Logging on for online play with your PS5 or Nintendo Switch is easy; it’s something we take for granted today, hooking up with friends all over the globe for a quick spot of Mario Football or logging on to play Helldivers 2 with a beer in hand.
Back when I was 12, the GameCube received support for online play. I couldn’t believe it when I first read that I could take my Cube online; the infinite possibilities that were lying just out of reach filled me with so much excitement… until I saw the list of games that boasted online play, that is.
Phantasy Star Online & Homeland… it wasn’t exactly a huge party, and sadly it never got any bigger.
Sure, 1080 Avalanche and Double Dash had LAN play, but they also had normal multiplayer. I wanted to fire shells at my friends living in the South of the country while I was up in the North… oh, how a kid can dream.
As I got older, the broadband adapter only rose in price. With a release price of around $44, it now sells for around $160, which I think we can all agree is a pretty massive markup considering the official servers for the scant amount of games available are now ‘no more’.
But you guys know as well as I do that the retro gaming community will never leave a stone unturned nor let a console die, and there’s a new adapter in town that, for a very affordable price, will open up your GameCube to a whole new world of online play.
Meet The ETH2GC And The Minds That Made It
Here it is folks, the ETH2GC Network Adapter, a new piece of kit that allows you to get online with your GameCube.
I came across this little beauty on Macho Nacho Productions YouTube Channel and immediately felt like that same kid all those years ago, though this time with much more faith in the hardware.
The unit is essentially a broadband ethernet driver board that connects to a piece of hardware that connects to your GameCube. webhdx is the maker of said hardware, and they’re also the creators of the Picoboot modchip for Nintendo’s indigo icon.
Extrems makes the software that allows webhdx’s unit to emulate broadband connectivity. It’s called Swiss, and I’ll get onto how that integrates into the whole equation soon.
webhdx has made two different types of adapters; a Lite version, and a Sidecar version. My first impressions are that the Sidecar version is the one to go for as it looks a lot neater, allowing the ethernet cable to run back behind your GameCube as opposed to sticking out the side.
And, as Tito from MNP explains, this version of the unit also allows for the Game Boy Player to be fitted onto the underside of the console.
The Lite adapter costs $24.95 fully assembled, and the Sidecar costs $44.95. If you want to assemble the kit yourself, then you’ll be able to knock $10 off each of those prices.
And, as this is an open-source project, webHDX has made the plans for the Lite publically available for anyone who wants to make one from scratch themselves.
Swiss Software & New Possibilities
The software that Extrems has integrated with webhdx’s design is called Swiss, and once you’ve downloaded the latest version and integrated it into your Cube setup via a Memory Card SD unit, you’re basically ready to plug in and play online with your friends.
Of course, I wouldn’t be writing this article if we just had the same few games to play online with as back in the day – the retro gaming community works harder than that!
One modder called Kirbymimi has been working to create online multiplayer for Mario Kart: Double Dash and, get this, Twilight Princess.
Tito actually hooked up with webhdx to play a round of Double Dash on a private server which is amazing. I’m pretty sure that Double Dash will head to Nintendo Switch Online pretty soon, but I know we won’t be seeing an online version of Twilight Princess with support for up to 16 players any time soon!
When this project launches in this Summer complete with chat function and more enemies than you can shake a Deku Stick at, it will be truly incredible!
The Swiss software has lots of other benefits such as allowing users to back up save files to their computers and ripping discs to create iso files.
Now that you can hook up to your own home network, there’s no manual copying of files either; this set-up brings the GameCube kicking and screaming into the world of next-gen gaming.
And now that the community can get hold of the ETH2GC GameCube Network Adapter for a great price, I think we’ll start to see even more games sporting new multiplayer modes and new servers cropping up over the next couple of months!
