How To Connect A GameCube Controller To Your Nintendo Switch – SlashGear

Do you still have your original GameCube controller from the early 2000s, carefully cared for against the strains of time? Or do you perhaps have a more recently manufactured GameCube controller, such as the controller released at the same time as “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate?” Either way, while the original GameCube’s connector isn’t natively compatible with the Nintendo Switch, it is possible to circumvent that limitation with the right add-on.

Nintendo sells an official $70 GameCube to USB adapter plug that you can use to plug up to four wired GameCube controllers into a Nintendo Switch. Once plugged in, the GameCube controllers are recognized by the Switch as generic USB controllers, allowing you to customize button layouts freely. You can even use the rumble features, albeit only in supported games like “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.” Once you have an adapter, here’s how to use it.

1. Turn on your Nintendo Switch in TV mode.
2. Connect both of the adapter’s USB plugs into the two USB ports on the side of your Switch dock.
3. Connect the GameCube controller to one of the open GameCube ports on the adapter.
4. Press any button on the GameCube controller to activate it.

Once the controller is on, you can play with it in compatible games. The only rule here is that the adapter needs to be plugged into the Switch dock, which means you can’t use GameCube controllers in handheld mode.