Nintendo has hidden a few cool Easter eggs for the GameCube within Switch 2, fans have discovered.
With the launch of Nintendo’s new console, fans can finally play GameCube games using Nintendo Switch Online — but load up a title from the era of Nintendo’s beloved purple brick, and you’ll note that something is missing: the console’s iconic startup animation.
Anyone who owned a GameCube will have the image of the console’s logo unfurling around the screen burned into their memories, as its chirpy soundtrack played. Well, with a simple button press, Nintendo actually allows you to restore this sequence — not that the console ever specifically tells you how.
Credit, then, goes to Spawn Wave for noting that you can prompt the GameCube startup animation by holding the Switch 2’s control stick in any direction while loading the Nintendo Switch Online GameCube app. This will then play the retro console’s startup sequence, just as you remembered it.
Except this isn’t quite as you remembered it — it’s actually polished up in 4K. Yes, this is the shiny new version of the logo that debuted during Nintendo’s Switch 2 Direct earlier this year, when GameCube games were first confirmed for the console.
“Cool, when the stick drift starts you can get it every time,” one fan quipped when learning of the secret.
As tested by IGN, a further version of this Easter egg allows you to replicate the secondary GameCube startup sound, prompted on the original console by holding down its Z button. On Switch 2, you must tilt the control stick and hold down the R button (try doing it just as the ‘2’ on the Switch 2 app logo pops up).
Now, fans are wondering the third GameCube startup sound might also be included, hidden behind an even more secret button combination. This could originally be prompted by the Z button down on four GameCube controllers at once.
Over the weekend, fans plugging in their new wireless GameCube controllers made for use with Nintendo Switch 2 discovered the pads now incorporated gyro controls for the first time, opening up many possibilities for use in various retro games.
Right now, the Switch Online’s Nintendo GameCube – Nintendo Classics collection is looking pretty thin, with just the original version of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, plus F-Zero GX and SoulCalibur 2 available.
Still, Nintendo has confirmed a number of other GameCube classics will follow (including Super Mario Sunshine, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, Mario Smash Football, Luigi’s Mansion and Chibi-Robo!), though there’s no word yet on when they might materialise.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
