Though the Nintendo GameCube may not be the most memorable console, the system is still an exciting piece of hardware that is often underrated. Sure, the Nintendo 64 brought the three-dimensional graphics to Nintendo games, but the GameCube polished the graphics and introduced some features that were not seen in previous Nintendo-branded consoles. The integrated system menu and the connectivity with its handheld sister console are among many examples gamers can cite. Since we’ve taken a look at the PlayStation 2, it’s only right that we also explore its primary rival, at the time. Thus, we will discuss 25 Nintendo GameCube Secrets Only True Fans Know.
A majority of these facts will surprise Nintendo fans who never took too deep a look at the machine. Believe it or not, Nintendo tackled some fairly novel initiatives with this console that would only be followed-up by its peers way further down the line. Time to bring you back to the GameCube era and dig into some awesome facts and hidden powers Nintendo stowed in the powerful purple cube
25 GameCube Could Play Games Online
Compared to the PlayStation and Xbox, the GameCube didn’t give much importance to online gaming. For Nintendo, it was all about having fun with your real life friends! After all, how would playing Mario Kart: Double Dash with millions of people be more interesting than playing it with your friends? … /s. As expected, the console would greatly suffer for not following the trend. However, it would be false to say that Nintendo completely discarded the functionality from the console, as it was possible to play online multiplayer with the Nintendo GameCube Broadband Adaptor.
The accessory would plug at the bottom port of the GameCube and features an Ethernet Port. Players would then need to connect an Ethernet Cable to enable the feature. However, there were only a few games that were compatible with the add-on in the Western market.
24 The Cancelled Nintendo Games
If there is one thing that I dislike in the gaming industry are canceled projects. To be hyped up for an announced game that will never see the light is a feeling that is beyond frustration. The GameCube was no stranger to such disappointment. Despite having a solid roster of launching titles, many anticipated games never materialized for the console.
Near the release of the GameCube, many developers pledged their support to the consoles. Games like Perfect Dark: Zero, Donkey Kong Racing and Super Mario 128 were highly expected as their respective series were top-rated in the N64. Sadly, all three games have met the same unfortunate fate. Super Mario 128 became the basis of Pikmin and Super Mario Sunshine, and Donkey Kong Racing would end up completely disappear from the map. All we can do is wondering the impact that these games would’ve had. On the other hand, I doubt that Donkey Kong Racing would’ve had the success of Diddy Kong Racing!
23 It’s Original Code Name Was Dolphin
The GameCube name seems to have been a natural fit for the console. Looking at the system, it looks like the designers didn’t even think twice about naming the console as such. Surprisingly, its official name came near the end of development of the console. Its original name had nothing in common with the hardware design. It is not uncommon for Nintendo to proceed of the sort. The N64 was previously named Project Ultra Reality 64, and the Wii’s initial name was Revolution.
The cubic console original name was Dolphin. In contrast to its appellation, Nintendo initially associated the console to the animal. For instance, the ATI-branded graphics chip for the console is named Flipper, as a reference to the famous 1964 TV series. Even after its name change, many games kept on hinting the Dolphin. For example, the Delfino area in Super Mario Sunshine is the Italian saying of dolphin. Also, Captain Olimar first ship in Pikmin is called S.S. Dolphin. If I had one occasion to meet Nintendo executives privately, I’d probably ask them why did they decide to codename a console after a mammal.
22 The GameCube’s Low Sales Forced Nintendo To License Mario
Despite an impressive launch, the Nintendo GameCube was the least successful consoles between the PS2 and the Xbox. The console sales fared even lower than its predecessor, the Nintendo 64. To keep the GameCube sales from diving, Nintendo made a lot of moves that would have been unthinkable, many years before. One of them was licensing its Super Mario characters to 3rd party game companies.
Yes, long before Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, other games also included the Mushroom Kingdom cast.
