One of the things that made me emotionally happy (and yes, you can laugh at it if you want) was the reveal of the GameCube titles coming to the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack on the Nintendo Switch 2. The GameCube was the first console I bought with my own money, and it left the most significant mark on my early years growing up with Nintendo. Don’t get me wrong, I started with the NES, SNES, and later N64 when it was released back in the day, but the anticipation of the release, playing Smash Bros in store on demo consoles those are very vivid memories on my part. So fast forward to the Nintendo Switch Experience in Amsterdam, and there it was; the Nintendo Switch 2, packed with four games from the GameCube line-up… I couldn’t believe it.
We could test two games in the given timeslot, but lucky for us, we were there when the other booths were a bit busier, so we snuck in another game at the end of our slot. I’ll walk you through all three, but if you are here for my thoughts on Mario Strikers, sorry, we couldn’t test it during our experience in Amsterdam. So, let’s dive into the games we did test!
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is my favorite Zelda mainline title ever, and I wrote a whole Talking Point about it already, so head there before continuing this story. So when the young guy at the booth handed me the reworked Nintendo GameCube controller, all things from earlier playthroughs instantly clicked. The demo required me to locate a certain person of interest in the woods, and while he was trying to explain the controls, I was jumping towards rupees across the water and hunting down piglets for the first of many small side quests on the island. It felt terrific to replay this game in its full glory, might I say, upscaled? – glory. No, it isn’t the HD version of the Wii U, which I sadly never got to play, but the game felt and looked amazing. Nothing like a GameCube game, to be honest. The GameCube controller felt light and easy to handle, so I navigated my character towards the woods after securing some pigs for the villager. With some handy footwork and sword action, I finished the enemies in the first, and the Nintendo booth employee looked at me like I had done something amazing. When I explained that this game is hardwired into my brain to a creepy degree, he understood why some younger people who played today had some adjusting issues with the controls. I can’t wait to dive back into the cell-shaded Zelda world and listen to the fantastic soundtrack of The Wind Waker (like, they don’t make them like Dragon Roost Island anymore).
Soul Calibur II
In my book, Soul Calibur was the meaner brother to Super Smash Bros. It was a very in-depth fighting game with complex mechanics and adult-looking characters—oh, and Link from the Legend of Zelda. Combos were not easy to make, and the solo story mode made me ragequit quite a few times when I was younger, however, when I booted up this game to battle it out with Lander, another memory unlocked of playing this game with friends over the weekend. Locking ourselves in battles with Voldo, Nightmare, Link, Ivy, and many more. Due to it being the demo version on play, we could only play the VS battle mode, where we duked it out between my favorite, Nightmare, and Lander’s favorite, Link. I got my ass kicked quite a bit by Lander, even though the health settings were off. So there certainly is room for improvement on my part. However, just as with Zelda, the game looked amazing, a bit more aged, especially for a Soul Calibur game already on its sixth installment, and working on its seventh! Controls felt smooth, and combos were still as complicated as when the game was initially released on GameCube. I can’t wait to dive into the solo mode and tackle the challenges and battles ahead – maybe I can finally unlock that secret stuff we always thought was hidden inside this game.
F-Zero GX
F-Zero is a game with an almost cult following of gamers who love to have another installment off, especially since the Falcon himself pops up in other Nintendo Games. Sadly, there hasn’t been a new Captain Falcon title since 2004, with the last mainline title releasing on the Game Boy Advance. And yes, I know – the F-Zero 99 game was released for the Nintendo Switch on September 14, 2023, following its announcement in a Nintendo Direct the same day. The game is a battle royale remake of the original F-Zero, taking inspiration from Tetris 99 and Pac-Man 99, having 99 racers on the track at once. The game is free on the eShop but requires a Nintendo Switch Online subscription, and still doesn’t feel like a mainline title.
Due to it being a demo version again, we could only access the VS mode, but it’s good to mention that F-Zero GX is the first F-Zero game to feature a story mode. Its story has the player assume the role of F-Zero pilot Captain Falcon in nine chapters of various racing scenarios, such as Falcon’s training regimen, a race against a rival through a canyon with falling boulders, attacking and eliminating a rival’s gang, and escaping from a collapsing building through closing blast doors. Each chapter can be completed in a normal, hard, and challenging setting, so I look forward to blasting my way through that one. That said, I also got blasted by Captain Lander, the Blue Falcon himself, who gave me the afterburners to look at while cruising through the beautiful game F-Zero. Again, a smooth version of the original game with potential to capture a whole new fanbase, which could be enough to show Nintendo that not only F-Zero’s creator and the fanbase want a new game, but the latest generation wants a new, Switch 2 base-made F-Zero game as well.
