Nintendo Expands Switch 2's GameCube Library With Another Game

I remember this game having some cool pre rendered cut scenes but didn't understand the gameplay as a kid.

Oh man, I've been excited for this one. Never owned it on the GameCube.

My favourite Fire Emblem game, excited to replay it again after finishing FF Tactics.

Never played the GameCube FE game. Perfect time for me to jump into until the new FE game for Switch 2 comes out.

I’ve played through this countless times. Definitely one of my favorite games of all time. I’m excited!

Very nice. Surely nobody can complain about this one.

Hope Radiant Dawn gets some sort of release in the future.

Wow can't wait to dive into this one 😁

About to get the NSO expansion pack I think. Never finished this when I played on dolphin

Finallyyyyy this is the one I’ve been waiting for

@Dee123 someone will absolutely find a way

Excellent!

This and Radiant Dawn need non-online remakes.

I thought it was too good of a coincidence that Nintendo Today! posted the Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance Nintendo Power cover today.

Really excited to see this available, given the Radiance saga (and the Switch games) are the only Fire Emblem games released in the west that I’ve yet to try.

Wait!!! It is available now???

@Dee123 how DARE those money grubbing wretches lock a game behind a $50 paywall when I could easily get a perfectly good physical copy for a much more reasonable $800+ price on eBay

Nintendo more like Nin-GREEDO Iwata would be rolling in his grave at this disgusting sideshow

Nice! Never played this, and probably wouldn't without this opportunity so very pleased to see it added.

@Dee123 this isnt Star Fox Assault, or wave race blue storm or some other complaint im too tired to think of

@N00BiSH sold my mint CIB copy a few years ago.

Option to buy it would be nice.

I wasn't really into the series when this game released and regret not buying it for GCN. Now, if only I could convince my wife to let me upgrade to the NSO expansion.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSS

#IFIGHTFORMYFRIENDS #YOULLGETNOSYMPATHYFROMME #WELIKEIKE

I was just wondering what I should play this weekend. I’m glad I didn’t have to think too long or hard about it.

One of the GC games I've been wanting!

Great to see! An expensive game available on the service

Yeah yeah… Fire Emblem … wake me up when Batallion Wars comes to the GC online 😈😈

I don’t care about fire emblem, but this just means we’re that much closer to the pokemon games!

HECK YES I'll be trying this out!...when I finally grab a Switch 2 and pony up for NSO+. I really do want to play this game, but now is not the time sadly.

This was my first Fire Emblem game, and still remains one of my favourites. In fact, I think only Three Houses has dislodged it from my number one favourite spot. There's something about the Greil Mercenaries that makes them all so endearing.

It's unfortunate that this version won't be able to interface with Radiant Dawn on the Wii, which used the memory card data from Path of Radiance to transfer character stats and stuff to the sequel. For that reason, I still think most hardcore Fire Emblem fans would prefer the GC original. But for fans who can only play on Switch, this is a great addition to the lineup!!

With this release, now we only have pending Mario Sunshine, Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness. One of the Pokémon games most definitely will be released on Pokémon Day or close to it unless TPC is that abbrasive to older content as celebration.

If I owned a Switch 2 I'd be really excited right now.

Honestly the only reason I wanted a Switch 2 in the first place. It's finally here!

@HammerGalladeBro dude that's what I'm hoping, I don't see why they wouldn't

Dope, been waiting for this one. One of the few omissions in my Fire Emblem record so I am very excited to play through.

@IronMan30 I got NSO+ for my kids for Hannukah last minute, $80 for 8 nights worked out to our usual $10/night. Haven't redeemed it yet, or the Kirby Forgotten Land dlc, b/c so much else to play. Still not convinced it's worth $80 but for the family we'll get some use out of it eventually.

Maybe if you start playing Mario Kart or Kirby Air Riders you can convince the missus you need it to play online? $50 solo is still cheaper than PSN or Xbox. Not as good as free PC online though.🤑

Good luck. I'm sure you'll figure it out.👍

Dammit. Now we'll never get a physical Radiance double pack...

Radiant Dawn basically never coming outside of a miracle is a shame, they make a proper duology. They can get Wii working if they try though, I’ve been playing Dolphin with my joy-cons and it works pretty well.

