Earlier this week, I wrote about the benefits of using a modded Switch to emulate up to PS1 while playing Switch games natively. It’s usually a far more attainable route than relying on mid to high-end handhelds for Switch emulation. You get full compatibility, a lightweight device, a great screen for its use, and a strong accessory ecosystem to round it out.
Now, with the latest version of the Tico emulator frontend, we can push things even further. GameCube and Wii are now on the table, and they’re surprisingly easy to get running.
GameCube Emulation Was Hard. Was.
GameCube and Wii titles, especially first-party Nintendo releases, have always been prime targets for emulation. These games tend to stay locked to their original hardware unless Nintendo decides to revisit them. Luigi’s Mansion is a good example, originally a GameCube exclusive before later seeing a 3DS remake and an emulated version available via the Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch Online.
Through emulation, the Dolphin team changed that, making GameCube and Wii games playable on the original Switch hardware. The Tico team built on that work by integrating Dolphin directly into their frontend.
Tico Frontend for Switch
Tico is a new Switch-focused frontend that pulls clear inspiration from the iiSU concept from late 2025. Its 0.0.7 alpha includes the Dolphin core, enabling straightforward GameCube and Wii playback. It’s an impressive achievement on its own, but even more so when you consider how quickly it’s come together.
iiSU made waves by modernizing the Wii U’s UI design, and Tico took that inspiration and ran with it, using it as a foundation to build one of the first true emulator frontends for the original Switch. All of this has happened within the last six months.
The pace of development in the emulation scene right now is wild. These projects are niche, targeted, and incredibly focused. iiSU leans toward devices like the AYN Thor, while Tico is built specifically for the original Switch. That’s a platform with a relatively high barrier to entry, yet it now has a dedicated frontend capable of running GameCube and Wii from within its original OS. That’s kind of insane.
Playing GameCube games on the original Switch feels like something that shouldn’t exist. For years, nearly a decade, it was written off as unrealistic. The Switch is essentially an aging tablet that struggles to run some of its own games at 30 FPS, yet now we’re seeing GameCube titles running on it through emulation. It’s a genuine showcase of how far things have come, and both the Tico and Dolphin teams deserve credit for pushing that boundary.
I wonder how well motion controls work with this emulation. The switches motion controls felt great and super responsive on games like breath of the wild.
Definitely something I’ll be checking out as the core improves. Just not sure if the Switch is powerful enough to let emulation get anywhere close to how native games feel. We’ll see though