Taking Apart The Insanely Compact Nintendo Gamecube | Tech Wave!

The Nintendo Gamecube was one of my favorite systems growing up and was the last system Nintendo produced that competed from a power standpoint. For being so compact and small, the Gamecube packed quite a punch producing stunning visuals in games like Rogue Squadron and Metroid Prime. Today we'll be taking the little system apart to see what makes it work.
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[@SpawnWave]

Quick correction: The Gamecube supported 480p and 16:9 widescreen not 720p. Thanks.

[@BocuD]

Thanks for correcting it ;)

[@johnsteel1488]

GameCube wasn't the last time Nintendo completed with powerful specs ... the Switch was the last time. It's probably the most aggressive gaming handheld released by Nintendo, Sega or Sony (based on the technology at the time obviously). If a Vita 2 was released at the same time as Switch, I can assure you that the Switch would have been more powerful and that the Vita 2 couldn't connect to a TV. Straight up fact!

[@StormsparkPegasus]

The Switch can't compete with the PS4/XB1 though. Although it at least barely fits in the same generation hardware-wise (which the Wii and Wii U didn't, they were each a full generation behind).

[@AidGum]

The original Xbox could go up to 720p, and both the OG Xbox and PS2 could go up to 1080i with some method, but very few games did this.

[@BocuD]

Akaihiryuu77 Thats because it doesnt try to compete with it. The switch is a portable that happens to connect to a TV, not the other way around.

[@Artictoc]

I remember when I got one as a kid and saw the "microprocessor technology" sticker on it and went "woaaahh"

[@GeofryMasters]

I returned mine after a week because it fucken sucked balls

[@GeofryMasters]

@SirBongsAlot nope true story. Got a ps2 and never looked back

[@LeeZYComparisons]

@@GeofryMasters but the gamecube hardware is faster the ps2 if you look at the specs

[@TheGreatDanish]

@@LeeZYComparisons and its library kinda sucked. If you weren't big on first party Nintendo games, the gamecube didn't have much in comparison to the absurdly deep library of the Ps2. the difference in power was kinda minor. In the end, im with Geofry. Out of all the games i ever bought on my gamecube, only 2 ever really stuck. Melee and Metroid prime. My ps2 library is still a good third of my entire physical collection.

[@LeeZYComparisons]

@@TheGreatDanish ok but i like the nintendo games melle , windwaker , mario sunshine , luigis mansion with the nice lightning effects , animal crossing , metroid prime , the paper mario titles , mario kart double dash , twilight princess , harvest moon and even simpsons hit and run or pikmin and resident evil i also liked the harry potter games somehow and i didnt had many games for my age for the ps2 so i liked it more ;D

[@fhyshtic]

A friend of mine removed all the cords from his gamecube and now uses it as a lunchbox

[@Peat030]

I hope it was a broken gamecube

[@NoahBuie]

That's a pretty good idea lol

[@Stuff_centeral]

He is a legend

[@ytmusic706]

if it was already broken then thats someone who belongs in downtowns coolville but if it worked then screw him

[@assetsfrozen2241]

@@ytmusic706 yeah lmao

[@jackenjiel4009]

Still remember being absolutely blown away by metroid prime. Hadn't really had any exposure to that series till then and now it's easily on of my favorite games and series.

[@adamcrawford1390]

same here. I've never played a metroid game up until that point and I'd say it was an excellent place to start.

[@moboots]

Funny story I had never heard of metroid and toys r us gave me metroid prime for free for some odd reason when I was a kid and it's definitely up to this day one of the best games iv ever played that I would have otherwise never known about

[@suprqt]

Metroid Prime looked to me as a kid as modern games look to me now.

[@TheRealBmanswan]

@@suprqt then you play it and find out it's nothing like today's games lol

[@Guovssohas]

Lol same story for me, never played the old Metroids before i got Metroid Prime. I remember i really didn't know what to expect, i was kind of doubting whether this was a good game purchase or not. Luckily i was blown away almost instantly in every way, it looked fantastic(still does imo), sounded fantastic(incredible music), played fantastic and had a really great eerie atmosphere to it. It's one of my all time favourite games now, still have it of course :)

[@CyberDragon10K]

Metroid Prime was an experience. Playing it during the height of its popularity, I remember getting the 100% Hard Mode file (where, honestly, everything just had stupid HP that took forever to die) for both Prime games, and I think the memory cards should still have my save file just before the Dark Samus fight in the Sanctuary Fortress. I wish they'd port F-Zero to the Switch; you don't need to innovate every fucking time, Miyamoto. Just call it F-Zero NX, give it online, and call it a day.

[@Rockets2024Champs]

most underrated console of all time

[@dogg-paws]

I say the Wii U earns that honor.

[@mx4159]

To the people who say the Wii U is underrated The console itself is kind of a dump. Looked weird, useless gimmicks, odd controller etc. all it has going for it were the games on it, which were very good

[@mx4159]

Panda'sBass I don’t think of a console solely for the games. The features of the console are also important. To me, an underrated console has to have features that went unnoticed or underappreciated. The Wii U had none of that. Just good games

[@Mezziah777]

Wii U had a couple great games but the machine itself was a piece of shit. The Dreamcast wasn´t underrated at all. It sold pretty well but Sega didn´t have the finances to produce enough to meet the demand. In my opinion the Dreamcast is overrated since it doesn´t have that many games and the few of those that are good haven´t aged very well.