They really need to at some point add an ability to pick and choose which Gamecube games you have installed. The app's already nearly tripled in size since it launched and it still only actually has eight games with a ton of first party stuff not there yet.

Whilst I welcome more GC games this app is getting large fast.....

Drip. Feed.

Where is the value on NSO

The beginning of one of gaming's best duologies.
I'm very excited that people will be playing it for the first time, and see that Ike isn't the one-note character Engage and Heroes make him out to be.

I'm glad there's finally a legal way to play this on a modern Nintendo console. Path of Radiance is a great game, this is one where I'll definitely replay once I got a bit of time.

Call me when it's Wave Race Blue Storm...

@obijuankanoobie I probably only understand Fire Emblem only because I was taught how to play chess as a kid.

lol

@nessisonett after they announced the Virtual Boy stuff for NSO all doubts about whether we’d get DS or Wii on the service vanished. If we are getting something that obscure and requiring extreme solutions (the enclosures) to play DS and Wii shouldn’t be an issue.

On the note of this new game release, I’m a Johnny come lately to Fire Emblem and only started with Awakening so excited to see what all the fuss is about with this one.

One of my favorite games of all time. I do have the original disc but being able to play on TV or handheld and without any special setup will probably draw me into another play of it.

Could never get into the series despite liking the Advance Wars games...wished they would revive that series...Reboot doesn't count. But yeah, can't remember which FE I tried on the Gamecube...it had Ike in it, so...that one? I also tried one on the GBA...but yeah, the games just didn't do it for me...

I completely despise RPG games so I'll be sitting this one out I'm afraid.

Happy for those that are interested though

@Joeynator3000 Fire Emblem games play like actual war, once you lose someone you lose them for good and any story, character development, relationship, future redemption, or what if scenarios that would had happen to them died along with them. This is why completionist who play these games usually replay them several times to get all characters, scenarios, and endings.

@Samalik that's fair I do suck at chess haha

Playing it right now and I love Ike and Mist! Can't wait to get further!

How was this game not reviewed in 2005?

NSO+ can be had for £26 in the UK which is just £9 more than paying for the standard NSO which you need for online play etc. anyway. How anyone can grumble at paying £9 a year for hundreds of classic games, mario kart tracks, AC DLC etc. is beyond me.

@rvcolem1 Yep. This is the comment. 100 percent of the time there is an NSO drop, some one comments/tweets to Nintendo with a 'but what about xxxx?'

If it isn't what they wanted, everyone else be damned. 😒

Anywho, never played a Fire Emblem, not quite sure I will be any good at them! But I am grateful that I get the chance to try now. 😁

Yes! This was one of the games I was waiting for! I never got around to playing this game back in the day. Very excited to try it, finally!

Yeah baby, love this one, played it numerous times and will do so again on the hardest difficulty! 😃

One of the most anticipated ones in my book for sure! Might even dip a toe again regardless of binge queue position. I actually saw the OST news first and couldn't but wonder if that spelled a Classics update proximity.

Also, I bet 100 bucks that Mario Sunshine will be released on NSO on Mario Day (March 10) and a Pokemon stadium game in February.

Excellent news! Had my Switch 2 since launch but not even started up a GC game until now. I've wanted to play this one for years.

I was never able to finish this game. Too much dialogue and little gameplay, sometimes it felt like a visual novel lol.

Glad for those who liked it.

That's an incredible release. Still plenty more to come, as gamecube is just one giant gold mine !

I played this one when I was young, but I might replay it later now ! First I want to finish Chibi Robo, start Paper Mario, and then Minish Cap, before I start this one.

Glad this one makes some people happy, but for me I’d love any of the following. Mario Kart Double Dash (my favorite of the series), Super Smash Bros. Melee, Starfox Assault, Super Mario Sunshine, Twilight Princess, Four Swords Adventures, Paper Mario Thousand Year Door, Starfox Adventures. Wish they released games more often. It’s so slow.

Nice choice.. released before I (we?) discovered fire emblem, so didn't get it for the gamecube then... weird how that works since I was alreqady really into advance wars....

And will be nice for the service, since it has a nice get-in-do-a-battle- suspend and do something else system...

(not to mention it is expensive to buy now)

@Dee123 LOL. LMAO, in fact. Nobody does anything here but complain.

