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Is There a Problem with Third Party Gamecube Controller on The Wii?
This weekend I picked up a Pelican Universal Arcade Stick stick at my local game store since it was on clearance for ten bucks. It has connectors on the end of the cord for a PS2, Xbox One and Gamecube. It works fine on my PS2 and Xbox but my Nintendo Wii fails to recognize it. That is a damn shame since there are some virtual console games and Gamecube games that I would like to play with a real joystick.
Also my PS2 Controller Adapter for Gamecube does not work with my Wii. It is the same problem of the console failing to recognize and respond to the controller when I tried to use it with a kick ass PS2 joystick or Nerf game pad. The Hori Gameboy Player game pad works fine with virtual console games as does the Pelican AfterGlow Controller.
Does the Nintendo Wii software discriminate against un-official controllers that work on the original Gamecube hardware?
While I am on the subject why the hell can’t I use the Wii Classic Controller with Gamecube games Nintendo?
Jake at January 10, 2007 
Games
Comments
have you tried one of these yet? Its worth it, and they really work
Posted by: josh at January 11, 2007 1:10 AM
Your last question: Now THATS a good question. The controller should work with all games, and if there just are not enough buttons to handle all the controls, then leave that up to the player to decide. It would be great to play those sonic games with the classic controller. Anything is better than the Gamecube D-Pad.
Posted by: Shawn Laplante at January 11, 2007 4:36 AM
I wonder if starting a game in the Gamecube mode loads a GC Bios and it can only see the GC controller ports and GC Memory card ports. That would explain why you can’t use the Wii Classic Controller with Gamecube games since it has all the right buttons and it would also explain why you can’t save a Gamecube game save data file directly to the Wii’s 512 megs of flash memory and you need to use a physical GC memory card.
No I have not tried a retro controller adaptor yet. I am pretty happy with the Wii Classic controller for a gamepad.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at January 11, 2007 9:43 AM
I bought two gamecube controllers today second hand to use with the wii with mario kart 64 but only the official one would work, the other one is a "4gamers" gamecube controller. So I take it that means third party ones don't work, or maybe just some.
Posted by: Calum Gilchrist at January 30, 2007 2:21 PM
It looks like a there is a pretty good chance of 3rd party controllers for the Gamecube not working at all on the Wii. Some work and some don’t and there does not appear to be any way to tell until you plug the thing in and boot up a game. That is pretty lame Nintendo.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at January 30, 2007 2:37 PM
I just picked up a MadCatz 2.4GHz wireless GameCube controller... I knew I was taking a chance not getting the WaveBird, but for $15 I figured the MadCatz controller was worth a shot. I picked it up at the local Target store, where the WaveBird was $30.
Its a cheap controller, it just feels "cheaper" than a genuine Nintendo controller, but it works just fine :)
Posted by: hollywoodb at February 3, 2007 6:13 AM
Glad to know the MadCatz pad worked. I sort of like MadCatz controllers.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at February 5, 2007 10:05 AM
MY cheap $10 with memory card hip games controller only works when playing gamecube games and will not play virtual console games... I wasted $10 on zelda Oceania of time and now I can't play it
Posted by: Anonymous at March 24, 2007 8:43 PM
i have 4 wavebirds and i am trying to play virtual console on wii can anyone help me i don't want to have to buy 4 classic controllers for this bull.
Posted by: chris at June 7, 2007 9:22 PM
I have a Yobo Gameware Gamecube controller that will not work on the Virtual console. I haven't tried it with any Gamecube games.
Posted by: AutobahnSHO at November 16, 2007 8:43 AM
I have just recently bought the Universal Soul Calibur II Arcade Stick since I needed a GC one and thats the best one I could find on that system. Anyways I hooked it up to my Wii and it just doesnt work, I also tried a PS2 controller to GC port, but that didnt work either. This is just crappy since I bought this Arcade stick mainly for my Wii game I have.
Posted by: Gohales at January 24, 2008 3:24 AM
I have a 4gamers GameCube Flight Simulation Stick. As far as I know it doesn't work with Wii GC games like Rogue Leader. I was so looking forward to playing too. I hate trying to do precision maneuvers with a thumb buster!!! I am really bummed the 4gamers controller is such a nice piece of hardware. I am thinking about cutting out the electronics and placing the official GC controller hardware in there. Except I could get a GC to USB adapter and see if that would fix it... If not I could still use it on my computer. I really like the quality feel but don't know if or how good it really is.
Posted by: Joe at March 5, 2008 5:05 PM
I bought 2 Yobo gameware controllers on eBay for $20 and they both work fine on my Wii. I also bought a Yobo memory card which works, then doesn't, a little jiggle and it works again. Not quite sure about why, but that's the story.
Why the classic controller wont work on GameCube games is beyond me as well, but apparently when the Wii access the GC game it locks out the Wii side of things. It seems painfully short minded of nintendo, but hey, at least we can play GameCube games right?!
I think I might pick up 2 additional legit Gamecube controllers just in case.
Posted by: Ben Whitehouse at March 18, 2008 3:18 PM
I bought a "Game" branded gamecube controller a couple of months ago to play windwaker and tales of symphonia, which it did fine.
Then last night i downloaded "a link to the past" and get a message saying i need a classic controller... this is ridiculous, i KNOW the controller works on the wii, so i have to assume that they purposefully locked out 3rd party controllers from virtual console games
Posted by: Eoin at April 9, 2008 4:57 PM
