9 Things You Might Not Know About The Switch 2

One of Nintendo’s most bizarre but beloved peripherals ever is making a comeback. A limited supply of modern GameCube controllers will be available for the Switch 2 which is adding games like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and F-Zero GX to its Switch Online Expansion Pack subscription. Yay! But Nintendo also clarified that “the controller is only compatible with Nintendo GameCube: Nintendo Classics.” Boo!

However, the company also had a similar disclaimer for the NES and N64 controller re-issues on the current console, which did work with some Switch games. So it’s still possible you might be able to play Mario Kart World or, more importantly, the next Smash Bros. with the GameCube controller, it’s just not something Nintendo is committing to across the board.

Update 4/23/25 4:14 p.m. ET: Nintendo sent Polygon a statement basically saying it won’t necessarily not work with other games on the Switch 2 but the company’s making no promises: “Since it doesn’t have all the buttons and features found in other controllers that can be used with the Nintendo Switch 2 system, there may be some issues when playing other games,” the company wrote. —EG