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USA Today
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
13 Nintendo GameCube games we want to see on the Switch 2
13 Nintendo GameCube games we want to see on the Switch 2 The Nintendo Switch 2 landed in stores across the world on Thursday, and while millions of gamers are busy playing the new Mario Kart World or upgraded versions of Switch classics like Breath of the Wild, there's something new for fans of retro games as well. New to the Switch 2 is a small library of playable Nintendo GameCube titles, including The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. Adding GameCube games to the Nintendo online library always seemed like a good idea, but it's taken until 2025 for Nintendo to make it happen. While it's unclear how large the Switch 2 GameCube will eventually be - the Nintendo 64 library is still missing quite a few gems - there are plenty of all-time great games from the GameCube era that deserve a wider audience. What GameCube games will be available on Switch 2? The GameCube library launched Thursday with three titles (The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, F-Zero GX and Soul Calibur 2), and Nintendo has already confirmed a few future releases in the GameCube on Switch 2 announce video. Those titles include: Super Mario Strikers Super Mario Sunshine Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness Pokemon Colosseum Luigi's Mansion Chibi-Robo 13 GameCube classics we want to see on Switch 2 Resident Evil: A jaw-dropping graphical showcase back in 2002, Resident Evil perfected the old-style formula the series had before Resident Evil 4 went the more action-oriented route. - Nick Schwartz Sonic Adventure 2: Sonic Adventure 2 is simply one of the greatest games ever. There's no reason not to include this. - Mike Sykes The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: How Twilight Princess didn't make the jump to the original Switch from the Wii U is beyond me. Nintendo, it's time. Fans have been asking for years. There's no excuse anymore. - Mary Clarke Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader: The reason many people bought a GameCube at launch back in 2001. Zipping down the Death Star trench was an unbelievable experience. - NS Star Fox Assault: It's been too long since we've had a Star Fox game, first of all. Second, the Call of Duty/Fortnite formula could work so well here. It'd be a great opportunity for Nintendo to kickstart one of its old IPs. - MS Star Fox Adventure: Same thing as above, except for we need more adventure games in our lives these days. Star Fox Adventure was vastly underrated. Would love a reboot here. - MS Super Smash Bros. Melee: Who knows how long the wait will be for a Switch 2 version of Smash, especially as the Switch 1's ultimate is still a very popular game. But Melee has stood the test of time, and is beloved by so many that there's still an active competitive fighting game scene around a game released in 2001. - NS Super Monkey Ball 2: Super Monkey Ball minigames were the pinnacle of couch party gaming in 2002, and the series has only gone downhill from here. - NS Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes: You'd be right to associate Metal Gear Solid with the PlayStation far more than with any Nintendo console, but GameCube owners got a special treat in 2004 with this exclusive remake of the classic Metal Gear Solid. Plenty of fans of the franchise never got to experience this game. - NS Viewtiful Joe: I've played a lot of games in my life. Some, I've long forgotten by now. They've faded into the ether of my memory. I'll probably never think of them again. Viewtiful Joe is NOT one of those games. I think about this game a lot. The more I think about it, the more I feel like it was groundbreaking. The art style and animation were replicated for years. This game deserves to be remade. It earned that. - MS NBA Street: Vol. 2: I'll take the entirety of the EA BIG catalogue, thank you very much, but NBA Street was a perfect streetball formula and would be otherworldly if ever re-released with online multiplayer. - NS SSX Tricky: We took for granted all the incredible extreme sports games in the mid-2000s, not knowing we'd be in an interminable drought two decades later. From Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 to Aggressive Inline, there were a lot of GameCube gems in the genre, but SSX Tricky was pure fun in a stylish package. - NS Animal Crossing: Yes, you could just play New Horizons on Switch 2, and yes that's a deeper game with a lot more to do. But the original Animal Crossing has a ton of charm. It'd be a great game to check in on for 15 minutes a day. - NS How can you play GameCube games on Switch 2? If you want access to the GameCube library (as well as some of the other classic console libraries, such as the N64 or Game Boy Advance), you'll need to subscribe to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion pass, which costs $49.99 per year.
