The Nintendo GameCube, or simply the GameCube, is a home console system developed by Nintendo and released in late 2001 as the successor of the Nintendo 64. The console's codename during preproduction was "Project Dolphin": This name is alluded to in many GameCube games, such as Wave Race: Blue Storm and Super Mario Sunshine. The second title of the Super Smash Bros. series, Super Smash Bros. Melee, was released for the console, and became the best-selling title. The system's slogan is "Born to Play."
The Nintendo GameCube has six ports on its front: four controller ports (like the Nintendo 64) and two memory card ports. It has three buttons on top: Open, Reset, and Power. On the bottom are two serial ports and one hi-speed port for add-on expansions. The system uses proprietary 8 cm Game Discs based on the MiniDVD format that are able to hold up to 1.5 GB (1,459,978,240 bytes), making it the first Nintendo console to use optical discs as the primary storage medium. The use of a proprietary format rather than the industry standard 12 cm DVD format is commonly believed to be both an attempt to curtail piracy and a way to avoid paying a royalty fee to the DVD Forum, of whom Nintendo's competitor Sony is a member. The GameCube was the first Nintendo home console to have a startup screen in all international releases.
The Nintendo GameCube was released in five colors: Indigo, Black, Orange, Silver, and Gold. Indigo is the original color seen in advertisements, as well as the GameCube's trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee and its appearances in various other Nintendo games. Silver was released after the first three colors. Orange was not available in the Americas, but controllers matching its color were. A Hot Pink variant was announced at Space World 2000, but it was never released.
In Japan, the GameCube is abbreviated as both "NGC" and "GC," as "NGC" is also an abbreviation used by the Japanese electronics company NGC Corporation.[1] In Western regions, the GameCube is abbreviated as "GCN," as the abbreviation "NGC" is trademarked by the National Geographic Channel.
The Nintendo GameCube was not as commercially successful as its contemporaries, Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox, and sold 21.74 million units worldwide, becoming Nintendo's lowest-selling home console prior to the Wii U. It was officially discontinued in 2007 and eventually outsold by its successor, the Wii.
Impact to Smash Bros.[]
Playable Characters originating from the Nintendo GameCube[]
| Character | Super Smash Bros. Melee | Super Smash Bros. Brawl | Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olimar | 
|
|
|
|
Pikmin |
| Bowser Jr. |
|
|
|
|
Super Mario Sunshine |
| Dark Samus |
|
|
|
|
Metroid Prime |
| Toon Link |
|
|
|
|
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker |
| Ike |
|
|
|
|
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance |
Roy technically debuted in Melee itself, as delays in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade caused it to be delayed until after Melee's release.
*Link with the Toon Link style debuted in The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords for Game Boy Advance. However, Toon Link is based on the Hero of the Winds timeline, which started with Wind Waker.
Menu[]
If the player holds 
while the GameCube logo is displayed onscreen, it will rotate and its sides will turn into tiles, giving the player immediate access to the main menu, even if there is a disc in the console. The music played on the GameCube menu is a slowed-down version of the BIOS music for the Family Computer Disk System.
By holding down certain buttons on the GameCube controller after the console is powered on, different sound effects will play when the GameCube logo is displayed during the console's startup animation. Holding down 
on one controller causes a xylophone to play, followed by a "boing" noise, then a child's laughter. Holding down on all four controllers causes a kabuki shout to play, followed by woodblocks, then a cuíca, and finally a "ding" from a triangle.
Accessories and peripherals[]
Nintendo GameCube Controller[]
The Nintendo GameCube Controller. The color shown here is indigo.
The Nintendo GameCube Controller is the system's standard controller. In addition to standard , 
, and 
buttons and a 
control stick, the Nintendo GameCube is the first Nintendo system to include a second analog stick known as the 
C-Stick, located on the bottom right side of the controller. This analog stick replaces the C-buttons found on a Nintendo 64 controller. The controller features analog triggers 
on the left and right sides of its back, and a single small shoulder button on the right. The controller features a built-in rumble motor, carried over from the Nintendo 64's Rumble Pak add-on. Unlike the Nintendo 64 controller, the GameCube Controller features 
and 
buttons, as well as only two grips instead of three. The 
directional pad on the Nintendo GameCube Controller has the same size and shape as the directional pad on the original Game Boy Advance.
