[TUTORIAL] GameCube in 2026: launching Swiss and your games from an SD card (PicoBoot, FlippyDrive, GC Loader)

Step-by-step Wii tutorials: mod your Wii, install the Homebrew Channel, cIOS and a USB Loader, back up and unbrick your console.
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[TUTORIAL] GameCube in 2026: launching Swiss and your games from an SD card (PicoBoot, FlippyDrive, GC Loader)

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Automatically translated from French.

[TUTO] GameCube en 2026 : lancer Swiss et ses jeux depuis une carte SD (PicoBoot, FlippyDrive, GC Loader)

Swiss transforms the GameCube: games on SD card, cheat codes, forced 480p and region-free play. Here is how to boot it in 2026, with or without a modification.


What is Swiss?

Swiss (version r2119, 25 September 2026) is the go-to software for the GameCube: it launches your games from an SD card or a disc, forces 480p progressive or widescreen, emulates a memory card on the SD card, applies cheat codes and ignores regions. You still have to boot it: several methods exist.


Without any soldering
  • A save exploit: several games let you launch Swiss from a memory card (Animal Crossing, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Pokémon Colosseum and XD, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Super Mario Sunshine PAL version…). You need to copy the exploit save and the file boot.gci to a memory card, from a Wii or a GameCube that can already run homebrew.
  • FlippyDrive (Team OffBroadway): a microSD-based optical drive emulator that plugs in in place of the drive, without soldering, with Swiss preinstalled. Expect 65 dollars, or 99 with Ethernet; some versions are on preorder.

With soldering
  • PicoBoot (0.5.0): a small Raspberry Pi Pico board (Pico 2 W recommended) soldered onto the boot chip, which launches Swiss at every power-on. Five wires to solder, or a flex cable. You then need an SD adapter: SD2SP2 in Serial Port 2 (missing on the DOL-101), or an adapter in the memory card slot.
  • GC Loader: an optical drive emulator that replaces the disc drive and reads games from an SD card.

Installing Swiss

The Swiss archive contains one folder per method: just copy its contents to the SD card.
  • PicoBoot: copy the contents of PicoBoot/gekkoboot/EXTRACT_TO_ROOT.zip to the root (the file ipl.dol). The SD card can be FAT32 or exFAT.
  • FlippyDrive: FlippyDrive/EXTRACT_TO_ROOT.zip (the file boot.dol).
  • GC Loader: GCLoader/EXTRACT_TO_ROOT.zip (the file boot.iso).
  • Memory card: the files in the folder MemoryCard.

Your games

Swiss reads .iso and .gcm images, copied from your own discs (with CleanRip on a Wii, see our Dolphin tutorial). The compressed formats .rvz and.gcz are not read: convert them back to ISO with Dolphin. NKit files work, with caveats; redo them if needed with the NKit tool included with Swiss. Cheat codes go in swiss/cheats/<game ID>.txt.


Useful controls and settings

A to select, X to go up a folder, L/R to change page, Start for recent games. In a game's settings: force the video mode (480p), widescreen, emulate the memory card on the SD card, and in-game reset (A + Z + Start).


The most common errors
  • PicoBoot stuck on a text screen: PicoBoot is working, the SD card is the problem. Check that ipl.dol is at the root, and try another SD adapter.
  • “Compressed disc images must be decompressed”: game in.rvz or.gcz; convert it back to ISO.
  • Back to the original menu after the first launch: a cheap HDMI adapter can be the cause.
  • A game misbehaves: try the option that disables the memory card if an adapter occupies that slot.
Do you have a Wii? It also runs your GameCube games with Nintendont.


Sources and official guides: Swiss · PicoBoot · Installing PicoBoot · FlippyDrive · Running homebrew (gc-forever)

Tgames does not provide games, BIOS files or keys: only use backups of your own games and your own console. Have a question? Reply to this topic.
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