It's finally here! This may have been the announcement from the Switch 2 Direct that got me most pumped.
With the exception of Wind Waker the current lineup is full of all the games I always wanted to try but never did or borrowed and wanted to revisit.

Great choice! One of the better Fire Emblem games out there and the original GC release is very expensive nowadays.

A bit of a bummer that they pushed the sequel to the Wii, coz it'll be a very long time until people can see the conclusion with how slow Nintendo is with adding new generations to NSO v.v

@Ryoma I just realised that Wii will be 20 this year! I feel old!

There's a typo further down the article where Wario World is called "Wario's World." Reading this made me seriously ROFL.

Anyway, a great addition, which I'll start at some point once my backlog clears up a bit.

The most interesting game on NS2 is an emulated GC game.... Simply amazing. Nintendo Switch 2 is such a failure.

So far the Gamecube library doesn't interest me much, despite me buying the controller the second it was open for pre-orders.

Give me Resi 0 (yes I have the Switch version already but want the full controller support/experience) and Rogue Squadron(s)

Never played the GC Fire Emblem games. Hope it lives up to the hype.

I really don‘t get the pacing. Everybody and his mother is into retro gaming right now. Full rom sets on every second retro device.
Meanwhile Nintendo puts out 1 game every other month.

@spiderman0616 I swear some people only set up accounts on here to sow dissent. That "Switch 2 struggling" article, the comment section was drowning in them...and if you check their post histories all they've ever done is cry in here.

And it's another simultaneous release with Nintendo music!! My day just got even better!! 🤎🤎🥰

Loved this game was forst fire emblemi owned and it and Shadow dragon are actually the only two fire emblem games I have actually finished entirely.

@rvcolem1 This isn't Shrek Superslam!!!

@Serpenterror its not that. I'll speak for @Joeynator3000, but as an Advance Wars fan ... I do find quite simplistic the weakness triangle that FE uses. Its soooo basic that it grows quite dull sometimes.
In contrast, Advance Wars is like playing chess. Its waaay more strategic than FE.

Path of Radiance and Shadow Dragon are my favorite FE games, mainly because they're the only two that grabbed me and didn't let go. Very excited to give Path of Radiance another play. Listening to Power-Hungry Fool now on Nintendo Music - one of my go-to Smash Bros FE songs up fight to.

@Dee123
I wish they added it earlier

Come on Nintendo,
Switch 1 owners are still paying for this service.
Where the hell is Wario Land?
Where is Donkey Kong 64?

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!

I loved that era of Fire Emblem. The character designs were so cool even I who don't particularly like tactics loved to play that one.

@foursider
The Wii sequel dude. It's awesome.

@mlt

I have that... I just never really played it. 🫣

Not sure why. In my head it didn't capture me like the other two, but it's very possible I didn't give it a fair shot, or was too busy playing SSBB. 🤪 Sounds like I need to dust it off, and give it the chance it deserves.

@foursider
I liked the plot. It's quite hard though I don't think I'll ever go through a tactics this hard ever again, I'm just not very good at them.
One of the main criticism is that it's mainly more of the same so that might explain why it didn't grab your attention as much. Because of that I would not advice playing both back to back.

I really need to get NSO. I'm a huge fire emblem fan and have wanted to play this.

You know if they put some actual GameCube games people want or better yet put some of the better multiplayer ones I mean the whole point to this is playing it online with others then this could help fill the void of new Switch 2 games, a reason to get it, Mario Kart Double Dash, Smash Bros melee, Prime 4 just came out why not Prime 2? You got goldeneye on n64 why not add Nightfire? The GameCube always had a small library but it's ridiculous how little content Switch 2 offers for it, my phone can play GC fine and I got Sunshine on Switch thanks To 3D All Stars are they really gonna wait till Summer just to add Sunshine to Switch 2 despite the sounds if you got the new GameCube controller and pictures of it in the screen options

@Uncle_Franklin Still say Switch 1 could of done GameCube emulation sure maybe not online but with games like this which are single player there's no reason for it to have online support.

@HolyGeez03 see ya in 2027

So glad I never bought this used on the GameCube. I owned it back in the day and sold it and recently went on a mission to play it again on my Cube, £200 on eBay is wild.

@Uncle_Franklin
Nintendo rep: (Bows deeply) Please consider buying a Switch 2 to enjoy additional titles on your current premium subscription. To get the authentic experience, we recommend buying a GameCube controller accessory for $70.

