Walmart May Have Accidentally Revealed Two Major GameCube Titles Coming to Switch Online

It looks like Walmart may have accidentally spilled some major Nintendo beans, as noted by keen observers. On the retailer’s Nintendo section, there’s a “Unlock more” area featuring a $35 gift card that grants access to the Nintendo Online Family Membership subscription. Among the usual game box covers, two unexpected titles have popped up, and they’re quite exciting.

Alongside legendary games like F-Zero, Donkey Kong: Country, and Mario Kart 64, we see GameCube classics Pikmin 2 and Metroid Prime: Echoes. These titles aren’t part of the current GameCube lineup for the subscription service, which only includes eight games, with Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance being the latest addition.

GameCube titles are exclusive to the Switch 2 version of the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, and the limited number of games added during the first year of the new console has been somewhat underwhelming. While it does feature some iconic titles like SoulCalibur II, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, and Luigi’s Mansion, the inclusion of games like Super Mario Strikers and Chibi-Robo: Plug Into Adventure! feels a bit puzzling, especially when classics like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Mario Kart: Double Dash are missing.

Many beloved Nintendo-published GameCube games pose a challenge for the company to add, as it risks revealing the repetitive nature of its property recycling. Titles like Kirby Air Ride, Mario Party 4 through 7, Animal Crossing, Mario Power Tennis, Metroid Prime, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and Super Mario Sunshine could all impact the sales of recent remasters or current sequels.

Even the two titles Walmart has seemingly revealed are on the cusp of this issue. While Pikmin 5 seems to be a figment of Miyamoto’s imagination for now, the mention of Metroid Prime II might indicate that a remaster of the sequel isn’t on the horizon anytime soon. Given how well 2023’s Metroid Prime Remastered turned out, that would be a real disappointment.

Let’s hope these two games are indeed on the way and not just the result of an overly enthusiastic Walmart employee having fun with Photoshop. The fact that the image remains on Walmart’s site hours after the news broke suggests that Nintendo hasn’t rushed to address it, though it could simply be that everyone involved is off the clock.