[@retrosoul8770]

I don't think the Gamecube is underrated much today in 2018, but DEFINITELY during its commercial 2001-06 run. The Ps2 with its dvd player was an absolute software juggernaut it had sooo many games, despite its weaker hardware. GC had an amazing library too, the sales should have been closer for sure.

[@KantanJapan]

I've used the melted pen technique quite a few times. Always works like a charm and I can get high on the fumes afterwards. Win win.

[@TheImprintsIllusion]

Kantan Japan that's a really dangerous high you're playing around with.. .

[@jeremyroberts8822]

That’s literally one of the dumbest ways you could get high

[@カスカディア国人]

Kantan Japan just smoke weed or drink a beer, huffing ain’t no joke.

[@カスカディア国人]

What disturbs me most is the 6 other people who apparently do this, what a world.

[@onion2445]

@@カスカディア国人 It's obviously a joke (i hope)

[@rhylinzux]

My childhood with Animal Crossing on that lunchbox happened in my grandmother's huge cabin out in the middle of the woods. Those were the most best times of my elementary days.

[@a-dutch-z7351]

Technology always amazes me in that you think about this console back in the day, and that it was quite powerful. And than realize that the current Switch is several times more powerful yet mobile. We are living in an era with major gains.

[@connormclernon26]

A-dutch-Z and yet with the most powerful consoles reaching a point of diminishing returns. What’s all that power worth if it costs the budget of a small country to make games for it?

[@Akira-Aerins]

That is why we need a modern GameCube type thing, latest affordable tech in the same size with the handle and the same never-kink cords.

[@Lolimaster]

Right now it would be a 4c/8t Ryzen APU with dedicated memory.

[@maddened6264]

I KNOW! i was born in 2000 and holy shit I cant believe i existed when this thing was in its prime. lmfao

[@JarvidO]

you can fit the gamecube boards in a portable form factor pretty easily. Also the wii which can be trimmed very small is essentially just a gamecube with bluetooth and wifi.

[@AlienFrequency]

awww man.... The GameCube... such memories. My girlfriend, me and another couple we were friends with would get together every Friday for YEARS to get Taco Bell then go back to my apartment to play Mario Kart Double Dash. It was just our thing. Then there was one of the Mortal Kombats on GameCube that had this chess game, very similar to Archon on the NES (if anyone else remembers that game). I played the heck out of that.

[@AtomicBoo]

Alien Frequency right??? I loved the GameCube era with my friends and cousins, Mario kart double dash, the Mario party games, smash melee, and the solo games, like tales, paper Mario 2, sunshine, it was such a great console

[@XanderYTV]

WTF me. my girlfriend and my friends used to get taco bell and play double dash on my emulator every friday for months up until a few months ago dude. that's INSANE you gotta be lying lol

[@pilsplease7561]

I was like god at double dash, never lost ever to anyone. Someone handed me a switch with mario kart on it i put it on hardest difficulty and beat it. Still have my skills lol

[@SuicideSeason4545]

This comment is such a nostalgia trip. Wow.

[@AlienFrequency]

@@XanderYTV lol.. not sure why I'm seeing this 6 yers after the fact, but yeah T-Bell and MKDD with your homies makes for an awesome Friday night!

[@zkatt3238]

Guys, don't forget that if you want to play some gamecube games on official hardware, you can always pick up a used wii, which is MUCH easier to find at low cost. Just make sure it's the original model, not the revised one that can't play GC games (at least it's not supposed to)

[@AndrewO83]

Thank you. I'd forgotton about that. Might be much easier getting a Wii instead. Lots of people are still trying to sell their old ones in my city.

[@zkatt3238]

Difford Yep no problem. And, in a much grayer area, you can easily softmod a wii and load up the Homebrew Channel. The legality of what you do from there is... variable.

[@zkatt3238]

Shade of winter Oof. You can actually still softmod one of those and load backed up gamecube games with an sd card/flash drive, and then play it with a wii pro controller.

[@AndrewO83]

I had a friend do that to one of his Wii's. But how to do it was at a level beyond me haha. I'm happy to buy the odd pre-owned Wii game from my EB Games (Game Stop). They're very cheap. I've already started hunting the Lego ones down.

[@ucitymetalhead]

Just got one for playing rogue squadron 2 and 3

[@consolords]

Flipper is absolutely massive. I know processors were bigger back in the day but compared to modern chips it's pretty big. I'm really impressed by the ingenuity that went into designing the pcb and the rest of the case. Good stuff Nintendo!

[@GiuseppeGaetanoSabatelli]

Flipper's a GPU tho. Compare to the main chip on a graphics card. The 8800 GTX (while two generations later and also a premium card) had a huge main chip. Also, ATI (AMD) always liked to house the entire chip in aluminum/copper squares. If you delid it, there's probably a smaller chip or multiple chips like the cache, etc.

[@Protoking]

@@GiuseppeGaetanoSabatelli flipper was a gpu and north bridge

[@tropicaljupiter]

Beautifully simple and compact. Power in places that matter. First party titles especially used it just the right way. Great lighting on simple textures often looks better than bad lighting on complex textures, which works in favor of Nintendo's clean and tidy visuals.

