▲
1
▼
The GameCube's SDK has strings that reference all of the known N64 peripherals, including obscure ones such as the keyboard and mouse, suggesting that the GameCube was once planned to have support for Nintendo 64 peripherals.
▲
1
▼
When the GameCube was released, Nintendo targeted a 50 million sale goal by 2005, in order to compete with Sony and Microsoft. The consoles ended up only reaching 21.74 million units sold (estimate).
▲
1
▼
Attachment Two of Nintendo's biggest franchises, Mario and The Legend of Zelda, have water-centric games on the Gamecube. Some have speculated this is somehow related to the GameCube's early project name "Dolphin".
▲
1
▼
Attachment Nintendo ran a contest to help promote the upcoming release of the GameCube called "What would YOU do for a Nintendo GameCube?" where fans were picked to perform stunts that they'd chosen themselves to win a GameCube, Game Boy Advance, a games package, and USD. Some of the acts which were picked by entrants were to paint Nintendo logos with their tongue, juggling three consoles whilst dressed as a game character, painting and shaving themselves to be a Pikmin, and eating a GameCube made of spam, chocolate syrup, and cat food.
▲
1
▼
The GameCube is actually capable of rendering stereoscopic 3D. The GameCube was going to have an add-on that would attach to a TV and enable it to properly display 3D games. The first planned game for the add-on was Luigi's Mansion. The add-on was eventually cancelled as it would have cost more than the console itself.
▲
2
▼
In the GameCube 20th anniversary VGC interview, it was revealed that former Nintendo of America VP of marketing Perrin Kaplan thought that there was one aspect of the GameCube that he and NoA were not fond of and made them extremely nervous about the console's perception:

"We actually suggested that the purple was not the best [console color] to start with and [Japan] said, ‘no, we’re going to use that [...] Then we pushed for black and silver, because I think in the US nobody had ever really done the purple colour before. [...] It wasn’t that you couldn’t bring out hardware that was a different colour, it was just a very… ‘female’ looking colour. It just didn’t feel masculine, I think. I remember us being very nervous at E3 that we were going to get bad press purely based on the colour.”

Nintendo of Europe was not to easy on the color either with the company's veteran Shelly Peirce revealing that one person referred to it as a "Fischer-Price record player". However Pierce remained optimistic because he felt that what Nintendo was doing was uniquely different than the competition.
▲
2
▼
Attachment At Spaceworld 2000, after Shigeru Miyamoto showed off a tech demo for a GameCube controller prototype he revealed another variant of the Gamecube controller called the "Wavebird". This Wavebird prototype design looked like a missing link between the design of the Virtual Boy controller and the GameCube controller, having long and slender handles like the Virtual Boy but being much bulkier everywhere else like the GameCube controller. It did end up matching the final design of the default GameCube controller.
▲
2
▼
Attachment Among the files uncovered in a massive 2020 breach of internal server data from Nintendo are documents surrounding Project BB2, a never-released, iQue-branded version of the GameCube for the Chinese market. According to an executive summary from January 30, 2004, this system would've played games off of CD-ROM and DVD-ROM discs rather than the GameCube's proprietary format; consequently, it also would've been compatible with audio CDs and DVD video like the Panasonic Q. Project BB2 was also intended to feature karaoke support, owed to karaoke's high popularity in China.
▲
3
▼
In an interview with VGC for The GameCubes's 20th anniversary, veteran Rare developer Martin Hollis revealed that not only was he among the first people to see "Project Dolphin", but also that he was possibly responsible for the GameCube's name and theme:

“I arrived in Kyoto, went into the big building, and Mr. Miyamoto and his team straight away took me to this empty meeting room and sat me down in front of a television [...] They switched it on, and Miyamoto told me to press the A button on the controller. I pressed it and the purple rolling cubes appeared on screen with the boot up music that we now know so well, revealing the GameCube name. [...] As the on-screen reveal happened, Mr. Miyamoto stared at my face intensely! That was my initiation, which was maybe because I’d actually suggested the name ‘Cube’ during my time at NTD. Months earlier I did a sheet of paper at Nintendo of America with a whole load of suggestions for names and one of them was ‘Star Cube’ or something like that.”

Nintendo did indeed trademark "Starcube" lending more legitimacy to Hollis' suspicion.
subdirectory_arrow_right Pokémon Channel (Game), Super Smash Bros. Melee (Game), Super Smash Bros. (Franchise), Pokémon (Franchise)
▲
7
▼
Attachment The trophy representing Meowth in Super Smash Bros. Melee is a reference to his appearance in a tech demo shown off at Spaceworld 2000 called "Meowth's Party", which itself was based on a recurring ending musical number from the Pokémon anime. In his trophy he is holding the same red guitar that he performs with in the tech demo. The flavor text for his trophy even directly mentions this tech demo:

"This...is Meowth's dream. Meowth strides all over the globe, scattering invitations to other Pokémon, insisting they come to "Meowth's Party." At this wonderful party, guests are packed in like sardines as Meowth climbs up the stage with its faithful guitar. It strikes a chord, pauses, and then rocks their world!"

A version of Meowth's Party eventually made its way into the GameCube release of Pokémon Channel.
person Wolfen50 calendar_month September 6, 2023
Spaceworld 2000 Meowth's Party tech demo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62O2vFfS_Ok?t=1387

Pokémon Channel Meowth's Party:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DcqH7Cl9MY

Meowth Trophy image:
https://www.ssbwiki.com/File:Meowth_Trophy_Melee.png

Original Pokémon anime short:
https://vimeo.com/267748188
▲
7
▼
Attachment The GameCube is technically not a cube. Its dimensions are 5.9 x 6.3 x 4.3 inches, making it more of a rectangular prism.
keyboard_double_arrow_left keyboard_arrow_left Page 2 of 2 keyboard_arrow_right keyboard_double_arrow_right