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Inside The Nintendo GameCube
Mortin writes "Icrontic.com has ripped apart a Nintendo GameCube. They document the entire procedure with a myriad of pictures. It's neat to see how clearly the Xbox and GameCube differ in respect to physical hardware." Luigi's mansion looks cool. The Star Wars game wasn't very fun. But the cube is so tiny, it's cute!
Okay, I'll believe you that far. Now, I'm a college undergrad sitting in a dorm suite with about 5 20-something people in it.
:)
We have every game console known to man, including GameCube and Xbox. We've really been playing Xbox for the most part of the past week, even though we got both systems at about the same time. The 3 games we got (Luigi's Mansion, WR:BS, and Rogue Leader) just haven't been able to catch our attention as well as DOA3 and Halo.
I'm an avid gamer and have been forever, so I know what good games feel like, and most of the games I've played (as well as my suitemates) in the past week just seem to say that at the moment, Xbox has the better games.
When Super Smash Brothers comes out, that'll probably change
You should never take life too seriously - You'll never get out of it alive.
Interesting assertion, and I'll not challenge it. But I'd be curious to know what the relative inventory levels are. You have to have double the in stock to sell double the units, and I havent seen an Xbox (or a GameCube) in stock.
Nintendo made more....costs less to make in that little form factor....costs less to ship in that little form factor...costs less in warehouse space to store that little form factor.
Smart guys, Nintendo.
meh.
Since most of you who're slashdotting it right now might have seen this part, you'll know why I'm asking this question.
Why do console manufacturers use proprietary screws?
Now, in recent years, console manufacturers have let off a bit, but after the NES, Nintendo has gone crazy with the security screws. My SNK NeoGeo Pocket Color has one triangular screw that has prevented me from taking it apart. The GameCube has those weird things. I think the GBA has a full set of those wacky triangular screws.
Why do they not want me to see inside of it without marring the case? Is it warranty related? One of the first things I do with my things (after I've enjoyed it in its virginal form) is to take it apart. But I also hate ruining cases/screws, and I don't feel like investing the $35 it takes to get the proper bits for certain equipment.
Is there any good reason? I cannot imagine anything mechanical that makes a phillips head any worse. Has Nintendo or anyone ever commented on this issue?
Here's my whole deal on the GameCube. It's long. Sorry about that. But I wouldn't feel fair if I said all that stuff on the Xbox in a previous post, then left the GameCube swaying in the wind. So this whole thing is my honest opinion. Take it as it is.
The size of the past
About a month ago, I bought my first Nintendo Entertainment System.
Growing up as a child, I never had a Nintendo of my own. My parents waited until I had left home to stop being poor, so I didn't know the joys of the little sister. That means no Kid Icarus, no Castlevania, and especially no Final Fantasy.
Until a month ago, when a chance run into a Software Etc made me notice the Final Fantasy (not II, III, or otherwise) - an original Final Fantasy game. 20 minutes later I bought it, and went out to find myself a Nintendo to play it on.
20 years is a long time to wait, and its interesting how Nintendo's systems have evolved over the years. Some things, like the output plugs for the systems, have remained the same since the Super Nintendo Systems. The cartridges have gotten a little bigger and could hold more memory, but they were still cartridges, made to deliver their information as quickly as possible so game players could focus on playing games rather than waiting for the information to load.
That also meant there was a trade-off. Companies that went with the PlayStation system could use disks that held far more information, which means more cinematic gameplay, sometimes at their benefit, sometimes to their detriment.
But now Nintendo has joined the rest of the disk based world with their little square wonder, the GameCube. And in true Nintendo fashion it's brutally efficient at doing one thing: providing gaming entertainment.
Hip to be Square
The first thing I noticed when I opened up the box was my little black GameCube is small and perfectly square. Actually, the first thing I noticed was the handle that let me pull it out and walk around the house going "Look at this little thing?"
The GameCube weight between 3-4 pounds, and while it's small, it feels solid, and the little guy is quiet when you turn it on. To be honest, Nintendo did cheat - the power cord has a large brick on it that's used for AC/DC conversion, and that big brick is a slight problem when you're trying to find a place to plug it in. (The power brick alone is almost as heavy as the GameCube itself!)
The GameCube is a simple system. On the top are 3 buttons - On, Reset, and Open so you can insert the mini-DVD's (more in that in a moment). The front as 6 slots - 4 controllers, 2 memory. The back has inserts for the power and Video Out (which uses the same plugs as your old Nintendo 64, which uses the same plugs as your Super Nintendo), as well as another plug for Digital Out - and since I don't have a system that supports that, RCA works just fine for me, thank you very much.
