’s online Virtual Console store, for example?it’s nonetheless notable that Golf is apparently already loaded into the Switch.
It’s unclear if and when it’ll actually be opened up for people to play, but there’s reportedly been at least one major tweak from the original NES version. Namely, mined data suggests the Switch version can be played with motion controls, rather than strictly with the system’s JoyCon controllers.
Again, unfortunately for anyone who fell in love with Golf when it was first released, the game can’t actually be played yet on the Switch. But if Nintendo eventually decides to roll out this new re-release, especially if it involved swinging a motion controller like a club, it could be a very fun time.
H/T Ars Technica