[@packlesswolf1]

Great job. I always wondered what it looked like inside. This is a perfect example of genius engineering. All that stuffed into a small box.

[@entermaidtheelegant2513]

Ahh one of my favorite game consoles back then!

[@zkatt3238]

Back then? What about today too! Great games are great games, and graphics can't change that.

[@nickabbott319]

Z Katt ikr,PS4 is my fav console

[@kdkseven]

The GameCube is my favorite console form-factor-wise-- i just love the way it looks and i love the controller (especially the WaveBird) and i love the GameBoy Player (it also happens to have some of my favorite games too). I've taken the two i own apart a number of times and i'm impressed each and every time with how compact it is and how elegantly it is designed. And ever since i had one of them modded for HDMI with GCVideo last December, it is my most played console. GameBoy Advance games look especially good on it. The N64/GC/GBA era is my favorite period in video games, and i never get tired of talking about them or watching videos about them or playing their games. Really enjoyed this video!

[@SavageJacek20]

kdkseven GC is my favorite system too. And the best thing about it: You can play every Zelda game up to 2004 minus the cdi games that no one cares for

[@markvicferrer]

Can you compare the GameCube motherboard to the Wii's? How close (or far) was that "2 GameCubes duct taped together" line about the Wii?

[@Nexus9_KD6-4.8]

I've never seen the Wii mainboard, but I'm sure it is easy to find with a google search. In any case the Wii essentially uses the same chips as the GameCube, but with increased clocks and more RAM. I don't think this "two GameCubes duct-taped together" line is particularly accurate. It's more like a GameCube set to turbo.

[@SergioEduP]

The wii board was really compact too, i've never seen a gamecube in person but I would say the boards are about the same size, most of the wii's size was the cd drive

[@kevboard]

2 gamecubes? more like 1.5 the Wii uses almost the exact same chips. it has more RAM and is higher clocked... that's it. early dev kits fir the Wii that were used internally at Nintendo were literally GameCubes. they connected Wiimotes via cable to it. so basically, they most likely could have made the Wii an extension to the GameCube that plugs in to the bottom extension port of it. this extension could have had an additional RAM chip in it, and maybe overclock the system. I think the reason they didn't do that was the Mini DVD issue... they already were too small during the GameCube era with games having compressed textures etc.

[@MyRegardsToTheDodo]

@@kevboard Also the resolution was too low. Only the older models were able to put out digital images, the newer models only had an analogue port. If you want a digital video cable for the Gamecube, it's goddamn expensive (150+ Euros for the cable alone!) and you need an older Gamecube model. The Wii had digital video, so the video quality was a bit better than the Gamecube.

[@EnergyBurst2]

@@MyRegardsToTheDodo How can you tell which you have, can you do it just looking at the console?

[@LilDroidBlue]

I would have been watching your videos for a long time now if I had stumbled upon them sooner, I am in love with videos like these! Techmoan, LGR, PushingUpRoses, GamingHistorian, Nintendrew, etc... and now Spawn Wave! Tech videos (tear downs, reviews, older tech, vinyl records/players, video games), tiny house videos, unboxing videos, historical/scientific/biographical and videos about dreadlocks. These are the things I love. These are the things that get me through my day. New subscriber here!

[@megacs912]

I can't believe he smashed an perfectly good pen for this video

[@awesomeraincloud]

I love my gamecube, I'm never letting it go

[@nickabbott319]

o r i c o mオリコム you will when it breaks

[@JohnSmith-fe3di]

Kirb

[@angusmccall3400]

Cool I just got a GameCube for my birthday.

[@JoelLinus]

Do you use internet explorer?

[@antoniomiranda7753]

Cool! I got a Cd player

[@marcywantsto7553]

awesome! you are gonna have lots of fun :D

[@zkatt3238]

ImaFnT-Rex I'm assuming you also don't know what minesweeper or space pinball is.

[@sunspot5]

Could’ve just got an older model wii

[@aidankeyes2018]

Slowly becoming one of my favourite KZbinrs and I only discovered your channel around a week ago. There is no way I would be able to remember how to put this back together if I done this.

[@ashleighcartwright5186]

flipper was capable of so so much, including 3d visuals which were abandoned due to cost. There was a flipper A and a Flipper B developed. Gamecube did extremely well considering it was late to the market. SOftware attachment rate was far higher then any other console. The Gamecube was out of order and comparing it to other consoles is really hard. If i remember rightly the gamecube needed far less coding due to the out of order operation. It's like trying to compare the Wii U to an xbox 360 or ps3, totaly obsurd, due to the nature of the way it operated the Wii U just as the Gamecube before it was capable of using far less power and delivering stunning visuals. Japan has some green energy laws which nintendo follow and observe, its very little known about but it explains why nintendo always opt for the most performance per watt over all out brute power. The Wii U won a number of awards if I recall correctly just as the Gamecube had in the past. It wont be too long before the console manufacturers are back with IBM as the FInfet process is pushing the new IBM chips a lot more than what Intel, AMD and Nvidia are managing. Nintendo have a 20yr deal with IBM which was signed when the Gamecube was released meaning there is plenty of time left for Nintendo to return to IBM. The nintendo switch was always meant to be the third piller of their market eventually to replace the 3ds, meaning Nintendo still could have a home console secretly in development. I have approached IBM myself on twitter mentioning Nintendo and finfet and I got a smiley face emoji and and a winky faced one returned. It would have been nice if you had managed to get the die shots of the chips and then done a comparison to the wii and then wii u to see how the chips evolved and the design of the console. Fan boys everywere for microsoft and sony will never understand Iwata sans motives and philosphies with regards to console design. Just a point worthy of note, the Nintendo team are extremely close. The Wii U wasnt abandoned or ignored, its worth remembering the whole company was dealing with their president battling cancer. they were discrete and professional through out and it does lend itself unfortunatley as to why the Wii U failed somewhat, no ones heart was in it as they were all hurting, mourning, recovering from the fact they were going to lose Iwata. I cherish my wii u the last gift from Iwata to the world and I always buy kirby games in memory of him. At heart he was a gamer and pretty much along with miyomoto saved the video game industry. You can all keep your yearly half arsed updates of assassins creed and call of duty... il take a nintendo game any day... its nice to escape to another world not one that reminds you of the real problems in the world every time you play.

