The Nintendo 3DS eShop finally launched today, and one of the first things I downloaded, besides the free Pokédex and Excitebike 3D, was Super Mario Land for the original Game Boy.

At first glance, the emulator feels and looks a bit undercooked. The game launches directly to the title screen, so there is no classic Nintendo logo loading screen, and you cannot alter the colours of the game like you could on the Game Boy Color.

However, after consulting the games operation manual, I discovered some nifty additions that are just plain cool. One was surprising, in that they went further than they probably had to.

First, much like original Nintendo DS titles, you can choose to launch the game in its original resolution by holding Start and Select while the game is loading. When I read this, I assumed that it would be a tiny picture on a black screen. It turns out though, that the game screen has a classic Game Boy border around it. So it looks as though you are looking at a Game Boy. The 3D effect also makes it look like the screen is set back a little bit, providing another neat effect that looks like you actually playing the game on a Game Boy. Additionally, the battery light on the Game Boy on the top screen will blink when the system is actually low on batteries.

The other cool addition, is that by holding L and R and tapping the Y button, you can turn on the Game Boy green screen tinge for even more nostalgia.

As we have come to expect with Nintendo’s Virtual Console service, the emulation is excellent and runs perfectly. The game image running at the full screen resolution of the 3DS looks a tiny bit soft, but it shows an improvement when viewing the game at its proper resolution, although it is quite small to look at.

It is now also possible to create a permanent save state, so now you can save your game anywhere you want and return to over and over again.

Overall the 3DS Virtual Gameboy seems to be an excellent emulator, with some cool extra features.