Heck yea! People say this is one of the best FE games. I’m excited to give it a try.

All in tonight. Always wanted to play this one.

Screw it im resubbing to nso expansion. I always meant to emulate this but I really think I need a push to play through and this’ll do it.

@RoboCube

Probably could have,
though does Switch 2 have more memory to store GameCube games?

@RoboCube

“ put some actual GameCube games people want”

People do want Fire Emblem. It’s quite a rare expensive game to buy the disc now so not feasible for players other than the most hardcore of collectors

“ put some of the better multiplayer ones I mean the whole point to this is playing it online with others”

It’s actually not in regards to NSO. There have been no emphasis for multi player games on NSO since it started.

“ Prime 4 just came out why not Prime 2?”

They would prefer you buy Prime 4.

“ You got goldeneye on n64 why not add Nightfire?”

Gearbox developed Nightfire and EA published it so no relation to Rare’s GoldenEye on N64. Nintendo pushed to get Goldeneye on NSO because it was one of their big name games. Nightfire wasn’t. EA hasn’t shown any interest in supporting the NSO and Nintendo can’t make them or release games on their behalf. Nightfire would fall under regular licensing issues. Nintendo was willing to pay the license fee for GoldenEye but that doesn’t open up the license to everyone else.

“ The GameCube always had a small library but it's ridiculous how little content Switch 2 offers for it”

It’s still relatively a new addition and they aren’t going to drop a lot of games in rapid succession due to how large the games are. The NES has had seven games in one day, but don’t expect the same for Gamecube which is about one a month.

“ my phone can play GC fine”

Publishers need to go through official channels to release games on NSO, not resort to an illegal ROM site. Each game added costs the publisher money to do so and GameCube games require extra attention to make the emulation is up to standard, and even then some players are still finding flaws with the emulation.

“ are they really gonna wait till Summer just to add Sunshine to Switch 2”

It’s expected to be released on Mario Day, March 10 (MAR 10)

@Bass_X0 you’re bringing logic to the comment section. That’s not how it works, you need to throw in unrealistic expectations that only a handful of people will want and address Nintendo directly. 😀

@Serpenterror well, some people, myself included, don't really care for the "once they're gone, they're gone for good" playstyle lol. I don't mind my actions having consequences, but for a somewhat simpler game like this I don't want to have to worry beyond the story. And yes, later FE games typically have this accounted for, but still.

@Bass_X0
Why would anyone play Prime 4 without having played Prime 2 first?

They urgently need to patch this game to add a purchase option that’s inexplicably missing.

@TripleJump
because Prime 4 has barely anything to do with the previous trilogy? it's very standalone

Very excited for this one! Been looking forward to actually trying this game since it’s announcement for the NSO+

Finally F-Zero GX has some competition on my SwitchCube 2!!

@TripleJump
Because it’s not on switch and no option to play it except on original hardware.

Actually the first GC game from NSO I'm really looking forward to playing!

@Dee123 Oh the sweet naivety of optimism.

I don't own a switch 2 yet but having the entire GC library on my PC with Dolphin makes paying Nintendo to rent GC games I wil never own seem like a path I will never choose. This game looks great in 4K 60 with save states. Enjoy though.

Wow what a great game they added! This might be my favorite title from the series. This doesn't apply to me currently, but for all of you who it does; ENJOY!

Great game. Can't wait for you to add more great ones for GC.

@TripleJump I agree that the Metroid Prime games should come to NSO, but Nintendo have demonstrated that they won’t release associated games on NSO alongside new releases. They didn’t release Donkey Kong 64 alongside Bananza.

As a massive GameCube fan I am legally obligated to try this. And because I also enjoyed Sacred Stones and Heroes. :3

@Bass_X0
I’m curious as to whether they will release the first Metroid Prime game since it’s already on the Switch. If they do, I hope they release Prime 2 first.

Heard great things about this one. Would love to play it someday.

Yes! This is what I've been waiting for. Perhaps my favorite game of all time. My user name comes from this game. I've played it countless times and am ready to play it again.

@EarthboundBenjy The stat transfers are only +2 on a maxed out stat on a maxed out tier 2 level 20 character and some (+10?) Crit bonus. It's a nice bonus, but doesn't make much of a difference.

