Wait, wait, Peeko-chan!
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire have unexpectedly found themselves at the centre of Nintendo Switch port speculation after an official Pokémon account shared unusually crisp footage from the Game Boy Advance games.
Pokémon's official Japanese information account on X, Pokémon Times, posted a 30-second clip on Monday (21 September) showing Mr. Briney chasing his Wingull, Peeko, in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire.
The post itself was seemingly made to mark Respect for the Aged Day in Japan, with its caption reading, "Hey, hey! Wait, wait, Peeko-chan!" alongside hashtags referencing the holiday and Mr. Briney.
However, it was the quality of the footage rather than the post itself that quickly caught players' attention. One X user pointed to the particularly vibrant colours, claiming that the clip looked like footage from a Switch version of Ruby and Sapphire. Others similarly questioned how the footage was captured, given that the games originally launched for the Game Boy Advance. Pokémon has not identified the source of the footage, and neither Nintendo nor The Pokémon Company has announced Switch versions of Ruby or Sapphire.
Why fans think Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire could be coming to Nintendo Switch
One detail adding to the speculation is that the Pokémon Times video runs for exactly 30 seconds. Both Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 can save up to 30 seconds of recent gameplay through their built-in capture functions. However, the video's length alone does not establish that it was recorded from either console.
A user on r/GamingLeaksAndRumours also argued that official Pokémon accounts would be unlikely to use footage captured through an unofficial emulator, pointing to older promotional posts that instead showed footage closer to the games' original presentation.
There is already a more concrete reason why Ruby and Sapphire have been linked to Nintendo Switch. Following the release of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen on Switch in February, dataminer Yakumono, also known as LuigiBlood, found that the emulator used for the two games explicitly recognises ROMs for Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald alongside FireRed and LeafGreen.
The emulator, known as Sloop, is also used for Game Boy Advance titles in Nintendo Classics. LuigiBlood said in the original datamine that the relevant code was connected to emulator-specific modifications for individual games. However, the dataminer also cautioned against treating the discovery as confirmation of future releases, explaining that the code only showed Nintendo had support for those games in the build being examined.
Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen launched as standalone digital releases for Nintendo Switch on 27 February 2026 and are also playable on Nintendo Switch 2. The games went on to sell more than four million units globally during their first six weeks on sale, giving Nintendo and The Pokémon Company a sizeable audience for further classic Pokémon releases. That has naturally put Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald under greater scrutiny, particularly following the earlier emulator findings.
For now, though, the new footage provides another interesting piece of circumstantial evidence rather than confirmation. Pokémon Times made no reference to a re-release in its post, and Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have yet to announce Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, or Emerald for Nintendo Switch.
