Nintendo announces Gamecube Controller Adapter for Wii U

Today Nintendo released the "Players Announced" video for their Smash Invitational. At the end of the video, Nintendo showed off the Gamecube controller adapter for Wii U. It is a USB 2.0 adapter that uses the front two USB ports (or back USB ports) and has 4 GC controller ports. I'm very happy that Nintendo did this. This could also mean a Gamecube VC could happen as well.

This is something I'll definitely get. The GC controller is one of my favorite from across all platforms.

Now I hope that there's a patch in a near future for GC games to work on the Wii U. Or at least re-release a bunch of them on the eShop.

Yeah, that's some nextgen action right there.

OMG OMG OMG. If they do a Gamecube Virtual Console, I'd be so happy. Re-releases of some of my favorite games would be dope.

As much as I enjoy this, I don't understand why it needs two USB ports.

I think this is dumb. But hey it's nice Nintendo is giving players the option.

I want an N64 controller adapter. That's the only way to play Smash Bros. GameCube controller always looked and felt like a horrible abomination of the N64 one, which was already pretty freaky to begin with.

While I liked the GC controller, I think I'm going to try playing with the Wii U Pro controller. It's been so long since I've used the GC controller.

That's a pretty cool product though.

Decent controller, feels good in the hands but has a garbage d-pad and a terrible second analog stick. One day people will just have to let go of this thing (I think Smash is the only reason nintendo gives up and just gives it to people).

Honestly, they knew people would wanna use GC controllers for smash. They should have just put GC ports on the system like they did with the Wii. It's good that people have the option to use their old controllers, but it's too bad that they have to pay extra money to Nintendo for the privilege.

My guess is power.

Kind of funny that you can use the GC controller, but you can't play GC games.

There's also the possibility that this hardware announcement may lead into an announcement regarding a GameCube Virtual Console lineup.

I realize it's not released yet, but do you guys think there's any chance the GCN controllers could work for other games on the Wii U (Mario Kart 8, Bayonetta, etc)?

Also, if the console is put in Wii mode, would the GCN controller theoretically work for Wii games (Smash Bros Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, etc)?

@aidros: I think it's fairly unlikely that you'll be able to play many other Wii U games with the GameCube controller, mainly because they would have to program that compatibility into the game, and I don't see many developers doing that.

As for playing games in Wii mode, if they worked with a GameCube controller originally (like Smash Bros. Brawl) I imagine it would work, although until it's out we won't know for certain.

Both are very unlikely. Especially support for games that already came out before the adapter. They won't go back in to patch in support. This is entirely a thing for the hardcore Smash players since it doubles as their version of an arcade stick for that game with it being wired and thus having no latency as well as a familiar and ideal layout for that one game.

Similarly, Wii Mode won't benefit from it either since Wii Mode doesn't know what anything is that isn't a Wii-peripheral and since the adapter connects via USB ports, there's no chance of tricking the Wii into thinking it's talking to the GCN ports on the original Wii. Unless they of course issue a firmware update to address this which would ultimately be a waste of resources since that has very limited appeal for a super niche audience.

Don't expect anything more out of this than a nice gesture for hardcore Smash players.

@def:

You think the fan community will take that over, then? Or has Wii U modding not reached the level that Wii modding has been at for some time?

Of course not. The thing is barely 1.5 years old! The only thing that was managed so far was the ability to hack games. The only thing I see happening is Wii Mode getting homebrew support for the adapter but then why not just buy the regular old Wiimote+USB adapters that are already a thing.

@def:

I was thinking more along the lines of hacking GameCube controller support into WiiU games. The most difficult part I can imagine would be hacking the games to accept USB controller support. After that, it would just be a simple act of telling the game which inputs to accept. (I imagine.)

I think that day is still very very far away. The one hack that exists right now isn't even widely accessible at the moment since the hackers don't want to enable piracy & cheating and just use it themselves to make custom MK8 tracks/settings.

Ask again in a year or two maybe. I just don't see it happening or even why it would need to be there. Especially since you'd need to be able to remap buttons in many games.

I want it! Aaaagh! :D