Nintendo GameCube
- Manufacturer
- Nintendo
- Production
- 2001–2007
- Generation
- Gen 6
- Type
- Home
- Launch price
- $199
- Units sold
- 21.7M
About Nintendo GameCube
The Nintendo GameCube is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in Europe on May 3, 2002. It is Nintendo's fourth major home console, succeeding the Nintendo 64, and competed with Sony's PlayStation 2, Sega's Dreamcast, and Microsoft's Xbox in the sixth generation of game consoles.
Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0).
Library & collector facts
653licensed games
- North America: 653
Lineage
Release timeline
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- September 14, 2001
- 🇺🇸 North America
- August 24, 2001
- 🇪🇺 Europe / PAL
- May 3, 2002
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- August 24, 2001
- Lifespan
- 6 years on market
Pricing
Launch price (2001)
- 🇺🇸 USD
- $199
- 🇯🇵 JPY
- ¥25,000
- 🇪🇺 EUR
- €199
Controller
GameCube controller / WaveBird
Launch titles & exclusives
Luigi's Mansion · Super Monkey Ball · Wave Race: Blue Storm · Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader · Madden NFL 2002 · Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 · Crazy Taxi · All-Star Baseball 2002
None (sold standalone); various retailer bundles paired Luigi's Mansion or Super Smash Bros. Melee
Super Smash Bros. Melee · The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker · The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (also Wii) · Metroid Prime 1 & 2 · Resident Evil 4 (initially GCN-exclusive) · Resident Evil REmake · Eternal Darkness · F-Zero GX · Pikmin 1 & 2 · Luigi's Mansion · Mario Sunshine · Paper Mario: Thousand-Year Door · Animal Crossing
Madden NFL 08 (2007) was among the last NA releases
NCAA College Basketball 2K3 (Sega Sports, very rare, ~$300+ CIB); Cubivore (~$300+ CIB); Gotcha Force (~$200+); Pokemon Box: Ruby & Sapphire (~$300 CIB); Sealed Resident Evil 4 Premium Edition
Hardware specs
- Os
- Proprietary
- Cpu
- IBM Gekko
- Gpu
- ATI Flipper @ 162 MHz
- Ram
- 24 MB 1T-SRAM as system RAM, 3 MB 1T-SRAM as video RAM, 16 MB DRAM as Input/output, I/O buffer RAM
- Power
- 46-watt AC adapter (DOL-001), 48-watt AC adapter (DOL-101)
- Sound
- RCA connector, Analog stereo, * I²S digital stereo (early models), * Dolby Pro Logic II with MusyX
- Display Output
- 480i, 480p
Hardware revisions
- Original GameCube DOL-001(2001)
full digital-audio output, component video port present (early units only)
- DOL-101(2004)
component video port removed (cost reduction) — heavily affects collector pricing as DOL-001 is the unit you need for component cables which themselves command ~$300+
- Panasonic Q SL-GC10(2001)
JP-only Panasonic variant playing DVDs as well as GCN discs
Launch colorways & special editions
- Spice Orange (JP/EU)
- Symphonic Green
- Platinum Silver
- Char Black
- Pokemon XD Edition
- Tales of Symphonia Edition (JP)
- Resident Evil 4 Limited (JP)
- Hanshin Tigers Edition (JP, extremely rare)
- Panasonic Q (JP, DVD-playing GCN)
Modding scene
- Difficulty
- soft-mod
- Custom firmware
- Swiss (homebrew, gold standard); Nintendont (loader for Wii GC compatibility)
Reception & legacy
Strong reviews for launch lineup and Rogue Leader; criticized for purple color, mini-DVDs (1.5GB capacity), and lack of DVD playback against PS2
Mini-DVD format limited multi-disc games and prevented DVD video playback at a time when PS2 was selling on that feature; the 'kiddie' positioning narrative dogged Nintendo throughout the generation
Cult favorite among Nintendo fans; Smash Bros. Melee became one of the most enduring competitive fighting games in history; the third-place finish in the 6th generation drove Nintendo to invent the Wii
References
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Nintendo GameCube in the news
Recent coverage mentioning the Nintendo GameCube, gathered from 80+ gaming-news sources.
N64-To-PC Porting Team 'Harbour Masters' Is Expanding Its Scope To Include GameCube Titles
And it's already announced its first project. Harbour Masters 64, the group of creators renowned for their incredible PC ports of Nintendo 64 games, has announced it is upgrading the technology it uses to work with Nintendo GameCube games, as spotted by SteamDeckHQ. This means we could eventually...
USB Dolphin: USB HDD Demo
Tito from Macho Nacho Productions recently posted a video demoing the “USB Dolphin” for the Nintendo GameCube: A pair of USB adapters that connects to either the GameCube’s SP1 (bottom) port, or the front memory card slot. When I previously covered it, I focused on the SP1 version’s ethernet (and...