Was this Wii U peripheral on sale for less than a month?

The Internet went aflame this past weekend over the rumor that Nintendo has stopped producing the Smash Bros. Gamecube-to-Wii-U controller adapters. Already. Some store vendors claimed they would not be getting any more, while others called the rumor false but could confirm no future stock yet. The official word from Nintendo is that the adapters are “still for sale” but that could mean multiple things.

Anyone who didn’t see this coming hasn’t been paying attention. Traditionally Nintendo has been very stingy with the production of peripherals it must make for just one or two games. This goes back to the Gamecube Broadband Adapter, from when Nintendo had no interest in going online at all. Sega did, and wanted to publish Phantasy Star Online on the Cube, so Big N halfheatedly released the adapter in limited quantities. It’s likely if one company hadn’t expressed interest, the peripheral would never have been released — Nintendo ended up using the port on the bottom themselves for a Game Boy adapter.

Later on, Nintendo wanted to appease the makers of Monster Hunter, so they produced a big shell the original 3DS could fit inside. The point of this was to add the extra slide pad Monster Hunter required. Between that title and the port of Metal Gear Solid 3, there were only two games that ended up using the peripheral, and so it became hard to find — the XL version much more so. The New 3DS has now rendered it moot.

If you really must have a Gamecube controller for the new Smash, the good news is that Nintendo has provided an alternate solution — one that’s better, in my opinion. In most stores now is a special Wii Pro Controller in the Gamecube shape. It plugs into a Wiimote and you can use it for more games than just Smash. Your thumbs really won’t know the difference but your wallet definitely will. There are several models and they’re colored like Mario and Peach!