Nintendo Switch Online Subscribers Get Extra Free Game Boy Game

Nintendo Switch Online subscribers actually have four free games, not three.

By Tyler Fischer

Some Nintendo Switch Online subscribers across Switch, Switch Lite, and Switch OLED are getting an extra free game for the month of May. This week, Nintendo announced the following three Game Boy games had been added: Super Mario Land, Baseball, and Alleyway. Everyone is getting these three games, but some subscribers in some parts of the world are getting a fourth free game. The bad news for many is this game is exclusive to Japan. The good news is it's still pretty easy to get even if you aren't in Japan.

As you may know, you can make a Japanese Nintendo Switch Online account for free. From here, you have a few options. You could change the country of your account to Japan. That said, you only need a Japanese account for the initial download of the Japanese Nintendo Switch Online app. After this, any account in any country can launch the game. 

If you run into a problem, it is probably because you have the auto-renew feature turned on, which doesn't allow you to change your account's region. If this is the case, you can turn it off, do what you need to do, and then turn it back on. 

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As for the game in question, it is Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru, which was only released in Japan. Translated, the game's title is The Frog For Whom the Bell Tolls, which is a play on Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. Released in 1992 as both a Japanese exclusive and a Game Boy exclusive, The Frog For Whom the Bell Tolls was developed by Intelligent Systems, the studio best known for the Fire Emblem series. Similarly to the Fire Emblem series, The Frog For Whom the Bell Tolls is an action-RPG game. How well it holds up in 2024, we don't know. To this end, many in the west have no idea how it played in 1992 either.

For more Nintendo Switch Online coverage -- including not just all of the latest Nintendo Switch Online news, but all of the latest Nintendo Switch Online rumors, leaks, and deals as well -- click here. Meanwhile, and as always, feel free to leave a comment letting us know what you think. Which of the four May Game Boy games is your favorite?

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