The Nintendo GameCube was a bizarre little console, one which had every kind of wacky add-ons and peripherals launched for it over time, from LAN adapters to Sport Boy Hyperlinks to bongo drums. One factor I by no means knew about till as we speak, nonetheless, have been the corporate’s plans for an official LCD display.
Through Go Nintendo, Adam Doree has uploaded an uncut video of a presentation Nintendo made at E3 2002, that includes Shigeru Miyamoto, Satoru Iwata and Invoice Trinen. On this video, after the crew had spent ages speaking about Wind Waker and Metroid Prime, Iwata reveals that they’ve one final shock to debate: a first-party LCD display, designed to connect to the highest of the console and make it even extra transportable than it already was (the GameCube, famously, included a carrying deal with on the again). I’ve set the video to autoplay at the start of the dialogue in regards to the display:
I by no means knew this! Certain other firms have stepped into this vacuum over time, releasing numerous screens of various high quality, however it might have been very cool to get an official Nintendo monitor.
It measured simply 5 inches throughout, with a 4:3 ratio, and a decision of simply 320×240. Which sounds dangerous by 2023 requirements but this was 2002, so for the time they weren’t horrible, as you may see within the footage above, the place Mario Sunshine appears to be like simply high quality! It’s additionally attention-grabbing listening to Iwata say it was peripherals like this that particularly satisfied Nintendo to put in digital output—itself a forgotten however wonderful facet of the {hardware}—for the GameCube.
Iwata even reveals that he had met with Sega’s Yuji Naka—in happier occasions—about Phantasy Star On-line, and the pair mentioned whether or not they may take that title and “make it a transportable recreation” to take advantage of this display. None of which ever got here to move, in fact, but it surely’s nonetheless neat imagining a GameCube period the place you may have grabbed your console by its deal with, taken it to a mates home and performed Mario Kart Double Sprint by yourself little official Nintendo display.
G/O Media might get a fee
Simply because I’m solely studying about this as we speak doesn’t imply there isn’t different stuff on the market in regards to the display; right here’s a 2002 write-up on IGN about how good it appeared, for instance, whereas its itemizing on Console Variations speculates that the excessive value of LCD screens on the time made it too costly to launch. The video under, in the meantime, has a superb linger on footage of the display alongside some audio system, a part of probably the most 2002 gaming setup conceivable.