[@SavageJacek20]

👏PREACH👏

[@luissegura283]

Ashleigh Cartwright Beautiful comment my friend 👏👏👏

[@ashleighcartwright5186]

in society we have different economical demographics. In those demographics we get higer percentages of a certain type of person. I like to think of call of duty fans/players a falling into the same type of demographic, well the vast majority of them anyway. From the potty mouthed behavior over team speak/ voice interactivity in game, to the type of person in a store buying the game (a lot of COD players are purchasers of the physical copy), to the people whi interact on social media platforms and youtube. Take you for instance speaking up on behalf of COD players and using the term "dude" instinctively tell's me a lot about yourself. I was going to just let your response represent you, however there are many other people out there who don't have the ability to understand. It is mind numbingly repetitive year on year, the reason they produce so many itertions of the game instead of innovating is because they are actually targeting that specific type of person and have found a way to capatailse on them. Nintendo innovate and of course they revisit franchise's but each time they do they change something about the game, maybe the way you play, maybe the type of game, maybe the artstlye and maybe even a totally different part of the market. Even whilst developing a console to appeal to the mass market the have thought of different ways to target different parts of society, from wii fit, to Labo to Zelda BOTW. EA now target the same demographic as Activision, the market who part with their money on loot boxes only to eventually lose that content and have a yearly refresh that isn't compatible with the next. I am sorry that it appears that I am a gaming snob, I don't judge people until I have met them in real life however I am selective about the long term friends and acquaintance's I do associate with as I like to be challeneged and have constructive conversations with people able to string more than two sentences together. I would never by my children an xbox, playstation product because their games on the whole do not offer any sort of challenge, they don't tend to provoke conversation and they don't tend to innovate. There of course exceptions to the rule but they are far to far inbetween. JUst as we have SJW's ruining gaming we have this demogrpahic also killing gaming, allowing publishers and studio's to make these games year after year which without companies like Nintendo would again cause the collapse of the video game industry. Like I have said previously, those players who like those games, can keep them for me, I will take a Yoshi or a Kirby every 2-5 years and look forward to new exciting worlds to visit that don't involve shooting things or quicktime events that are cheap wow's. Obviously call of duty is just one franchise but those who think similarily to myself know the franchises I am talking about, they know the type of player I am talking about and they know how they behave in society is often replicated online too. I don't know whether to look forward to your one sentence response or to be excited that you may string more than two sentences together without usinf derogatory terminology that show's nothing more than an over familiarity prevelant in todays over casual society.

[@ISAIAH-fs7gx]

Ashleigh Cartwright This was more interesting than I expected.

[@SavageJacek20]

Ashleigh Cartwright I'm glad someone else acknowledges this lack of quality games today. Ubisoft learned their lesson back in 2016 and deeply apologized to their fans. Bethesda can be tricky sometimes but most of the time they come up with original games akin to Nintendo. All Electronic Ass and Lootcratevision care about is ripping people off for some stupid insignificant garbage from a loot box every god damn year. In a way, I hope the vg industry crashes again like it did in 1984. Too many shitty games being made for consoles. And all Sony cares about is stealing Nintendo's ideas and trying to kill them off. Microsoft came in for *OOH POWERFUL GRAPHICS* and now Sony and ms only care about winning the biggest dick contest. Meanwhile, Nintendo cares (most of the time, WHERES CLOUD SAVES?) about their fans and although the Wii u flopped miserably and some games that were on it were trash cough cough color splash, star fox zero to mention a few, when they fail, they try REALLY hard to gain back respect. And they succeed in regaining that respect because not only do they end up creating great games and innovative hardware, but they CARE. Don't get me wrong, Nintendo does a few...questionable things. It's this resilience and determination that Nintendo has that keeps them the leader of the industry. To anyone that objects to this, go ahead and waste $300 every year on that sports game you already own or that exact same shooter and useless loot boxes. I'll use my $300 on a few amiibo, 3 awesome high-quality games that are actually enjoyable to waste hundreds of hours on, a few good indies that you home console peasants ignore like terraria or cluster truck, and a few virtual console games that are still great even though they're "old" and don't have 4KHDR, because guess what, games don't need to look beautiful to be great. They don't need to run at 1080p60 to look good. My favorite game, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door runs at 480p60 on the GameCube. And Ocarina of Time runs at 240i30. How about you ignorant and immature money wasters go play some old games and learn what good games actually are.

