Nintendo GameCube

Nintendo GameCube is Nintendo's fourth home console and a sixth generation video game console initially released on September 14, 2001 in Japan. Nintendo first mentioned a successor to the Nintendo 64 on March 3, 1999, a day after Sony's announcement of the PlayStation 2.

History and development
Development on the GameCube began after the launch of the Nintendo 64. Nintendo has stated multiple times that the moment a system is launched, the plans to create its successor are already in motion. Prior to the launch of the GameCube, Nintendo referred to it as the Nintendo Dolphin. Indeed, several video games released near the launch of the console bare references to this popular code name.

Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto has stated that the transition from developing on the Nintendo 64 to the GameCube was fairly easy when compared to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System to Nintendo 64 transition. He compared the move to the NES to SNES changeover in that basically the GameCube wasn't as much of a revolution as it was an evolution over its predecessor.

The design of the GameCube has often been criticized. During the launch of the Wii, even Nintendo recognized that several critics thought that the GameCube was designed to look like a toy. The handle in particular caused several pundits to joke that the piece of hardware looked like a lunchbox. The controller, on the other hand, was greatly praised for being comfortable, and the Wavebird in particular was lauded for its wireless capabilities. Nintendo implemented a digital and analog mode in the controller's L and R buttons, new to the system.

Interface
The GameCube menu is unlike the Xbox or PlayStation 2 menus. The music for the GameCube menu seems unique and especially slow at first, but when sped up around 19 times, the tune is actually a slightly lower pitched version of the Famicom Disk System's BIOS.

There are also several Easter egg start-up noises activated by pressing the Z button on a specific amount of controllers. If you hold the Z button on 1 controller when turning the system on, you will hear squeaky noises and a baby's laughter at the end. Holding the Z button on all 4 controllers produces a Japanese oriental style sound effect, with a man shouting a battle cry at the end.

Menu
The menu is a cube, and consists of 5 different screens. The first is the picture you see on the right, the second being where you start up the game, the third being where you adjust the screens position and sound, the fourth being where you can erase, copy or move data on your memory cards and the last one tells you the date and time. It was removed when the Nintendo Wii had backward compatibility for the Nintendo GameCube. This has been changed due to Wii having settings for the GameCube memory cards and Wii settings.