Tico v0.7.0 alpha has added experimental GameCube and Wii support through the Dolphin emulator core, bringing Nintendo Switch Gamecube Games into the Switch’s native Horizon OS for the first time without forcing users to install Android or Linux first. The new release runs directly on the console’s own software layer, but only on Switch systems running custom firmware.
For Switch owners who have been following emulation on the handheld, that shift is the point. Previously, anyone who wanted to try GameCube or Wii titles on the console had to install Switchroot, boot into Android or Linux, and then launch Dolphin from there. Tico now folds that process into Horizon OS itself, and the Dolphin core is described as the most demanding core to run on the Switch’s Horizon OS to date.
The practical effect is that the console can now push harder than before. The Dolphin core enables boost mode by default, raising the Tegra X1 chip to 1,785 MHz and the GPU to 768 MHz. That hardware lift matters because Tico is still emulating the games rather than turning the Switch into a native GameCube machine. The console is not running GameCube code as if it were a Switch title; it is just doing the work more efficiently than it did when an entire second operating system had to sit in the background.
That detail is what gives the release its weight. Tico is a custom, multi-platform emulation frontend built in native C++ with automatic game library management and a controller-first navigation UI, so the new support is not a side experiment bolted onto a desktop-style workflow. It is part of a system designed to live on the Switch itself. Earlier setups came with the overhead of another OS in the background, and that extra layer had been dragging performance down before Tico arrived.
The support is still experimental, and it still comes with the same hardware limits that define Switch modding. Tico requires custom firmware and will not run on stock Horizon OS. V1 Switch owners can use software-based custom firmware, while V2 and OLED models need hardware modifications. Even so, early reports say titles including The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, FIFA Street 2 and Rayman Origins are working well through Tico.
That leaves the release with a clear answer to the question many users have been asking: Nintendo Switch Gamecube Games are now running more directly on the handheld than before, but only through custom firmware and only as emulated software. The next step is not whether the Switch can boot them at all. It is how far Tico can push performance on hardware that was never built for GameCube or Wii games in the first place.