[@HemlockSky1991]

Despite it’s lack of popularity, I always adored my Gamecube. This just makes me appreciate it more.

[@carlosbatista1816]

One of my favorite console of all time

[@EspeoniaManga]

Gamecube was the first home console I got when I was 7 years old. I'm 22 now and it still runs perfectly fine, as does the Gameboy adapter. I remember I fell in love with it because I was an only child and used get bored a lot when I would try to play board games by myself, but I was always able to have fun with Gamecube even by myself

[@mikaelrivacov5705]

GC was a technological marvel. It was pretty much a portable console if you had the add on screen. Incredible resistant to all kinds of weather conditions. Why we never got a GC 2 is still a mystery to me.

[@ldumo6254]

Mikael Rivacov it's sales were crap. Then they hit the motion controls and had crazy sales. Then they tried an in between but it flopped for so many reasons. Now they did switch and ya... enough said.

[@DragonProtector]

i love a seocnd gamecube but ya we need more gamecube games made (full size disk or dititial now so we can play on original)

[@paraierchestevmnsiem522]

The Switch is the console right for you!

[@toxictechtat9511]

We DID get a GameCube 2. It was known as the Wii.

[@Nexus9_KD6-4.8]

The Wii was basically GameCube 1.5. It utilized most of the same technology as the GameCube, but with increased clocks and RAM. Very similar CPU and GPU to GameCube. That's why backwards compatibility was possible in hardware, and not software emulation.

[@1Thunderfire]

I stil love how the water looks in Super Mario Sunshine and the lighting/shadow effects in Luigi's Mansion.

[@katiepersons6575]

The Gamecube was one of my favorites. I liked it more than the Nintendo system that proceeded it, and the two to succeed it. I had a projector in college and would take it down to the basement where we would play four player games on a screen that took up the whole wall. Many of the Xbox owners on campus couldn't believe the graphics when we played F Zero GX in widescreen 480p over the component cables I had to order direct from Nintendo.

[@jamesgalliher4640]

6:30 Definitely right about the sound. So much quieter than a lot of consoles. I was so glad that it was when I was a kid because it was much easier to secretly stay up late to play it.

[@RoxlyReborn]

"It's really easy to clean" *breaks power button*

[@nathandematteis1872]

What I think about this video in particular: #1 - you're a huge nerd #2 - I never really cared about the GameCube #3 - a 16 min KZbin video is really long for me #4 - you're extremely knowledgeable #5 - your commentary was very entertaining and informative #6 - I actually watched the whole thing and now I'm suscribed 😀

[@lyconxero457]

Looking forward to you taking apart an original Xbox alongside a Dreamcast so you can show off the similarities and differences.

[@Galacanosis]

My favorite console of all time. So many parties were had with this guy! The handle proved useful when bringing the system to a different house each week.

[@StormsparkPegasus]

The DOL-001 model of the Gamecube has a FULLY DIGITAL A/V out port. The only thing it was ever officially used for was a component cable (which was video only), and even then it didn't really use the digital video (because the cable itself had a DAC in it). Today in the days of 3D printing, several people have already made HDMI adapters that fit into that port, and it's awesome. The Gamecube can output HDMI, the Wii cannot (barring an external converter box which still comes with analog noise since the console's output is analog).

[@SavageJacek20]

Akaihiryuu77 I have a Wii component cable and it displays 480p. Lol

[@StormsparkPegasus]

Yes, component can do 480p. It's also analog, and comes with all the caveats of being analog (mainly noise - granted component is MUCH better than other types of analog signals but it doesn't touch HDMI with a 100 foot pole). Component is basically as good as analog can ever get. That's not saying much though.

[@kdkseven]

Akaihiryuu77 - I had my GC hdmi modded about a year ago (before the plug and play versions were out) and it is amazing. Quick question-- do the plug and play versions offer all the picture options as the mod, like scanlines and such?

[@StormsparkPegasus]

The one I'm getting does, yes.

[@everythingpony]

Akaihiryuu77 wtf are you talking about? The wii can do 720p

[@joer2207]

very cool video, love the retro tear downs maybe even more than your work with the newer consoles. Please keep up the good work! Best stuff on youtube IMO.

[@musclemanriquelme]

I still have my game cube ,I personally have always been a Nintendo kid ,I also love the switch but I think that the effort on the making of the board of the game cube look way better than in the Wii or the switch ,I don't know if it's my imagination but the game cube and all the consoles before it where made with care

[@evilmortyc137b4]

marks riquelme it is the most beautiful console

[@Ganon999]

I have the best memories of Gamecube games back in the day, they were so mind blowing at the time lol thanks for the video it really helped me take mine apart, something was rattling around and I found it! I'm super happy how clean it was, I got one from Gamestop like 5 years ago and it looked awesome on the inside.

[@Consolethinks]

Note that the PS2 did not support native 720p or 1080i, there isn't enough VRAM to do that, the Graphics Synthesizer has options for higher resolutions but games that actually used them, only used it for 1080i with a max. VGA [~1024x768] internal resolution (Gran Turismo 4 is the only good example). The Gamecube's Flipper GPU would easily support 720p for not overly intensive games, but the hardware was not designed to give an option to output a resolution higher than 480p, which at the time was more than sufficient. What annoys me though is that Nintendo still did not want to add any options to the Wii for higher resolutions, so everyone was stuck on SD resolutions for the Wii. It was really just 2 Gamecubes taped together with some sticks for controls.