A Wireless Version of the controller
A wireless variant of the Nintendo GameCube controller, known as the WaveBird Wireless Controller, was released in 2002. It connects to the system via a radio sensor that plugs into one of the system's controller ports. However, the WaveBird does not support the rumble feature that the standard controllers have.
A LodgeNet GameCube Controller
Another variant, as part of the LodgeNet service, was exclusive to hotels.[2]
The Nintendo GameCube controller can also be used to play several Wii titles, including Super Smash Bros. Brawl as well as most Virtual Console titles. In addition, through use of the GameCube Controller Adapter for Wii U, the controller can be used to play Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. The accessory was released alongside an official Super Smash Bros.-themed GameCube controller. As of update 4.0.0, the GameCube Controller Adapter for Wii U and the controller itself can be used on the Nintendo Switch, the latter of which is treated as a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller except within certain games that specifically detect it; unlike on the Wii U, however, the controller can be used in all Switch games.
Memory Card[]
A 1019-block memory card
The Nintendo GameCube used proprietary memory cards to save data for games (making the GameCube the first Nintendo console that required memory cards to save game data). Nintendo released three color variants, each of which contain varying block capacities: gray, black, and white, which could each hold 59, 251, and 1019 blocks of game data, respectively. The boxes for GameCube games have memory card holders which can be used to store a memory card in the box along with the Game Disc.
Compatibility with future consoles[]
The original version of the Wii, the successor of the Nintendo GameCube, is mostly compatible with Nintendo GameCube hardware and software. Like the Nintendo GameCube, the Wii has 4 controller ports and 2 memory card slots which support all controllers, like the dance mat and microphone, though it does not support add-ons that attach to the console. Later revisions of the Wii, such as the Wii Family Edition and Wii Mini, would remove Nintendo GameCube support. The Wii U and Nintendo Switch are also not compatible with any Nintendo GameCube games, but Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and most Nintendo Switch games are compatible with the controllers through a special adapter. The GameCube controller is compatible with more consoles than any other Nintendo controller, with a total of four: GameCube, Wii, Wii U, and Nintendo Switch (as of its 4.0.0 update).
Appearances[]
Super Smash Bros. Melee[]
The Nintendo GameCube is part of the trophy room in Super Smash Bros. Melee
The Nintendo GameCube is a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee. It also appears as the only platform for Luigi's Target Test, and can be seen in the background of the trophy room along with numerous other Nintendo consoles.
Development[]
In October 1997, Ed McCracken, the CEO of Silicon Graphics, Inc., resigned from his position, causing Nintendo to reconsider their partnership with the company.[3]
In 1997, the company ArtX was founded by twenty graphics hardware engineers who had previously worked at Silicon Graphics, Inc., designing the graphics hardware of the Nintendo 64. In early 1998, ArtX approached Nintendo to become their new graphics provider. From 1998 to 2000, ArtX developed the graphics hardware and system logic for Nintendo's next home console.[4] At E3 1999, Nintendo of America Chairman Howard Lincoln announced their next-generation console that would follow the Nintendo 64, along with the console's code name, "Project Dolphin". In addition to ArtX, Nintendo also partnered with IBM, who created Dolphin's CPU processor, codenamed "Gekko".[3] In April 2000, ArtX was acquired by ATI Technologies, as the company desired to enter the home console market. By this time, the graphics processor for the GameCube, codenamed "Flipper", had already been mostly completed by ArtX, and was ready for production.[4]
On August 25, 2000, at a press conference in Japan, Nintendo revealed the official name of the console as the Nintendo GameCube.[5] The GameCube was released on September 14, 2001 in Japan, and on November 18, 2001 in North America.