Most of their guest appearances were featured in EA games. The company is renowned for making some of the most realistic series like NHL and Madden. Their snowboard game, SSX on Tour featured Mario, Luigi & Princess Peach as playable characters. However, their most iconic appearance would be on NBA Streetz Vol.3 — the trio officially formed the Nintendo team on the 3-on-3 basketball games. The Mario Bros. would also appear in Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix. Sadly, these games would not create a significant impact on the GameCube due to their disappointing sales. Still, we have to respect Nintendo for opening his tight-knit properties.
21 It’s Not Technically A Cube. Get Over It.
As observed previously, it doesn’t take a genius to see why the GameCube is named as such. Its cubic design is perhaps its most noticeable feature. The GameCube is perhaps one of the most compact home consoles in modern gaming (we’re excluding the consoles remakes, of course). However, can we take Nintendo’s word that the console is a perfect hexahedron? You’d be sad to know that you fell for Nintendo’s false advertisement through all these years. (Sorry, Nintendo fanboys).
The company’s console cannot be officially considered as a cube since it doesn’t respect its basic requirements.
In mathematics, a cube is composed of six identical squares; all of its sides must be of the same length. If we were to look at the GameCube dimension, it is listed at 5.9 (width) x 6.3 (depth) x 4.3 (height) inches. The system is incongruent as its sizes are uneven. At the time, Nintendo wanted to keep the console tiny to limit the manufacturing cost. The console manages to resemble more of a cubic form when the Game Boy Player is attached to it. However, it is still not respecting the ways of a cube. So, the next time you see a dedicated Nintendo fan, make sure to obliterate his day with this information!
20 GameCube Was Wireless Before Xbox And PlayStation
Since the seventh-generation of video games, wireless controllers replaced the wired ones as the norm for gaming. For any players, it was a dream coming true as players could now enjoy their games without being limited to the length of their controllers’ cable. Veteran gamers may remember when they had to get a chair closer to the TV because their wired controller didn’t allow them to play all the way to their back-end couch. While the most seasoned gamer may think that this generation successfully introduces these cordless controllers to players, it is the Nintendo GameCube that had the honor.
Indeed, the console was responsible for successfully bringing the modern wireless controller onto the future generation of gaming, thanks to its Wavebird-branded controllers. Mostly, players would need to plug the receiver into one of the GameCube controller port. Once done, players would then flip the ON switch of the remote (two AA batteries are required) and match the channel with the receiver. Once set up, you can enjoy wireless play. Additionally, the Wavebird controllers are compatible with the Wii and the Nintendo Wii U, provided that you have a GameCube Adaptor.
19 The Keyboard You Never Tried
The Nintendo GameCube wasn’t massive in online gaming, unlike its competitors. As previously mentioned, the console allowed online play, but only had Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II and Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D Revolution compatible with the service. Like any MMORPG, communication is a crucial component for succeeding. While shortcut inputs provide some level of interaction, they will never replace the full-fledged keyboard. I’m sure you’d want to give the most precise information to your partners while battling a giant monster that can potentially wipe you with a single hit! Luckily, there was a keyboard that was explicitly designed for the games.
The ASCII Keyboard Controller both serves as a keyboard and a GameCube pad.
The accessory is equipped with two controller plugs. The indigo plug allows the use of the pad functionality while the white one allowed the keyboard connectivity. The attachment is not limited to the Phantasy Star Online series as it can be used with any other GameCube games. Somehow, we doubt you’d want to replace it over your regular GameCube controller for your Super Smash Bros. Melee sessions! Though the Keyboard Controller was only released in Japan, the keyboard characters are both in Japanese and English.
18 Hardcore Fans Hated The GameCube Zelda
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker was a significant departure from Zelda’s traditional presentation. As opposed to the mature content, the title introduced us to a young Tool Link with a warm setting and an impressive cel-shaded graphics style. Whether you liked it or not, the game has garnered a dedicated fanbase and is often considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time (Ocarina of Time, step aside please). Despite its reception, the development of the game was highly controversial among the hardcore fan of the series.
