So THAT'S their plan: Wii U to allow Gamecube controllers

Super Smash Bros. Melee really spawned a generation fighting game fanatics on the Gamecube. The Wii had backwards compatibility with the Gamecube and was frequently used to play the same game with the same controller, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl supported the Gamecube controller. No such controller exists on the Wii U. A Smash Bros. player, without a Gamecube controller, might feel lost – and with the new Smash Bros. game approaching this fall or winter, players were beginning to wonder what they were going to do. At a recent press event, Nintendo announced that a third party (the company who used to be known as Pelican) would be releasing The Wired Fight Pad alongside the new Smash Bros. title.

Alright, that sounds okay, but, a 3rd party controller can never fill the void that a true Nintendo product would. Well, yesterday, Nintendo’s Twitter feed has announced a solution.

Pictured above is the Gamecube controller adapter, which will connect to the front USB ports on the Wii U console. You can plug four Gamecube controllers into the unit. And pictured in the photo is a Gamecube controller with the Smash Bros. logo on it, suggesting that Nintendo may, indeed, release their own Gamecube controllers (although it appears that they will still be wired and require the Wii U adapter).