The GameCube controller has a wing grip design, and is designed to fit well in the player's hands. The primary analog stick is on the left, and the Start button is next to it. Below it is the D-pad. On the right is a set of four buttons: in the middle, a green A button, to the left of that, a red B button, to the right, a gray X button, and above that, another gray button, the Y button. On the top are 3 shoulder buttons: L, R, and Z. The Z button is blue, and L and R are gray. The Z button is in front of the R button.
The console itself is, well, a cube. On the top, there are 3 buttons: On the top left is the Power button, below that is the Reset button, and on the right is the Eject button. In the back, there is a handle, which can be used to carry the console around. Not much else, unless you want to hang it off of a clothes hanger. In the front are four controller ports, indicated by dots, like this:
. .. ... ....
O O O O
Below that are the memory card slots. On the bottom of the Cube there are plugs used to plug in the Game Boy Player peripheral. What's a Game Boy Player? Let's find out!
Pretty, much, it just lets you play Game Boy games on a TV.
A special Game Boy Player for the Panasonic Q (below) was released because the Q's legs are placed differently than the original
GameCube's. All Game Boy Players have screws on the bottom to secure it to the bottom of the GameCube and also have an eject button on the right side for removing Game Boy Advance games. Game Boy and Game Boy Color games stick out from the unit, so they can just be pulled out when the system is off or Change Cartridge has been selected from the menu.
Pretty, much, it just lets you play Game Boy games on a TV.
A special Game Boy Player for the Panasonic Q (below) was released because the Q's legs are placed differently than the original
GameCube's. All Game Boy Players have screws on the bottom to secure it to the bottom of the GameCube and also have an eject button on the right side for removing Game Boy Advance games. Game Boy and Game Boy Color games stick out from the unit, so they can just be pulled out when the system is off or Change Cartridge has been selected from the menu.Now, what the heck is a Panasonic Q? It's a GameCube that can play DVDs, CDs, MP3 as well as several other features. The system was officially released only in Japan. Since the GameCube couldn't play DVDs, a feature its competitors, the PlayStation 2 and Xbox had, the system was licensed by Nintendo and was released in December 2001 in Japan only. Nintendo's decision to license the gaming technology to Panasonic is a result of the deal broken between Matsushita (owners of Panasonic and makers of the
GameCube discs) and Nintendo. When Nintendo signed Matsushita as the producer of the optical disc drives that power the GameCube, an agreement was struck allowing Matsushita to produce a DVD system able to play GameCube games.Other features of the Q include a backlit LCD, a front-loading slot disc tray, an optical sound output supporting Dolby Digital 5.1, and a stainless steel chassis. The Q is capable of installing all of the GameCube hardware upgrades; however, because of the legs on the bottom, it requires a special Panasonic Q Game Boy Player unit designed specifically for it.
What about the discs, they were tiny. On the picture below, on the left is a GameCube Disc, on the right a Wii disc. They were very tiny, but hey, would you rather have a giant heavy cube, or a small, compact, easy to carry one? I think I know the answer. The GameCube Game Disc was criticized for its small storage, because some games with large amounts of data have needed to be on two discs, reducing their quality. Prior to the Nintendo GameCube, Nintendo consoles usually used cartridges.
For the Wii, Nintendo extended the technology to use a full size DVD-based disc, enabling it to have the benefits of the Nintendo GameCube Game Disc, while having the standard capacity of a DVD-ROM. Although the Wii can use double-layer discs, all titles were single-layer up until the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. With the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Nintendo has admitted that some Wii systems may have trouble reading dual-layer discs due to a dirty laser lens. Nintendo is repairing systems with dual-layer problems.
Well, well, well, looks loike our time is up with the GameCube. But next, the mother of Nintendo consoles, the most popular console right now, the Wii! Keep on following my blog for the Wii post! When we meet again...I don't know.
:-)
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