Back in the Nintendo Space World event in 2000, the company unveiled a Zelda tech demo to showcase the power of the GameCube. The demo pitted Link against Ganondorf in a sword fight. Players then, immediately assumed that Nintendo was developing another follow-up to Ocarina of Time and was highly anticipating the next entry. When Nintendo revealed Wind Waker, many players were disappointed and even accused Nintendo of false advertising. Fortunately, the game was critically-acclaimed and Toon Link has yet made appearances on other Nintendo consoles, such as the Nintendo 3DS (The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass & Spirit Tracks) and its game was even remastered on the Wii U. Happy ending!
17 There Was A GameCube That Could Play DVDs
One of the GameCube’s biggest weakness is its lack of playing multimedia content. Both the PlayStation 2 & Xbox were able to play DVDs while its Nintendo rival couldn’t. This proved to be a significant reason why the system sales were sluggish. Wouldn’t it have been fun to watch your favorite movie after an all-night gaming session of Super Smash Bros. Melee (I’m sure I’m not the only one who did it)? However, you’d be surprised to know that there was once a GameCube console that could do such features.
Oddly enough, the console wasn’t even released by Nintendo.
Back in the development of the Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo had commissioned Matsushita Electric into providing the mini Game disc of the console, through its Panasonic company. The deal also allowed Panasonic to create a derivate of the GameCube. Thus, the company released the Japan-exclusive Panasonic Q, in 2001. The futuristic-looking console allowed players to play both Nintendo GameCube & DVDs. The Q also featured four controller ports and a remote. Sadly, the console was a commercial failure, and Panasonic ceased its production two years after its release.
16 The GameCube Had The Best Console Launch Lineup Of All Time
Though the hardware provides a new gaming experience, the launch titles’ line up is often a hassle for players: either there are a short amount of games or merely dull games. Fortunately, the Nintendo GameCube had a successful line up that gamers often mention in their favorite consoles launch moments.
When the hardware released in 2001, more than a dozen games were available.
The most seasoned players may remember the iconic Luigi Mansion that was heavily marketed with the GameCube at the time. Furthermore, the start-up titles would feature many genres that managed to appeal to the majority of gamers. It was a significant departure from its predecessor —the Nintendo 64— who only had two available titles at the time of its release: Super Mario 64 & Pilotwings 64. Though the former managed to be commercially successful, players were only limited to either a platforming or a flight software for starters.
15 Why The GameCube Was So Cheap
The successful console launch of the GameCube was no mere coincidence. While people may point out the lack of N64 launch titles as a contributing factor, it was not the main reason. Often, Nintendo has correctly predicted the future mindset of the gaming industry. If we think about the top-selling Wii, the console managed to outsell the PS3 & the Xbox 360, despite being significantly less powerful than its rivals. The reason? Only because the hardware offered motion-technology, a feature that neither Sony nor Microsoft has fully developed, at the time.
Like the Wii, Nintendo also had a vision for the GameCube that helped him set its foundation.
Nintendo’s president at the time, Hiroshi Yamauchi, knew that gamers bought a console for merely playing the new titles. Thus, he wanted to create a console that was inexpensive to manufacture so that players could concentrate their resources on buying games. It is the main reason why the GameCube was already at a 149$, only six months after its launch price tag of 199$. The next year, the GameCube price dropped to a mere 99$. The PS2 would reach this cost at the second half of its lifecycle while Xbox would be listed as 149$ at the end of its production.
14 The Story Behind Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles.
If your first JRPG experience was Final Fantasy VII, the chances are that you weren’t aware that the series first landed on the original NES. Square (currently Square-Enix) created games for Nintendo consoles until Final Fantasy VI, which released in 1994. Following that, the RPG juggernaut signed an exclusivity deal with Nintendo’s rival Sony. Though the contract would prove to be beneficial for the company, it also put a strain on their relationship with Nintendo. It would nearly take a decade before Square would release another title—Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles— on a Nintendo console.
