Switch support for GameCube controllers reignites Virtual Console, Smash Bros. hopes

The version 4.0.0 update for Nintendo Switch added a lot of surprising things, and chief among those is GameCube controller support. We can now hook up the GameCube controller adapter for Wii U to our Switch consoles to use the fan-favorite peripheral — which is now compatible with four straight Nintendo home consoles in a row, it should be said. And where there’s a console that supports the GameCube controller, you better believe there’s a mass of people hoping that this means Virtual Console or Super Smash Bros. news is on the way.

Last December, reports swirled that the Switch would introduce GameCube games to the Virtual Console library. Nintendo’s 2001 console continues to be a favorite, thanks to games like Animal Crossing, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Super Smash Bros. Melee. Smash Bros. for GameCube is still huge in fighting game circles, and the GameCube controller is the preferred way to play it and its sequels — which is why there’s a GameCube controller adapter for Wii U in the first place.

But Nintendo hasn’t said anything about a new Super Smash Bros. for Switch, and it has yet to confirm those Virtual Console rumors. (The Switch doesn’t have a Virtual Console of any kind yet.) Adding in support for the beloved GameCube controller is an encouraging first step, however — one that Nintendo may even have hinted to back in February.

When asked whether the Switch would support GameCube games in an interview, deputy general manager Yoshiaki Koizumi gave the usual “nothing to discuss” company line. But he did say one thing that got some attention.

“What I can tell you is that we are working on things that go in that direction,” Koizumi said, referencing a potential Switch-GameCube connection.

It seems like controller support could be just that, although it only has fans even more convinced that a Switch Virtual Console or a new Super Smash Bros. is in the works. A brief scroll through Twitter or Reddit threads about the update confirms as much.

We’d be happy if either one were true — and now that our favorite controller works with the system, we’re already part of the way there.