In another bullshit move by Nintendo this time around.

Initially. Still annoying but title is misleading.
I need a fucking online subscription to buy a controller???
That’s been standard for the switch retro controller releases. And yes it’s been bullshit the entire time. I would have liked an N64 one.
But you don’t have the sub (cheap when sharing a family pack) so you can’t play the N64 games anyway.
How I can’t play N64 games without a subscription? 🏴☠️
Because you need it to play them on Switch.
unless you stumble on a brick, fall down and accidentally install a rp2040 on the switch, then accidentally flash picofly when trying to understand what’s going on
Yes, it’s the same for their other classic controllers.
A controller that is useful only when you have that online subscription to play the back catalogue, yes.
Well that got me all worked up for no reason, didn’t it.
Thanks for the clarification.
COME ON, OP!
Lol yeah. It makes sense. You don’t want your peripheral for the console to sell out to buyers that just want to use it for emulation.
Does it make sense? Emulation is going to happen one way or another. If Nintendo sold a GC controller that is PC compatible, they’d at least make some money from those buyers.
It will. But for the first run you don’t want people buying the console and paying for the switch GameCube access to have to ability to buy a GC controller. It’s like how for sports teams season ticket holders usually get some first access to buy playoff tickets.
But… I want it for emulation… Any good reliable 3rd party out there?
PowerA did a good wireless one that also had a second Z button on the other side
NYXI Wizard maybe
Or search on Etsy for a refurbished controller and just use an adapter to connect it to PC. Though many sellers only sell Phob GCC. It’s a modded GC controller with a custom motherboard. It uses Hall Effect sensors so the sticks will never ever experience drift. It’s expensive though. Like here is a fancy one for $325 https://sagecustomcontrollers.com/products/phob-gcc
Remember, Nintendo tried to sue a grocery store in Costa Rica. Maybe don’t support them.
Remember Nintendo… please feel free to list the hundred other crappy things they did here.
- Periodically killing mods and fan projects
- going after palworld
- using last-gen hardware in their consoles
- never decreasing prices

Bullshit. They are doing that to cause a fever of pre-orders in the US despite the tariffs. Within a year, they will be on shelves.
Nintendo pulls Switch 2 pre-orders in US over Trump tariffs
Edit: also, these will never be on shelves. They will be a membership exclusive online order regardless, even after the preorder-only window.
Yeah, I saw that, but I read it as they were not doing them on the same date to do a wait-and-see with the Cheeto-faced shitgibbons tariffs.
I believe that’s correct. And as others have pointed out this is likely an anti-scalping measure which changes my view on it.
I do however hope they will keep a good stock of them. Having to be a subscriber is annoying enough but even when I was one I was never able to be quick enough when N64 ones went back in stock.
Yes, Nintendo! Please paywall my nostalgia of the very first game console I ever played! Charge me an exorbitant price during an economic crisis to satisfy my childlike need to regress to a time before I understood what money was!
Lol gimps trying to squeeze as much profit as they can get from the people
I have the version that was made for the OG Switch and the build quality is garbage tier. Developed stick drift in both sticks in less than a month.
Really? I have the Wii U ones and they put up with a lot of abuse. The rubber on some sticks have completely deteriorated but they still input accurately.
It’s honestly what’s made me so bitter about the Joy Cons.
Totally, my white Wii U one turned to SNES-Yellow overnight lol First the bottom half, just overnight, then two weeks later the top half.
Still going strong after 4500 hours of smashing
sure i’ll only buy my contollers for nintendo consoles from 8bitdo from now on. good idea, nintendo.
I guess they don’t want your money if you’re not buying the switch. Strange move, but I guess it’s their prerogative to alienate more consumers.
or if you can’t afford it when you get the console.
It’s just the first batch, calm down…
The Nintendo GameCube (GCN) Controller – Nintendo Classics will be exclusively available for Nintendo Switch Online members and will initially only be offered to those invited to pre-order a Nintendo Switch 2 console
Does this suggest I can buy it later or am I going to have to pay scalper price if I want it?
I think you can buy it later. They still sell all the NES, SNES and N64 controllers on their website.
I think you’ll always need NSO sub if buying directly from Nintendo, but pre-order rule only seems to be because of scalpers, so that only those who can actually use it, buy it.
Gross.
Fuck literally everything about this launch.
Nintendo is just dedicated to shooting themselves in the foot as hard as possible with this launch aren’t they?