Hardware specifications[]
- MPU ("Microprocessor Unit")*: Custom IBM Power PC "Gekko"
- Manufacturing process: 0.18 micron IBM copper wire technology
- Clock frequency: 485 MHz
- CPU capacity: 1125 Dmips (Dhrystone 2.1)
- Internal data precision : 32-bit Integer & 64-bit floating-point
- External bus: 1.3GB/second peak bandwidth (32-bit address space, 64-bit data bus 162 MHz clock)
- Internal cache L1: instruction 32KB, data 32KB (8 way) L2: 256KB (2 way)
- System LSI: Custom ATI/Nintendo "Flipper"
- Embedded frame buffer: Approx. 2MB sustainable latency : 6.2ns (1T-SRAM)
- Embedded texture cache: Approx. 1MB sustainable latency : 6.2ns (1T-SRAM)
- Texture read bandwidth: 10.4GB/second (Peak)
- Main memory bandwidth: 2.6GB/second (Peak)
- Pixel depth: 24-bit color, 24-bit Z buffer
- Image processing functions: Fog, subpixel anti-aliasing, 8 hardware lights, alpha blending, virtual texture design, multi-texturing, bump mapping, environment mapping, MIP mapping, bilinear filtering, trilinear filtering, anisotropic filtering, real-time hardware texture decompression (S3TC), real-time decompression of display list, HW 3-line deflickering filter.
Trophy information from Super Smash Bros. Melee[]
| Image | Title | List
| |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Nintendo GameCube | Nintendo GameCube Hardware
| |
| Description | |||
| NTSC: Nintendo's latest bundle of joy arrived in North America on November 18, 2001, and video-game fans rejoiced. This little beauty is sleek, compact and full of cutting-edge technology. Incorporating optical media for the first time, the Nintendo GameCube was truly born to play. Rumor has it that Super Smash Bros. Melee is a software title for this wondrous device.
PAL: Nintendo's latest bundle of joy arrived in Europe in May 2002, and video-game fans rejoiced. This little beauty is sleek, compact and full of cutting-edge technology. Incorporating optical media for the first time, the Nintendo GameCube was truly born to play. Rumor has it that Super Smash Bros. Melee is a software title for this wondrous device. | |||
Reception[]
The Nintendo GameCube was not very successful when compared to its competitors, Sony's PlayStation 2 and newcomer Microsoft's Xbox, only outselling former rival Sega's Dreamcast which was discontinued in March 2001 (due to Sega's exit from the console market). The Wii outsold the GameCube's lifetime sales of 21.74 million in only 16 months. The GameCube also held the title of being Nintendo's least successful home console, up until the Wii U surpassed it in 2017 with its lifetime sales of 13.56 million units. Commonly cited reasons for the GameCube's unpopular sales include lack of third-party titles, lack of online, loss of Rareware (due to Microsoft buying them out after the release of Star Fox Adventures), using limited-capability proprietary discs instead of the industry-standard DVD format, missing genres within its library that rose to popularity during the 2000s, and a lack of DVD-Video playback (the latter of which was a major selling point for the PlayStation 2).[6] However, the GameCube's release was accompanied by that of the Panasonic Q; the result of a collaborative project between Nintendo and former rival Panasonic, the Q was capable of playing both GameCube games and DVD movies. It ended up failing due to the price of a Q being noticeably higher than that of a standard GameCube and separate DVD player combined, and as a result, was never released outside of Japan.
Gallery[]
.svg "Nintendo GameCube (2001).svg (89 KB)")
References[]
- ↑ https://www.ngc.co.jp/company/company-profile
- ↑ LodgeNet Game Controllers - Nintendo's Hotel Rental Service!|Nintendrew - YouTube
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "A Dolphin's Tale: The Story of GameCube". Dromble Media. January 7, 2014. (Archived July 5, 2014 via Wayback Machine.) Retrieved July 15, 2022.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "ATI Discusses GameCube Graphics". IGN. October 30, 2001. (Archived June 19, 2022 via Wayback Machine.) Retrieved July 15, 2022.
- ↑ Satterfield, Shane. "Nintendo's GameCube Unveiled". GameSpot. August 25, 2000. (Archived September 5, 2015 via Wayback Machine.) Retrieved July 15, 2022.
- ↑ Anderson, C. Here's Why The Nintendo GameCube Failed. Goliath. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
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Source: This article contains content from the article Nintendo GameCube from the Super Mario Wiki A list of the original authors can be found on that article's history page or on the local history page. |