Nintendo Switch 2 GameCube Controller Only Works with GameCube Games - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 09 April 2025 / 4,293 Views
Nintendo last week announced Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics will be available exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 2 on launch day, June 5 alongside a new GameCube wireless controller.
A new video posted by Nintendo UK (and spotted by VideoGamesChronicle) states "the controller is only compatible with Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics."
It should be noted Nintendo has made similar claims in the past with retro controller, however, they ended up working with other Switch games.
The games available on day one for the Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics includes The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, SoulCalibur 2, and F-Zero GX.
Other games that were showcased in the reveal trailer includes Super Mario Sunshine, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, Super Mario Strikers, Chibi-Robo, Luigi’s Mansion, and Pokémon Colosseum. It isn't known when these games will be added.
A Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership will be required in order to play Nintendo GameCube games.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Bluesky.
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Whatever Nintendo says, Steam will likely natively support this controller just as it supports current gen Switch controllers.
Would be incredibly dumb if true. Why would they have bothered adding all the extra buttons (ZL, Home, C etc) the only gameplay thing it might be missing that the pro controller has is motion.
I'm guessing it works just fine with some other titles, but maybe not all. Like the article said, Nintendo has said the same about the NES/SNES/N64 Classic Controllers as well. But depending on the game, and like which buttons it actually uses, they work just fine with Switch titles.
So a controller that only works with 3 games at launch? What the hell Nintendo?!
All Nintendo virtual consoles controllers say the same thing but in reality they all can be use on every Switch game even the N64 controller.
Why didn't they just make it a Pro Controller with a GC shape? If it doesn't have the gyro and the extra buttons, I'd be severely disappointed.
Hopefully this isn't true.
we only went to the moon over 50 years ago, there is no way they could make his controller work for all games!
Is not true.
My guess is they are disabling it because of its wonky button configuration and people complaining about it on the Wii. Many compatible games (such as those on VC) were designed with ability to combine the face buttons with ease, but on Gamecube the big green button blocked combos.
Not to mention, many of the games that actually did get ported to Gamecube were redesigned with compromises to work with the controller. SSX Tricky, for example, had tricks modified or removed, so it had fewer tricks than the Xbox or PS2 version because of the button configuration. D-pad and Z-trigger had size and placement issues as well, so native gamecube games didn’t tend to use them as regular parts of their controls (and those few that did were annoying).
I say give people the option, but slap a warning onto it saying “not designed to work with games outside of the Gamecube library” to mitigate some of the complaints. That way they have no grounds to complain.
That makes no sense. Why bother selling a modern controller if it's only going to work with a portion of the games? I understand the newer NES-SNES-N64 controllers because they are retro throwbacks and don't have all the parts modern controllers do. The GC controllers do have them, so why slap an arbitrary restriction to it? Especially considering the thing is for sure going to be quite expensive, might as well work with everything.
You’re straw manning my post. You’re not responding to anything close to what I said.
No, I did not say there should be restrictions, I said there should no restrictions, but instead include a warning label.
And no, it’s not an arbitrary label, it’s to prevent people from buying it for games that aren’t designed for it, and having a bad experience.
Because no, the Gamecube isn’t a modern controller, it’s a throwback controller with even more limitations than the SNES controller.
First, it lacks a diamond face button configuration.
Second, it lacks L2 and R2 triggers (the Z-button is too small to be sufficient, and there’s only one).
Third, the D-pad is too small to be precise.
For these reasons, most 2D games are frustrating to play on Gamecube - as was evident on the Wii Virtual Console. It didn’t allow for enough button combinations for even launch period games to work correctly. And games that were ported to Gamecube, such as SSX Tricky, had their gameplay stripped down because of the shortcoming of the controller against other controllers of its time.
This is why a warning is necessary, to prevent all the whining from Gamecube owners who upgraded to Wii, and were shocked that their controllers were insufficient for many of the virtual console games. The controller is designed for Gamecube games. And if Nintendo is selling it as a new controller, then players will feel ripped off, buying it, expecting to have a good time playing games not designed for it. Anyone buying it for Street Fighter are in for a nasty surprise.
I remember making the mistake of getting THPS3 at launch for the Gamecube instead of my PS2. The reasoning at the time was because the Gamecube was more powerful thus, would make for a better looking version. And while that was true... that d-pad... holy shit. lol I managed to have fun, somehow, in spite of it but oh, the struggle.
okay but wouldn’t it then be a better deal to just purchase the ‘Power A’ GCN controller?
But... But... Then you wouldnt get the C-button lol
...it has nearly every button you would need so I'm not seeing the issue unless its actually locked out from a system level
pretty sure its only missing L3/R3 and gyro?
Noooooo
