Harvest Moon

Nintendo released a handful of Game Boy Advance games for the Nintendo 3DS back during the early days of the handheld's lifetime, and it gracefully called these games gifts through their "Ambassador Program." It was a fancy way of saying nobody wants this thing yet because there are no decent games for it, but here is free stuff for those who bought it.

Since then, nothing of the sort has been seen. The Nintendo 3DS has finally come into its own as my and many others' platform of choice, but Nintendo is still firmly sitting on not releasing any more Game Boy Advance games for the sake of its promise to those "ambassadors." Petty excuses and sour grapes I think, but Harvest Moon developer Natsume claims that Nintendo might be thinking of changing its ways.

It's community manager has posted that regarding GBA Harvest Moon games on the Nintendo 3DS that Nintendo is "working on it."

The same goes with GBA (outside of the ambassador games) — though they're working on this and we look forward to the day it's possible. But until that day comes, we aren't actively working on porting any specific GBA or GameCube games.

Well, at least we might be able to play Harvest Moon on the Nintendo 3DS if what Natsume says comes true. Better than no Game Boy Advance games, especially since Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town is often regarded as a peak for the cult-favorite farming series.

And with Nintendo in its current situation, it might be time to let those ambassadors retire and start letting the people have what they want. Any wishlist games for a possible Nintendo 3DS Game Boy Advance Virtual Console? I'd love to be able to take Fire Emblem with me no matter where I go.

Just recently, Nintendo announced an ambition to start bringing Nintendo DS games to the Wii U, so I wouldn't regard Natsume's speculation as totally unbelievable.