[@MasterPhil175]

I've often wondered if Nintendo would've made the Wii HD if the GameCube component cables had sold better.

[@almighty151986]

PS2 had more VRAM then GC..... So if GC could fit it in to it's smaller memory pool so could PS2.

[@matilija]

@@almighty151986 While the capacity was technically higher for dedicated vram, the 3 mb of 1T-sram in the gamecube was significantly faster and had a much wider bus, as well as having 24 mb of unified ram that could be used to offload textures when the CPU didn't need the ram. The cube was nearly 8x as fast as the ps2 when it came to texture caching due to it's much wider bus and faster sram, they aren't really comparable, in fact the cube was able to keep up with the xbox in vram texture caching despite having significantly less capacity. The xbox might have had a slight edge in overall specs, but the cube was damned close and impressively so.

[@TheRealBmanswan]

Nintendo wii had component cables that made the graphics better. It definitely changed the resolution and quality...and composite isn't standard definition...

[@matilija]

​@@TheRealBmanswan Slight correction, composite outputs 480i as standard, and that is standard def, Svideo also outputs standard def resolutions, however the difference is the separation of color and luminance across different pins allowing for better contrast and color separation where as composite has all video information down a single pin, with the component cables the cube and the wii both typically output 480p, though the wii was capable of 720p as well. 480p is ED resolution or extended definition, 720 and 1080 are both HD resolutions.

[@kdkseven]

Love your tear down videos . The GameCube is such a great system, and so brilliantly designed. I love taking them apart, and have a dozen or so times.

[@Mike01029]

I wonder if they will remaster the starfox adventures/assault game

[@AndrewO83]

Would LOVE that to happen.

[@Skyliner_369]

Sadly no. Rare and Microsoft killed that dream.

[@madmax2069]

I remember being blown away the first time seeing Rogue Squadron.

[@LKNear]

The switch and the gamecube have Nintendo's most modular boards

[@MK73DS]

Nate River Coincidence ? I think not !

[@Smonkcat]

MK73DS the similarities are to real. Modularity. Best consoles.

[@broomhandle1]

New 3ds xl is pretty modular as well, everything but cpu/gpu, ram, wifi, and charge port is on its own board that can easily be swapped out.

[@lux6431]

this proves that you're kira

[@greenlight9896]

My childhood in a nutshell. The GameCube is truly a piece of art in a very tiny form factor. Very impressive Nintendo. thanks for making this man, it shows me just how powerful my console was! :D

[@nocfox3050]

"Both the Game Cube, PS2 and the Xbox" Yeah, those two consoles were great..

[@Rockets2024Champs]

Noc Fox is there a joke I'm missing

[@Patrick-ho3st]

my favourite of the generation was the Sony GameBox.

[@nicolle2126]

Stupidadi using "Both" is usually for two items only

[@allhailthewhale1423]

Stupidadi he is saying the xbox Sucked

[@mkultrasoldier]

No he's not m8. He's making a grammar joke.

[@JarvidO]

I did this teardown and rebuild as a kid a few times to repair the disk laser. Very nostalgic.

[@liltwistedgamer]

My favorite video game console.

[@lydrowl]

I loved the Gamecube, it had so many awesome games, and even had my most favorite Pokemon game on it. It is hard to deny that the Gamecube holds on to a spot of my heart.

[@Windows98R]

The most memorable moment I have with the GC is when my friend got angry enough at his brother that he grabbed his GC and smacked him across the face with it. Yes the GC is still working.

[@animemaniac2]

That's pretty brutal.

[@InvisibleBoot]

I've had my GameCube unplugged for over 7 years, I went and plugged it in and the clock was still perfectly on time to the second. I couldn't believe it.

[@haeckx94x]

R.I.P Pen

[@sameimiller8335]

I just got a GameCube to play some of the games I missed when I was little. I've mostly played single player stuff but a week ago my brother wanted to play strikers with me and we realized the second controller port doesn't work so now I'm going to open it up and fix it I guess. One day.

[@workplaydiewpd5652]

Cube = ♥️

[@jamesgalliher4640]

Trying to disassemble and clean my childhood GameCube to get it working again. This was very helpful. Thanks

[@exe16]

Reminds me of when I disassembled mine to increase the power of the laser following a guide I got on eBay, lol. Took me a whole afternoon to get it to thr right spot to work.

[@Spectacular66]

Bruno Panzero Schechter that's how my first GameCube started malfunctioning... I was nearly desperate enough to use the pen trick to get into my console since my parents weren't going to send it in for repair... Wound up buying a new one some months later when it dropped to $99.99

[@garrettnessnes9254]

I love these tech videos they have helped me out so much on system teardown on older and newer systems

[@Gameplayer-vm5ml]

The Gamecube was a very powerful console for it's time. The Gamecube just feels great. It has a unique vibe. I like the Gamecube. It's great.

[@Rockets2024Champs]

that is extremely false

[@alanescareno9748]

Gameplayer 119 interested

[@Gameplayer-vm5ml]

Stupidadi No it's not.