USA Today
22-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
The Indiana Pacers can clearly keep getting away with this
The Indiana Pacers can clearly keep getting away with this Good morning, Winners! This is For The Win's daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Here's Mike Sykes. I need a little help here. Do the Basketball Gods hate the Knicks or love the Pacers? I'm not sure. But whatever the case may be, it got us a ridiculous finish in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Pacers were down by 15 points with five minutes left in the game before Aaron Nesmith turned into prime Reggie Miller and hit five 3-pointers to bring the Pacers within five points. Add in a couple of missed free throws from Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby and a bit of devil magic from Tyrese Haliburton (HOW DID THE BALL BOUNCE LIKE THAT?!?) and we get overtime. The Knicks are lucky Hali didn't step an inch further back — the game would've ended right then and there if his shot was ruled a 3-pointer. THERE'S NO WAY: The Pacers' odds to win were laughably long before the Knicks' collapse I usually don't like pulling out the "Team of Destiny" card, but I don't know what else to call Indiana at this point. We might as well hand the Pacers the Larry O'Brien trophy now — they keep pulling off the impossible. In the last 30 years, teams that have trailed by seven or more points in the final 50 seconds of a game are 4-1,702. The Pacers have three of those wins and they've all come within the last month. What might be just as unbelievable as that stat is that Tyrese Haliburton is now 12 of 14 on shots to tie or take the lead in the last two minutes of games this season. He's been as close to automatic as you can get in the clutch for his team this year. Things are not supposed to work this way. Clutch minutes are supposed to be random and incalculable. Yeah, you're inevitably going to hit some big shots in these moments if you keep finding yourself in them. But to do it every single time, seemingly without fail? That's otherworldly. I've been trying to think of how to explain this for weeks. Part of it is excellent coaching — we've got to give credit where it's due. Rick Carlisle is an incredible coach with his fingerprints all over this team. They press you full-court all game long without fouling. They execute out of timeouts without flaw. The players are so disciplined. Everyone knows their role and knows what to do when their moment comes. We don't know how this run will end, but Carlisle has led a team like this to the promised land before. The 2011 Dallas Mavericks weren't supposed to be NBA champions. That team wasn't really an underdog — it was a 57-win No. 3 seed. But no one thought it'd beat Kobe Bryant's Lakers. No one thought it'd beat Kevin Durant's ascendant Thunder. Certainly, no one thought it'd beat LeBron James and the Miami Heat. But every step of the way, that team found a way. These Pacers feel very similar. But that only gets you so far. Great coaching gets you far, but doesn't always carry you through. I want to say the rest feels like dumb luck, but that almost feels disrespectful because, again, the Pacers keep doing this. We can't call it a fluke anymore. This team never stops playing. The time and score don't matter — Indiana keeps going until they find a crack in the glass. Once they find that crack, they keep beating it until the glass shatters. That was what Aaron Nesmith's barrage of 3-pointers was. Maybe you brushed off the first shot. Maybe you were impressed by the second one. But by the time he hit his third 3-pointer, you knew the Pacers would find a way to win the game. They knew it. The Knicks knew it. I knew it sitting at home. You probably did, too. I have a feeling that we'll probably keep feeling this feeling until they're hoisting a trophy up at the end of the season. SGA = MVP Well, we finally know who the MVP is, folks. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander officially won the award on Wednesday. Call him a free-throw merchant if you want — this guy is the most valuable player in the NBA. That's awesome. He also gave one of the sweetest MVP speeches in recent memory. He thanked his teammates, his friends and his parents, naturally. But when he got to the part thanking his wife, he lost it. Shai still has some basketball left to play and is undoubtedly hoping to grab more hardware this season — we'll see how that goes. Regardless, this is a well-deserved moment for the OKC guard. Push on The Tush Push lives to see another day. The Packers' ban needed 24 votes to go into effect, but the motion only received 22, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, with these teams voting against it: Shoutout to