Despite the reconciliation, you’d be surprised to know the real reason why the title was released, in the first place.
At the time, the Game Boy Advance was dominating the handheld market and proved to be a goldmine for any renowned developer. When Square Enix expressed the desire of creating games for the GBA, Nintendo agreed, under the condition that the company produces a title for the Nintendo GameCube. Thus, the project became the Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles. I can’t blame Nintendo for that move. After all, I would’ve done the same, knowing that I have one of the most iconic game publishers that may potentially boost my game console sales. We sure hope business professors will introduce this tactic to their classes.
13 Play That Intro Song Again!
From the moment players open their console, the pre-rendered video and music present the consoles before booting the game. These elements became a brief, entertaining moment for players before enjoying their title. The GameCube was no exception to this trend. The console logo would form itself to the sound of a xylophone. Though the melody will forever be imprinted in my head, there was an easter egg that allowed players to change music from its default sound.
This easter egg distinguishes the GameCube from the lot as its competitors haven’t much used the intro formula.
If players held the “Z” button on the first controller, they would hear a chimpanzee and a baby laughing instead. Should players have four controllers and a friend (it’s highly advised unless you’ve got some inner Goro skills in you) to help, holding the Z button on all of them, would instead trigger a “kabuki-type” sound.
12 What Is A Mini-Disk?
The DVDs pretty much defined the sixth-generation of consoles as a media form for the platform. In fact, the DVD was slowly starting to be the newest standard of home videos. Compared to the CD-R, the DVDs were able to store a substantial amount of data, further reducing the need for multi-disk. While the PS2 & Xbox were equipped to read DVDs, GameCube owners were left with a machine that could only read an alternative media: the mini-disk.
Indeed, Nintendo decided to go with these little CDs as they wanted to discourage piracy on their consoles.
While we applaud the company for finding ways to protect the property, the mini-CDs proved to be costly for the GameCube’s appeal as they could only contain up to 1.5 GB. In other words, developers were forced to compress their data to fit the game in the disk. It even forced developers to release the titles on multi-disk. Resident Evil 4 is the most common example. The Nintendo GameCube released in the form of two disks while the PS2 version published in a single disc. Though the Wii would learn from its predecessor mistake, the GameCube was the first and only console that Nintendo operated that way. Lesson learned!
11 It Could Also Play GameBoy Games
One of the GameCube’s most robust feature is that it was compatible with the handheld Game Boy Advance. The cube console wasn’t the first Nintendo home system to offer such functionality. The Nintendo 64 also offered compatibility with the Game Boy Advance thanks to the Wide Boy 64 AGB. However, the Wide Boy accessory was not available publicly.
The Game Boy Player enabled the players to run GBA cartridges directly onto the system.
Players would only need to plug the add-on at the bottom extension port of the console. From the GameCube menu, players would then need to insert the mini-CD included with the peripheral, open the GB Player app, and voila! The accessory is also compatible with original Game Boy & Game Boy Color games. Players can also modify specific settings such as the size of the screen and the controller’s mapping. Additionally, players could also change cartridges directly instead of closing the console to change games. One of its most significant advantages was that players were able to play their games more clearly. At the time, handheld players were forced to play their games in a well-lit room as it didn’t offer any brightness option (the SP version of the GBA was the only device that enabled brightness). Though it is now possible for players to run their favorite game with free computer emulators, it is still interesting to see that Nintendo manufactured such a device.
10 Nintendo Has Been Making The Switch Since The GameCube
The Game Boy Player was a blessing for any Game Boy fans. However, the accessory was solely for playing the handheld devices and didn’t offer any connectivity with GameCube titles. Looking at the GameCube, the first title that would come out of your mind would be first-party games—like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess or Luigi’s Mansion—that didn’t require any outward accessories. We can’t blame you either as they’re part of the most iconic games of the console. Unbeknownst to many, a few GCN games allowed connectivity with the Game Boy Advance, thanks to the GameCube-GameBoy Advance Link Cable.
