After 22 years, it might finally be time to connect your GameCube online

The GameCube Broadband Adapter launched way back in 2002 – one year after the console itself – but without many online games to use it, the accessory quickly faded into obscurity. Now, with a community-built replacement for the device suddenly available and a whole lot of developments in the homebrew scene, it might finally be time to take your GameCube online.

The crux of this is a new, open-source device called ETH2GC from a developer called webhdx, which plugs into the GameCube’s original serial port and lets you connect to a broadband network through ethernet. It only works through the homebrew application Swiss, but otherwise serves as a perfect replacement for the original Broadband Adapter, which is growing fairly pricey on the secondhand market. The video below from Macho Nacho Productions offers a pretty good overview of the whole thing. 

This all sounds pretty great until you remember the real catch – the GameCube’s online features were barely supported, and the only game released worldwide that supports online play is Phantasy Star Online. There are custom, community-run GameCube servers for PSO, and a handful of games like Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Kirby Air Ride support LAN play through these adapters, but those are pretty limited use cases.

But ETH2GC is launching just as a few notable GameCube homebrew projects are starting to take shape, as Macho Nacho highlights. There are mods that open Double Dash to online play, and even a project that’s set to bring 16-person multiplayer to Twilight Princess. Sure, you’ll be able to enjoy those projects through emulation, too, but isn’t it that much cooler doing it on a real GameCube?

If you want to pick up an ETH2GC yourself, you can grab either a fully assembled device or a DIY kit on webhdx’s store.

It’s always a good time to revisit the best GameCube games out there.