those squads for not being losers. This isn't quite over just yet, though. Our Christian D'Andrea says that, considering 22 teams voted in favor of the ban, this will probably come back again eventually. "22 votes in favor suggest the issue isn't settled yet. Another year of easy Eagles conversions or a serious injury on the play could lead to another vote next spring. A revised rule change with clearer language could turn two of those 10 "no" votes into yesses. But for now, Hurts can line up under center on third or fourth-and-short knowing he's still got his full playbook available." There's not enough of a consensus to ban the play, but there's certainly enough of one to keep the conversation going. Honestly, this is exhausting. But we're probably going to be right back here next year. Quick hits: Hali's dad strikes again ... Humble beginnings ... and more — Tyrese Haliburton's dad wasn't at the game, but he definitely brought that Pacers energy to the bar he was at. Meg Hall has more. — The Golden State Valkyries got their first win! Here are 7 photos from the moment. What a time for that franchise. — RIP Jim Irsay. The NFL world reacted after learning about the Colts owner's death. — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn't the free throw merchant you think he is. Prince Grimes has more on that. — Reggie Miller calling the Knicks game is wild. The 90s babies know what I mean. It also made for a great broadcast. — This is fun, but Karl-Anthony Towns is patting the wrong guy on the chest. That's a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. Peace. -Sykes ✌️
USA Today
20-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
A Tush Push ban would be an incredibly weak move by the NFL
A Tush Push ban would be an incredibly weak move by the NFL Packers now have revised their proposal to ban 'The Tush Push' at this week's league meeting in Minneapolis. Here is their revised proposal: — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 19, 2025 Good morning, Winners! This is For The Win's daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Here's Mike Sykes. If you can't beat it, ban it. That's the message the NFL appears poised to send with a potential tush push ban. The Green Bay Packers, who originally pushed for the ban back in March during the league's owners meetings, are bringing their cause back for the league's spring meetings. Except, this time, they've updated the language to ban all teammate pushes for ball carriers, for the tush or otherwise. ESPN's Adam Schefter dropped the details on X. It doesn't specifically ban the Eagles' signature play. It's far broader and would ban what they call "interlocking interference." I hope you all understand how uncool this is. Players wouldn't be able to push a pile at all. For context, this was an established rule before. Before 2005, the NFL outlawed pushing and pulling ball carriers, so it's not entirely unprecedented. But the rule change opened up the league for some of the most fun plays we've seen over the last two decades. Plays like Marshawn Lynch dragging a pile of dudes with him into the endzone would draw a 10-yard penalty instead of a touchdown. Every "push the pile" moment that transformed plays from nothing to something would be ruled illegal. And it's not because those players were particularly problematic, but rather because the league couldn't figure out how to stop one play. What makes it worse is that the Packers cite player safety and pace of play as reasons why these plays need to be banned, but neither is a real problem. We haven't seen significant injuries as a result of pushing the pile. As far as the pace of play goes, the clock doesn't stop. These plays don't go out of bounds. The tush push is one of the quickest plays in football — just a few seconds and it's over. There's no pace problem with it. The only problem seems to be that nobody has figured out a way to stop it outside of a straight-up ban. If that's the case, then fine. But the Packers and other supporters of this ban should say it gives teams like the Eagles a competitive advantage instead of talking around it. The Commanders' Frankie Luvu did. He called the play a "cheat code" and argued that it's a rugby scrum based on the Eagles' cadence, giving them an advantage over the defense. That's still wack, but I can respect that more than anyone saying a potential ban is for health and safety reasons. At least it's honest. We don't know how this will turn out. There seems to be momentum for a ban, but the Eagles are "lobbying" for the play not to be banned, according to The Athletic. We'll see how those efforts go. But if this is the end of the tush push, at least we got to see the play win a Super Bowl. I'm sure they'll take that. Trouble