@Retrodouche
It's been a while but I also remember a special ending that's only available if you transfer Ike and Soren with maximum support levels to Radiant Dawn too.

So there is a bit of exclusive content missing if memory card transferring is not available.

@Tokujo It might be the best writing (supports and story) the series has had (not that it's a tough competition). Characters and music is also top notch. Gameplay is quite slow and is missing some modern quality of life features. It's also one of the easiest games in the series. Still it's my favorite Fire Emblem game.

@EarthboundBenjy You're correct. Some interesting story bits are well hidden behind certain requirements. One of the more asinine design choices in Radiant Dawn, but luckily youtube exists.

@obijuankanoobie

It's got 8 pre-rendered FMVs, and the rest is in-engine.

Great game and one of the best titles for a curated GameCube collection.

I know they drip feed games now for Nintendo Classics, but damn if this isn't drip drip.

@N00BiSH Dude, Jesus should be rolling in his grave

I've never had a chance to play Path of Radiance. I know quite a lot about it though, thanks to FE Cipher. I started yesterday and I'm already quite a few chapters in. Really liking it so far.

@Yoshi3 FE has much more going on than just the weapon triangle, which doesn't even appear in every FE game. Using similar logic, I can say that FE is more strategic because it has more unit types (aka classes). Advance Wars units are all identical while FE units have different stats, skills, promotion options, supports and weapons. There are other weapon types besides the sword-lance-axe triangle. There are bows, daggers, staves, tomes, etc. They each can also be made of different materials (iron, steel, etc.) and have different properties (killer, breaker, brave, etc.)

I'm a fan of both series. They are very different from one another. I can see why one would prefer one over the other, or even love one and hate the other, but as far as the strategy goes, neither is all that complex. Both games have similar problems where the battles can get really slow and boring. Spam units in AW until you finally win or use your one slightly better unit in FE to lure foes one-by-one so you can get to the boss. I tend to prefer the first half of the game in both series when the maps are more compact.

@EarthboundBenjy
I'll concede on that.
I heard rumblings on there being a character named Stelux or something returning from previous entries but I don't pretend to know anything about Prime 2 or 3.

@GameOtaku
I suppose, but I can't imagine a lot of players would avoid avoid buying Prime 4 if they have access to Prime 2. Maybe that's naive, but they're numbered entries in a series. If you've already played the first three, surely you're already invested enough to play the last, no? At the very least, I can't imagine anyone feels like Prime 2 is interchangeable or will financially compete with Prime 4 what with the completely different setting and mechanics. In fact...

@Bass_X0
...if anything, the lack of accessibility to the previously numbered entry makes the newer entry harder for a lot of people to get into. I certainly won't be playing Prime 4 until I've played the other two games. This isn't like how I've had no desire to buy new Mario Parties when old ones are on N64 Classics; these 4 games are one ongoing evolving series.

@TripleJump
I myself have only played prime 1. Been waiting for the others on switch but of course they go and release 4 before completing the trilogy rereleases. Go figure. If it has ties to the others then it would make since to play them in order to avoid potential spoilers. This stupidity isn’t just Nintendo either. Atlus pulled the same with releasing Strikers before porting Royal and it heavily spoils P5.

@WiltonRoots I have to add—and I’ll just get called a Nintendo apologist or whatever—but I have serious doubts that armchair quarterbacking we’re seeing in the stories about this have anything to do with reality.

The launch timing of the hardware was different and so in turn were software release schedules, which people are suddenly looking at through rose colored glasses for the Switch 1. It may have had a “Zelda and a Mario” year one, but many were complaining that was ALL it had and all it would ever have because it was such weak hardware.

Of course none of that was true either and most of the garbage people are saying now isn’t either other than it really does suck to be in the US right now and our economy is in the toilet. Hardly Nintendo’s fault.

I think Prime 2 and 3 will both be released on NSO and not as a remaster. The Wii and DS games will most likely eventually be added to NSO and I expect Prime 2 and 3, Prime Hunters and Other M will all be added in the next few years.

@spiderman0616 it bears no relation to reality. There’s a whole crew of people with a massive hate boner for the Switch 2 that appeared round about the time of the reveal. Some of them quit or got banned when they realised their posts didn’t work. Some of them are still pressing on, I can’t help but wonder if it’s organised. People can’t be that sad surely.