[@loonieDMighty]

The Wii U gpu was based on a DX10 Radeon gpu. The GCN and Wii GPU was already finished before Ati bought ArtX.

[@Gameplayer-vm5ml]

loonietik Well it must be only the CPU i'm thinking about. I know for a fact that it has the same PowerPC CPU though.

[@briancaravantes9435]

Love your videos. Stumbled on them on the home page and I’m definitely not disappointed, this is totally up my alley. Subscribed!

[@UndeadCollector]

Small System, big Power Inside (for the Time)

[@matrixmaster2233]

So many fun memories playing the GameCube. I had a PS2 as well, but GameCube was the console I played the most.

[@zkatt3238]

Mine has a digital port.

[@nathanp.barclay1518]

What I loved about the GC was just how small it was. You could throw this in a backpack and have a few buds over for some gaming.

[@rickster008]

I still have my gamecube from when i was a kid i played lots of games on the system, and still play it today. kind of the reason why i stopped console gaming, there wasn't a reason to get newer systems during that time, the game cube had everything

[@Stormy2142]

The gamecube probably has the coolest (in both senses) innards of all consoles. I love how smart the whole design is. Such a perfect little guy.

[@RallyDon82]

we'll forget the boring design of the wii and wii u, that was a pretty dull period for nintendo despite the wiis popularity, the gamecube was very well designed and the switch has brought that all back, so good for nintendo.

[@flyingplantwhale545]

I ve always thought the design of this thing was so cool and futuristic. This and the GBA sp have always been my favorite consoles so far. Wouldn't even notice that the whole night had passed while playing titles like Fire emblem, FF tactics advance, Metroid Prime 2. These 2 consoles are just timeless for me. Way too many good memories.

[@borrellipatrick]

I like the gamecube for being the last system made in Japan. About halfway thru it's lifecycle, they started making em in china 😞

[@nickabbott319]

patrick borrelli C H I N A

[@89beans52]

I think the reason the handle is there because the system easily moved around when plugging in controllers or memory cards. The 'handle' would prevent the cords sticking out of the back of the console from being mashed in to walls/entertainment center backs. Everyone thought it was useless but really it increased the longevity of the already seemingly indestructible Nintendo GameCube. A true unsung hero.

[@Sabre_Wulf1]

high definition gaming has been a thing since the 90's....

[@ValSX]

not true

[@kyrandm6045]

Remember the mega drive boasting about HD

[@destanielamon8848]

I got one of these when i was 7 and i still have it and its games working 10 years later.

[@BocuD]

lol "all of them were able to get to at least 720p" damn no just no. The gamecube isn't capable of doing it. The PS2 and xbox, yes, but not the gamecube. It might have been powerful enough but it just didn't have the hardware to output at higher resolutions then 480p. Im not talking about it not having HDMI or vga or whatever, (it has component if you are able to pay for it) but the hardware itself is limited. (the GPU and its framebuffer and AVE)

[@rank0011]

Bruh .... the ps2 was the weakest console that generation, you have no idea what your talking about

[@SpawnWave]

That is correct, thanks. 480p with support for 16:9 widescreen.

[@momostravellingmeowchestra549]

Who the hell had an HDTV in the Gamecube days anyway? Hell my family didn't get their first flat screen until 2006, a year after the Xbox 360 came out.

[@ChiruKobra]

Marcus Freeman No, no. BocuD is correct. PS2 might've been the weakest that gen, but devs somehow managed to get resolutions up to 1080i from it. GameCube was limited by its architecture (despite being more powerful than PS2), and couldn't do anything above 480p without a major system overhaul, which was obviously not in the cards for Nintendo.

[@kevboard]

Marcus Freeman I love when people, who have obviously no idea about the topic, come out and tell other people that they have no idea... just the best

[@ArtisChronicles]

I just learned that I can probably replace the thermal pads with higher end thermal pads. also learned that I probably don't have to replace them. it was interesting to see it opened up as I've never done it nor had to do it before. also glad you were able to show how easy it is to clean the buttons, that's something I do need to do.

[@ethansucksatcuphead]

my dads day one wii just died today. disc reader went first, and then the rest of it. we were playing mariokart, it booted up a bit slower than usual and you could hear it running a bit weird, but mid game it just stopped and we got the dreaded "the game disc could not be read." we tried everything to get it to work, but shes gone. i havent played that thing in at least 5 years, and i forgot we even still had it, but i cant wrap my head around the fact that its gone. weve had it literally my entire life, and half my childhood was written in those games. this one hurts, its just another piece of childhood thats gone.

[@JTAH86]

Had to go back and watch this today. Your recent video with the Gamecube games I thought you were going to open it up! Had to see the inside.

[@Jasonbean5]

What a coincidence, I recently found my Gamecube and was interested in what's in it and here we go. I have so many great memories with the gamecube...good times...

[@tempestfury8324]

I've had and fixed several GameCubes over the years. Most of the units that didn't work, usually just needed a good cleaning. Only a couple had laser problems, which there isn't much you can really do except replace it. A word of caution: there is a switch with two little black fingers in the upper right corner of the laser assembly. This stops it from operating if the lid is open. If you replace the cover the wrong way or without care (like I did my first time), it's extremely easy to snap off those fragile fingers. Don't learn the hard way!

[@travisessner8973]

Been watching a few of your videos (taking apart 360,ps3, playstation, gamespot online order) like what you are doing, consider me another subscriber.