in paradise Things were all good a couple of months ago for the Mets when the season started. They were the best team in baseball and Juan Soto seemed just fine. Now, he's a bit moody and the Mets are 5-5 in the last 10 games. Soto's slump seems to be a big part of that. So what's the problem? Well, according to Michael Kay, Soto wanted to be a Yankee and he isn't happy he's a Met. Details from Charles Curtis: "But the attention on him got ratcheted up over the weekend when he returned to Yankee Stadium and heard all kinds of things yelled at him by Pinstripes fans. There were also questions about his hustle that popped up there and on Monday when he stared down a ball he thought was a home run and had to settle for a single. Which brings us to a report from Michael Kay, who said this on his radio show on Monday (via Awful Announcing): "People that I talked to on the Mets side, and they can deny it publicly, because, of course, that's what they have to do, he is very, very glum around the clubhouse. He does not have a hop in his step. He does not smile much. I'm not gonna say he is unhappy. Because how can you be unhappy with a $765 million contract? But money is not a guarantee that you are gonna be comfortable somewhere.' If I'm being honest, this is a bit hard for me to believe. He signed a $765 million deal with the Mets. That's a massive commitment. I don't think he does that if he doesn't want to play for that team. But there definitely seems to be something going on with Soto right now. We have no idea what it truly is. But the good thing for Mets fans is that it's still fairly early in the season, the Mets are good and there's still time to turn this around. A new era The NBA Conference Finals start tonight with the Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder tipping things off in the Western Conference. I'm normally pumped about the Conference Finals in the NBA playoffs, generally speaking, because this is the best time for pure basketball. The two best teams in each conference square off for a chance to go to the NBA Finals. It's the perfect time because we don't have to worry about the narratives attached to the players and whatever legacy is on the line — we just get to watch elite basketball. But this year is a bit more exciting for me because somebody is going to win their first championship. We've got four elite guards on each side with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (OKC), Anthony Edwards (MIN), Jalen Brunson (NYK) and Tyrese Haliburton (IND). None of them have won a championship before. In about a month, we'll be crowning one of these dudes. I still cannot believe it. This is only the second Conference Finals without the Warriors, the Celtics or LeBron James (lol) in the last decade. And, what's more, three of the teams competing have never won an NBA title. The Knicks have a championship, but they won it 52 years ago. NBA Final Four Teams Since 2016: — RealGM (@RealGM) May 18, 2025 We've been asking for the future of the NBA to arrive. It's finally here. Let's enjoy this basketball, folks. Quick hits: Don't blame Leafs fans ... White Sox x Pope Leo ... and more — Mary Clarke says everyone should stop blaming Leafs fans for the team's Game 7 misery. It ain't their fault. — The White Sox have already built a nice tribute for Pope Leo. Cory Woodroof has the details. — Christian D'Andrea says Shedeur Sanders didn't take a pay cut to get to the Browns. — Caitlin Clark is denouncing hateful acts at Fever games. I can't believe we have to do this again. — Here's Meg Hall with WNBA power rankings. The Liberty are still at the top. — Nikola Jokic has already diagnosed the Nuggets' biggest problem heading into the offseason. Robert Zeglinski has more. That's a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. Peace. -Sykes ✌️
USA Today
19-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Thank goodness you're not a Maple Leafs fan
Thank goodness you're not a Maple Leafs fan Good morning, Winners! This is For The Win's daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Here's Mike Sykes. As a Wizards fan, it's very rare for me to find someone on the sports misery index who I truly believe has it worse than me. The Wizards stink and have always stunk. They'll probably always stink, too, as last week's NBA Draft lottery has demonstrated to us. But I'm not going to lie to you. Leafs fans? Y'all might have me beat. The Toronto Maple Leafs lost another Game 7 on Sunday night to the Panthers. Not only did the Leafs lose, but they got destroyed 6-1. The game was over after that quick burst from Florida in the second period. Toronto didn't stand a chance. When I say Toronto didn't stand a chance, I don't mean against Florida. Ordinarily, those Maple