GameCube games have been confirmed to be heading to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack on Switch 2. We suspected that this might be the case, as we previously reported on the rumors about GameCube games coming to Nintendo Switch Online, and in today’s Switch 2 Nintendo Direct presentation, Nintendo did indeed confirm that GameCube games would be joining the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service on the day that the Switch 2 launches, which has now been confirmed as June 5th 2025.
There have been just three GameCube games confirmed to be joining Switch Online when GameCube makes its debut on the service on Switch 2. These are: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, F-Zero GX, and Soul Calibur II, the GameCube version of which notably features Link as an exclusive fighter.
Nintendo have also promised that the GameCube games on Switch Online will benefit from improved image quality, and higher resolution graphics than those offered by the original GameCube console.
The GameCube was originally released by Nintendo back in 2001, and it joins Nintendo’s earlier consoles which already have a selection of games on the Switch Online service, namely NES, Game Boy, SNES, Game Boy Color, Nintendo 64, and Game Boy Advance, along with the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. Hopefully we’ll see Wii games on the service someday, perhaps a little later in the Switch 2’s life cycle?
Nintendo will also be launching a GameCube controller for Switch 2 on the same day, which, as per Nintendo’s previous Switch retro controllers, will only be available directly from Nintendo, and will only be on sale to subscribers to the Nintendo Switch Online service. This new GameCube-style controller will feature a Switch 2-specific addition in the form of the new C button, which gives access to to the Switch 2’s new chat functions.
