{"id":135827,"date":"2026-01-27T15:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T15:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/#article-196712"},"modified":"2026-01-27T15:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T15:05:00","slug":"two-cancelled-virtual-boy-games-coming-to-nso-in-2026-including-f-zero-spin-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2026\/01\/27\/two-cancelled-virtual-boy-games-coming-to-nso-in-2026-including-f-zero-spin-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Cancelled Virtual Boy Games Coming To NSO In 2026, Including F-Zero Spin-Off"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/c13d63b0b35ff\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/c13d63b0b35ff\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<aside class=\"object object-youtube\">\n<figure class=\"youtube\" data-videoid=\"nVvaCe4esCQ\" data-start=\"187\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nVvaCe4esCQ?rel=0&amp;hd=1&amp;showinfo=0&amp;modestbranding=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;start=187\">\n<p>[embedded content]<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/aside>\n<p>We now know the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2026\/01\/nintendo-announces-launch-line-up-for-switch-online-virtual-boy\">launch line-up<\/a> for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/virtual_boy_-_nintendo_classics\">Virtual Boy &#8211; Nintendo Classics<\/a> service, coming to Nintendo Switch Online on <strong>17th February 2026<\/strong>. And while it&#8217;s all worth getting excited over, there are two never-before-released games coming out later in the year that Nintendo enthusiasts should be particularly excited about.<\/p>\n<p>Right at the end of the brand new overview trailer (at around <a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/nVvaCe4esCQ?si=QQAHZqkIL2PYIKMw&amp;t=187\" data-yt-videoid=\"nVvaCe4esCQ\" data-yt-start=\"187\">3:07<\/a>), Nintendo showed off footage from two cancelled Virtual Boy games that will be playable for the first time ever via Nintendo Switch Online \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/virtualboy\/zero_racers\">Zero Racers<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/virtualboy\/d-hopper\">D-Hopper<\/a> (also known as Dragon Hopper). Both of these will be coming to the service sometime in <strong>2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Zero Racers a pretty big deal for long-time Nintendo fans \u2014 this is a cancelled <strong>F-Zero<\/strong> spin-off that was apparently shown off at E3 1996, but was cancelled due to the failure of the Virtual Boy. A few years ago, a former Nintendo of America localiser said that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2022\/02\/mythical-virtual-boy-f-zero-spin-off-was-100percent-complete-according-to-former-noa-staffer\">the game &#8220;was done&#8221;<\/a> (as in complete), and this release seems to confirm that.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gallery\">\n<div class=\"cols cols-2\">\n<div class=\"col col-1 col-width-50\"><a title=\"Zero Racers\" class=\"scanlines\" href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/ec6ae9849ab4a\/zero-racers.large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/ec6ae9849ab4a\/zero-racers.445x250.jpg\" width=\"445\" height=\"250\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Zero Racers\"><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"col col-1 col-width-50\"><a title=\"D-Hopper Dragon Hopper\" class=\"scanlines scanlines\" href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/610eff328c069\/d-hopper-dragon-hopper.large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/610eff328c069\/d-hopper-dragon-hopper.445x250.jpg\" width=\"445\" height=\"250\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"D-Hopper Dragon Hopper\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"caption\"><em class=\"credit\"><span class><\/span> Images: Nintendo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/aside>\n<p>The latter game, D-Hopper, is from Intelligent Systems, who we know best for developing the <strong>Fire Emblem<\/strong> and <strong>Paper Mario<\/strong> games. D-Hopper is very much its own thing, and was also playable at E3 1996 \u2014 it&#8217;s a top-down adventure game where you have to adventure through maze-like maps and fight enemies in order to rescue your girlfriend. A little Zelda-esque, perhaps?<\/p>\n<p>Both of these games are fantastic additions to the service, and we&#8217;re excited to check them out for the first time ever later in the year. The Virtual Boy might not be well-loved, but it&#8217;s got an eclectic library of games and spin-offs.<\/p>\n<p>The launch line-up is pretty solid too, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/virtualboy\/golf\">Golf<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/virtualboy\/virtual_boy_wario_land\">Wario Land<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/virtualboy\/3d_tetris\">3D Tetris<\/a> all part of the package day-one.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><em>Are you excited for Zero Racers and D-Hopper later in the year? Let us know in the comments<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><!-- cache: html:nintendolife.com\/ssl\/nintendo-switch-2\/related-articles:127972,196709 @ 1769555728 --><\/p>\n<aside class=\"block object-related\"> <\/aside>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[embedded content] We now know the launch line-up for the Virtual Boy &#8211; Nintendo Classics service, coming to Nintendo Switch Online on 17th February 2026. And while it&#8217;s all worth getting excited over, there are two never-before-released games coming out later in the year that Nintendo enthusiasts should be particularly excited about. Right at the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135827\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}