Nintendo Drops 5 Limited-Time Freebies You Can Claim Now Before It's Too Late

Nintendo Switch gamers have a new batch of freebies to sift through, celebrating an important part of the company’s history.

Xbox and PlayStation have been heated rivals for years now, constantly attempting to one-up each other to be the king of the console space.

Nintendo however has always been good at just doing its own thing, and there’s no better example of that than one of its 2026 hardware launches.

Nintendo Celebrates The Virtual Boy With New Freebies

Earlier this year Nintendo announced an update to its Nintendo Switch Online subscription service.

Games from the Virtual Boy library are now available to play at no additional cost with your current subscription, though to play them you’ll need one of Nintendo’s peripherals. Your choices are a plastic replica of the OG Virtual Boy console, or a smaller, more cost-effective cardboard version.

Literally no one asked for this but Nintendo just did it anyway, once again proving that the company is more interested in fun than profits.

To celebrate the second coming of the Virtual Boy Nintendo Switch Online subscribers can now claim five free icons which are all inspired by the console.

Four of the icons are of the Virtual Boy itself whereas one is of the controller, which wasn’t featured as part of the re-release.

These icons are purchased with Platinum Points, which are obtained through the completion of challenges and are therefore free currency.

Nintendo has confirmed these Virtual Boy icons will only be available until 28 May, though if you miss out this month they might return sometime in the future.

#NintendoSwitchOnline + Expansion Pack members can now redeem Platinum Points for user icon parts featuring #VirtualBoy until May 28th! pic.twitter.com/ZSjmzcYuH3

— Nintendo of Europe (@NintendoEurope) May 18, 2026

The return of the Virtual Boy didn’t get the credit it deserved. Nintendo resurrected one of the first failed attempts at introducing gamers to virtual reality with truly 3D graphics, and it seemingly did so just for the hell of it.

It’s a little disappointing that the games won’t work with the standard Nintendo Switch/Nintendo Switch 2 display. They are playable but instead of the full picture you’ll see two separate windows with an obscured view of the game within.

Basically you need to buy one of the peripherals for the best experience, but then again why wouldn’t you if you were genuinely interested in the Virtual Boy? It’s a charming piece of Nintendo’s history and you’re experiencing it at its best with either the headset or cardboard alternative.

The biggest problem in all of this is Nintendo is adding more and more consoles to the Nintendo Switch Online service but less and less games…

There are so many first-party titles missing from consoles like the Nintendo 64 and Nintendo GameCube, and we’re sure gamers would much rather see those libraries supported first before the Virtual Boy gets another time to shine.

READ MORE: Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Cons Are Hiding A Secret Feature That’s Actually Very Helpful