Nintendo GameCube
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The Nintendo GameCube is a console system developed by Nintendo, and released late in the year of 2001. The GameCube's preproduction codename name was "Project Dolphin" and was originally a console that used cartridges, as noted references appear in games such as Super Mario Sunshine. The GameCube has room for two memory cards and four controllers. It has three buttons on top: Open, Reset, and Power. It has two serial ports and one hi-speed port on the bottom.
The Nintendo GameCube uses game discs that are the size of an MP3 disc. Also, when compared to the Nintendo 64 game cartridges, GameCube game discs can hold more memory; up to 1.35 GB (1,459,978,240 bytes).
There are four main colors to the Nintendo GameCube: Indigo, Black, Orange, and Silver. Indigo is the original color seen in advertisements, the trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and other places. Silver was released after the first three colors. Orange was not available in the U.S., but controllers matching its color were.
Many popular Mario games were made for this system, including: Super Mario Sunshine, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Superstar Baseball and Luigi's Mansion.
An add-on accessory for the Nintendo GameCube known as the Game Boy Player was released in 2003. The Game Boy Player allowed people to play Game Boy Advance titles on their television screen through their GameCube.
The GameCube was discontinued in 2009 due to the leaving of Hiroshi Yamauchi. It sold about 22 million units during its lifetime.
The original version of the Wii is mostly compatible with GameCube hardware and software. The Wii has 4 GameCube controller ports and 2 GameCube memory card slots which support all controllers, like the dance mat and microphone. The LAN adapter and Game Boy Player are not supported. The Wii Family Edition and Wii Mini have no support for GameCube hardware and software. The Wii U is not compatible with any GameCube games, but Super Smash Bros. for Wii U is compatible with GameCube controllers through a special adapter.
Accessories
Nintendo GameCube Controller
The Nintendo GameCube Controller is the standard controller for the Nintendo GameCube. It consists of several buttons, of many types. The Nintendo GameCube gets shipped with controllers capable of rumble effect. It also has a wireless controller called the WaveBird Controller which uses two AA batteries and lacks the rumble function. These controllers can be used to play some Virtual Console games on the Wii, and is also one of the four controller types available in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii.
If the player holds 
during the startup of the console, the cube itself and the tiles will rotate, and the player gains rapid access to the main menu even if there is a disc in the console. Holding down 
on one controller causes a xylophone to play, followed by a "BOING" and the laughter of a child. Holding down on all four controllers causes a kabuki shout to play, followed by woodblocks, and then a whoop, followed by a triangle's "ding".
Buttons
The GameCube regained the 
and 
buttons from the SNES that the Nintendo 64 didn't have.
- A ()
- B (
) - C Stick (
) - START/PAUSE (
) - X ()
- Y ()
- Z ()
- R trigger (
) - L trigger (
) - Control Stick (
) - Control Pad (
)
On May 29, 2014, Nintendo announced an official GameCube controller adapter for the Wii U in response to many players' preference for using the GameCube controller in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It is compatible with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and was released on the same day as the game. A limited edition black controller with the Super Smash Bros. emblem was also released.
GameCube Action Pad
The Nintendo GameCube Action Pad is a special controller for the Nintendo GameCube. The only Mario game it is used for is Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix. It has some, but not all, of the Nintendo GameCube Controller's buttons.
Buttons
- A
- B
- START
- Z
- Left
- Right
- Up
- Down
Nintendo GameCube Microphone
The Nintendo GameCube Microphone is a special accessory used for Nintendo GameCube games on the GameCube or a backwards-compatible Wii. It is unusual in that it is plugged into the Memory Card slot rather than the controller slot. It has been used in Mario Party 6 and Mario Party 7 as a tool for playing mic minigames and making Mic Spaces functional. As the mic was intended to be used specifically with the GameCube, it has not been compatible with any Wii games to date.
