NSO GameCube Controller

The wireless NSO GameCube pad works fully on macOS through The Vault — in Dolphin and Cemu, with rumble and one-button save/load — even though macOS can't see it on its own.

Button map

LAnalog triggerControl Stick→ Left stickD-Pad→ D-PadYTriangle / Y (North)XSquare / X (West)ACross / A (South)BCircle / B (East)C-Stick→ Right stickZLUnassigned — freeCaptureSave / load modifierStart→ Plus (+)HomeUnassignedCUnassignedR · ZRRight triggers
Face buttons show the cross-console mapping — PlayStation / Xbox (the pad's own A/B/X/Y already give the Nintendo names) — since The Vault works with all three controller styles. Capture is unique to the NSO pad, so it's the dedicated hotkey modifier (Capture + R / L save/load, + Start quit, + ▲/▼ slots). ZL, Home and C don't map to a GameCube function, so they're currently unassigned — free to bind to your own hotkeys. And with keyboard mode, this pad can drive any system.Controller art from the Linear theme for ES-DE (MIT).

Save & load hotkeys — hold Capture

The pad's Capture button doesn't exist on a real GameCube controller, so The Vault uses it as a dedicated modifier — no gameplay conflict, ever:

ComboAction
Capture + R💾 Save State
Capture + L📤 Load State
Capture + StartQuit back to the library

While Capture is held, the combo inputs are withheld from the game, so a combo never leaks an in-game press. (Dolphin; Cemu support coming.)

How it connects

The pad speaks a proprietary Switch-2 Bluetooth protocol macOS ignores. The Vault reads it directly over Bluetooth and re-serves it as a standard DSU (cemuhook) controller on 127.0.0.1:26760 — which Dolphin and Cemu both understand — and forwards rumble back to the pad.

Setup

  1. First time only: hold SYNC and pair the pad in macOS System Settings → Bluetooth. After that it reconnects on its own whenever you turn it on.
  2. Launch a GameCube game (or use Open Emulator (Setup)) — The Vault starts the DSU bridge automatically and the pad connects. It also connects in Showcase mode for menu navigation. (In the normal library view the bridge isn't running yet, so the pad won't respond there — that's expected.)
  3. Dolphin: the controller works immediately. Save/load via Capture + R / Capture + L.
  4. Cemu: in Options → Input Settings, set Controller 1 to Wii U GamePad, API DSUController, pick the pad, and save. Tip: use Open Emulator (Setup) from a game's right-click menu so the pad is live while you configure.

Mapping

GameCubeMaps to (PlayStation / Xbox)
A (green)Cross / A
B (red)Circle / B
X (grey)Square / X
Y (grey)Triangle / Y
Control Stick / C-StickLeft stick / Right stick
StartPlus (+)
L / R triggers, ZTriggers
CaptureSave/load modifier
ZL / C / HomeUnassigned — free for hotkeys

⚠️ Rumble in Dolphin

Force feedback needs a DSU-rumble-patched build of Dolphin. See the Dolphin setup notes for the one-time patch.