When Nintendo released the SNES and NES Minis, the company inspired a new wave of petite retro consoles, including the PlayStation Classic and the upcoming Mega Drive Mini.
Naturally, nobody has really managed to touch Nintendo’s fun approach to these novelty consoles just yet. It didn’t help that the PlayStation Classic came with a pretty underwhelming selection of games, where the NES and SNES Minis offered titles that represented the very best of what each console had to offer.
As such, all eyes are very much on Nintendo to keep the good times going and release Mini versions of the Nintendo 64 and GameCube. While the former has been rumoured for a while now (but probably won’t happen any time soon) the prospect of a GameCube Mini is even less likely, but is by far the one tiny console I’d pay any amount of money for.
On a personal level, I’d owned consoles before the GameCube, but it was with Nintendo’s underrated cube of joy that I really started to fall in love with video games. Super Smash Bros Melee, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, Luigi’s Mansion… if you put all of these in one compact box, I’d lose my mind.
Unfortunately, I don’t see Nintendo getting around to shrinking down the GameCube, and I don’t think I’m alone in that opinion. A YouTuber by the name of Madmorda has gotten tired of waiting and as created his very own GameCube Mini.
It really is the real deal. It draws power over Micro USB, comes with four working controller ports, and boasts a USB Type-A port that can be used with the Wii U’s USB GameCube adapter. I want it.
For extra authenticity, Madmorda opted to use a circuit board taken from an old Wii, instead of using a Rasberry Pi or some other emulator. As you may be aware, the Wii’s CPU and GPU are near identical to the GameCube’s, aside from being faster, smaller, and more power-efficient, making it perfect for this project.
The circuit board was, of course, heavily modified to fit inside the adorably tiny gummy case that acts as the GameCube Mini’s shell. The end result is gorgeous, and I would honestly like very much for someone to put together one of these bad boys for me.
For a more detailed look at the process, you can head to Madmorda’s Worklog, which can be found here.
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.