Leafs could absolutely beat the Panthers. Instead, what Toronto didn't stand a chance against was history. The Leafs were always going to blow this game. There was waaaaaay too much stink involved all around for Toronto to get it done. This was a Game 7, man. The last time the Maple Leafs won a Game 7 was in 2004. Usher's "Confessions" was the No. 1 song on the Billboard 200. The Marvel Cinematic Universe didn't exist. Neither did your iPhone. Some of you reading this probably weren't even born. More than two decades have passed. Since then, the Leafs have lost six straight game 7s, including Sunday night's loss. At this point, it feels like we'll get a President's Trophy winner taking home the Stanley Cup again before we get a Leafs Game 7 win. At least this time, the loss was in the second round and not the first. That's progress! Fans should probably be thankful it was over quickly and not simply some agonizing heartbreaker of a game. LEAFS FANS ARE DONE: They threw beers and jerseys on the ice after the loss. Leafs fans, I don't really know what to tell you. My favorite team sucks, but at least I don't get the delusions of grandeur that come with playing in a Game 7. You always believe your squad has a chance because it's one game! Any team can win one game. But nah. Not your team. Your team is doomed, for whatever reason. I'm sorry. I feel for you. One day, this will end, as all sports curses do no matter how long they take. Unfortunately, today is not that day. Scottie is back on top Last year's PGA Championship was all about Scottie Scheffler's arrest at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville. He didn't win it, but the fact that he competed at all after being detained was just an unreal sequence of events. This year? Sheffler won it all. This PGA Championship win is his third major title and his first since his arrest last year. He got off a well-deserved Gronk-style hat spike after finishing up the tournament. For the first time in a long time, golf does seem to finally have that guy again. Not only did Scheffler win here, but he dominated. He won by five strokes. There was never a doubt that it'd be him in the end, even if the trophy did slip out of his hands at least once. I won't call him Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus just yet. But I will point out that, at 28 years old, Scheffler joins those two as the only three players in PGA history to win 15 PGA tour titles before 29 years old, per Golfweek. The trajectory that Scottie is on seems very clear at this point. We'll see how the rest of the summer goes for him. Really big rings The New York Liberty played their first game of the season against the Las Vegas Aces and absolutely dominated. Once again, New York looks like the best team in the WNBA. But less on that and more on these gaudy championship rings. SHEESH, guys. These are legitimately some of the best rings I've ever seen. How fun, New York. Quick hits: Drake blames Beiber ... Alex Caruso explains OKC's greatness ... and more — Drake is blaming Justin Beiber for the Maple Leafs' loss. We all know it was you, Drake. Charles Curtis has details. — Alex Caruso had a three-word response on why the Thunder were better than the Nuggets. Robert Zeglinski has more on that. — Here's Mary Clarke with 8 photos of Scottie Scheffler after his championship win. — Cousins in the Conference Finals! SGA vs. NAW is going to be fun. — Stick to football, Gronk. Charles Curtis has more on him whiffing on a Bill Belichick joke. — Aaron Gordon is making some valid points here with the NBA's playoff schedule. -Sykes ✌️
USA Today
16-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
The NBA Draft is broken and the only way to fix it is by destroying it
The NBA Draft is broken and the only way to fix it is by destroying it Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win's basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Here's Mike Sykes I'm still recovering from the NBA Draft Lottery. The system is broken. Or maybe it works as it's always been intended to? I don't really know anymore. The basketball gods are cruel in that way. Many conversations have manifested following the Dallas Mavericks' unexpected NBA Draft Lottery win. Will the Mavs draft Cooper Flagg, or will they potentially trade it? Is Giannis Antetokounmpo in play? I'm not sure, but we'll slowly get answers to those questions over the next month. I'm most interested in litigating whether the NBA Draft Lottery is operating properly. Is the system broken? As a Wizards fan, you know where I stand on this. The lottery sucks, and the basketball gods are evil. None of this should be happening right now. THE WINNERS: Here are the biggest winners from the NBA Draft Combine this week So the