With the Switch 2’s launch came a new library of games for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, Nintendo finally bringing GameCube games to the subscription service in a way that is honestly pretty great. And with a new generation of console has come a new generation of recreation controller from Nintendo, a thoroughly authentic GameCube controller that’s been updated and kitted out with direct support for the Switch 2 console.
It honestly looks fantastic, a true GameCube controller in all its multi-coloured glory, and with modern innards it can be wireless without a double AA battery bay, and still have a thick rumble motor. Putting it side-by-side with an original controller, the sticks feel nigh on identical in use, there’s the same internal springy twang from the chunky analogue triggers, but there’s also the tightness of a new controller for things like the D-Pad (which is still small and impractical, but slightly less mushy). It’s very nice.
And for the GameCube library that will gradually grow on Switch Online, it’s perfect. It’s things like having analogue triggers for air braking in F-Zero GX, like having the Y button right next to A so you can boost without employing some bizarre claw grip on the Switch 2 Pro Controller (or more likely modifying the button layout in the emulator).
But that’s its one and only real use on Nintendo Switch 2. Perhaps the most disappointing thing with this recreated GameCube controller is that controllers have moved on so much in the last 25 years. There’s a standardised form with triggers and shoulder buttons on both sides, with multiple menu and system buttons, with clicking analogue sticks… and the GameCube controller just cannot keep up without some hefty modification.
Nintendo goes halfway. There’s the Switch Home, Capture and the new C button, as well a sneaky little ZL button, all flush and colour matched on the top side of the controller where you can’t normally see them while playing.
That helps with using the Switch 2 system, but not far enough that this is universally compatible with modern games. So many games use stick clicks these days, and this would absolutely affect how the GameCube sticks feel were it implemented here. More annoying is that there’s no – button, which is so commonly used for a game menu or map alongside the + or Start button. That tiny ZL could easily have been made to match the Z button on the right side, as well. Additionally, outside of games that support a traditional game rumble – namely the Switch Online library and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – the way that HD Rumble is transmitted to controllers is incompatible with this gamepad.
In the end, it’s just as Nintendo said it would be. This is almost exclusively useful for Nintendo Switch Online’s new library of GameCube games, where it will be the best way to play thanks to the quirky face button layout. It’s just less expected when the GameCube pad looks much more like a modern pad, compared to the funky tri-point N64 controller.
And that’s what dramatically shrinks the gamepad’s value, in my opinion. You can find cheap GameCube-like controllers from the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate craze that don’t adhere so strictly to the design and have all the system buttons. Sure, they’re bound to feel cheaper, they’re less accurate to the original design, but they also don’t cost £59, and can be used more properly for more Switch games.