The Nintendo GameCube is about to get its due

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is coming successful the Switch 2's GameCube postulation astatine launch.

Before this morning, I knew I was going to bargain the Nintendo Switch 2 but I didn’t cognize when. After watching Nintendo’s Switch 2 Direct today, successful which a purple artifact traced the GameCube’s stylized “G” logo, followed by high-res footage from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and F-Zero GX and an announcement that they’ll beryllium playable astatine launch, I realized I’ll beryllium doing my damndest to get it connected time one. It was the cherry connected apical of a stellar presumption that made the console’s $449.99 terms tag mode easier to swallow.

GameCube games are coming to the Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) subscription’s Classic Game Library feature, which the institution is present shortening to “Nintendo Classics.” It lets you play games from the NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis. Like the Game Boy and Nintendo 64 crippled collections, you’ll request the NSO Expansion Pack for GameCube games. The existing catalog of playable Classic Game Library games is acold from complete, but unneurotic (and combined with DLC for modern Switch games), they marque the Expansion Pack good worthy it.

The subscription gets adjacent much enticing connected the Switch 2, starting earlier the console adjacent comes retired — Nintendo is prioritizing long-time subscribers (with certain caveats) erstwhile it sends retired Switch 2 preorder invites. The Expansion Pack volition besides fto you play the Switch 2 editions of Zelda games Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom (provided you ain their respective Switch 1 versions). 

But the GameCube games are what I’m astir excited about. I’d emotion for the Wii U’s Wind Waker HD to get a Switch re-release, but the GameCube mentation is inactive 1 of the astir beauteous games I’ve ever played and looks large successful Nintendo’s trailer for it. So does F-Zero GX, a crippled with specified well-executed benignant and choky power that I would pit it against immoderate futuristic racer today. The Switch 2 is besides launching with Soul Calibur II, a crippled that featured big Link arsenic a playable quality successful his post-Ocarina of Time fighting-people-for-sport era.

The institution flashed a fewer different re-releases coming down the line, similar Super Mario Strikers and Chibi-Robo!, in the second of which you play a tiny, toothbrush-armed robot tasked with cleaning up a precise messy house. It’s mode much amusive than it sounds, and gives maine anticipation for what Nintendo could announce. There are immoderate excellent, but much obscure gems that ne'er truly leapt beyond the GameCube, similar the creepy, Lovecraft-inspired Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem and Cubivore, in which you play a small, chaotic cube trying to bring colour backmost to the satellite by eating different boxy creatures, winning the accidental to mate, die, and beryllium reborn implicit and implicit again until you’ve go the fittest subsister of them all. 

And each of these volition beryllium playable with a forthcoming wireless recreation of the GameCube controller, arsenic they should be. The GameCube wasn’t an abject failure, but it sold obscurity adjacent arsenic good arsenic the Wii oregon the Switch. There’s nary warrant that the Switch 2 volition support up the income gait acceptable by its predecessor, but adjacent if it manages fractional that console’s sales, it could springiness immoderate games a well-deserved 2nd look.