RELATED: How Zelda: Ocarina of Time Could Be Even Better on Switch That being said, Sunshine does mark the first GameCube game available on a modern Nintendo system. Despite this, developing a proprietary emulator just to play one GameCube game wouldn't make sense unless more were coming.

Then again, 3D All-Stars had an anniversary deadline to adhere to, perhaps utilizing an emulator was quicker to develop for the collection.

If Super Mario 3D All-Stars' inclusion of Sunshine was just going to be a one-off, spending more time on a port would've made sense in a vacuum. This is largely why many fans saw Super Mario Sunshine's use of a proprietary GameCube emulator, rather than being natively ported, as a sign for more. 'Emulation' itself acts more as a translation of previous hardware protocols and code on the fly without requiring the game itself to be modified, whereas ports involve modifying code in the game itself to adhere to the new hardware. Emulation can be sort of a catch-all for GameCube games, because the process is designed quite literally. Nobody is questioning whether or not the Switch can run GameCube games, because the hardware certainly can, but emulation is a different story. Porting legacy games to new hardware certainly isn't easy, which is why The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess remasters released a few years apart on the Wii U. Super Mario Sunshine (So Far) is the Only Evidence of GameCube On Switch Melee Mod Makes Wolf A Playable Character For a company like Nintendo, that's always treated backwards compatibility as a valuable part of every console, GameCube games seem like the next logical step. Some of the best Metroid, Fire Emblem, Super Smash Bros., and The Legend of Zelda games came from the GameCube, many of which still hold great acclaim to this day. Even if the GameCube wasn't necessarily Nintendo's most successful console, there's still a wealth of games from that era of Nintendo that could see new life on Switch. Granted that is a stretch, since Super Mario Sunshine is running via proprietary emulation rather than a native port, but that doesn't bar additional emulated games. While Switch Online only brought NES/SNES classics to Nintendo's latest console, the recent release of Super Mario 3D All-Stars proves that GameCube games can run on the Switch just as well. However when the Nintendo Switch released, the existing Virtual Console system did not come with its latest console, instead opting for a new subscription-based system with Nintendo Switch Online. Virtual Console on the Wii/Wii U brought back numerous classic titles to from the NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS. Nintendo's last few consoles emphasized some of the best examples of backwards compatibility in the gaming industry.

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