(Design: Lily Yeh | Image Credit: Nintendo)
New games, crisp resolutions, and high frame rates are good reasons to be excited about the Nintendo Switch 2, but they aren't the only aspects of the upcoming console that interest me. With a subscription to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, the console is getting a feature I've wanted since the Wii U days: GameCube games. I sampled several retro classics at Nintendo's Switch 2 launch event and enjoyed my time with them. However, that wasn't enough to overlook the elephant in the room regarding retro gaming on the Switch 2: There are better emulation options elsewhere for playing GameCube games, namely Dolphin.
F-Zero GX and Soul Calibur 2 Play Well, Show Their Age
Let's start with the positives. There were four GameCube games available to play at the Switch 2 event: F-Zero GX, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Soul Calibur 2, and Super Mario Strikers. I fired up F-Zero GX and Soul Calibur 2 because they're generational favorites of mine. Plus, their genres (racing for the former, fighting for the latter) are great ways to analyze graphical smoothness.
The good news is that F-Zero GX and Soul Calibur ran well on the Switch 2. I couldn't confirm their rendering resolutions or frame rates, but they featured fluid action. They're emulated, like Nintendo 64 games on the original Switch.
However, F-Zero GX and Soul Calibur's textures are the same as on the GameCube, a console with a much lower resolution than the Switch 2. As a result, I saw big pixels and slight blurriness running across flat surfaces. It made their interface elements, such as meters or text, pretty crunchy.
F-Zero GX 's spaceship-like racers and the wildly winding roads looked sharp, but their textures, icons, and clocks were soft. On the bright side, the races were too fast to dwell on the in-game textures.
Soul Calibur 2, on the other hand, was visually rougher, especially the textures in Link’s green tunic and the stone and grass decorating the ground. The stylized fantasy text suffered from pixelation, too.
Neither game appeared worse than it did on the GameCube. Still, they were a big departure from the platform-specific exclusive games (Donkey Kong Bananza, Mario Kart World) and Switch 2 Edition titles I played at the event. It was the same dissonance you get when you tune into a standard-definition news channel on your 4K TV and the text at the bottom of the screen is much softer than whatever you previously viewed.
The Dolphin Emulator Is GameCube at Its Best
There are better ways to play GameCube games if you are open to methods Nintendo doesn't approve of. The Dolphin emulator is almost as old as the GameCube itself, sees regular updates, and works on a wide range of PCs, phones, and non-Nintendo gaming handhelds. Playing GameCube games at 4K and 60fps or higher is a pretty light lift for computers with any amount of processing power. If you connect a USB optical drive, you can even run original GameCube discs.
It’s a superior experience in terms of options because it has options. Dolphin offers 4K upscaling, texture replacement, online play, widescreen display options, spatial anti-aliasing, and much more.
Yes, the various Nintendo Switch Online game collections are convenient. Still, none offer user-customizable tweaks to determine performance, texture filtering, control mapping, hotkeys, or anything else that lets you control how these classic games play. The GameCube app I tried on the Switch 2 might not have been a final version, but I will be shocked if it has a fraction of Dolphin's settings.
Admittedly, emulation has its share of ethical issues and requires more technical expertise than tapping a few buttons on a Switch 2 controller. Yet, I don't see how the Switch 2’s GameCube library could offer a better experience for anyone willing to traverse those factors. In fact, the Switch 2's GameCube emulation should take inspiration from Dolphin. The emulator makes GameCube games better.
(Credit: Nintendo)GameCube on the Switch 2 Beats No GameCube at All
GameCube games on the Switch 2 are a positive addition, just like every other retro game library. If you don't want to deal with the murkiness of emulating games, it's an easy and simple way to play these classics for $50 per year with Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack. For all of the games you get, plus additional bonuses, that's pretty reasonable.
Like I said, GameCube games don't feel bad on the Switch 2; I just know what they could be. The interface and options aren't nearly as robust as Dolphin's, which probably won't change, considering it's the case with every other Nintendo Switch Online title. Still, GameCube Classics are a good way to play retro games on the Switch 2.