GameCube / Metroid Prime
Image: Nintendo Life

Metroid Prime Remastered brings the GameCube classic to Switch in fine fashion. Retro Studios, with the help of multiple additional developers, has updated the original game significantly for the Switch, implementing revamped visuals, an expanded gallery features, and multiple new control options.

Of course, one of these control options allows you to effectively replicate the original 'Classic' GameCube controls on Switch with Joy-Con or a Switch Pro Controller. But what if you wanted to go all the way and use an actual GameCube pad with Metroid Prime Remastered? Could you really do it?

Well, the good news is, yes, you absolutely can. With a few minor tweaks via the in-game settings, mind! Metroid Prime Remastered doesn't have native support for GameCube controllers, but it's possible to replicate the original controls quite closely if you have the requisite pad and adapter.

In this guide, we'll take you through the steps needed to replicate GameCube controls as close as possible in Metroid Prime Remastered.

How to use a GameCube pad with Metroid Prime Remastered on Switch

Regardless of which GameCube pad you use — whether it's an official one with an adapter or a third-party effort — you'll need to pop into the game's settings and tweak a couple of things to make the controls feel truly authentic to the original.

The good news is that the majority of button mapping is pretty much spot on, so there's not a great deal here that needs altering.

Note: If you have an official GameCube pad and an adapter, you will need to follow the below steps with the Joy-Con / Pro Controller before swapping over to the GameCube pad.

  • First off, head into the in-game settings. To do this, press 'Select / -" during gameplay to bring up the Inventory Screen. Then press 'L' to open up the Options menu.
  • Next, select the 'Controls' option and move the analogue stick right until you choose the 'Classic' setup. This is the basic foundation of the GameCube controls.
  • You'll see some additional options on the right-hand side. You'll want to scroll down these until you find 'Swap X and Y Inputs'. Flip this to 'On'. This will mean that the morph ball is now mapped to 'X', and the missiles to 'Y', just like the original.
  • Next, go down to the option 'Original Map Button' and select 'ZR' - this will now allow you to open the map screen by either pressing 'Start/Pause' or the 'Z' button on the GameCube pad.
  • In terms of aiming inversion, the game is exactly the same as the original. Movement is not inverted, but aiming in place with 'R' is on the Y axis. Nevertheless, you can change this if you wish.

Now, the main problem you'll run into with this is that there is no '-' button on the official GameCube pad, which is exactly what we needed to access the Inventory Screen and Options menu in the first place. You could maybe mess around with the button mapping at a system level to change the 'Start/Pause' button to '-', but then doing that will also change 'Z' at the same time, so why bother?

Those with third-party pads may find that all the required buttons are in fact present, so if that's the case, you should be fine. Those with official pads, however, will want to just swap over to the Joy-Con / Pro Controller if you need to head back into the Options menu for whatever reason.

Is it perfect? No, but it's probably the closest you're going to get to how the original played!

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Metroid Prime Remastered
Metroid Prime Remastered
Metroid Prime Remastered
Metroid Prime Remastered

Let us know in the comments how you get on using a GameCube pad with Metroid Prime Remastered, and what you think of the remaster.