Nintendo’s will answer the hopes of a lot of gamer’s by featuring GameCube titles on the Switch virtual console, along with multiple other systems.
Multiple sources have confirmed to Eurogamer that there will be a small handful of games (and honestly, some of the more popular) games will be ready for the Nintendo Switch launch in March 2017. The Gamecube titles available digitally on the Virtual Console for the switch includes Super Mario Sunshine, Animal Crossing, Luigi’s Mansion (one of the GC’s own launch games) and finally Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Emily Rogers, who has been notorious for leaks on Nintendo’s upcoming console also added “I heard good things about Switch virtual console. Step in the right direction. Nintendo is listening to criticisms about Wii U emulation.”
Unfortunately, the Switch will not feature backward compatibility with either the Wii U (which is understandable due to lack of a disk drive) or Nintendo 3DS games, making the companies Virtual Console the only option for player’s wishing to dip their toes into the older catalog of games from the company.
From a personal perspective, I’m glad Nintendo are giving the cube some love – and with any luck, we’ll see other titles appear on Switches virtual console, including the fantastic Metroid Prime (honestly one of the best titles on the system, and stands up even today as an excellent game).
One can only assume Nintendo will continue to push a robust back catalog of games from their older systems, such as the NES, SNES, N64 and possibly, even more, Wii and 3DS games.