Mario Party 6
Mic modes
Mic minigames
Mario Party 7
1-player mic minigames
- Fruit Cards
4-player mic minigames
1-vs-3 mic minigames
DK Bongos
The DK Bongos are bongo-like controllers for the Nintendo GameCube, primarily for use with the Donkey Kong(a) series. Each side of the controller is shaped like a classic Donkey Kong barrel with a rubber drum skin fastened on top. It also has a built-in microphone to detect clapping (although hitting the sides of it also functions well). In the Donkey Kong(a) series, the DK Bongos detect left and right hits, and clapping.
In Japan, the controller is called the TaruKonga (or "TaruConga") controller. The name is a multilayered pun, combining "Taru" (the Japanese word for "barrel"), "Kon", or "Con" (a suffix used by Namco when naming their original peripherals, such as the "GunCon", or the "TaTaCon"), and Konga (or Conga).
The DK Bongos are also compatible with the Wii as well.[1]
Games that use the DK Bongos
- Donkey Konga
- Donkey Konga 2
- Donkey Konga 3: Tabehōdai! Haru Mogitate 50 Kyoku
- Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
Appearances in Mario games
Super Smash Bros. Melee
A GameCube is a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee. The only platform in Luigi's Target Test is a GameCube.
Mario Party series
Though a GameCube doesn't actually appear in Mario Party 4, the Party Cube is a reference to the GameCube, and the rumble machine in the options screen is clearly based on the GameCube. Additionally, a GameCube can be seen inside the shops of Mario Party 6 and Mario Party 7, though not on the counter.
Wario World
One of Wario's Treasures in Wario World is a Nintendo GameCube, found in a pink chest in Pecan Sands.
Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
The Nintendo GameCube battle course in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is just a GameCube. This Nintendo GameCube logo can also appear at the bottom of the word "Mario Kart" on the five pointed star in Mario Circuit and Sherbet Land. The logo can also be seen on the billboards at Mushroom City.
Paper Mario series
In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Lucky, the brown Bulky Bob-omb that runs the lottery in the west side of Rogueport, will mention the GameCube's time when talking to him.
In Super Paper Mario, Francis owns a GameCube which he keeps in his room with several other game systems.
Super Mario 64 DS
In Super Mario 64 DS, the GameCube logo appears in the botton screen minimap of the castle courtyard (the back area with the Boos, not the front garden).
WarioWare: Touched!
In WarioWare: Touched!, one of the falling objects during the credit reel is a GameCube logo. In the microgame Game On, a Nintendo GameCube, its controller cable and a game disc can be seen.
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
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.
Planned appearances
Super Paper Mario and Donkey Kong Barrel Blast (while under the working title of DK Bongo Blast) were originally going to be released for the GameCube; they were moved to the Wii when the GameCube's lifespan began to wind down.
Game gallery
- Lmbox.jpg
- ToadstoolTour.PNG
- Mpp4.JPG
- MP5BOX.PNG
- MP7BOX.PNG
- NPC.jpg
- SuperMarioStrikers.JPG
- Box NA - Super Mario Sunshine.png
- Super Smash Bros Melee Players Ch.jpg
Trivia
- The DK Bongos, a GameCube accessory, are featured in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as Donkey Kong's Final Smash attack, the "Konga Beat."
- The Directional Pad on the Nintendo GameCube Controller had the same size and shape as the original Game Boy Advance.
- The GameCube is often abbreviated as "GCN", although in reality this would be an incorrect abbreviation as it would stand for "GameCube Nintendo". A correct abbreviation would be "NGC", which is also the Japanese version of the abbreviation.[2]
- The GameCube menu ambience music is actually a slowed-down version of the Famicom Disk System startup tone.
- The GameCube is currently the final home console to receive an entry of the Mario Golf series. It was the final console to receive a game in the series, up until the 2014 release of Mario Golf: World Tour for the Nintendo 3DS.
- The GameCube is the first Nintendo console where the highest selling game on the console wasn't a pure Mario game, instead being a crossover, Super Smash Bros. Melee.
- The GameCube has the most installments in the Mario Party Series.
References
- ^ Wikipedia (Accessed on 5-16-08)
- ^ Bulbapedia
