A Gamecube adapter for the Wii U is good news for that Smash Bros. fanatics, but will the design block use Wavebird? Please give us good news, Nintendo.
Nintendo of America
Nintendo is following this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo in an unorthodox fashion, forgoing the usual press conference and instead posting announcement videos on its YouTube channel. The company will still have a huge presence at E3, including three giant booths on the show floor and a massive tournament at the nearby Nokia Theater to debut the Wii U version of the fighting series. Super Smash Bros.
In an announcement video about that tournament, Nintendo took the opportunity to reveal its latest hardware: a GameCube controller adapter for the Wii U. a follow-up tweet including a single photo of the adapter. The device appears to require both of the Wii U’s USB ports, but it also adds a plastic mouth around each controller port, which may or may not stick out just far enough to block the wireless adapter for the popular Wavebird controller.
The announcement is linked to Super Smash Bros. makes sense, since GameCube support in the original Wii made the odd, round controller a fan favorite Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Even without this adapter Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (tentative title) supports an insane number of controller types, including the Wiimote itself, the Wii U GamePad, and any peripheral connected to the Wiimote (nunchuk, classic controller, classic controller pro, etc.). Last week, peripheral maker Performance Design Products announced its own GameCube-esque controller for Wii U that will also launch this winter, but that company’s original Wii “fightpad” never launched in stores.
Since Nintendo’s announcement didn’t include any details or description, we’ve reached out to Nintendo with questions about price, release date, Wii U game compatibility, and Wavebird compatibility, and we’ll update this post if we get a response.