The bottom is where you upgrade the system. Two serial ports and one high speed port are covered by smooth covers, set up so that when you do plug in future add-ons (like a broadband adapter or modem), they'll be perfectly flush with the system so you won't notice them in the way.
The system is made to play games, so forget any ideas about putting in your music CD's or movie DVD's inside. The individual games come in small, 3 inch disks that are burned with DVD level technology (so they can store lots of information in a small space). Nothing else is going to fit inside, and while there are reports of a GameCube compatible DVD player in Japan being released sometime in the next few months, the unit you buy from Nintendo doesn't aspire to any of that.
It just plays the games, kids. I can't stress that enough, because it does it so well.
It's Flipper!
The original code name for the GameCube was the Dolphin, and it makes sense that the ATI graphics card that powers the GameCube was named Flipper. (Unless you haven't been born in the last 30 years like myself, you might remember that Flipper was the dolphin star of a popular TV show. Like Lassie in the water.)
ATI proves they know how to do graphics, because so far the first set of games for the GameCube look incredible. I've been playing with Super Monkey Ball, and the game looks incredibly smooth. The spheres look perfectly round, colors and textures are bright and colorful, and the other little tricks like lens flare and so on never slow down the system at all.
Or another game sure to be popular this year, Rebel Assault II. The first mission alone, a recreation of the Battle of Yavin where you get to destroy the Death Star, looks like you're inside the movie. But the next mission after that which has you flying through a nebula, and I was impressed by the sheer beauty of space, the distant stars shining through interstellar gas in a sight any science fiction fan would sell their soul to be a part of.
Quick Load
One problem with most CD or DVD based games is the long load times, or the wait to load or save games to memory cards.
The opposite is true with the GameCube. Somehow, maybe because the mini-DVD's are so small the seek time is less, games load up very quickly, and games saved to the small memory cards (which resemble the PlayStation 2 memory cards, only half the size (and at 4 MB, half the storage space)) quickly store their information so you can get right back into the game.
Either way, the near lack of wait between the time you say "Start Game" and the time the game launches keeps you from getting bored.
Fits like a perfect, tiny glove
You know what they say about a man who can drive a stick? Yeah, me neither.
As much as I've tried to avoid it, sooner or later I have to mention the recent review of another console's controller, the Xbox. Like the Xbox controller, the GameCube's contains several buttons and features:
* Two analog sticks
* One D-Pad
* 3 finger triggers (two on the right, one of which is the Z button, one of the left)
* 5 buttons - A, B, X, Y, and Start
And while the controller is made for hands slightly smaller than my own, it was still very comfortable. I could reach every single button (except for the Start button, which really doesn't count) with my thumb, and the finger triggers were pretty accessible, except for the Z button which was a further stretch for my right index finger. I believe that there's a larger model made by another company, but as it is the default controller is comfortable enough to use for long stretches. (In fact, I recently bought a second during Thanksgiving so me and the kids could play the games together. Made me a big hit in the family, I can tell you.)
The buttons give a good response so you know they've been pushed down. The main finger triggers also have a "click", which means that just pressing down the trigger means one thing, while "clicking" it all the way down can mean another. For example, in Rogue Squadron II, pressing down the right means to accelerate, while clicking it can activate the S-Foils or hit a Turbo Boost.
The controller has rumble technology, which means it can vibrate depending on what's going on in the game. It isn't terribly strong, but it's effective enough.
Inside the Cube
When the GameCube is first turned on, even its boot-up sequence is cute as it "rolls" a purple cube on the screen to form the GameCube logo.
The menu system is also made of a cube, and moving the controller in each of the four compass directions gives you the various options, like sound, video, time, memory, and launching the game itself. The cube menu is transparent, and each item is clearly depicted in little squares that make up the letters, continuing the cube tradition.
There's nothing outside the ordinary, so let's move onto the big event.
The Games
Compared to the Xbox or the PlayStation 2, the GameCube doesn't have a lot of games available at its launch, and if history is a key, it probably won't have as many as its competitors. (Take a look at the games for the PSOne compared to the Nintendo 64.)
But those games that are out, the two that I've been playing with are both incredibly fun. Listed here are "Gut Level" reviews of the games - these aren't final scores, but just my general impressions after spending around 24 hours with them and the system.
Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader:
For fans of the Star Wars game, this is as close to flying the X-Wing and other crafts as you're going to get. The controls are simple enough - the left analog controls your direction, left and right trigger buttons decrease/increase speed, A to fire the primary weapons, and B to fire the secondary weapons.
It was evident from the beginning that the Factor 5 crew was interested in fun. When it first starts, you see a group of StormTroopers dancing to the Cantina Theme before the camera pans back to reveal the LucasArts logo. It's cute, and just ads that grin to your face before the game even begins.
The missions are fairly simple in and of themselves, usually spent blowing up the Imperial Forces in the various crafts. But expertise in being quick, accurate, or not getting dead are rewarded by giving out Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards that can be used to collect points for better ships in other missions.
As far as the graphics, it is amazing. Flying down the Death Star Trench with the Tie Fighters roaring after me, it almost looked like the gray, dominating trenches of the Death Star trench.
The other interesting graphical feature depends on the time of day. On planet based missions, the sun moves depending on what time the GameCube reports, so missions flown in late afternoon will have the sun setting, while missions played in the middle of the day has the sun high overhead. It was a surprising detail, and one that just adds to the cool factor of the game.
Probably the most aggravating thing is the radar system. I'm used to the old Tie Fighter/X-Wing system, where the left circle is the back and the right is the front (or is it the other way around?), but for Rogue Squadron II there's the only the one on the upper right, and I often had problems knowing if something was above me or below me.
Gut Level Score: 8 or 9
Super Monkey Ball:
Oh, yes, I'm sure that PETA will just love this game.
Sega, I love you. This game is a blast. Imagine one of those marble mazes, where you'll tilt the maze about to move the marble through the hallways, avoiding the tiny holes.
Except in this case, the mazes are huge, the size of a football field, and the marbles are encased with...monkeys. Cute little monkeys that try to run and keep up with the marbles as they race down the ramps at 70 mph, while you try and grab the bananas (I believe sponsored by Dole) while keeping them falling off the edges down into oblivion.
First, the graphics are even better than Rogue Squadron II. It's bright, the balls are perfectly round, the the little monkeys have all sorts of expressions as they're rolled around, expressing shock or glee as they race about your tilting world.
The game has that "Ah-ah-woah!" feeling as you just barely keep your Monkey from falling off the edges so you can get that one extra banana, or the sudden fear as parts of the mazes break off to float away, leaving you to make split second decisions of whether to play it safe, or go for broke.
Then there's the party games and mini-games mode. I've only played one of the party games, Monkey Fight, where you control a monkey with a boxing glove and try to punch the other monkeys off the board. Boxes will drop down that will give your monkey's various abilities, but primarily it's a romp to move around the board, trying to keep a wall at your back so you aren't knocked off.
Sega captured the very essence of gaming with Super Monkey Ball - it's just flat out fun.
Gut Score: 9 or 10.
Closing the Box
I like the GameCube, and I'm not going to be ashamed of that. It's almost half the size of its competitor, but it's like looking at a puppy around some big dogs. It's cute, it wants to please you, and it's got the charm and energy to make playing with it funner than playing with the bigger, dogs that might know a lot of cool tricks, but they don't make you want to scratch the back of their lids. Er, ears. I like the system, I like the games, I like the controller, and I'd gladly buy it again, and gladly recommend its purchase to anyone who just wants to have fun.
As always, I'm John "Dark Paladin" Hummel. And that's my opinion.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
The Dreamcast truly is a great system, but I think the problem with people is that they didn't trust Sega anymore. For awhile, Sega released console after console (Sega CD, 32x, Saturn) and abandoned them rather quickly. Perhaps if Sega was as persistent as Nintendo was with the original Gameboy, more people would have bought a Dreamcast.
You die too easily.
Xbox will be dead in a year. The game industry doesn't give a shit about third place (ask Sega).
I doubt the XBox will be dead in a year, but I suspect the Gamecube will definately obtain a wider audience.
As for the Playstation 2, those who are most critical about the XBox "Invading" yet another market in an attempt to "own" it are yelling a big farking double standard the moment they fail to recognize that Sony has done that very same thing. Sony, in my opinion, is much worse. Not only is the PS2 inferior to both the XBox and the Gamecube, but never has there been a game console with such a high volume of crap games compared to excellent games.
