It’s nice to see Switch 2 get GameCube games that are hard to get in real life

When the Switch 2 arrives on June 5, it will do so with updated Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack offerings featuring GameCube titles as part of the service’s classics library, providing access to some hard-to-find and/or prohibitively expensive games in the process.

The initial GameCube offerings include all-time greats The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Soulcalibur 2, and F-Zero GX, but things get really interesting when you peruse the rest of the lineup. The group of Nintendo Switch Online GameCube games teased for the future — Super Mario Sunshine, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, Super Mario Strikers, Chibi-Robo, and Luigi’s Mansion — is comprised of arguable dark horse candidates for the best games on the console. That said, some of them can also be costly, and that’s only if you manage to find someone willing to sell.

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, for instance, was the first 3D entry in the tactical roleplaying series and is often ranked by fans — alongside its direct Wii sequel, Radiant Dawn — among the best gameplay and storytelling the franchise has to offer. I was forced to play and almost beat both via successive rentals from my local Hollywood Video and never owned copies of my own. Unfortunately for anyone wanting to experience this wonderful game secondhand, however, it can be pretty difficult to find in the wild. Resell prices are currently hovering around $160 for a loose disc or sometimes even over $200 if you want a complete-in-box copy.

Did Nintendo target these games on purpose? It’s still unclear, and their appearance on Nintendo Switch Online probably won’t do anything to lower their cost anyway. But for folks who just want to play the games rather than treat them as collectors items or investments, the Switch 2 could be a godsend. And, sure, while you can technically emulate older games, sometimes you just want a legitimate way to sit down with an old game without having to get your hands dirty trolling shady download sites and worrying about optimal program settings. Now all we have to contend with is the frankly random way in which the service adds games to its classic libraries.