Nintendo did something neat as a favor to old Super Smash Bros. fans. Now, fans are doing something even neater.

Gamers have found a way to make the Wii U GameCube Controller adapter work on PCs. When Nintendo released Super Smash Bros. for Wii U last month, the publisher also released a special USB dongle for its home console that connects four GameCube controllers to the new system. So you can play just released version of Smash Bros. with a gamepad that is more than a decade old. But fans have immediately seized on the adapter for its potential to have GameCube controllers work with PCs, and one group of coders has already succeeded.

Over the weekend, a hacker known as Elmassivo released software that enables the GameCube Adapter to work on Windows 7 and Windows 8 PCs. He provided the install files you need as well as the instructions to install it. I tried it out and got it working with the Dolphin emulator, and you can see the results in the video below:

If you want to mess around with this yourself, you can get the latest download file by clicking here.

Once you have the file, follow these instructions to get it working:

  1. The very first thing you need to do is reboot your Windows 8 PC into a special mode that will enable you to install drivers that are not signed by Microsoft. Here is the step-by-step guide to doing that.
  2. Plug the black USB cord from the adapter into your PC.
  3. Wait for the USB install to fail.
  4. Now, run the install file that you downloaded as an administrator.
  5. Agree to installing the unsigned driver (at your own risk).
  6. Install the bundled vJoy program, which lets the GameCube controller speak to the PC.
  7. The GC adapter program will boot up, and you will need to click the “Start” button to enable it to work.
  8. Calibrate the analog sticks on your controllers by clicking on the Windows Gamepad Info button from the GCN adapter program and selecting the properties.
  9. If you want to use the controller with Dolphin, download these configuration files.
  10. Copy the files into the Dolphin folder (found at documents\dolphin\emulator\config\profiles\GCPad\).
  11. Boot up the Dolphin emulator, select GCPad, and load the profile.

When calibrating your controller, keep the following in mind:

  • Z-axis is referring to L trigger (Do not click the trigger. Pull it in until just before it is about to click)
  • X-rotation is the C-sticks horizontal X axis
  • Y-rotation is the C-sticks vertical Y axis
  • Z-rotation is the R trigger (Again, do not click)
  • The other things it asks you to calibrate do not matter. Just hit A to move through them.

If you have any issues, try booting up vJoy or restarting your PC after installing everything.