question becomes, how do you fix this system that is inherently broken in this way? As things currently stand with the lottery odds flattened, the worst teams in the NBA aren't getting any better. Since 2019, when the league first made the change to the odds, the worst team in the league has yet to receive the top pick. The natural solution, then, should be to shift the lottery odds back to where they were. As things stand, the worst three teams in the NBA have a 14 percent chance of winning the No. 1 overall pick and a 52 percent chance of landing in the top four. A shift back would mean weighting the odds heavily in those teams' favor again. But opponents of that would once again argue that it incentivizes teams to tank and lose games on purpose, which is why the odds shifted in the first place. So, what is the solution here? How do we fix it? Here's my fix: We break the system completely. Dismantle the lottery. Dismantle the NBA draft as a whole. Instead, have a rookie free agency period where the incoming freshman class of NBA players can choose where they play out the beginning of their careers the same way veterans do. I know, I know. You're calling me crazy right now. You're saying that the best rookies will only go to the league's biggest glamour markets. But you can build a system that de-incentivizes that. Here's how: Rookie scale exceptions: This is the big one. The same way each team gets a mid-level exception to spend in the offseason, each team would get a rookie scale exception in place of a draft pick. The worse you are, the more salary you get to spend on rookies. So, this year, the Jazz, Wizards and Hornets would have the most to spend and the amount would scale down as we climb the standings. Well-run organizations: This isn't really on the league — it's on individual teams. Like regular free agency, each team would be able to make a pitch to whatever rookie they wanted. Would, say, a Cooper Flagg regularly choose to play for the Lakers of the Hornets? Sure. Charlotte can't give Flagg a destination like LA. But if you give him a good coach, a competent front office and loads of playing time, who's to say he wouldn't choose that instead of playing behind Luka Doncic? A free agency special: This is crucial to the marketing of the league and the behind-the-scenes access we get to teams. If I were the NBA, I'd do this while also coupling it with a Drive to Survive-style docuseries following these teams as they scout ahead of the NBA's rookie free agency period. It documents what this process is like and gives fans (and future players!) an idea of how their favorite teams work behind the scenes. Providing the league's worst teams with more of a spotlight would make playing for them seem more desirable. Think of this in the same way you'd think about Hard Knocks with the NFL. This is a wild idea, yes. It's a bit out there. But I do think it does two crucial things the league really wants to accomplish: It discourages tanking because no one wants to play for a loser, so each team would have to put its best foot forward each year or suffer the consequences. It also would promote the league in a way that wouldn't leave the smaller markets feeling as small and left out as they do now. This would probably never happen. The powers-that-be are far too attached to the draft process and what it brings. But I'm telling you this now: "Fixing" the draft lottery is only a half-measure. Something like this would go all the way. If the league is serious about doing that, then this would be an idea it needs to consider. I know we're done reacting to the Luka trade, but... I'm sorry. The reaction from the Warriors in this video is too perfect not to share with y'all. Here's Bryan Kalbrosky with more on the reaction: "This is amazing footage, and showed just how skeptical everyone was when they read this report. That included a hilarious scream (and phone call) from Stephen Curry as he tried to process the information about his two Western Conference rivals." Steph Curry's scream is basically the same as the scream I let out that day. It's still so ridiculous that this happened. You know what's even more ridiculous? That this team won the draft lottery a few months later. Maybe Nico Harrison was a genius this entire time. Shootaround —Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic should duke it out for MVP in Game 7. That'd be so fun! Adam Silver, make it happen. — Bryan has the biggest winners from this week's NBA Draft Combine, ready to go for you here. — Here are 18 stay-or-go decisions for the draft that you should be following. — Kevin Durant is through with the hot takes. Can't say I blame him — especially not in this instance. That's a wrap. Thanks so much for reading. Peace. -Sykes ✌️