Someone else stated that the Playstation is aimed at hardcore gamers, and I personally feel that comment is WAY off. Most hardcore gamers will buy ALL of the sytems, while just about anybody is prone to be drawn into the Playstation. If anything, the Playstation aims for just about everyone, including people who typically do not play games (to include demographics that were statistically the lowest percentage of game players before the original Playstation came out [anyone who has worked retail selling game consoles can sit back and look at their customers and figure this one out.])
The XBox will appeal to the hardcore gamer, and they will probably do quite well there.
The Sony will appeal to just about everybody, and they will probably do quite well there.
The Gamecube will appeal to Nintendo fans, children, parents of children, casual gamers, AND the really hardcore who just have to have it all. I think they'll do very well with that mix.
The XBox will probably be the least successful of all three but it will not be "dead" I do not think. Many months back I said there can not be a third place, and I still fully believe this (ask Sega). But sometimes you can win by playing a totally different game (ask NeoGeo owners...)
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
Cmdrtaco might not think the Star Wars game is very fun, but Cliff and I do. Cliff is busy destroying towers right now, in fact -- this game is making me want to buy the GameCube and glue the lid shut ...
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
For another look at the ongoing console wars from someone who actually runs a gameshop for a living you should check out this commentary on the relative success of the Gamecube v. Xbox at the Acts of Gord.
Yeah, yeah, yeah... I've run the benchmarks for the XBox. I've built the test apps, and I've written my own tests. It's very rare that a hardware manufacturer outright LIES in their peak performance numbers.
What's even rarer though, is having those numbers mean ANYTHING in terms of what you're going to get in a real-world scenario. By the time you're doing physics, input handling, audio, and don't forget about having to make compromises geometry/texture-wise due to MEMORY limitations, you'll never see the peak numbers. Never. Not even close. So far from them that, in fact, they are pretty much irrelevant.
It's been my experience, BTW, that the Gamecube comes the closest in that regard thanks in no small part to it's awesome texturing facilities and PRACTICAL parallelism between the CPU and GPU, rather than the XBox setup where the GPU is far too easy to stall.
The biggest feature hype I've been hearing about lately has been bumpmapping on the XBox. The Gamecube is highly capable of bumpmapping efficiently (with better lighting, I might add, due to having more texture stages). PS2 technically can do it too, although not very efficiently. The thing is, you're not seeing games on the Gamecube flaunting it because it's a bogus feature. At low resolutions, bump maps really aren't even that effective. Take DOA3 on the XBox for example. At 640x480 and a typical camera distance, the bump maps on the characters either bilinear filter themselves into oblivion or become unsightly noise.
Ok, rant over.
JubeiX
super monkey ball is quite simply one of the most fun and addicting games i have ever played.
you have the main game, where you move your monkey (in a ball.. super.. monkey ball) around the screen to the end. you basically tilt the board and make the monkey move around.
more than this, you've got monkey fight, which is incredibly simple and incredibly fun, bomberman-level fun, monkey target, where you launch your monkey and attempt to land on some targets in the ocean, monkey race, where you race other monkeys around a track, and then three unlockable games, monkey billiards, monkey bowling, and monkey golf, which is 18 holes of miniature golf.. this game has seven games built into it, and i can not stop playing it.
i bought tony hawk 3 and rogue squadron 2 at launch, along with super monkey ball, and i have played them a combined total of an hour and a half. super monkey ball? probably 20 times that.
i realize this comes off as rambling.. but dammit, this game rocks. ign review aqui.
the most addicting, and best (imo) game for the gamecube yet.. made by sega. no surprise.
hmm. i bet this is offtopic..
Miyamoto is a designer, not a programmer.
You, sir, are a raving idiot.
SW Rogue Leader is an amazing game. The PS2 and xbox have SW Starfighter which doesn't even rate compared to the experience of Rogue Leader. Rogue Leader is a great example of a beautifully designed and executed game. It proves the gamecube is fully capable of competing with the other two consoles (even though Nintendo isn't hyping the specs of their new machine). If you want to reexperience the attack on the deathstar, you can do it right out of the box with the gamecube and a copy of SW Rogue Leader.
Then... make sure you play it with the component cables... so you get the progressive graphics. WHAT a difference: rock solid stars in the background, crisp graphics, smooth images as you swoop around the world. Amazing.
= Joe =
since the xbox is x86/dx8 based, how long do you think it would take some developer to write a wrapper that would allow you to play xbox games on your PC?... i bet this will happen relatively soon.
--- sig moved for great justice.