GameCube Classics on Switch 2
Nintendo
The Nintendo Switch 2 is officially out as of today, but I was able to secure a pre-order and pick mine up physically last night from GameStop. I then stayed up way too late playing a bunch of different games including Mario Kart World, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Switch 2 Edition, Street Fighter 6 on Switch 2, and several others, but what actually excited me the most was the small collection of GameCube games added to the Nintendo Switch Online Classics subscription.
When the Switch 2 was revealed, Nintendo announced they’d be adding the Nintendo GameCube to the Nintendo Classics lineup with The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Soulcalibur 2, and F-ZERO GX kicking off the library. They also confirmed Super Mario Sunshine, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, Super Mario Strikers, Chibi-Robo! Plug Into Adventure, Luigi’s Mansion, and Pokémon Colosseum are all coming up as well.
The ability to play these sorts of games with built-in save states, amazing upscaled visuals, online multiplayer, and butter smooth framerate on a brand-new hybrid console from Nintendo is nothing short of spectacular. It’s hard for me to overstate just how monumental this feels as someone born in 1990 who grew up playing these three games, and many others, very specifically as an early teen.
Since the Nintendo GameCube was a huge part of my gaming background, I’m extremely excited about the potential here. I even made a list of 13 GameCube games I think would be excellent additions to this library. Fingers crossed Nintendo sees this, right?
Naturally, I tried all three of the GameCube games on offer so far and came away extremely impressed. Let’s talk about it.
Soulcalibur 2 on Switch 2
Bandai Namco
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Soulcalibur 2 on Nintendo Switch 2
This was the big one for me. Soulcalibur 2 is one of the few fighting games I ever really got into growing up and that’s almost entirely because of Link’s guest appearance. I’m happy to report this game still absolutely rocks.
The first thing I did was clear the Arcade mode as Link and thankfully the command list in the pause menu explains all the moves well enough. Eventually, the muscle memory started coming back to me. But what I always loved about Soulcalibur 2 are the other modes beyond basic Arcade, specifically Weapon Master.
In the Weapon Master mode, you complete specific challenges that have a bit of light narrative setup around them in order to earn cash to spend on unlocking new weapons for characters. You can then take these new weapons into the Extra Arcade mode and other game modes to alter their fighting style. Link gets access to the Razor Sword from Majora’s Mask, a bug catching net, and so much more which all have different reach, attack, and defensive properties. Collecting all the weapons is a blast.
Add on excellent online multiplayer now via the Nintendo Classics infrastructure and you have one of my favorite games ported to a new platform with better visuals and new features. Can’t go wrong there!
F-ZERO GX on Switch 2
Nintendo
F-ZERO GX on Nintendo Switch 2
I’ve never been the biggest F-Zero fan, but I do appreciate what it tries to accomplish. Personally, I usually prefer combat racing like WipEout and Mario Kart, or even the criminally underrated Blur, but F-Zero is still fun for the pure sense of blistering speed and killer music.
The GameCube version of F-Zero here is one of the fastest and most difficult racing games I’ve ever tried to play and that still holds true over two decades later. Multiplayer works great, even though it’s of course split screen even online here, and it’s a blast to just try out for a while with a friend. There are tons of characters / ships to unlock so there’s plenty of content.
F-Zero GX on Switch 2 is a game that basically feels like it just got remastered with little fanfare. Framerate is smooth, resolution is crisp, and everything just looks, sounds, and plays phenomenally. You definitely need to check this one out.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker on Switch 2
Nintendo
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker on Nintendo Switch 2
Now this is probably the one people are most excited about and that’s for good reason. Since this is the GameCube original version, however, that means you won’t get the quality of life improvements found in the Wii U HD remake or widescreen support, but the tradeoff there is you retain the original art style without the added bloom effects injected into the HD version.
Personally, I prefer the visual style of the original more. It’s cleaner and less busy looking with a really distinct aesthetic. Zero complaints here.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker probably has my favorite video game soundtrack of all-time and it’s one of the best games in the entire Zelda franchise. I really hope more people get a chance to play it this way and the inclusion of things like save states will make it even better of course.
Say what you want about the drawbacks of games locked behind subscription services—I largely agree with the criticisms and would prefer to just buy them individually—but I love that Nintendo is preserving their legacy here.
It’s no secret that the Switch 2 doesn’t have a huge selection of new games to pick from at launch. But what it does of are three of the best games from the early 2000s, upgraded, and easily accessible for a small subscription and that’s amazing to me.
