What was the Nintendo GameCube like to Develop Software On?

[@Jamie-yp7qz]

The Virtual Boy would be a good system to cover. It’s Nintendo’s first 32-bit system, and has some really interesting hardware quirks

[@ZygalStudios]

I'll add that to the list. :) Thank you!

[@DodgaOfficial]

Theres a virtual boy emulator on the oculus quest and I have to say, the depth effect is extremely impressive for a Sprite based system.

[@kohakkanuva3224]

I'm pretty sure it was their only 32-bit system if I'm not mistaken...

[@Jamie-yp7qz]

@@kohakkanuva3224 There was also the Game Boy Advance, though that didn’t release until several years later

[@kohakkanuva3224]

@@Jamie-yp7qz oh, that is very true!

[@kalinda619]

Wow! I'm pleasantly surprised to see a KZbinr who actually knows his stuff on hardware development, as opposed to just reading off Wikipedia haha. Imagine what could be done on such old hardware with modern compilers?

[@ZygalStudios]

Thank you! Although I get some of my basic information from Wikipedia ;) Ah, haha. One who knows complier theory fairly well understands the limitations of such tools. I'm sure some improvements of modern theory could help, but as a rule of thumb as an embedded programmer, you can safely assume the complier will only help with about ~10% of your problems. The only way to truly guarantee the compiler generates the instructions you want is to get to know it and hold its hand. Which I'm sure is what a lot of programmers did for systems back in the day. Not so much sure about the GameCube though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@danieljimenez1989]

The very first statement is incorrect, Project Reality was announced in 1993 not 1995. By 1995 it was already known as the ultra 64.

[@themeangene]

Say what you want about Nintendo but they've always been innovative on the graphics pipeline - even going back to mode 7 on the SNES. You can look at a Nintendo game - even a port - and it just always feels unique This is the last generation of consoles that I love.

[@evanb4466]

I would be interested in hearing about the Xbox 360 hardware. It receives a lot less coverage than the ps3 because that is infamously complex, but all I really know about the 360 is that it’s power pc based. I would love to hear more about how it functions.

[@Protoking]

I'm two years late but it is essentially the PPE core of the Cell CPU with the VMX (activec) (vector units) tweaked a bit and the CPU is comprised of three of these cores. IBM infamously used the same core for both as the contract with Sony didn't prevent it... still a dirty move.

[@SockyNoob]

I hope you make a video for the Dreamcast. It too was supposedly easy to develop for.

[@slim_cana]

Great content, very informative as a system overview :) If I can just give some constructive criticism, change the music. Something a little quieter and not as punchy would help!

[@FirstNameLastName-xe4mx]

People who don't watch your channel are missing something in their life. Content quality is higher than the finest wine from jurassic era

[@ZygalStudios]

Thank you very much!

[@FirstNameLastName-xe4mx]

@@ZygalStudios No thank you, and most of all you have the best video on DMA.

[@BubblegumCrash332]

It's crazy because back in the day I always assumed the PS2 was stronger then the Gamecube. I was really wrong i never gave it a chance but now I love playing the gamecube. So many hidden gems. Great video as always 👍

[@ZygalStudios]

Thank you! I remember getting the GameCube as a surprise during Christmas of 2002 and I definitely loved the way it played. Huge upgrade from the 64! Many great games for it, the Metroid Prime series on the GameCube has to be one of the best developed FPS series of its time.

[@BubblegumCrash332]

@@ZygalStudios definitely. The Metroid Prime games and Resident Evil 4 and the launch game that blew my mind Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2.

[@ZygalStudios]

@@BubblegumCrash332 I remember playing a demo of that and being floored. Do you think I should take some of my content towards games and game design to appeal to a broader audience? I've been considering that myself. Talking about influential games and their redeeming qualities.

[@BubblegumCrash332]

@@ZygalStudios I would say yes. I really liked that Star Fox 64 video. There is a huge game design community on KZbin but most of them focus on indie games. Most retro channels just review the games. I think it would be unique if you could break the games down technically. The only other channel I know that does this for retro games is DF Retro on the Digital Foundry channel. There is definitely a audience for it.

[@BlitzvogelMobius]

In many ways the PS2 was stronger.

[@abysstoid1503]

Would love to see a video going over the Wii and what improvements Nintendo made to the architecture over the gamecube

[@audie-cashstack-uk4881]

Slightly enhanced gpu improved Instructi9ns per clock 50% clock boosts everywhere 2 main memory's instead of 1 main one slow wii was really really good design and at 480p very capable. 2x gamecube plus 16x9 max res 576p

[@jhkuno88]

The resolution for the Wii and GC are the same, they were 640x480p machines, they did only anamorphic16/9

[@abysstoid1503]

@@jhkuno88 so stretched pixels essentially

[@rainbain5474]

Very good video coving the hardware outline of the Nintendo GameCube as well as Flipper's pipeline. 58 flops per clock cycle is a bit crazy.

[@BlitzvogelMobius]

The 64 bit FPU implementation was certainly a weak point for the GC but it more problematically carried over to the Wii and the Wii U. In fairness, the Wii did what it needed to do for massive success but simply going triple 750 for the Wii U was not enough when stuck at 1.2 GHz.

[@waterheart95]

They did more than going tru core in wii u cpu. They re did the cache, add OoO, and some other things. It's that Nintendo clocked the cores too low, due to they wanted power savings.

