Best Nintendo Switch 2 Controllers (2025), Tested and Reviewed

The launch of the Switch 2 brings with it a selection of retro GameCube games for subscribers to the Nintendo Switch Online service. As was the case for the NES, SNES, N64 and even the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive when games for those platforms were added to the library, Nintendo has released a perfect recreation of the original controller, allowing you to play those classic games as authentically as possible.

For anyone who was gaming when the GameCube first came out, it’s a little unrealistic to now get a perfect recreation of the original controller that’s wireless but No Heavy Wavebird model. However, this is not a bad thing, and decades-old muscle memory will soon surface. Young players may find the controller’s unusually shaped controller odd at first, with its small nub on the C-stick and its thick, rounded shoulder triggers, but after a few tries F-Zero GXYou’ll soon realize how precisely the controller was designed for its games.

For the modern update, Nintendo has tweaked the design slightly, adding specific controls for the Switch 2—namely Home, Screen Capture, and the C button—on the top of the pad, and adding a small new ZL button on the left hand shoulder. This helps make this GameCube pad broadly compatible with some modern Switch and Switch 2 games, though it’s not a perfect match – the Start button here mimics the Switch 2’s plus (+) button, there’s nothing to replicate the minus (-) button, and it lacks new features like clickable thumbsticks.

However, availability is an issue for this controller. It is only available directly from Nintendo’s online store, can only be purchased if you have an active Nintendo Switch Online subscription, and is limited to one unit per account in the US, but two units per account in the UK.