[@foxmusic5614]

My GameCube stopped reading disks back in the day, so I looked up a tutorial on how to take it apart and adjust the laser. It was a written tutorial back then, since KZbin either din't exist yet or it was not well known. My GameCube was so bad that I would leave it disassembled, and then just adjust it on the fly when it would stop working. Good times!

[@maddened6264]

gamecube was one of the first consoles i ever really played (sonic def one of my favorite games on it). I was born in 2000 but had siblings that were 7 and 11 then. Crazy to think I existed back when this thing was in its prime.

[@tuna_land]

idk about others but my gamecube was built like a tank! Mine fell from a 5 foot shelf onto hardwood floor and still worked like a charm!

[@RandomSime]

Yeah wow. This was my thing back in the early 2000s. Always wanted to see inside, so thank you!

[@cultofmalgus1310]

This was the only gen of consoles I proudly owned all 3 systems. They will always be closest to my heart.

[@marker]

What amazed me about the GameCube was the tiny disc it used, one main reason why I got it

[@DennisRamberg]

The GameCube was such a good system. I remember buying it for just 99$ back in the days. And I had SO much fun playing Metroid Prime, Mario Kart, F-Zero, Super Mario Sunshine etc. My biggest gripe with the whole 6th console generation was the lack of widescreen aspect ratio for a lot of games. Most TVs sold at the time were widescreen. What killed me was either the postage stamp size 4:3 window, or the stretched 16:9 image on those TVs

[@TRRDroid]

I remember Metroid Prime and Prime 2 had a stretched widescreen mode option (it was there by default on the Wii versions). The only way to gain real 16:9 without stretching was with some kind of hack (only tried it on an emulator)

[@TekkenBones]

The gamecube was an absolute beast considering it's size. Now over in the PAL region, almost no games had support for Progressive Scan, yet I remember Metroid Prime looking so clear and crisp on the CRT TV I had back then, just with an RGB SCART cable. And when I play Metroid Prime on Dolphin emulator today, at 1080p, it looks exactly how I remember it. Regarding the PS2, a lot of games seemed to look blurry/shimmery and I never understood why. Gran Turismo 3 for example. I recently played that on a really good Panasonic Quintrix CRT, via RGB SCART anything further into the distance looked very blurry on that game and many other PS2 games. And funnily enough, when you play them on PCSX2 they still look blurry. I think Tekken 4 was the only PS2 game I played that really looked sharp.

[@mallman23]

It makes me really anxious when you just lay the screws around the table lol

[@King_Nugget1]

that is an amazing design choice. while most systems where getting bigger whilst being so empty, Nintendo did the right thing and decided to go for a smaller more modular approach. I love your videos because i get to see inside the consoles i don't personally trust myself pulling apart. thanks for all the laughs and lessons along the way :D

[@christianna3561]

Very well done! I love the GameCube and I still have a big library of GameCube games today. Seeing how compact the GC was I would love to see a tear down of the 1st gen Wii seeing how that was a system that did backwards compatibility right. Keep up the great work!

[@evilmark443]

Out of all the games I played in that generation accross all four consoles, Rogue Squadron 2 was the one with the best graphics imho. Absolutely beautiful game.

[@shpadoinklefest]

My wife and I had so much fun with the gamecube when it came out that we got one for each room. i cant believe how cramped the insides are!

[@MissFuzzbottom]

I had no idea how much stuff was crammed into that small box! Here I always thought there'd be a lot of empty space in there.

[@banukaii]

Thanks for helping me with my disassembly project!

[@vjallen75]

Great video. Love watching you take apart game systems. I always liked doing that just never knew what exactly I was looking at.

[@ericlewandowskivlogs]

I did the melted pen trick several times on N64's to clean them out before I had the tools. It worked.

[@OttawaHunter22]

I love this channel, keep up the good work!

[@Beastleviath]

Paper Mario Thousand Year Door is one I remember fondly, and my friends would play Smash, Mariokart, Mario Party, and Kirby's Air Ride

[@kraizyace2612]

Practically an indestructable console. Found one in a ditch back when I was in High School. Was badly beaten up and didn't work so decided to try to smash it open since I didn't have the means to get in. No matter how hard I smashed it into the ground, would not break apart. Well built piece of hardware for it's time that is...

[@MagnumForce51]

Pretty sure you can swap the entire dvd assembly across the 2 versions of the GameCube they made. (the one with the digital port and the one without) The only differences were in the motherboard and bottom half of the casing. (they removed one of the expansion ports that went unused I think) The backplate was also different. The only part I don't recall exactly is they might have changed the fan design slightly so that part you may not be able to interchange between the 2. Of coarse the Panasonic version of the Gamecube is an entirely different beast but that's a different subject for another day. :P EDIT: Now that I recall the metal shield plate that the dvd drive sits on might be different on the second version of game cube so you'd have to swap those out most likely. But that's it. The rest of the drive is electrically and mechanically compatible with the older version of the game cube.

[@KCCook-ld7zm]

I have had my gamecube for 12 yrs. So many memories and I still have every game. It works great and is so quiet. Only losses are the dozens of controlers murdered by MK DD

[@najtrows]

It's a bit crazy that such a small console did not have more overheating problems. That is something that really amazes me.