[@BlitzvogelMobius]

@@waterheart95 Power consumption would've climbed massively, yes. However, the PPC750 architecture is only 4 or so stages long, which puts a major damper on achievable clock speed in relation to the process node.

[@MrSamPhoenix]

How were textures in the VRAM managed? & was the 24MB of Main RAM used to store said textures?

[@jhkuno88]

Its a shame the pressure to be market competitive forced Nintendo to cheap out a bit with GC. with a couple of simple additions to the hardware the GC couldve been the most powerful chip by far. A post transform cache on the GPU and a VU aiding the CPU wouldve allowed the console to perform so much better, thats like 20$ more in manufacturing cost...still it was the little machine that punched above its weight, it was pretty great.

[@HsienKoMeiLingFormerYANG]

Else new homebrew project? The useful C+ tool need attention, devkitpro and first party hardware development kit code name DDH. Let cubed game jam.

[@Supersayainpikmin]

I hope the homebrew scene picks up for the GameCube, its in desprate need of it. I'm suprised and thankful the N64 homebrew scene took off a few years ago, and I hope for the same with the GameCube.

[@joeylantis22]

so cool how do you do your research?

[@mrbrocephus3849]

Was the wii set up the same way ?

[@Andorianin]

Gekko clocked by 486 MHz = 162 x 3 times Flipper (not 485 as you probably read on Wikipedia)

[@ZygalStudios]

Or it was just a mistake... Wikipedia references 486 MHz and my primary source (Rodrigo Copetti), also specifies the same.

[@Andorianin]

@@ZygalStudios Yeap, and also Gecko (wrong) instead Gekko and 23 MB of RAM (wrong) instead 24 (two banks by 12 MB)

[@ZygalStudios]

@@Andorianin Thank you for the corrections!

[@aderitosantos1695]

Yes that true, and somes games on GameCube was better than Xbox, some textures or frame rate stables 60fps or 30fps. I have Xbox classic

[@mongoose1billion]

Sonic heroes for example. GC version was stable at 60fps while the other versions struggled.

[@Nuiiiiiiiiii]

So... Game Cube has better GPU, and PS2 has better CPU, how is Xbox compare with booth of then?

[@Supersayainpikmin]

The Xbox technically has a less efficiant CPU than both the PS2 and GameCube, but it made up for it with its GPU; it was way, WAY ahead of any other console at the time. The 64MB of RAM was also a big boost over the PS2 and GameCube.

[@space302]

"The Nintendo 64 sold tremendously well" ... aaand I'm gone.

[@ZygalStudios]

🤣 well, you left your mark.

[@aceofspades001]

Nintendo 64 sold tremendously well? Lol 😆

[@zeherbenhammouda6184]

Yeah for a cartidge based console its fresking massive sales In 90s CD was the futuristic cool thing

[@brkbtjunkie]

It sold almost as well as the snes, back then gaming wasn’t the mainstream thing like it is today.

[@aceofspades001]

​@brkbtjunkie it sold 30m vs 50m for snes. So no, it failed and failed miserably

[@kohakkanuva3224]

No offense, but while the n64 and GameCube are both up there on my list of best consoles, they are both considered commercial failures.

[@ZygalStudios]

No offense taken lol. But I am curious about this. By gross sales numbers, the Original Xbox would also be considered a commercial failure as well. It wasn't too far from the GameCube in terms of sales. The PS1 and PS2 dominated the market in terms of sales, blew both generations out of the water. The GameCube and Xbox combined didn't even account for 1/3rd of PS2 sales over the lifetime of the consoles. So I guess by this metric you can say they are competitively inferior by sales and were a disappointment in comparison from this metric. Any reference to a reputable source that considers either commercial failures? I would like to read more!

[@brkbtjunkie]

I would not call it a failure per se, there were external factors that impacted sales. Remember it was announced right before 9-11.

[@totidoki05]

@@ZygalStudios well the gamecube sold 21M units while the wii u sold 14M, and it is always considered as a total failure, i don't understand this stigma and why the gamecube sales are never brought up, those were terrible for console maker as old and powerfull as nintendo, even more insulting, the original xbox sold 24M units, more than the gamecube, even though microsoft were new in this market, had no mascots or iconic licenses to begin with, and this score has to take in account that almost no xbox were sold in japan, so yeah the gamecube is a total failure in terms of sales, but it was an awesome console indeed, just like the wii u.

[@AndrewTSq]

@@ZygalStudios It was a failure if you compare it with the PS1. N64 sold like 33 Million, while the PS1 sold more than 3 times as much at over 100million units. Also looking how developers looked at it, there was under 400 games made for the N64, while the PS1 had over 7000 games. I remember back in the day how developers almost felt tricked by Nintendos huge licensing costs, which made many companys jump the ship to Sony instead.

[@cooiolhh8955]

Doesn't matter failed or not. Only matters that you had a good time and fun !!

[@Otzchieem]

GameCube sucked. It died after two and half years

[@Weather_Nerd]

🤣🗑️

[@Otzchieem]

@@Weather_Nerd yup

[@eponymous7910]

It sure as hell didn't suck but its lifespan wasn't very long. Nintendo's next console being backwards compatible was a plus though, I imagine most GC owners eventually upgraded to Wii

[@jhkuno88]

Actually one of.its top games launched 3 years and half after it launched....Resident Evil 4....ever heard about it?