The launch of Switch 2 brings with it a selection of retro GameCube games for subscribers to the Nintendo Switch Online service. As it did for the NES, SNES, N64, and even Sega Genesis/Mega Drive when games from those platforms joined the library, Nintendo has released a perfect recreation of the original controller, allowing you to play those classic games as authentically as possible.
For anyone who was gaming when the GameCube was first around, it’s slightly surreal to now have a perfect recreation of the original controller that’s wireless but not the bulkier WaveBird model. It’s no bad thing, though, and decades-old muscle memory will soon kick in. Younger players might find the unusually-shaped controller odd at first, with its tiny nub of a C-Stick and its chunky, rounded shoulder triggers, but after a few laps of F-Zero GX, you soon realize how perfectly tailored the controller was for its games.
For the modern update, Nintendo has tweaked the design slightly, incorporating controls specific to the Switch 2–namely the Home, screen capture, and C buttons—at the top of the pad, and added a tiny new ZL button on the left-hand shoulder. That helps make this GameCube pad broadly compatible with some modern Switch and Switch 2 games, though not a perfect match—the Start button here mimics the Switch 2’s plus (+) button, there’s nothing to replicate the minus (-) button, and it lacks newer features such as clickable thumbsticks.
However, availability is a problem for this controller. It’s only available directly from Nintendo’s online store, can only be purchased if you have an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription, and is limited to one unit per account in the US, but two per account in the UK.