9 It Had A Working Microphone Accessory
In modern gaming, a microphone mostly serves as a communication device for online gaming. Usually, these microphones would be part of a headset. The most recent consoles such as the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 even include microphones. However, we have to credit the sixth generation console for commercializing the microphones. Despite not being focused on online play, many people didn’t know that Nintendo was already experiencing with the microphone long before the PlayStation and the Xbox.
The Nintendo 64 had microphone connectivity with Hey You, Pikachu, a vocal-interactive game that allows you to control the Pokémon mascot. A microphone was bundled with the game. The Nintendo GameCube will follow the same path of its predecessor with the Nintendo GameCube Microphone. The accessory came bundled with Mario Party 6 & Mario Party 7 and allowed interactivity with some of their mini-games. Players could plug the microphone into the memory card slot and press the green button to enable the vocal recognition. The receiver was also compatible with the sleeper-hit Odama, an innovative real-time tactical pinball game that allows you to control your army by merely giving orders through the mic. Pretty clever, no?
8 The GameCube As Your Next Aquatic Science Project
Electronics and water are two elements that do not go together. I mean who would even think about voluntarily throwing their hard-earned console in a pool, just for the sake of it? Despite that, many amateur scientists have always done the unthinkable with consoles, much to our curiosity. After all, we do need fearless people to advance for the greater purpose of science. Thanks to their bold experiments, we’ve been able to discover a few trivial facts about the Nintendo GameCube. One of them includes the weight of the system.
Indeed, few players knew that the GameCube was able to float in the water.
The console officially weighs 2.4 kgs. If we were to compare it with objects, it would equal about two regular sized pineapple. Who would’ve thought that this indigo console has the same utility as an SOS bottle? Oddly enough, we also previously saw that the GameCube’s original name was Dolphin. Should we consider it as a coincidence or an intentional move?
7 Color It, Buttercup!
A console is not a console if you’re only subjected to its default color. Of course, we don’t have anything about the natural look of a system; they all have the same feature. However, a console remains pricey, and you want to make sure that you have the best out of your money! And besides, we believe that the color swag defines your personality as a gamer (ok, maybe not). The Nintendo GameCube was often shown officially with the Indigo color. However, few were aware that the console had other color variations.
Black and Platinum Silver were the most popular colors for the Nintendo GameCube, in the Western market. We can all recall that “one” kid in your circle that had one of these two colors, with the matching controller. However, many other console’s version released, but in limited edition. Some colors included the MTV Canadian Maple & the Starlight Gold. However, these variations were not available in the West as they were European and Japanese exclusive, respectively. Despite that, gamers had the opportunity to be unique and buy their favorite colored system, at no extra charge! Thanks to the popularity of the web, it is also easier for gamers to custom their consoles, too!
6 Before The 3DS, There Was The GameCube
The Nintendo 3DS has been able to achieve what the Virtual Boy couldn’t do: providing three-dimension to its console and being successful (no puns intended). Of course, the 3D function is far from being the main reason to buy the handheld console, but it remains a neat feature, nonetheless. However, you’d be surprised to know that the technology was initially supposed to appear in the Gamecube console.
In the Iwata Asks segment, the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed that the 3D function was first considered for the cubic system; Nintendo even developed a 3D version of Luigi Mansion. However, the company decided to back down on the project as consumers would have required to purchase an LCD to make it work. At the time, the technology was very costly to manufacture, and Nintendo would’ve had to raise the price of the console for it significantly. Still, can you imagine how spooky it would have been to see Luigi chasing ghost in 3D? Luckily for curious gamers, a port of Luigi Mansion is set to release in the Nintendo 3DS, later this year. Speaking of three-dimension, maybe Nintendo should consider doing a Switch accessory to enable the feature on its recent console!
